Warning..do not read this on an empty stomach :-P

Not going to New Foh San while staying in Ipoh is like not going to Ion Orchard Road if you are staying in Singapore. It's a must-visit place if you wanna experience the best of Ipoh dim sum (apparently). I'm not a big fan of the cholesterol and sodium bombs they served in very small portions but I'm not gonna leave Ipoh without trying the new and revamped Foh San.













Right off, they are all out to impress all the foodies with an Art Deco-inspired and colourful foyer a.k.a payment counter right at the entrance. The whole place is clean and pretty cool. Thankfully, we reached the place before 730 am and thus were spared from the looooooong queue waiting to be seated once you arrive after 8 am. Take it from me...I had my fair share of coming here, rounding the tables and leaving the place without partaking anything. So, a word of reminder : WAKE UP EARLY IF YOU ARE HEADING HERE...

The staircase leading to a bigger makan area upstairs is pretty grand and slightly pretentious for a restaurant. There are gigantic banners featuring poetry in stylish Chinese calligraphy, which I couldn't understand (due to my 30% grasp of written Mandarin and partial 'banana'-hood). Anyway, I was there for the food, not for the literature and thus headed straight for a good table and started ordering pronto.

The Chinese tea was very fragrant and I do adore all forms of tea, be it English or Chinese. The teapot and teacups are cute and so Sino.

There are many types of pau and we tried the Char Siew Pau..which is ok. I'm not a big fan of char siew as I preferred other types of pau. The fillings are quite little but the 'pastry' is soft and fluffy.

I love the fried rice cake here. Yummy..the tiny bits of egg and dried prawns with lightly fried and not-so-oily rice cakes are perfect accompaniments to the steamed dumplings.

Fried brinjals, on the other hand, is a mild disappointment as I much preferred the other version at Ming Court. I think it would be better if the skin is crispier.

Then comes the classic dish of all time : siu mai. This typical dim sum is found throughout the whole of Malaysia and it's not that difficult to make. However, the ones at Foh San are just mediocre. Maybe I shouldn't come with high expectations.

I think this is the spinach dumpling (due to the green 'skin') and it's slightly cold so that tepid temperature reduced the quality. The taste was ok though...

Har kao (Prawn Dumpling) is another quintessential dim sum and at least Foh San did it justice by packing a lot of juicy prawn and meat into the cute white package. I think this was quite good too.

I would give the woo kok (fried yam ball) a second chance next time. It's not oily (which is a good thing) but not hot and aromatic enough. There is something amiss in the stuffing (not enough of spices, perhaps?) but the coating of fluffy yam was nice. Therefore, it's a 50-50 thingy and it could improve with time..

So, what can I say about the food in New Foh San? I'm sure many of you have tried dim sum at FS over the years. Although this restaurant has been 'repackaged' since it has moved to a larger premise in a new location, the food is similar to the old location except slightly more expensive. It has it's fair share of hits and misses and you have to try it for yourself to be the judge. After all, you cannot say that you have tried the famous Ipoh dim sum if you have not tried the food at Foh San and its nearest competitor, Ming Court. We foresee the making of a real dim sum war in the near future!!