Trying Ipoh Specialty Beansprout Chicken at Onn Kee

In the true spirit of visiting Asia, one must try the local dishes when visiting different cities. Ipoh is no exception, iconic for beansprout chicken. Similar to the famous Hainanese chicken rice, the chicken of this dish is first poached before being served with a dressing of sesame oil and soy sauce. The star of this meal, however, is bean sprouts.

Unlike any other beansprouts we’ve encountered, the ones you’ll find in Ipoh are shorter, fatter, and far crisper than anywhere else. The locals claim it’s due to the limestone in the water in which the beansprouts are grown, and we wouldn’t argue. Much like the chicken, the beansprouts are blanched and also served in soy sauce and sesame oil.

Restoran Onn Kee, one of many *tauge ayam* restaurants in a condensed block of eateries.

We headed over to Onn Kee, one of the multitudes of beansprout chicken restaurants in the central new town area of Ipoh. There was no particular reason for this decision, though Ong Kee and Lou Wong, located only a few steps away, are both strong rivals.

Our order (clockwise from top left): two portions of beansprouts, two portions of poached chicken, a *kway teow kering* (dry rice noodles), and a Ipoh *hor fun* (soup rice noodles).

Placing an order only involves telling them how many portions of chicken you’d like, as well as if you’d like Ipoh hor fun (soup rice noodles), kway teow kering (dry rice noodles), or rice. The rice is plain steamed white rice, so we opted for one of each of the rice noodles, as well as 2 portions of their chicken and beansprouts.

The noodles were slurpy, and amazingly so. So smooth and slippery, they held just enough structure to not disintegrate in the soup or mush into each other. Few things are as satisfying as taking a huge mouthful of these noodles and downing them like a shot. They required such little chewing that you can easily eat the bowl without realising.

Ipoh *hor fun* with the addition of the blanched beansprouts.

The soup was mild in flavour, perhaps a little salty and not as complex as we’d hoped. Truthfully, not the best bowl of soup noodles we’ve had in Malaysia, but the lightness was a good accompaniment to the chicken and beansprouts. The dry noodles were delicious – sweet and savoury, much more flavourful and seemingly better as its own meal.

Mixing up the dry rice noodles to coat it in the sweet and savoury soy sauce.

The chicken was a little tough. Later we found out that they use ayam kampong – directly translated as village chicken, it refers to free-range chickens, which explains the texture. The soy sauce was a little sweet and savoury, fragrant with the sesame oil and the aromatics on top.

Two portions of poached chicken with a dish of garlic and ginger paste.

The chicken was accompanied by a garlic and ginger paste which is common for poached chicken dishes. Pungent and a little spicy, this was refreshingly bright and went well with the simply-flavoured meat.

Fat, juicy Ipoh beansprouts blanched and tossed in a soy-sesame dressing.

The beansprouts were surprisingly fat, juicy, and crunchy, sweet and flavourful enough to be enjoyable even on their own. After that we understood why Ipoh beansprouts are so revered – they really are just that good. Total damage? RM30 for two.

When in Ipoh, definitely give beansprout chicken a try. Though we can’t say for sure if Onn Kee really is the best, it made for a really hearty meal.

Restaurant Onn Kee
no 48, 51/53, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Negeri Perak, Malaysia
10am-2pm daily
www.onnkee.com