Foh San Dim Sum Ipoh - Day 2

Early morning the next day, we were already out in the streets. Our next destination was Penang and we were eager to start our journey. However, there is something that needs to be done first. We need to fill up our empty stomachs, so off we went for some famous Ipoh dim sum.

The weather looks fine with bright blue skies. Those wispy cirrus clouds above remind me of fish scales.

Actually, there are a few more dim sum restaurants along this road. Our family calls it the 'Dim Sum Street'. The other dim sum restaurants along this street are Ming Court Hong Kong Dim Sum, Chee Fatt Hong Kong Dim Sum, Chang Keong Dim Sum and Yoke Fook Moon. All are worth a try and in fact, Ming Court is a close contender for Foh San. My late father love to go to Ming Court.

The Hua Nam coffee shop which serves coffee, eggs on toast, char koay teow, chee cheong fun and other hawker fare is also located at Jalan Leong Sin Nam.

Foh San is operating at its new premises at no. 51, Jalan Leong Sin Nam now. The building is quite awesome and majestic looking. There were already many people when we reached there at around 8 am and the ground floor tables were already fully occupied. The second floor was still okay. In fact the view was better. I like the ambience and the clean and cool surroundings.  We sat near a waterfall where we could enjoy the scenic outdoor views while having our 'yum cha'.

'Yum Cha' (drinking tea) or 'Yum Cho Cha' (drinking early morning tea) are Cantonese words commonly used in Hong Kong where people drink Chinese tea while enjoying dim sum for breakfast. We can select the type of tea we want, e.g. chrysanthemum, ti kuan yin, du shu xiang, jasmine, oolong, pu erh or cha wang (teh raja or King's tea). I think their cha wang tea tastes better than the one I had at Bao Xiang Bah Kut Teh in Klang but it is a bit pricey at RM 4.00 per head.

Waiters will come is pushcarts and trolleys that are laden with piping hot dim sum and we get to select those that we like. On the table is lo mai kai (glutinuous rice), egg tarts, har gow (shrimp dumplings), steamed fish balls and siu mai (pork dumplings).

This is surely instant fast food!

Hubby's favourite is the 'tai ji gow' (scallop dumpling) but it was not available. This substitude tastes just as heavenly. This steamed 'wrap' with mushrooms and minced meat is topped with toasted sesame seeds, a little bit of spring onions and light soya sauce. If the soya sauce is not good, it will spoil the whole dish.

My son like this 'Beijing gow ji' but I don't like the sweet chili sauce topping that they have automatically added. I prefer it plain.

“Foh San Dim Sum Ipoh - Day 2”, a copyrighted post, was written for Klang, Malaysia Daily Photo blog by Autumn Belle @ http://mymalaysiadailyphoto.blogspot.com/ on December 18th, 2010.

I like this lo mai kai which is actually steamed glutinuous rice with chicken, mushrooms, Chinese sausages and dried shrimps. It is not too oily.

This is stir fried turnip cake (蘿蔔糕) or 'lo bak go' with Ipoh bean sprouts. Turnip cake is sometimes also called Chinese radish cake or daikon cake.

This dessert of water chestnut cake is my daughter's favourite dessert.

Steamed custard, another of my daughter's favourite but too heavy for me.

The dim sum we had costs about RM 3.50 to RM 5.50 per container. Pau, fish balls and egg tarts are charged at RM 1.60 per piece. Our total bill came to about RM 60.00



If still not enough, here's another option - dim sum takeaway.

Gone are the old days where we had to reach there as early as possible, i.e. from 6:30 am to 8:00 am, otherwise there would be no tables left. I still remember when we had to stand and wait next to people enjoying their breakfast. Even when we could find a table, food was late to arrive and some of us had to search for the dim sum trolleys and grab our own selection. The place was so crowded and noisy that sometimes, things got out of hand and there would be arguements and black faces. What a stressful way it was to start the day.

I like Foh San's new image and surroundings. The food tastes better and it is less oily. By the time we left this place, we were so full we could hardly walk straight!

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