Food Review-Restoran Mee Udang Sempoi Diraja-Ipoh

Sometimes to get to the best food in town you need to ask the locals and that was what i did during my recent trip to Ipoh, Perak. Though not as popular as Penang as food heaven, Ipoh has its fair share of culinary specialties such as the world famous Ipoh white coffee, chee cheong fun and other mostly Chinese influenced dishes.

From the word of mouth, i was informed of one restaurant that i should not miss to try in Ipoh which serves delicious Prawn Mee and other seafood dishes which has become so popular with the locals and even throughout the state of Perak due to the freshness of the seafoods used in their dishes, the great taste of the same and the affordable price. This restaurant is aptly named "Restoran Mee Udang Sempoi Diraja" which i believe can be deemed to represent the greatness of the speciality served here which is the Prawn Mee with the word "Diraja" or "Royal" in its name.

Locating this restaurant can be a challenge for those who are not familiar with roads within Ipoh town and truth be told me and my friend had to make few turns, u-turns and queries along our way to reach this place. However once we got there, we noticed that the landmark to this place is the Best Western Premier Haven Ipoh Hotel whereby from there you have to drive straight heading to Tanjung Rambutan about 5 minutes until you see a mosque named Masjid An Nur on your right and a Petronas station on your left. This restaurant is located in the cornerlot of the one-storey shoplot behind the Petronas Station.

Here is the location map which i found from the net for better understanding and direction:

Once we arrived, we were warmly greeted by the owner and the waiter and handed with the menu. I felt so excited to see so many choices of dishes served here as they not only specialized in serving Prawn Mee, but vast selections of other seafood dishes that you may find in other restaurant such as Sweet and Sour Fish, Butter Prawn, Chilli Crab, to name a few and they even have lobster here which may not be available in other restaurant of similar establishment. Do note that this is no fancy restaurant but a small laid back place, no frills which serve good food at affordable price-which is hard to find nowadays.

The simple design of the restaurant

I had to try their speciality which is the Prawn Mee and i chose this to be served with Giant Fresh Water Prawn. Take note that you may choose other types of prawn such as Tiger Prawn or even Lobster for the noodle. The price for this dish will depend on the size of the prawn used and you may choose the prawn yourself or ask the friendly waiter to choose for you, which i did the latter and asked for the smallest prawn. To my surprise and delight, when the plate was brought to my table, i was impressed with the size of the prawn used which is literally the size of my palm and this being the smallest that they have.

Truth be told, the taste of the Prawn Mee is tantalizingly delicious. The prawn was succulent, sweet and fresh. The gravy was thick with balance taste of sweet and sour and with cuts of chillies to give it some extra kick. I can testament to the great taste of this dish that made it so popular.

My friend ordered Mixed Crab and Prawn Mee, which was similarly delicious. With one medium sized fresh Blue Crab and good amount of prawns thrown into the dish.

We also ordered Sweet and Sour Seabass. The fish was fried to perfection and the gravy was just  perfect with balances of sweet and sour taste in it.

All the above came to a price of RM 74 only-much to our surprise,which we believe was quite cheap for the dishes that we ordered. 

This place does not offer stunning views for dining or any other luxuries of upscale eateries however it does offer first class foods and for that i will keep coming back for more, just like other people who had sworn to the deliciousness of the foods do all these time. Cheers-Kay2014