It’s hard not to notice the attractive storefront of Chakori when you’re strolling along Jalan Market. The café is walking distance from popular Ipoh attractions too.
What’s more, they have cold (or hot treats) and an air-conditioned environment that is pure bliss on a hot afternoon of sightseeing on foot.
This is our experience having an afternoon break at Chakori on a Wednesday.
Table Of Contents:
About Chakori
Starting in late 2019, Chakori has managed to pull through the pandemic.
Their specialty are desserts like soft-serve gelato with waffles, and cakes. They have shaved ice desserts too.
And depending on when you go, they may have interesting flavors for their desserts like osmanthus lemon, pumpkin, blueberry, lavender earl grey with lemon, houjicha tiramisu, coconut sorbet, seasalt oreo, etc.
The menu also features many non-caffeinated and caffeinated beverages. Including some very intriguing smoothies.
Ease Of Parking At Chakori
We’ll be frank:
No matter what time of day it is or day of the week, it will not be easy to find parking close to Chakori unless you have some luck on your side.
Even on a Wednesday, we parked as far as Ho Yan Hor Museum and walked to Chakori. And this is what we consider to be a good spot already.
Ambiance Of Chakori
Chakori café resides in two connected and refurbished shot lots.
The cafe features a giant glass door for the front of the café, as well as industrial elements like raw walls, aesthetical wood panelling for the walls, trendy furniture, and different sources of warm ambient lighting.
It’s definitely one of the prettiest cafes we’ve been to in Ipoh. And while there are plenty of seats inside the café, it doesn’t feel cramped.
There is an outdoor section further to the back of the café and this side is highly aesthetic with plants and wood furniture but on non-peak days, they don’t turn the air conditioning on here so it can feel very humid and uncomfortable.
For music, there are Chinese songs playing lightly in the background.
Service At Chakori
They have young staff managing the café and they were patient in waiting for our group of 4 to decide on what we wanted to order.
Then again, there weren’t’ many other customers to attend to that day.
What stood out to us was when the waitress carefully wiped the bottom of one our mugs after noticing that it had spilled over. We didn’t even ask her to do that and that was a nice gesture that we appreciated.
Orders were timely and thus, we don’t have much else to say about the service at Chakori.
Food At Chakori
There are surprisingly a lot of mains you can get at Chakori although we already had our lunch so we settled for their desserts instead.
Of these, we got their signature waffles with gelato – we chose a double scoop of coconut sorbet and black sesame.
As well as a slice of blueberry cheesecake. This was nice and had a mild taste that wasn’t sweet. But it didn’t really taste of blueberry, nor were there many berries inside.
For drinks, we got hojicha tea, matcha tea (very potent), and a latte – all hot although you can choose hot or cold versions for most of the drinks.
We were happy with our desserts and beverages. The waffles still have some crisp to them and they complement the ice cream well.
The coconut sorbet gelato doesn’t taste artificial and the black sesame gelato in comparison, has a stronger flavor.
Pricing At Chakori
We expected the pricing to be very high considering Chakori’s proximity to Concubine Lane. However, the pricing matches other cafes in Ipoh. About RM20 to 25 per person.
It’s just too bad that there is no free flow of drinking water at this café. It is charged separately (RM1 per cup).
Conclusion
Chakori is usually full of people on weekends and public holidays and so their service can be slow on those days.
We recommend coming on an off-peak day so you can enjoy the lovely ambiance and desserts in peace. The only disturbance is the occasional loud whir of the blender whenever someone orders a smoothie!
- Location: 35, Jalan Market, 30000 Ipoh, Perak
- Opening Hours: 10:30am–10:30pm; Saturday & Sunday, 11am–11:30pm; Closed on Tuesday
- Contact: +6011-13324118
Related: Other Cozy Cafes In Ipoh
