� Cuisine  � Where to Eat � Getting There � Places of Interests �

Capital of Perak and Self-styled as the City of Bougainvilleas, Ipoh, the third largest city in Malaysia. The city is unofficially divided into Old Town and New Town by the Sungai Kinta (Kinta River), from which the city grew. The Old Town contains most of the colonial buildings.



The name Ipoh is said to have originated from a local tree, pohon epu or now more commonly known as pokok ipoh. This particular plant is used for the extraction of poisonous tree sap. The extract is used by the Orang Asli
 (indigenous people) in their blowdarts.

Its geographic location in the rich tin-bearing valley of the Kinta River made it a natural centre of growth. It grew rapidly as a mining town, especially in
the 1920s and 1930s.


In the 1950s, Ipoh was characterized night life was unrivalled in peninsular. it can be rightfully called
"The Town that Tin Built."
With the collapse of tin prices and the closure of the tin mines in the late 1970s, Ipoh's growth became stagnated. Being resilient, it later began to grow in its own unique way with the country's economy. Having retained much of its charm, Ipoh now reflects the overall progress and development that Perak is experiencing.


Cuisine
Ipoh is noted for its cuisine. Natives claim that Ipoh's water, which is relatively hard (high alkali content) owing to Ipoh's location on top of a large karstic formation, makes the food especially tasty. Here, you can find people eating relatively heavy meals even for supper.

All sorts of cooking styles can be found here, many of them brought in by the Chinese from the southern provinces and mixed with local flavours. Ipoh is particularly famous for food items such as "Sar Hor Fun" (a flat white rice noodle, best served in soup with shredded chicken meat and prawns), a variant popular to Ipoh is "Hor Hee", served with fish cakes; "Nga Choi Kai" (chicken fillet and beansprouts, enjoyed by many visitors to Ipoh); "Hakka Mee", "Heong Peng", and dim sum (small Chinese dumplings and delicacies).


Ipoh chicken rice with beansprouts is another very popular dish. Ipoh is also famous for Malay cuisine, such as satay (meat on a skewer which resembles kebabs, served with peanut sauce), and also tempoyak (preserved durian extract commonly eaten with chillies). The town is also famous for "Ipoh white coffee" which is associated with the Old Town. It is a roast of coffee prepared using a unique method that combines elements of modern approaches with traditional Malaysian brewing practices. The other Famous edible products of Ipoh are the Menglembu groundnuts, Kampar Chicken Biscuits and Chart Tai (Bean Curd Stick).

There are too many dishes to name here but visitors to Ipoh must make it a point to taste the local food. Chances are the cuisine here is more varied and tastier than many other places in the country.


Where to Eat
Ipoh is famous for Sar Hor Fun, Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun, Char Kuey Teow and Bean Sprouts Chicken. Chinese hawker food can be partaken at the fan ventilated food court at Jln. Clarke opposite the Excelsior Hotel, the coffee shops at Lorong Panglima, Wooley Food Centre in Ipoh Garden, and Old Town Food Centre at Jln. Leech. For excellent Nasi Kandar, go to Medan Selera Jln Gopeng, Medan Selera Stadium, and the food stalls at Jln. Dato� Tahwil Azhar (near the children�s playground and the Railway Station. Two excellent nasi kandar restaurants are on Jln. Kalsom, facing the Tanjung Rambutan Bas Station. Around the Cathay and Lido cineplexes
 are numerous restaurants.


Getting There
By road Ipoh is only 205 km (about 2 hrs drive) from Kuala Lumpur and 165 km from Penang. MAS operates domestic daily flights to/ from Ipoh at Sultan Aziz Shah Airport. Express trains ply along the KL � Ipoh Butterworth route. Bus services to Medan Kidd in Ipoh are available from K. Lumpur and Butterworth. For traveling within Ipoh, one can ride in taxis.

RELATED LINKS

Ipoh ~ Sights & Visits
Sam Poh Tong Temple / The Mekprasit Buddist Temple / Perak Tong Temple / Darul Ridzuan Museum / F.M.S Bar & Restaurant / Ipoh Railway Station / D R Seenivasagam Park / Kallumalai Arul Migu Subramaniam Temple / Ipoh Railway Station / Japanese Garden / Geological Museum of Ipoh

Ipoh City Area Map
Display of streets, Landmarks and places of interests