Ipoh Eat: Restoran Sin Kin Kok (新建国茶餐室) @ Ipoh Old Town

18 March 2026

Restoran Sin Kin Kok (新建国茶餐室) — previously known as Restoran Kin Kok (建国茶餐室) — is one of the few coffee shops located in Ipoh Old Town, right opposite OldTown White Coffee Experience Centre. The coffee shop housed several food stalls serving well-known traditional Ipoh delights.

As with most coffee shop owners, Sin Kin Kok itself serves hot / cold traditional kopi, teh and traditional toasts. Their poached eggs on toasts (蛋治) and caramel custards (炖蛋) are hot-sellers too. Other stalls in the coffee shop offers char kway teow / mee goreng, chee cheong fun, dry / soup curry noodle, kai si hor fun (shredded chicken noodle), handmade ban mian, etc.

Left: Sin Kin Kok’s kopi, kopi-O and cham are thick and aromatic and great to start the day. Their traditional Caramel Custard (炖蛋), doused in light caramel syrup, is soft, creamy and not too sweet — a popular dessert in Ipoh.

Right: From 旧街场良记猪肠粉 stall, the old-taste Chee Cheong Fun (猪肠粉) is added with red sweet sauce (a.k.a. thim cheong), crispy fried shallots, white sesame seeds and pickled green chillies. It is a light dish with a mix of flavours. Their Glutinous Rice Dumpling (糯米粽) is soft and sticky with minced meat and very nice.

The Char Kway Teow / Mee Goreng from 金粉.炒粉档 stall is a unique style of its own. Unlike typical Ipoh / Penang char kway teow that uses slimmer kway teow and lesser soy sauce, this dish uses broad kway teow to stir-fried with bean sprouts, prawns, cockles, chive in dark soy sauce — similar to Singapore-style — and covered with a piece of fried scrambled egg. The wok aroma is captivating and it has a richer flavour. The accompanying chilli adds some acidity and spiciness to the dish.

The Dry Curry Noodle from 周记海南咖喱面 stall uses both yellow noodle and thin rice vermicelli — my selection — that are stir-fried with soy sauce, added with fresh prawns, shredded chicken, crispy roasted pork, crunchy bean sprouts, doused with spicy curry sauce and touched-off with edible mint leaves and a lime. It has much more ingredients and diverse flavours than expected. This is also a nice dish to try.