Sar Kok Liew aka Stuffed Yambean/Jicama is but one of many Ipohs signature street fares. Diced, or cubed yambean with beancurd sheet deep fried to a crispy finish, but most importantly; the moisture within must be retained for that juicy crunch.
If you had taken Motormouths words for it, you would have remembered how I had paltry affairs with both the K10 claypot chicken rice outlets in Ipoh. First the one in Ipoh Garden East, and the original one in Bercham.
And you wonder why was this post is named as such? (ie : Redemption) And whats a claypot chicken rice specialist doing serving Sar Kok Liew?!! Read on for the revelation.
In the mornings, things can get a little bit out of control. We endured a good 20 minutes or more for our noodles and yeung liew/yong tau foo (various stuffed fish paste)
Redemption because I found a reason to visit K10 in Ipoh Garden East (Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh, actually) NOT for their signature claypot chicken rice in the evenings, but for breakfast of fishball noodles, fondly referred to as liew fun in the mornings.
A good emulator of the famous Gunung Rapats stall, but definitely lose out in the varieties department.
Modus operandi? 1) Grab a porcelain bowl and a pair of tongs from the counter. 2) Jostle with the crowd and grab your favourite pieces and place them in the bowls. 3) Pick your noodles of choice (optional) and sit patiently, read the dailies or continue your Sundays sluggish sleep.
Zha Yuen literally translated to fried meatballs is one of the more famous export of Kampar; a town about 40km south from Ipoh. This stall serves good zha yuen in the food court in Kampar.
Essentially, you get to treat the dark, gluttony side of your alter ego to a feast. Laid out on the counter in front of the shop were an impressive range of stuffed fish paste, fish balls, fried beancurd sheets, the sar kok liew in the first shot of this post, etc.
People (ourselves) included tend to over-gauge the capabilities to consume everything in sight. But then again, the long-ish wait for the noodles kind of marred the overall experience. They will serve to you the cooked/fried items first, so you can munch on them before throwing hunger tantrums.
But this somewhat defeats the purpose as the noodles go well with the yeung liew, rather than eaten on their own.
Scarily reddish curry, but trust me this was as mild as curry can be. Which can be a good thing, since the tampered spiciness wont overwhelm the flavours or torch the tastebud.
The dry curry variety fared poorly though. Just a dollop of curry paste on the noodles (in this case I chose the incomparable Ipohs sar hor fun), but did not do much in lifting the flavours to a gastronomical stratosphere, so to speak.
Fresh, juicy and perfectly cubed (not mashed or simply diced) yambean rendered the experience memorable. This was no doubt one of the better ones in Ipoh.
And I was told that they have another variety of stuffed yambean, a different appearance almost like a fried dumpling (sui kow) variety. But sadly, they ran out of stock that morning. And thats the BEST of the lot, claimed Mum.
Pretty hard to ignore the stark green facade huh? And the immense crowd. Avoid this on weekends if you dont have the patience to wait for it. But if youre one who embrace the bustling ambience, then drop by for a breakfast brimming with the charming aura of Ipoh.
*The breakfast came to only RM16.20/USD5.40 for three people. We had more than 10 pieces of yeung liew (close to 20, even), and 3 bowls of noodles. A steal, in comparison to what I have been paying here in KL, and even some eateries in Ipoh.
MORNING FISHBALL NOODLE STALL @ NASI AYAM CLAYPOT K TEN
57, Jalan Medan Ipoh 2,
Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh,
31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Google Map to K Ten Claypot Chicken Rice
GPS Coordinates : 4.615653,101.121285
Opens only for breakfast, until early lunch. Claypot chicken rice stall opens in the evenings.
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