The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak!!!

*All shots are taken with Kaya’s Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Please pardon KayaButter’s photo quality*

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (1)

When you think of dim sum whenever you are going to Kuala Lumpur or down south, the first that crosses your mind will be Foh San Dim Sum. Same thing happens when you tell your friends that you are going down to Kuala Lumpur or down south, I bet that many will tell you to stop by Foh Sam for breakfast. That’s how famous this dim sum restaurant is.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (2) The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (3)

Established in 1971, Foh San Dim Sum has been serving great dim sum to the local people of Ipoh, outstation people and tourists alike. With the recent relocation to its own grand and majestic building, Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant has definitely upped a notch in the dim sum industry.

To get there, just download Waze in your smartphone and find Foh San Restaurant. Since this is a famous eatery, the location provided by Waze is very accurate.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (4)

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (5)

Since this restaurant is very famous, it is always packed especially its peak hours which are 6:30am++ until 10:30am++ and also on weekends. There is no proper queue system and if you want to get a table quick, you will have to DIY. You will have eagle eyes to spot patrons that are about to finish their meals. Just stand there and give them the eyes just like Puss In the Boots. 😛 Luckily this time, they have 2nd floor in their new restaurant.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (6)

The difference between Penang and Ipoh dim sum restaurants is Ipoh customers expect the dim sums delivered to their tables whereas in Penang, we are more used to go to the counter and DIY. Foh San now implements dual system whereby for the steamed and fried dim sums, you will have to go the counter and get it or you can ask them to deliver it to your table after you have chosen your dim sum. For specialty dim sums such as Hong Kong chee cheong fun, they will come to your table with their portable stall. Sometimes, they do use the portable stalls to get the dim sums to your tables. Oh ya, they use card system whereby you will have to bring your card whenever you order/take your dim sums.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (7)

One thing good about Foh San is that it is more hygienic. See the server above? They need to wear a mouth mask to prevent their saliva from dropping to the dim sums whenever they talk. For me, that’s a plus point especially you need to impress your foreigner friends. 😛

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (8)

There is a separate section for fried and steam dim sums. Do not miss their egg tarts! They taste very good. 🙂

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (9)

They also have a separate section for their porridge and noodles. They also have jelly as desserts. This section is located at the very right if you just come up from the staircase. It is near to the washrooms.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (10)

Siew Mai 富山烧卖王

Butter loves this siew mai‘s presentation. It is so inviting. The prawn is fresh and yummy!

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (11)

Black Pepper Siew Mai 黑椒蒸烧卖

KayaButter do not have the luxury to ask the name of this dim sum as we go together with Butter’s parents. It is already a blessing that Butter’s parents understand that we are food blogger and allows us to snap photos before all of us eat. We are often being told that the camera god will have to eat first before us. KayaButter believe that this is another variation of siew mai. Chewy and tasty. One thing KayaButter miss sorely is Penang’s version of chili which is sweeter. Ipoh’s version of chili sauce is a bit sourish and comes with garlic. That’s a bit turnoff for us and potong stim.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (12)

Fish Balls & Cha Siew Pau 蜜汁叉烧包

Oh ya, Foh San is very famous for its fish ball. Very QQ and flavorful. 🙂 Butter’s sister’s boyfriend is a great fan of fish balls and he approves this. 🙂 This is like a must-take dim sum at Foh San.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (13)

Kau Choy Teoh Chew Dumpling 韭菜鲜虾饺

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (14)

Pork Ribs with Yam

Pork Ribs that comes with yam. A rather interesting dish as the amount of yam is quite a lot.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (15)

Chicken Legs

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (16)

Fried Prawn Roll  腐皮炸虾卷

Very crunchy at the outside and soft inside. Best taken together with the mayonnaise. Good stuff. Yummy!

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (17)

Pan Fried Dried Prawn Cheong Fun 虾米蒸肠粉

A decent Hong Kong chee cheong fun. KayaButter are ardent fans of Hong Kong chee cheong fun. It is a must-have dim sum everything we patronize dim sum restaurants. Interesting thing about Ipoh’s version of Hong Kong chee cheong fun is that the dish comes with baby pak choy which is not present in the above photo but another one. KayaButter still prefer our Penang’s version which comes with its chili paste and small anchovies. With the chili paste, it gives an extra kick to the flavour.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (18)

Fried Carrot Cake 煎炒箩卜糕

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (19)

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao 上海小笼包

It is a bit disappointing dish to our liking as KayaButter personally first tasted siew long pao in Ding Tai Fung, Taipei. That experience remains a very high benchmark for us to gauge other siew long paos. It might be a bit unfair considering the price we pay for that experience. Still, Kaya finds that the siew long pao is not Q enough and the taste is rather bland. More work is needed to improve this dish.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (20)

Chicken Porridge

You can choose Fish, Meatball, Pork Meat or Century Egg for the porridge. One claypot of this porridge can serve 2-4 people depending on how much do you eat per serving. The porridge is not too watery or thick. It is just the way that Kaya likes it. The broth is very flavorful and the chicken is well cooked. This is one of the dishes that Kaya will miss.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (21)

Meat Floss Roll 核桃肉松卷

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (22)

KayaButter are always happy to see dim sum operators trying to introduce something new for their menu. The meat floss is sweet and crunchy. The man tou is soft but not very fluffy. Maybe it is being left for a while in the open after it is cooked.  One thing good is that it is cut into pieces already and makes us easy to pick up a slice to eat.

The Ipoh Famous New Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 富山茶楼 @ Ipoh, Perak (23)

With its new building, Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant is more organised. They even have a section just outside their restaurant on the left that is specially designed for take-aways. Each level have their own dim sum and other specialty sections and also their own payment counter. This is definitely a big relief for its old time fans when compared to its old location which is very messy and packed.

The total that we pay for our breakfast there is RM126.80 including service charges and government tax. In our opinion, it is a bit pricey as we don’t really order a lot of dim sums. By the way, there are 7 of us eating together.

All in all, Foh San dim sums are definitely a bit more pricey than most dim sum restaurants yet in return you get a decent and comfortable dining place. The service is selective as some is quite friendly but some old timers are quite rude at times especially when they are very busy. Oh ya, one thing nice about Foh San or most Ipoh dim sum restaurant is that the staffs will refill the tea for us. In Penang, we will have to refill the tea by ourselves.

Their dim sums are hit and miss but the quality is there. Some of the dim sums are really good that you will miss them but some of them are below-par. KayaButter still prefers Maxim Dim Sum Restaurant in Penang, the best ever dim sum restaurant that KayaButter have ever tasted. 🙂 Still, KayaButter will still pay Foh San a visit whenever we go south. It is still better than Ming Court Dim Sum Restaurant which is just opposite Foh San Restaurant. Wait for our review soon. 🙂

What’s your say? Yay or nay?

contact information

Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant
51, Jalan Leong Sin Nam,
30300 Ipoh, Perak
Telephone No: 05-254 0308
Website: www.fohsan.com.my
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/restoran-foh-san…
GPS: 4.5969, 101.0859

 

business hours

Wednesday – Monday

Closed on Tuesday

6:30am – 2:30pm

2 Responses

  1. Noel says:

    Tested this morning with high regards to the website recommendation but sad to say that there’s no specialty in taste,service nor price thereto…it’s just an individual opinion which differs from one to another

    • kayabutter says:

      Hi Noel,

      Thanks for leaving a comment. Yup, some of my friends do not enjoy it. For me, I still like its ambience and some of its dim sum choices. 🙂 I wish to visit another new dim sum joint in Ipoh also which my friend recommends it. Once I visited it, I will update it here.

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