Tell me, what do you feel when you see this kind of setup in a restaurant! Don't get confused by those new restaurant that mimicking old school look, this is one of the oldest restaurant, even my father grandfather ate here.
你説，當你看到這樣的店子，你的感受是啥？別以爲這是現在流行的懷舊主題餐廳，這是名副其實，我爺爺，我老爸光顧的老招牌酒樓。
環境 Environment
Compare to 30 years ago, things has really changed a little. This used to be only street lights, and we can barely see what is in the plate, could have eaten any creature that goes into the dinning plate. Now, they even setup lights, so we can eat with confident.
跟30年前比起來，這裏當然看得出分別。第一，我也老了，我爸爸活得比他爸爸更老了，故地重游的感覺是以前這裏坐著衹能靠街燈照明桌上的食物，現在都有電燈了，至少看得到碟子裏面的食物，喫得安心點。
菜單 Menu
Menu is somewhat "new" to me, because we never use a menu back in the old days. The waiter will come and brief what do they have and what's best for the day. Usually, BBQ pork only available in Thursday and Saturday. That however, not available despite we went there on Thursday because Friday is Lunar New Year eve, ran out of pig. Price range are slightly expensive but where to find cheap stuff nowadays?! Especially these kind of old shops had gained much fame, it's not their decision to keep the cost low in operation anymore.
菜單的感覺很新潮，畢竟以前我們來光顧時，衹能靠店小二爲我們介紹當天的特別餐單。比如，我還記得每逢星期四和星期六有叉燒長壽麵，叉燒非常好喫，麵也非常彈口有咬感。雖然我們光顾时是星期四，可是周五是除夕，豬肉都非常短缺，所以未能做給我吃。現在真是時代不同了，店的招牌也扬名海外，餐單上的價格也不會便宜了。
揚州炒飯 YangZhou Fried Rice
Ipoh is a significant eating paradise, due to it's heavily mixed cultural difference compare to any other state in the country. Even this fried rice, look different and taste different. There's no decoration. Meat, prawn, long beans, egg, chunk of fried fish, and the rice itself is those really cheap rice that hasn't gone through other process. Looks hideous but you can really smell the real rice fragrant from it. Junior approved it.
怡保這一個地方的口味特別重，主要是因爲這裏的文化遺留特別多，不管是説話的鄉音，食物的調味都非常接近老一輩子的記憶。就這一碟揚州炒飯，別小看它不起眼。就是簡簡單單的一碟炒飯，用了長豆，鷄蛋，江魚仔剁片，蝦子，豬肉，然後炒上了一些不起眼沒有經過加工的米。沒加工的米，沒有經過篩選，基本上大小不一參次不齊，看起來真的不像好喫。可是每一口放進嘴巴，米香味自然撲向鼻腔，讓我再一次感受到了小時候媽媽炒飯給我上學的味道。別的不説，我家裏兩個小的批准了，就是好喫。
伊府雲吞 YiFu dumpling
I have no idea how this become YiFu, but it's form of fried dumpling in vegetable soup. The fried dumpling has a very crunchy crust, but once it's soaked into the soup, it become very spongy. The vegetable soup consist of spinach, carrot, some fresh meat and prawn make it taste very savory and if you're here to stuff yourself up get some white rice, dump it into the soup and eat it, it will blow your mind!
也不知道爲啥這個會叫著伊府雲吞，總之就是炸雲吞煮湯。湯裏有白菜，蝦子，紅蘿蔔，豬肉片。炸雲吞的皮本來很鬆脆，但是放進湯裏面卻又變成了有些彈性，喫起來非常順口美味。湯裏吸收了炸雲吞的味道，蝦肉帶來了鹹味，如果加上白飯，這一頓就真的是飽了！
On a closer look, there's fish paste being put together to cook the soup. No wonder it tasted so nice. Trust me, if I don't tell you there's fish inside, you probably never know. It's not the fishy pungent smell.
