Monday, September 3, 2007

Kopi Tiam, White Coffee and Old Town - the image lives on....

Old Town,White Coffee, Kopi Tiam...what does it all mean..how did it come about..
From wikipedia...kopi is coffee ok..and tiam is the the Hokkien dialect word for shop..so coffee shop..
White Coffee..well the story below explains how the taste of white coffee came about...and its been popular ever since...

Now 'Old Town'..this i know...this is the part of Ipoh Town located west of the Kinta River...the buildings are old but still charming..with nice windows frames

Below is a view of Old Town..the brown corner building in the front is Nam Heong ..where the flavour of white coffee originated from....the name of the street it is on is Jalan Bandar Timah ( formerly Leech Street)

..a water color painting of Nam Heong coffee shop with the Old Town logo...
(water color painting by Mr Khor Seow Hooi)

across from Nam Heong is Kedai Kopi Sin Yoon Loong....which also serves white coffee. Apparently both these shops have a staunch following of coffee lovers each proclaiming their kopitiam has a better flavour....

but that is just the coffee flavour..what Old Town White Coffee has also done is to project the image of Ipoh in those day gone by ...by furnishing their outlets with marble topped tables and large wall mirrors...a feature that is found in alot of old coffee shops around Ipoh till today

this is the result..Old Town outlet at Ipoh Garden South...marble topped tables and stools..and large wall mirrors..with large photos of Old Town...a chic ambience huh...

..use coffee cups common since that time..pale green flower motif.. a cup being served with a chinese spoon held up by the cup handle ...served with a traditional menu of kaya & toast..with a thick spread of margarine or butter..yummy...

or yau char koay...to dip with the coffee...just like those days

a copy of their menu.....prices are very reasonable..pop in ..have a cup + a light snack..in a heritage enviroment...its really nice...

no doubt about it..the character and charm of Ipoh Old Town has been captured through this chain of Old Town White Coffee outlets.....and better still 'this old town concept' is being marketed nationwide...wow ...and it started in Ipoh.

below the outlet at Hale Street....its housed in 2 lots at this row of old pre war shoplots.....how appropriate...

the interior of one of the lots...

the interior of the next lot....a cozy blend of black and white...

cafe style cubicles and square marble topped tables....

large mirrors adorn the walls...really cozy....

the outlet at Pasir Puteh



the outlet at Ipoh Garden South...small yet cozy....

the outlet at Medan Ipoh...wifi available.....


another good outcome of this outlet...it is an integration outlet where all the races sit and eat together at local prices...how cozy..

cheers!

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