Not many tourists come here (yet) but “Moon De Moon” is the quirky name of the spacious casual restaurant (actually it’s a coffeeshop) where you can find a few stalls selling different types of food. The biggest of the lot is the main magnet. People flock here for their “Kai Si Hor Fun” (Chicken Koay Teow Soup) which has Ipoh’s iconic very narrow, translucent and ridiculously soft rice noodles served with chives, fresh prawns and chicken in a superb concentrated chicken and prawn broth (RM 5). If you plan to visit, do aim to arrive early (before 10am is safest) because their broth is a precious commodity. The later you arrive, the less of it you may find in your bowl of noodles because rationing begins when they edge closer to the official closing time of 12noon. There are occasions when they even sell out before that.
The other dish from the same stall that I enjoyed a lot is the Dry Curry Chicken Mee (RM 5). In terms of aroma and taste profile, the thick-from-spices (not from coconut milk) gravy is closer to that of Indian curries than Chinese. The default carbs is yellow mee with beehoon which I recommend getting as the mixed texture works well with the heavy, complex curry. This dish comes with a few pieces of bone-in chicken which are fresh and because of the thorough spice marination, are fragrant and flavourful.
Another stall I didn’t get to try but intend to do so on my next visit is the one selling different kinds of fried noodles. When I spoke to the friendly lady manning it, she happened to be stirfrying a plate of Belachan “Lou Shu Fun” (this rice noodle is very short, cylindrical and taper to pointy ends) that was temptation personified. It automatically got on my list for what to eat when I’m back in Ipoh.

Address: Moon De Moon.
148 Hala Wah Keong,
Taman Mirindi, Ipoh.

[ Opens Wednesday to Sunday ]