近距離看清楚一些，原來還用上了魚肉片。難怪喫起來這麽鮮甜。你可能說不喫魚，不過相信我，如果我不説那是魚的味道，你也不知道就把湯喝完了。是鮮甜，絕對不是腥味。
鴻圖面 HongTho Noodle
This is the specialty, where they made the broth very thick. Egg being added to the broth with vinegar, chopped with mushroom slices, whole grain noodle, fresh meat, shrimp and fish paste, this really bring back a lot of old days memory. Why do they make it this way? It's because the Chinese likes to eat shark fin soup. And we all know that shark fin has absolutely no taste and no nutrition value other than very little amount of calcium to it(shark fin is bones, what do you expect), and it's so expensive to consume shark fin, so we decided to use the similar ingredient to make up a bowl of shark fin soup without shark fin, and replaced the fins with noodle, and everybody deserved to enjoy old taste in a healthier and environment friendly manner.
這個就是招牌鴻圖面。湯是蛋羡汁，用鷄蛋打出來的。加上了黑醋，一些香菇絲，豬肉，蝦肉和魚肉片，用伊麵煮起來非常鮮甜美味，讓人想起了一些小時候參加婚宴時的那種期待。爲什麽鴻圖麺會這樣的煮法？據説，華族吃很多魚翅，主要是因爲它夠矜貴，越稀有越喜歡吃，結果魚翅吃貴了，基本上都沒辦法喫了。但是，我們都知道，魚翅本來就沒啥營養的，魚翅説白了也不過是骨頭，骨頭的營養最多就是鈣質。那幾篇魚骨能給你補充多少鈣質？自己想想。説到底，魚翅最好喫的地方就是它的蛋羡汁，所以將魚翅換成伊麵，喫得飽又環保，就有了鴻圖麺。
月光河 Moonlight flat noodle
This, remember it called YuetGwongHor(romanized cantonese), meaning moonlight flat noodle. It's not available in the menu. Menu has an egg gravy flat noodle, and you wouldn't wanna end up eating every tom dick and harry ordering the same kind of food. This is more of an old style cooking, where the flat noodle being fried until very dry, and finally add a raw egg on top to grease the noodle. It's a must try, but if raw egg bothers you, give that portion to someone else and you eat the dry flat noodle will do.
這個就要命了。你如果衹是靠著菜單點餐，那麽你就錯過了，因爲菜單裏面沒有月光河！記得這個炒河粉加生鷄蛋就是月光河。菜單裏面衹有滑蛋河。河粉被炒幹了有了很重的鍋味，再敲上一粒鷄蛋，蛋融入河粉將河粉滋潤了起來，非常順口。怕吃生鷄蛋？那你留著給我吃好了。
燜伊麵 Simmer noodle
This is somewhat disappointed. The taste is alright, but feels a little too healthy. One wouldn't wanna "taste" healthy when eating out at this kind of old school restaurant. It's not salty enough, I will have to manually add more soy sauce to make it taste better. Nevertheless, it still has the basic amount of ingredient to make it taste good, other than not being heavy enough for my kind to taste bud.
最後，來了燜伊麵，倒是有點失望。整碟都是很多配料的麺，可是不夠咸，感覺太健康了點。老大爺，來吃老字號還説什麽健康！好喫就可以了！當然，也不能投訴那麽多，加了醬油，喫起來又不錯，結果還是喫完了。
清單 Settle the bill
Sorry I don't have a photograph of the bill, even if I show you, you wouldn't be able to understand what it said. For 7 person, bill came 93 bucks. Not exactly cheap, but the price is rather friendly since the shop has totally turned into one of the hottest tourist place! The restaurant operator are friendly enough, when I inform them the simmer noodle is tasteless, he even offer me to exchange another one(but ofcourse I didn't take it). Next time when you come to this place, don't forget to check this restaurant out.
最後，埋單時還特地給店東説了一下伊麵不夠味，沒想到店東還開朗的回答了還説要給我換過。當然，我沒接受。喫不下了，再喫也是將美好的回憶給砸破。七個人喫了九十三塊錢，說貴不貴，但是想一下這裏都是一級旅游勝地了，外來人游客花費得起的大有人在。我衹能慶幸的說還有機會用平民價格去吃一頓老招牌，算是不錯了。大家下次來馬，從吉隆坡北上去檳城，記得停留一下去試一下當地人的口味。
Restaurant Information
鴻圖酒樓 Hoong Tho Restaurant
20, Jalan Bandar Timah, 30000 Ipoh, Negeri Perak, Malaysia
被遺忘的老地方 A long forgotten place
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