I am sure anyone who has been to Ipoh will instantly recognize this majestic white building facing the junction of Clare Street and Osbourne Street.
Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant used to serve their famous Hong Kong dim sum at the ground floor of this building for more than five decades before finally moving to their own premise at Leong Sin Nam Street some three years ago.
In those good old days, this is the place people went for some of the best dim sum in Ipoh. Their mouth-watering fares are served in an old-fashioned way – in small rattan baskets, still piping hot and came in trolleys pushed by grumpy looking aunties with a ” take it or leave it” look on their faces. Sorry, no pretty cheongsam clad waitresses to serve dim sum here.
To eat dim sum at Foh San, you can go as early as four o’clock in the morning and by seven, most of their favorites were sold out, especially their much sought after “Foh San Tai Pau” – the big white dumpling with delicious steamed chicken, sweet turnips, eggs and mushroom as fillings. This dumpling came in extra big size and you will feel full just by eating this alone.
At Foh San, you have to look for a table on your own and many used to stand around to wait for a table. Many customers who had finished eating their food do not vacate their seats immediately to make way for others. Instead, they will linger on to down cups and cups of Chinese tea. Some even read their newspapers to their heart’s content before taking their leave. So to see some customers fighting among themselves for a table is not something unusual in this dim sum restaurant. This is especially true during public holidays and weekends.
Although eating dim sum is something to be taken for granted by many, for my family, it was a luxury we could only think of but could not afford. Dim sum does not come cheap.
My father was always struggling to make ends meet and thus, I only got to eat here after I have finally finished my studies and got myself a steady job! The memory of bringing my parents here for the first time in 1988 to celebrate Mother’s Day remained vivid in my mind. I ordered so much dim sum we could not finished them and have to pack the remaining to bring home. We spent the next two days eating them. Speak of taking revenge on food!
Foh San is not only famous for its Hong Kong dim sum but its mooncakes too. Each year, you have to buy them early to avoid appointments as Foh San’s mooncakes made excellent gifts to friends and relatives during the Mooncake Festival.
In 1959, my maternal grandfather was accidentally hit by fireworks hung from the window on the second floor of this building as he was on his way to play mahjong at the Perak Dramatic Association. It happened one night on the second day of Chinese New Year and as a result of this unfortunate event, he was blinded on both eyes.
It was outside this white building too, many years later, that my father used to bring me on some nights to watch those monkeys and snakes performed for the roadside medicine men. This is part of Durian Street which I wrote about on Father’s Day.
No, I have not been to the new Foh San at Leong Sin Nam Street. According to my sister, the dim sum at this new place is not so tasty anymore and getting more expensive too, so I did not bother to try. I still missed the experience of eating dim sum at the old place.
The second picture here is another famous eating place – Hung Kee Rice Shop near Cowan Street and Clare Street. This is the side entrance to the shop.
Note its old-fashioned signboard. I think this is the only one left in the whole city! Just below the signboard were bougainvilleas plants growing abundantly.
Hung Kee still serves its famous roasted chicken and roasted pork rice with salted vegetable and duck soup but it was closed for a few days when I was back, so we could not get to eat here. I remember one time my mother packed roasted char siew and siew yoke rice for me from this shop but it was so long ago that I have forgotten the taste.
This is the front portion of the shop. Still oozing with old world charm and refusing to yield to modernization!
Do you have happy memories of eating either at Foh San or Hung Kee or both to share too?
.jpg?resize=200%2C200)
188 Hugh Low Street, Ipoh 
I used to frequent the old Foh San when I was a kid. Haven’t been to the new place at all. Yeah, I heard that they are not so good anymore but the crowd is quite terrible. Oh, I’ve never eaten at Hung Kee before. I should try one day when I’m back.
Hi Barb,
I think Ipohites are dim sum maniacs – they still floods the new place as they did the old one, despite all the shortcomings!
The old foh San dim Sum as you mentioned is delicious but not the New Foh San Dim Sum, I just don’t know why. Maybe they have change those cook. I have tried each place once as the former place is so difficult to get a seat.
For the Hung Kee Restaurant, it is still very tasty dishes they serve and no ajinomoto at all. You have to be sure to wait for food if they are many tables occupied ’cause they have only 1 cook. It is run by two sister and a cousin as the cook. Good food and price are higher than other outlets but worth the money.
Hi John,
The answer is rather simple – the old cooks had all died and the new ones are simply not up to the marks. Another reason is the management now cares for profits more than their reputation!
I did not have the opportunity to visit these restaurants for dim sums or roast pork whilst I was growing up in Menglembu, but the description of the “Tai Pau” was accurate. To a small child, the Tai Pau was a meal and a half. The local Hainan coffee shops did make some Tai Pau, Char Siew Pau and Kayang Pau and they were delicious enough when you had no opportunity to taste the higher quality ones. My older friend used to tell me a story (circa 1940s) about an Ipoh dim sum restaurant located adjacent to a playing field. In the old days, the bill was added up by counting the number of dishes or rattan containers left on the table and some dishonest customers would reduced their bill by throwing out the dishes (like flying saucer) into the field. The language used to total the bill was old Guangzhou Cantonese, eg. $2.80 becomes yee liong paht or yee liong paht hoe. For those who were unfamiliar to this dialect, it sounded like code. As an aside, I went with some business people in Hong Kong to a local dim sum restaurant and I discovered that the table was reserved permanently for him. Some young fellas called him “Ah Kung” as we were walking on the street! Say no more.
Talking about dim sum cooks, the older generation cooks came from Guangzhou in the 1940s, and 3 generations have gone by. The local cooks are not as skilled as their predecessors unless they take a refresher course in Hong Kong on Guangzhou. The experience in Chinatown all over the world is the same in regard to dim sum restaurants. The serve is getting smaller, not so tasty and more expensive. For example, in a Sydney dim sum restaurant, the average cost of a dish is about AUD $5.00 and 16 dishes costs an average of $20 each for 4 people. The behavior is no different universally, drinking copious amount of Chinese tea, reading newspapers and chatting away. Who cares about those waiting in the queue. Of course the waiter is now trained to clear your table immediately after you finish your food in an attempt to get rid of you so the next customer can come in. In the period between 1980s and 1990s, the dim cooks all migrated to Western countries and at one time, the dim sum taste better in the US, Canada, Australia, NZ and UK., than Hong Kong (personal experience)..
Hi IpohBornKid,
“Yee liong paht” or “Yee liong paht hoe” is certainly familiar terms we can get to hear at dim sum outlets in those good old days. But those grumpy Cantonese speaking aunties and uncles yelling these codes on top of their voices are no longer in this world, I think. Now, most outlets employs immigrants to serve food, so it is impossible of them to speak in similar terms.
Wow, throwing some of the dishes out from the window to avoid paying more is downright dishonest on the offender’s part but one can’t help admiring his ingenuity! But I bet the restaurant will not be fooled for long and stationed a sort of spy to stand there to catch such patrons red-handed.
I think it is a universal phenomenon – dim sum does not taste that great anymore, they are getting more expensive and lingering around to empty your last cup of Chinese tea is frown upon by the staff. Blame it on capitalism, my friend!