Excellent Dim sum in Ipoh – Sun Kim Aik

Becky’s 1 Minute Summary:
What: Finely made dim sum; excellent in taste, generous portions, reasonable pricing and looks pretty too!
What to order here: 1st visit and I was suitably impressed. I enjoy every dim sum I tried and would list this as my favourite so far ( Disclaimer: I haven’t tried every outlet in Ipoh).
I was told that the must-trys are the pork pau but seriously, I doubt any of the dim sum here will disappoint you badly.
Overall experience: Really satisfied with what I had. I would certainly recommend Sun Kim Aik to my friends.
Price: Price starts from about RM3.50 per portion of dim sum. Some comes in sets of 3 pieces. Some 2. Just like any other dim sum outlet.

For the long story, read on.

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For my recent Ipoh trip, I had some dim sum at Ying Fa followed by another session at Chef Fatt. I was pretty satisfied at both, as the taste was pretty good in general and prices were fair.
However, as I stood in the midst of this bustling dim sum shop in Menglembu area I realized Sun Kim Aik is going to be of a completely different league all together.

It wasn’t just the crowd. That’s expected of almost every dim sum outlet in Ipoh.
But it was the look of every platter of dim sum here and the fact that I’m liking what I see.

Every dim sum was BIG; about an average about 20% larger than your usual dim sum sizes.
The skin of the har kau (prawn dumplings) are impressively translucent and as I bit into one, it slides off easily and out popped large, bouncy prawns. Nice! 😀

It has a soft and slightly chewy texture that most dim sum outlets failed to achieve. And the prawns had none of that gummy coating which I loathe.

Frankly, Sun Kim Aik rivals some of the dim sum I’ve had in hotels. And for 1/3 the price! Furthermore this is in Menglembu in Ipoh so this shop feeds most of the industrial workers in the area who expect generous portions & value-for-money meals.

I was told the Sang Yuk pau (pork bun) is good but at 9am it was already sold out. The big pau is popular as well but Brian advised me to skip it as both pau has the same fillings but you pay more for the Big Pau just because of slightly more meat and thicker dough. Being the typical Chinesewoman, I couldn’t agree more with this theory.
Besides there were no lacking of variety to try, so the pau can wait.

Psssssst…have I told you that the dim sum here looks as good as it taste?

The char siew pau (BBQ Pork Bun) was exactly how I like my char siew pau. Fluffy yet velvety skin, more lean meat than fat, balanced sweetness, wet but not too saucy. In other words, everything in perfect balance.

Another worth recommending is the Wu Kok (Yam Puff). As you can see the fillings are generous and the yam layer soft and lush. It was barely greasy though it was a fried item.

The same was observed for this. Crispy chewy skin and jam packed with fish and prawn paste within.

This tau cheong (bean paste) beancurd and fish paste dim sum is lovely too. Some tau cheong preparations can be salty and strong but no such predicament marred this one.

Pork ribs. This looks scrumptious.

My favourite dim sum item – fishballs. Really good. Firm, bouncy with a strong fish flavour. The trio of fish prawn dumplings you see below has slight differences – one has seaweed, another salted egg yolk and lastly crabstick.

In case you haven’t noticed they are shaped like gold fish with green peas and carrots for eyes! 😀

Only the siew mai looks sad. But it did taste good.

I have never liked my dim sum greasy or too strong on flavours (too sweet, too salty). The dim sum at Sun Kim Aik suits me as the ones I tried was devoid of any pork stench nor were they overly oil, even for the fried items.
The flavours are balanced and clean, and where the natural flavours should shine, they did; case in point the prawns and and fishballs.
Even the chee cheong fun has a light sauce, just enough to pass on its flavour to the smooth, thin rice sheets. Their chilli is made in-house and is slightly different than those dark, dried chilli with shrimp types.

The dipping chilli sauce is their own blend as well.

I probably only managed to sample 30% of the dim sum offered here and I can’t wait to revisit! 😀

The total of everything we had above PLUS some takeaways (about 4-5 dim sum) was RM67. I listened to the price quoted in disbelief. I would have paid the same for 2 pax for mediocre coffeeshop dim sum in KL and walk away barely satiated. RM70 can’t pay for more than 10 plates of dim sum in KL. 

Thanks Brian for the intro to this gem of a place. I had a fabulous dim sum meal! Gong Hei Fatt Choy everyone! 😀

 

PS: Don’t let its address deter you from visiting. It is actually just on the outskirts of the town (about 10 mins drive) and not deep within Menglembu territory.

RESTORAN SUN KIM AIK (Non-Halal)
297, Jalan Lahat,
30100 Menglembu, Perak, Malaysia
Tel No : +605-282 2634
GPS Coordinates : 4.5824,101.0649
Opens for breakfast only – 5am to 12pm.