I drove by Restoran KaPoh in Johor Jaya, Jalan Dedap 7, dozens of times but never knew that it is a nice little Ipoh eatery until JB foodie veterans Derrick and Kim pointed it out to us. That's the thing - many times in life, good things are right there in front of us but we just couldn't see it until someone enlightened us. Thanks Derrick and Kim.
Restoran KaPoh is a laid back little eatery familiar mostly with regulars - it is Johor Jaya's well kept little secret. The corner shop is bright, breezy, and well kept.
Mdm Wong 王 from Ipoh helms the little eatery. She had been in Johor Bahru for 60 years.
Mdm Wong started her hawker business only after coming to JB. She had been running KaPoh for 30 years and had built up a loyal following. Mdm Wong said she loves making food and I can see that, that and her fans keep her energised.
Restoran Kapoh serves the usual Ipoh icons like gai see hor fun (kway teow soup with shredded chicken) and curry hor fun (known also as "dry curry mee"). I opted for curry hor fun because Mdm Wong suggested it and I also saw that most customers ordered this.
Mdm Wong takes great pride in presenting her food. She fastidiously arranges and plates each plate and bowl of noodles while customers wait patiently.
On the mound of snowy white rice ribbon noodles (kway teow), she carefully laid slices of char siew, shreds of chicken breast, and a couple of butterflied small prawns. Then, she splashed it with curry and sauces before serving.
The curry and sauces in the plate of curry hor fun had many interesting layers of flavours. There's creamy curry made with coconut milk and over 20 spices, a savoury sweet spicy sambal chili, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, lard and a splash of prawn stock.
Look at the amount of prawns used each day to make the prawn stock at Restoran KaPoh.
The hor fun picked up the curry, sauces and stock well. The tender, subtly springy hor fun tasted sweet spicy savoury from the interlaced flavours in the curry, sauces, lard and prawn stock.
The lean char siew slices, white pieces of shredded poached chicken breast and shelled small prawns were good too as they were fresh and freshly cooked.
Nice crunchy sweet blanched bean sprouts and pork lard cracklings embedded here and there in the mound of noodles.
Seeing another customer ordered a separate drumstick, I also indulged in one.
The chicken drumstick was 98% done, tender (but not soft), moist and had nice natural chicky sweetness, especially in the skin.
👉 I like Restoran KaPoh's curry hor fun. The rice noodles have nice texture and the rich gently spicy curry blended with savoury sauces, lard and prawn stock tasted really good. The prices (curry hor fun RM9.50 and chicken drumstick RM12) are a slight premium over average similar food stalls in JB. Now, we can get curry hor fun in JB comparable with the good ones in Ipoh. (Update: Curry hor fun goes for RM13 now in 2020.)
If you crave for Ipoh kway teow soup, these 3 in Johor Bahru can fight with those in Ipoh 👈 click
Restaurant name: Restoran KaPoh 嘉寶.怡保河粉.咖哩面
Address: 26, Jalan Dedap 7, Johor Jaya, Johor Bahru, Johor
GPS: 1°32'27.7"N 103°48'17.7"E | 1.541014, 103.804910
Waze: Restoran Kapoh
Tel: 013 771 9013
Hours: 8:00am to 2:00pm (Thurs off)
Non Halal
The curry and sauces in the plate of curry hor fun had many interesting layers of flavours. There's creamy curry made with coconut milk and over 20 spices, a savoury sweet spicy sambal chili, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, lard and a splash of prawn stock.
Look at the amount of prawns used each day to make the prawn stock at Restoran KaPoh.
The hor fun picked up the curry, sauces and stock well. The tender, subtly springy hor fun tasted sweet spicy savoury from the interlaced flavours in the curry, sauces, lard and prawn stock.
The lean char siew slices, white pieces of shredded poached chicken breast and shelled small prawns were good too as they were fresh and freshly cooked.
Nice crunchy sweet blanched bean sprouts and pork lard cracklings embedded here and there in the mound of noodles.
Seeing another customer ordered a separate drumstick, I also indulged in one.
The chicken drumstick was 98% done, tender (but not soft), moist and had nice natural chicky sweetness, especially in the skin.
👉 I like Restoran KaPoh's curry hor fun. The rice noodles have nice texture and the rich gently spicy curry blended with savoury sauces, lard and prawn stock tasted really good. The prices (curry hor fun RM9.50 and chicken drumstick RM12) are a slight premium over average similar food stalls in JB. Now, we can get curry hor fun in JB comparable with the good ones in Ipoh. (Update: Curry hor fun goes for RM13 now in 2020.)
If you crave for Ipoh kway teow soup, these 3 in Johor Bahru can fight with those in Ipoh 👈 click
Restaurant name: Restoran KaPoh 嘉寶.怡保河粉.咖哩面
Address: 26, Jalan Dedap 7, Johor Jaya, Johor Bahru, Johor
GPS: 1°32'27.7"N 103°48'17.7"E | 1.541014, 103.804910
Waze: Restoran Kapoh
Tel: 013 771 9013
Hours: 8:00am to 2:00pm (Thurs off)
Non Halal
Thian Leong said on Johor Kaki FB: "There's a reason in difference of prices, auntie of kapoh, she uses 15 kg of sea shrimps to boil with the chicken stock for that sweet taste, as for her curry, she mixes her spices all by herself, n she only use the top quality spices, all these increases her cost considerably. We can understand A lot of times customer judge the value of the food by the quantity n we didn't take into consideration of the cost of the food, for the quality needed."
ReplyDeleteDanny Teh Mrp said on Johor Kaki FB: "worth every ringgit you pay. i been a patron since 10 yrs ago...... its taste and the aroma of the curry is fantastic".
ReplyDeletecurry hor fun, curry yong tau foo and curry wan tan mi werre such a culture shock for me when i was in KL in the mid 90's as ive never had them b4 in jb. now there's curry horfun and yong taufu in jb but i have yet to find a curry wan tan mi
ReplyDelete