Tuck Kee@Pasar Pinji, Ipoh

Super belated post on my food escapades in Ipoh. If my readers do not know by now, i am actually 50% ipoh-lang. Parents were born and bred there, moved to KL, had me, moved back to Ipoh ( well me only- Parents went on sabbitical, so left the then 4 year old kitten [that's me]- with the grandparents ). Ipoh seemed SO exciting when i was younger, now it is more like a food haunt place. :) Possibly because most of my relations have moved to KL or out of the country. CNY can be real quiet sometimes. I went back to Ipoh recently because of my grand Aunty's 80th birthday. Now, i didnt shoot pics of her birthday dinner. Let's just say Menglembu is a good place to have dinner that is value for money- I have never experience crabs as part of the 5 seasons dish.

However my stomach suffered from the after effects of eating like a real swine. :P I had vegetarian on subsequent days. Plus ... paternal side of my family is really really into meat. Well, for most Ipoh people, besides good coffee & good noodles, Good meats are a great thing. There are little gems of restaurant all over the place but this place is pretty famous. In KL, we always tell the kl-ites this is the best place to eat, second to Restaurant Public ( Man chong ). KM, my colleague from Accenture, always drools when you mention Tuck Kee siew yoke. What's the name of the place? Tuck Kee in Pasar Pinji. Corner SHOP. What's their speciality? Roasted meats and they have the BEST siew yoke ( again ). Now i went to this place AFTER the big birthday dinner the next day. So be prepared for VERY little pictures taken as we did not order alot. Tuck Kee's siew yoke, siew ngap, siew cheong etc are most sought after. You can take away, dine in if you like. One sight to behold is every day, 12 pm, the queue for tar pau is quite long... They have a special window in the shop that you place your order of roasted meats without going into the restaurant. Sometimes there will be about 80 people in the queue. Sight for sore eyes i tell ya. Their other speciality is, their CURRY VEGGIE! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...... It's just veggie cooked in curry sauce but it tastes pretty good with rice. There is another dish- ( a real canto dish ) called Assam Kai Choi. They served it here. It's Kai Choi with assam jawa, with leftover meats all stewed in one pot. Add in dry chilli and walah. A dish. Acquired taste but damn good leh. Ok, ok, no more running around bushes..... Here's the real deal.
In no particular order of dishes, this is sweet potatoe shoots in belacan. Actually this is quite a tasty dish on it's own, but i was feeling the effects of yesterday so to me this tasted mild. Even Neko Tou-Chan, nibbled lightly on the veg. I must say the Paternal side of my family are really really large eaters and big fan of meats. I take after my Mom's side which loves veggie more. For this dish, it's a pass :) with flying colors.

The star of the day, Siew Yoke and Duck..... With some special sauce dripped over it. Presentation is not a key thing in Ipoh restaurants... The sauce i believe has some meen sien ( crushed soy beans ) and garlic. Now, the Siew Yoke is to die for. It is better than the ones in KL. For me anyway because it contains the right cut of lean meat and fat. Moi Moi Restaurant place is more fatty than meaty but both Tuck Kee and Moi Moi have gotten their skins to perfection. The duck is so so. Today it had this ducky smelly my mom doesnt like. Me too. Pass, pass.

Now.. there were other 2 dishes but I was so jelak from last night i skipped the pictures as well. The final dish we had is fried noodles ala Singapore. Not too bad.. lots of prawns but a bit heavy on the pepper... They added char siew to this concoction and tasted nice :). Lots of tau geh and shredded white cabbage. Despite being full, i still ate it.
Btw, i dieted for 3 days after this session in Ipoh.. Cannot lah- very small tummy onree... Though i like to eat, i am limited by my own capacity. How sad :(. Plus i like to stay slim and trim.

Well Tuck Kee is in Pasar Pinji- no maps unfortunately as i only know how to drive there but cannot remember the add.It's at a corner shop, you cant miss it as the sight of people queueing up is a dead give away. Try the Curry Veggie! Lovely.