The Lil Ipoh Getaway

When the going gets tough ... we pack our things up and head on another Ipoh getaway. Good food, affordable accommodation and little to no traffic jams - can you believe there are traffic police directing traffic outside schools after classes?  We were impressed at how organised it was.

The Ibis hotel was our home for 24 hours and it reminded me of Ikea in a way: cheap, chic and cheerful. I loved the room we got this time, it had tall floor to ceiling windows in both the bedroom and bathroom that lets in beautiful sunshine; the most comfy bed that felt like we were sleeping on soft and puffy clouds.

We peeked out of the windows and saw this charming courtyard that had a doggy in it.

After Bubs was completely worn out with the Nickelodeon channel (countless episodes of Sponge Bob!), he passed out. Hubs and I then savoured the whole packet of Adriano Zumbo salted caramel Tim Tams between ourselves while I caught up on a Maeve Binchy book, courtesy of Fairy Godma.

At night, we headed to the rooftop bar and were struck by how magical it was. The floors looked like they had tiny stars embedded within the wooden planks and we had a nice view of the city lights twinkling in the darkness.

We've been meaning to try the food at Purple Cane tea house for a while so we were happy that we finally located the building this time around. For visitors to Ipoh, take note of the night market just outside so you might need to park your car a few streets away.

 

Most of the items on the menu are tea infused, including the soups and desserts. I think we went a little overboard during ordering ... bak kut teh chicken noodles, black tea chicken noodles, tea smoked duck complete with thin slivers of pancakes, cucumbers and spring onions, fried sweet potato balls and lychee tea infused soya bean milk with glutinous rice balls.

The tea based soups were pleasant on the palate but Hubs and I felt that a stronger herbal taste would better complement them. The tea smoked duck was a tad on the dry side though. We absolutely loved the fried sweet potato balls - these have to be the best I'd ever had! It was served with green tea infused mayonnaise which Hubs kept calling wasabi mayo. The highlight of the night was definitely the dessert: fat, chewy glutinous rice balls stuffed generously with sweet, sticky black sesame paste and in a bowl of hot soya milk that had hints of lychee and rose ... we were all fighting each other for these!

 

No trip to Ipoh is complete without a dessert pit stop at Burps & Giggles, Buku 555 or Missing Marbles.

People, let me introduce you to the best thing this year: a brioche stuffed with chocolate orgasm (their name, not mine!) ice cream. Remember back when your mum would take a slice of Gardenia bread and put some ice cream in? Buku 555's version is like that, but up a few notches with its heavenly sweet brioche and the decadent ice cream.

We took Bubs for an old fashioned Indian barber hair cut at the New Star salon located just behind Burps & Giggles. Interestingly enough, the barber who's in his 70s, has been cutting hair for over 50 years and the old salon was at the Buku 555 cafe. It brought back lots of happy memories for Hubs who went to Indian barbers for haircuts as a kid. I was so fascinated with the old fashioned chair and if you are wondering how Bubs suddenly became so tall, the barber brought out a booster plank to place across the chair, talk about ingenious :)