When you mention Tuck Kee, some foodies might find this name extremely familiar as many Tuck Kee stalls and restaurants are all over Singapore. There are only 3 branches which are direct expansion stalls from the original Tuck Kee in Ipoh. The 3 branches are in Clementi, MacPherson, and Jalan Besar. Run by the 3rd generation of the original owner of the Ipoh branch, some diners get confused with Tuck Kee Son; a different establishment
Located along Jalan Yau Tet Shin, Ipoh’s Chinatown, Restoran Tuck Kee is just a stone’s throw away from Lou Wong beansprouts chicken. Note that just 2 shophouses down the stretch are Sun Tuck Kee which is speculated to have been opened by their relatives and not the original shop
Opened in 1963, the shop has maintained its old-school ceramic wall tiles and vintage-looking floor tiles. Even the signboard reminisces of old restaurants of the 1970s. There is nothing very fancy about the shop but it is still packed with diners throughout the day
The restaurant uses some of its signature dishes as huge posters to decorate the walls which is a good move as diners can immediately pick up the must-order dishes. This is extremely helpful for first-timers like myself. One of the signatures is this blanched octopus legs in light soy sauce served with a chilli dip. As simple as this dish looks, it is absolutely addictive as the legs are crunchy and sweet and when coupled with the spicy sour dipping sauce it was a great appetizer. I was popping the legs in my mouth one after another as they were the perfect bit size
Nobody leaves Tuck Kee without ordering the Moonlight Hor Fun which is stir-fried horfun with a raw egg in the middle of the dish to represent a moon. The hor fun was cooked perfectly with a balance of sweetness from the black-sweet sauce and fragrance from the pork lard. The wok hei flavour was also just nice giving it just enough charred flavour to give the perfect amount of boost to the dish. Many expect the dish to be dry since it is stir-fried, but the horfun was soft and silky and easily floated down your throat with the right amount of chewing
The next popular dish was the War Tan Hor Fun which is stir-fried Hor Fun with gravy. Different from the Moonlight version which is a dry version, the War Tan version comes with quite a bit of thick gravy. As we tried the Hor Fun, this round we ordered the War Tan Fish Noodles as we realised fish noodles are a popular thing in Ipoh. The gravy was nice but nothing too extraordinary but the noodles were great. As they were made out of pure fish meat, the noodles were springy and soft with a crunchiness similar to fish balls. When paired with the gravy, it was very delicious
The last dish we ordered was the fried Dai Loke Mee which is a Malaysian version of Hokkien noodles. Instead of the thin version of noodles, this version has thick round-fat noodles fried in dark soy sauce and topped with seafood and meat. The key winner of this dish was the beautiful wok hei which nicely caramelised the sauce to coat each noodle well. The pork lard used also added an additional layer of flavours
Overall, the food at Tuck Kee did not disappoint and it was also very affordable. There was no 5-star service but the staff was attentive as much as they could, but once it reached peak hours, they were quite short-staffed. The meals were also served fast within 10 minutes of ordering through the paper chit. I do recommend trying out this old-school zi char restaurant for a taste of Malaysia’s favourite dishes
Address: 61, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Opening hours: 1 pm to 10.30 pm
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