Thean Chun Coffee Shop - Part 2

As promised, Part 2!

Thean Chun is a pretty busy place, it's not uncommon to share tables in coffee shops as good as this one - which we did on this occasion - but nobody minds because everyone gets a chance to sit down and enjoy the food that they came such a long way for.

Full house.

Popiah - the fresh kind - bigger and filled with radish, egg and some other things, wrapped in a thinner rice sheet compared to the smaller fried ones. Popiah makes me happy. Popiah is nice. I've don't think I've had the fried version of this (which you can see on the left) until this trip. It was good, but I still prefer the original unfried kind.

Pork Satay from the stall at Kong Heng next door. You can just go over to the next shop and they will bring the plate over to the shop you're in. The pork satay is really good -  you don't get any big blobs of fat on the satay stick - which happens a lot now, even with chicken satay :(  

The meat is quite lean - well, as lean as pork can get and it's got a great smokey taste - the taste that any good satay has. My mom ordered the pork intestine satay as well. Both my mom and my brother like it, I'm not much of a fan but they say it's good though, so if you enjoy that, have a go. 

Mango Man sold us some mangoes. He also had other fruit for sale but the mangoes looked especially good. RM10 for a bag of really juicy and sweet mangoes. What more can I say? 

edit/
We have since been able to try the mangoes and they were perfect! Super sweet and just the right ripeness - The fruit stall is just outside Thean Chun - really this whole place is a one stop shop for food. We still have have some in the fridge - which I will probably eat right after I get off this computer.

This was an unexpected treat... The beverage counter at Thean Chun sold creme caramel.

It. Was. Amazing. 

The best I've had for a while and definitely gives half the fancy pants restaurants in KL a run for their money. AND it was only RM 2.50... 

I love you, Ipoh.

There you have it, Thean Chun and a bit about Kong Heng - two great food establishments standing side by side. So, if you're in Ipoh, this is where you need to make a stop for lunch.



Thean Chun Coffee Shop
73, Jalan Bandar Timah
30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Opens from 9.30am onwards (most of the food will be sold out by the afternoon though)
Closed on Thursdays.

Kong Heng
75, Jalan Bandar Timah,
30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Closed on Wednesdays.

Thean Chun Coffee Shop - Part 1

Last weekend, we made a trip up North to Penang and we stopped over in Ipoh at Thean Chun! For as long as I can remember, we've always made a little detour on the way to Penang just so we can have a meal at Thean Chun. 

It has the best food for miles around and it's all crammed  into this small-ish space. I like it there. It's been so many years, but the food still tastes great. I like it's oldness - it's yellowed walls and worn furniture and how people travel for miles just to come and have a bowl of noodles or spring rolls or satay or creme caramel or all of the above - which we did haha.

Ipoh Kai See Hor Fun (Ipoh Chicken and Prawn Kuey Teow Soup)

If you're looking for the perfect bowl of Ipoh Kai See Hor Fun, it's here. The stall is called Tricycle Chicken and Prawn Kuey Teow, this is the gold standard of what all Kai See Hor Fun should be. It just has all the hallmarks of a great Kai See Hor Fun - super silky noodles and a broth that tastes just right. Apparently, it's something to do with the water - the fresh mountain springs flow into rivers and pipes that grows better crops and makes better broth. Haha, I know, sounds crazy? But you know, if you could just taste it, you'd think it might actually be true. 

My mom always used to tell me when I was little, that Ipoh women were famous for having great skin because the water was fresher in Ipoh. I don't know how true that is but I definitely saw a few really old ladies with quite radiant and blemish free skin. Maybe we should all move to Ipoh. The landscape around Ipoh is quite scenic actually - it's right up against a mountain range so you do kind of get the feeling that it's more lush and green. 

Legit.

Ipoh really gives off this sleepy small town feel - and it definitely gives a glimpse of the world my parents grew up in when they were younger. This is the front of the building next door, I quite like the fact that the trees just decided that they'd like to grow out of the side of the wall haha.

And that's us! We're ordering more food. Obviously. 

But I'll tell you more about that in Part 2 :) Stay tuned! 

Thean Chun Coffee Shop
73, Jalan Bandar Timah
30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Opens from 9.30am onwards (most of the food will be sold out by the afternoon though)
Closed on Thursdays.