What It’s Like To Dine At Thean Chun Restaurant In Ipoh

If you’re coming to Ipoh, there’s no way you have not come across the name, Thean Chun Restaurant.

This old coffee shop is famous for its signature soup noodle dish, kai se hor fun. All the locals know about it but most of its customers are tourists.

So, is this just a tourist trap or is it worth going to? Keep on reading if you want some tips on how to improve your experience here.

Where Is Thean Chun Restaurant?

You will see Thean Chun Restaurant in Ipoh Old Town if one of your stops is Concubine Lane. These two tourist hot spots are almost directly across from each other.

Because of this, finding parking close to Thean Chun Restaurant is not easy. The situation is worse during lunch hours, any day of the week (even when Thean Chun Restaurant is closed).

The eatery shares an alley with another coffee shop, Ipoh Kong Heng. And customers who sit in either of these premises can order dishes from both coffee shops.

PS: If you don’t have to offend anyone, best order drinks at the coffee shop that you have a seat in. And at least one dish. Don’t sit in Ipoh Kong Heng and only order food from Thean Chun Restaurant.

Within walking distance from here, are also cafes and Kong Heng Square.

When Is The Best Time To Visit?

Thean Chun Restaurant is closed on Wednesday and Thursday. On other days, they open from 8am to 4:30pm.

Weekdays don’t have much less customers than on weekends.

So, if you really want to beat the crowds, we recommend that you reach this restaurant before 9am.

There are great reasons for being early:

• Better chance of finding nearby parking and tables inside the restaurant
• Broth is still thick and undiluted – The broth tends to thin out after 12pm
• Don’t have to wait close to an hour for the food to come
• Quieter atmosphere (less people)

How Is The Dining Environment?

The exterior and interior of Thean Chun Restaurant resembles many traditional coffeeshops in Ipoh. Dusty fans, grubby tiles, a mismatch of tables, chairs, and stools and no air conditioning.

Mirrors line one side of the wall at Thean Chun Restaurant and we have seen little cockroaches scurry around this eatery before.

Food stalls and a counter for cigarettes and pocket tissues are at the front of the eatery. One new addition here is a small stall for traditional chicken biscuits.

The drinks counter is at the back along with the toilet.

Empty tables are usually in high demand. So, the servers do their best to clear the tables as quickly as possible.

When the restaurant is full, you might be sitting back-to-back with a stranger. And the eatery will be noisy and stuff in the afternoon.

Kai Se Hor Fun At Thean Chun Restaurant

They usually only give you just enough soup to cover the flat rice noodles (hor fun).

If they have not diluted the soup yet, it is rich and of a dark orange/ brown hue.

The prawn taste is very strong. And the overall taste leans towards salty, rather than sweet. Which is our personal preference.

There are spring onions and shredded chicken breast meat in the broth.

We do like the kai se hor fun here and agree that it’s one of the best in Ipoh. But at RM9 per bowl, it’s much more expensive than other local spots in Ipoh.

What Else Can You Order Here?

Aside from the savory kai se hor fun, you can get satay, curry mee, and chee cheong fun. We find both curry mee and the curry variation of the chee cheong fun to be good.

Satay is alright (pork satay tastes better than chicken in our opinion), just a bit tough. This dish comes with a thick peanut sauce and cut cucumbers.

If you plan to order from next door, there is popiah, rojak, kuay teow, tea eggs, and caramel custard pudding. We don’t think any of these are exceptional although the caramel custard is nice.

As for drinks, we usually get coffee and a barley drink. The taste of the coffee is robust. They too, sell caramel custard here.

Conclusion

With its popularity (and thus, lack of tables and parking) Thean Chun Restaurant is more of a tourist stop than a local haunt now.

But that said, you can still experience an authentic bowl of kai se hor fun if you come here early enough.

And if you cannot make it here before peak time, we suggest going elsewhere. Because as good as it is, the food is not worth waiting an hour for. More so when the staff start diluting the tasty broth.

See other options for the best food in Ipoh.