Bean sprout chicken and silky hor fun: an Ipoh food evening

Malaysians drive hours for Ipoh’s fat bean sprouts, smooth rice noodles and salt-baked chicken; an evening of eating explains why.

Area

Ipoh

Start from

Ipoh new town

Distance

about 2 km on foot

Time needed

an evening

Best season

All year

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

On foot or by Grab

Tickets & rules

None

Why go

I came to Ipoh half-sceptical about the bean sprout legend and left fully converted. There is something about a cold beer, a plate of glistening chicken, a heap of crisp sprouts dressed with oil and white pepper, and a long table of strangers all eating the same thing that makes it one of the simplest and happiest meals in Malaysia.

Ipoh is a food town with a fierce reputation. Its signature dish, tauge ayam, is deceptively simple: poached chicken with soy and sesame, plus a plate of short, plump, crunchy bean sprouts. Locals swear that Ipoh’s limestone-filtered water makes them better than anywhere else.

Then there’s sar hor fun, flat rice noodles so silky they slip off chopsticks, served in a clear prawn and chicken broth. Salted chicken, wrapped in paper and baked in salt, is a favourite takeaway.

Evenings in the new town are lively with families sharing big tables. Join them.

The story

The bean sprouts of Ipoh are grown differently: kept short and fat rather than long and stringy, then blanched for only seconds so they snap. Locals insist on the ‘Ipoh sprout’ as firmly as Penangites defend their char kway teow.

Ipoh’s food culture grew out of its mining boom. Thousands of miners needed cheap, filling meals, and Cantonese and Hakka cooks provided them. Over time, the dishes became refined, and many of the oldest restaurants have been run by the same families for generations.

Locals credit the water flowing through limestone hills for the quality of the bean sprouts and the noodles, an explanation that may be part science and part pride.

Salt-baked chicken was a Hakka technique for preserving meat; wrapped in paper and buried in hot salt, it became a dish people carry home as a gift.

Ipoh is also known for its pomelos from nearby Tambun, which you’ll see piled high in roadside stalls, and its caramel custard and egg tarts, a reminder of the old Cantonese bakeries.

Getting there

The famous bean sprout chicken restaurants cluster on Jalan Yau Tet Shin and around in the new town, a short walk across the Kinta River from the old town.

Grab is cheap and convenient if you’re staying further out.

A suggested plan

1. 6:00 pmBean sprout chicken at a long-standing restaurant.
2. 7:00 pmSar hor fun or Hakka mee nearby.
3. 8:00 pmWalk the new town’s lit streets.
4. 8:30 pmCaramel custard or tau fu fa for dessert.

Where to stay

Stay in the new town for easy access to the food streets, or in the old town for its charm.

Good to know

• Go early; popular places run out.
• Share dishes to try more.
• Buy salted chicken to take on the train.
• Ask locals for their favourite; recommendations vary hugely.