Loooong wait at Yin Fai Kee

In our quest for the KL-equivalent Hokkien Mee (black fat fried noodles) in Ipoh, my family and I went to Yin Fai Kee on Jalan Leong Sin Nam on the recommendation of an uncle. The shop is diagonally opposite the paeditrician Dr. Tang.

The shop has a big banner advertising its famous lard-fried Hokkien Mee. With anticipation, we arrived at the shop around 7.20pm. The elderly waiter told us we could sit on the ground floor section or upstairs. It didn't look too packed downstairs, so we went in and found ourselves a table. We ordered the Hokkien Mee, braised yee mee, fried la-la (mussels) and a green vege. We were given the number 8 - and we sat back to wait.

And wait, and wait, and wait ...... table no. 5 was a big family who ordered multiple dishes. By 8pm (more than half an hour after we arrived) the restaurant had just finished serving them. I noticed that they kept sending dishes up via the dumb-waiter. At about 8.10 pm, they served table no. 6, and continued sending dishes upstairs.

I went to talk to the waiter and assistant to the cook, asking why they were not cooking dishes for the customers downstairs. They said they were following the queue numbers - I said all the numbers downstairs were from 5 to 10. They must be jumping queue for the people upstairs! Just then, table no. 10 got up and left without waiting any longer for their food.

Our kids were starting to whine and complain. Finally, at 8.25 pm, one hour after we arrived, we too got up and left. On our way out, we told the waiter that they somehow screwed up the wait system tonight. Well, it was only our first time there and sadly, it was not a pleasant experience.

The place seems quite well patronised, so if you would like to try it out, I suggest you get there way before 7pm.

Hokkien Mee (Tai Lok Meen)

I took my kids out to lunch in Ipoh Garden South (I know, it's a school day) because yesterday while buying herbs at Soong Kong, I spied 2 ladies eating the black, thick noodles that I love so much at the Sentosa Ria coffee shop next door.

I grew up eating Hokkien Mee or Tai Lok Meen (big fat noodles) in PJ and I so miss Hokkien Mee; however, it is not an Ipoh dish, so there is a dearth of places that sell it here. And even those that do, don't match up.

As I discovered today. It looks good enough, but there was just no "fire" taste to the dish; the black sauce used failed to deliver the salty-sweet taste that is trademark to a good Hokkien Mee; and the fried pieces of lard were not numerous enough nor crispy enough. I took away a packet of the Hokkien Mee for hubby and he too said, "fail".

There is one other place that sells a kinda passable Hokkien Mee - an old uncle and wife who run a stall in a coffee shop (sorry I can't remember the name) opposite Yum Yum Restaurant on Persiaran Greenhill.

Sigh.....I would be glad to find a good Hokkien Mee in Ipoh.