One of Ipoh’s most popular food offering is the “Nga Choy Kai”, literally Beansprouts & Chicken: basically Hainanese-style chicken rice, served with poached chicken and beansprouts. And Ipoh reputedly has the best beansprouts in the country, due to the its high-quality produce and supposedly superior minerals in its ground (and natural spring water) used for growing beansprouts.
Lou Wong (founded 1957) is perhaps the most famous purveyor of this Ipoh specialty - ahead of its long-time rivals, Onn Kee and Cowan Street. Starting off selling from a pushcart, Lou Wong now spans a huge corner shop-house in Ipoh New Town where it operates from late-morning till way past midnight daily.
A typical meal at Lou Wong would consist of very aromatic chicken rice, scented with pandan, and given a delicious flavour from being fried in chicken fat, then cooked in chicken stock with ginger, garlic and spring onions.
Freshly-poached chicken - usually dunked in iced water right after being boiled to stop the cooking process, then served at room temperature, the traditional way:
Poached chicken livers - for me, it’s a must-have for any chicken rice meal. A tad overcooked here.
The all-important beansprouts - which differentiates this Ipoh version of the chicken rice from the standard Hainanese-style chicken rice:
The soup - the one here has a shrimp flavour mixed with the usual chicken stock soup, as it’s also used as a base for Ipoh “hor fun” of flat rice noodles in soup, which traditionally uses as chicken-shrimp stock. I think I prefer the normal light chicken soup to this.
Founder, Wong Chiew Sun aka “Lou Wong” has passed the management of the family business to his nephew, Simon Leong Shing Ching, who’s a consummate chef in his own right.
Overall, Lou Wong still sets a pretty high standard for this dish. It’s become pretty touristy, though - and that turns off a lot of local Ipoh residents. Lou Wong seems inundated by out-of-towners who form the majority of its clientele at all hours. That has an impact of its reputation locally, plus its mass offering of the product has also seen a slide in its standards overall.
Address
Lou Wong Bean Sprout Chicken Rice (老黄芽菜鸡沙河粉)
49, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, 30000 Ipoh, Malaysia
Tel: +605-254 4199
Operating hours: 10am to midnight
