What to eat in Taiping?

As I am writing this, I am currently on the way back from my Bidor/Taiping/Kuala Kedah/Batu Kawan weekend getaway. More about the Batu Kawan seafood review here! As much as I enjoyed the feasting and weight-putting, most of my time is spent stuck on the highway. My God! Everyone got the same idea to travel for short trips over the weekend since it's the school holidays and all I think.. Oh well, that gives me more time to write up on the food I had.

We reached Taiping at about 4pm, just in time to drop by the Circus Ground for some tauhua and soy milk. IMO, I prefer the one nearby Hotel Istana KL backlane's or Penang Fettes Park's as theirs have more bite to it. However, this is definitely something different if you like creamier and softer version of tauhua. This remind me of yoghurt with soy flavour. Hahaha!

The total is about RM4.10 for two bowls of tauhua and a glass of soy milk. Quite OK I guess but just FYI the one in kl is about RM3 for the same thing so... Like I said, this can be something different to try when in Taiping. My bf seems to prefer this so who knows? Maybe you will too.

To pass time, we basically went around the Lake Gardens snapping lots of pictures of yours truly...thank you very much...and going round admiring the pretty trees..after a while this gets boring so we decided to hunt for more food even though we are not exactly hungry..ahahha soooo.....

Next, a trip to Kuala Sepetang for seafood. This is one of my fave low cost (not really) haunt for cheaper seafood as compared to KL. You get the rustic old fishing village feel to it and can even catch some monkeys hanging out across the river in front of you.

If you noticed there are black lilspeckles across the river i.e. Mr monkeys! Oh this shop is a lil hard to locate but the effort is definitely worth it. In case you are wondering, this place is called Xin Seafood,  Kuala Sepetang. Oh and in case you have some spare spaces in your tummy after this, you can drop by the pasar malam at this area too! There's a lot of stalls around selling snacks and knick knacks in this otherwise quiet town previously known as Port Weld. Ok back to Xin Seafood~ basically you choose whatever you want in front of the shop itself before proceeding to your seat (optional or you can just send a rep).

For tonight we had the steam garoupa. Verdict: Excellent! I absolutely love the generous amount of fried garlic on top and the fish is so fresh and tender the flesh just drops off the bone. The snow fish is good too (had that on a previous trip). We decided to try d baby crabs since every table there is having that and it's a correct choice! It's deliciously crunchy with a hint of curry powder. Every tiny bite is as appetizing (well at least while they are steaming hot). I find the lala quite average. We had it with taocheong (fermented soy beans) as recommended by waitress. I probably wouldn't order this again in the place as it is a little bland for me..The kangkung on the other hand was wonderfully cooked with fragrant belacan and peppered with lots of dried shrimps. It is a must order in my opinion...

A quick break to drop everything at the very clean but basic hotel before moving on to siang malam for supper. We stayed at Hotel Furama which is cheap, clean and homey. The owner collected a lot of knick knacks and displayed them everywhere in the hotel in pretty glass display. The toys are just their version of Xmas deco... And check out the front of their hotel. Isn't the water feature simply adorable? Best of all, the hotel has a nice collection of books in their library!

After reading some of the books in the hotel, my tummy digested most of the food consumed earlier. So...Supper at Siang Malam (Day and Night)! Basically, this is probably cause it's open from evening to early morning. The best food here is the Chee cheong fun! No doubt about it. There's some other choices too like the wantan mee, or  curry Yong tau hu and Nasi Lemak~ I like the tea here also but the milo is astonishingly thick if you like urs the way I do...then go for the milo :)

For Breakfast, we headed to Casual Market at Taiping town itself. There are lots of selection here but here's some of the food we had:

(from left to right) 1) Milk tea at Stall #65 [Nyummy with more than generous amount of milk...if you are not a fan of milky tea, den maybe you should give this a miss]

2) Rice Cake at one corner of the market PS: Forgot to note any stall number but since the auntie is in the pic, you can prolly look for her [Not a fan but it comes with a slightly sweet bean sauce...very very popular with the local so maybe a try? Since it is pretty cheap at RM0.50 a piece]

3) Wan Tan Mee again (this is at the stall directly behind the char kueh tiaw {Stall # 63}) [Very popular with the locals as well, as for me, maybe I'm just a picky eater but I don't really like the kicap...however I basically don't like any kicap with too much caramelization i.e. with bitter aftertaste if you know what I mean] 

4) Char Kueh Tiaw at Stall #63, I quite like this even though it is not the usual style I love (I like mine with lotsa Chinese sausages, prawns and egg [[penang-style]] I was here early enough to have mine fried by the older uncle..apparently his kids take over from him later in the day and their frying skills are not as good as the old pro..hahaha..so lucky me~ His version of char kueh tiaw is actually quite fragrant with some fishballs, charsiew and bits of pork thrown in...the kueh tiaw smells slightly of XO sauce..the kind some shops preferred in frying their meat and noodles

5) Chicken Soup Noodles at Stall #62 aka Ayam Mee Soup. If you want something lighter in the morning, this will do just nicely. It comes in a pretty humble appearance..just shreds of boiled chicken in clear soup and garnished with some chinese coriander. The broth is light and wholesome and for an extra kick, just dump the chilli paste they give you and your ayam mee soup will taste different entirely. :) One price for two different style of noodles, only in Taiping!