Guiling Restaurant – Ipoh, Malaysia

Chicken curry

I tried not to look at my holiday pictures, because it has only been three weeks since I got back from trip and I am already suffering withdrawal symptoms from all the delicious food! This afternoon I switched on the Lightroom, and spent a good hour just looking at the photos, no editing, nothing. Just look at them, one of my favorite ways to pass time. But I thought y’all should look at them too! A table of thirteen and a lazy susan, the whole family is ready for another Chinese dinner feast at Guiling Restaurant in Ipoh.

Instead of using potato, the aromatic chicken curry is crowded with okra, eggplant and french beans. But don’t let the green fools you; the curry is fiery hot enough best to have cold water for keeping burning lips at bay. The chicken is tender and bitey, but I am more than happy just scraping up the curry sauce and drizzle on steamed rice and call it a meal.

Three flavours fish

The three flavours fish is something new to me. The fish fillets are lightly battered then deep fried to golden crisp. The fish is not as tender as I have hoped for, but the sauce gives the dish a beautiful Thai fusion flavour. I asked which three main core flavours are they in the dish, but none in my family have a clue either. From taste, I personally believe sour, sweet and spicy are the common flavours for Thai cuisines.

soy braised pork

The simple soy braised pork is surprisingly delicious. The pork is tender and moreish, braised in sweet soy sauce with a hint of ginger heat, served on a bed of fresh iceberg lettuce. I just don’t understand how they can keep the pork so real in this dish.

Clockwise L to R: Lo Han Tsai; Stir fry asparagus; stinky beans with sambal belachan; stir fry sweet potato leaf with ham and goji berries

There are also an abundance of vegetable dishes to counterbalance all the meat consumption. The Lo Han Tsai (Buddhist vegetarian stew) has a eclectic mix of soft fried tofu crispy golden skin, soft beancurd sheets, green peas, and crunchy wood ear fungus mushroom adds texture to this simple tasty dish. Then there is stir fry asparagus which is a clean simple dish packed with a strong dose of garlic punch. Vampires will have to wait for their meals tonight I am afraid. I just wish they could have thrown a few prawns to balance out the dish.

One of the vegetables I missed having and to my knowledge is rare in Sydney is the sweet potato leaf. The young sweet potato leaf has the texture like english spinach. It is best to keep it simple, we opt for a quick stir fry, served with chopped ham pieces and a sprinkle of goji berries – simply beautiful and delicious.

And then, there’s the stinky beans…

Petai with sambal belachan

Stinky beans, commonly known as Petai in Malay, is notorious for its odor which is very pervasive which can linger in the mouth for days! It’s like asparagus, it contains certain amino acids that gives strong smell to one’s urine. But on the bright side, the stinky beans is also very good for your health. The beans are usually cooked with sambal belachan, an addictive hot spicy sauce with this funky rotten smell of dried and fermented shrimp. Somehow these two pungent ingredients go hand in hand and makes one of the most popular dish in Malaysia.

Piece of advice, NEVER trap inside an elevator with someone who just had stinky beans for dinner the night before. You’ve been warned!

roast goose

One of my all time favorite dish will have to be the Roast Goose. The thin layer of goose meat is soft and tender, with an absolute amazing flaky crispy skin I’ve ever tasted. Sometimes the roast goose can be a bit oily, but this one is just right without leaving a greasy sickening feeling. A bed of cucumber slices at the bottom of the meat to add the crunch.

pork mince with deep fried silken tofu

A quick call for the waitress and ordered an impromptu dish when we found out there weren’t enough dishes to feed all thirteen mouths. The deep fried tofu with pork mince is using Japanese silken tofu, deep fried until golden brown and crispy on the outside, while still soft and alarmingly hot on the inside. A pool of pork mince in gravy sauce is poured on top of the tofu which gives the dish an intense flavour of saltiness. I found the dish very oily with the tofu half submerged in a bed of oil on the plate.

chinese white fungus, logan and lotus seed dessert soup

For dessert, a refreshing Chinese dessert soup is just what we needed to wash down all the greasy food. The icy cold concoction of longans, lotus seeds, white fungus, sugar palms and jujubes (red dates) makes a sweet and delightful drink which also helps to reduce the body heat after all the spicy and deep fried food. It is always a favorite among the children.

Clockwise L to R: Guiling menu booklet; beautiful flower bouquets on tables for the special ocassions dinner banquets; massive green signage outside the restaurant; everyone loves the crunchy white fungus in the soup

Will you believe me if I tell you this is actually a vegetarian restaurant and everything is made of some form of vegetables ONLY? “Hang on a minute, I thought you said there are chicken, pork, fish, ham and goose?” I hear you whine. It is always a bit contradictory for vegetarian restaurants to make their dishes look like real meat simply because slaughtering is a sin in Buddhism.

Most Chinese who are Buddhists will eat anything including meat these days, but only monks and those who practices Buddhism will go on strict vegetarian diet. But these days, vegetarian restaurants are considered as another specialty restaurant with mad skills making beancurd sheets to have the taste and texture of the meat. No doubt that’s the only way to lure the omnivores like me for a vegetarian feast by throwing in a few familiar “fake” meaty dishes.

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Guiling Vegetarian Restaurant
23A & 25A Jalan Dato Tahwil Azar,
Ipoh 30300, Perak
Malaysia

Open 7 days for Lunch & dinner til late

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