If you’re exploring Ipoh Old Town and fancy something other than local bites, Girlie’s Café is walking distance from popular tourist spots.
The café has been around for more than 5 years, and their high ratings are a testament to what you can expect here.
Personally, we find that this is one of the more pricier cafes in Ipoh. And if you’re thinking of going, you can read more about Girlie’s Café in this post.
Table Of Contents:
About Girlie’s Café
Girlie’s Café appeared in Ipoh’s café scene around 2018.
The location of this cafe on Jalan Market is strategic as there are many local biscuit shops here. Ipoh’s famous concubine Lane is also not far from Girlie’s Café.
Baking enthusiasts make up the team of Girlie’s Café.
And hence, the café serves a lot more than sourdough bread. There’s specialty cakes, croissants, quiche, brownies, fruit tarts, and more.
Plus, when Chinese New Year is around the corner, they will sell traditional Chinese biscuits too.
Opening hours are from 10am to 5pm daily. As such, the menu doesn’t have any dinner-like options.
Ease Of Parking At Girlie’s Café
Regardless of which day of the week it is:
You’ll have to be extremely lucky to get a parking spot in the same row as Girlie’s Café. Much less directly in front of it.
Your best bet is to have a lot of patience to look for a vacant spot. Alternatively, you can park further away and walk. There are some that risk parking at an illegal spot and getting a summon.
Going to Girlie’s Cafe during less popular hours (e.g., 11am or 2pm) might make a difference too.
Ambiance At Girlie’s Café
Compared to the bright outdoors, Girlie’s Café is a little dim. But when your eyes adjust to the lighting, the air-conditioned café is cozy.
Industrial elements mark the interior. These include black metal chairs and black fittings like fans and pendant lights, exposed ducting, etc.
There is one table outside the café but we don’t see why patrons will want to sit there when there’s air conditioning inside.
The counter (with the inviting cake and pastry display) takes up one half of the narrow but long interior. While the back of the café is a dedicated baking room.
Service At Girlie’s Café
Most of the staff are busy at the back baking but the 2 or 3 staff manning the counter will take orders, prepare beverages, wait on tables, etc.
We came here on a Friday at 11:30am and there was only one other table dining in.
A waitress came with a menu the moment we sat down. She explained which items were not available. Much to our disappointment, there was no beef or avocado that day.
When you figure out what you want to order at Girlie’s Café, go the front of the counter. Payment is expected before the food is served.
It took a while (more than 15 minutes) for the food to come, even when it wasn’t peak time.
Food At Girlie’s Café
Sourdough bread at Girlie’s Café is excellent and for this reason alone, you can safely choose anything on the menu that features it.
You can also add on sourdough bread (and other sides) together with other mains.
Because it wasn’t available, we could not try their smashed avocado or beef ragu. What we ordered was:
- Smoked duck aglio olio (without the chili flakes)
- Mushroom pesto
- Pesto egg toast
- Cold matcha latte with oat milk and less sugar
- Hot houjicha
While the smoked duck was tasty (albeit a little salty and oily), both pasta mains were not as tasty and fulfilling as the pesto egg toast.
Our only complaint for the pesto egg toast was the need for a larger plate.
As for the pasta, the pesto pasta did not have any meat with it. Just a couple of large mushrooms on top. But was RM2 more than the smoked duck aglio e olio.
On another note, the drinks are decent. We do personally think that the houjicha and matcha lattes at Jalan Theatre Coffee are less grainy.
Note: They use Niko Neko matcha and houjicha
Pricing At Girlie’s Café
In our group of 4 small eaters, we were able to fill our tummies with 3 mains and 2 drinks (drinking water is free at Girlie’s Café).
Still, the total came up to RM97 where 1 person did not order a main, and 2 people shared a drink each.
The pastas while not bad, were underwhelming for what they were worth (RM17 to RM19). That said, we enjoyed the drinks and pesto egg toast (~RM21).
And this is why we consider Girlie’s Café to be more expensive than many other cafes in Ipoh.
To be fair, they do use some quality ingredients. The salad that comes with the mains isn’t just plain lettuce and cherry tomatoes. As we have seen in other cafes.
We have bought a loaf of sourdough bread from Girlie’s Café before. And it is delightful when you toast it at home before serving.
We’ve also tried the breakfast set before (I’m Hungry) too and it’s very generous. It also costs a whooping ~RM29.
Conclusion
All in all, Girlie’s Café is a good choice for quality western brunch in Ipoh Old Town if you have cash to spare. And in our opinion, the breakfast and brunch items are more worth it than the pasta.
If you don’t mind going further, Ferment Boulangerie is another café that specializes in sourdough bread.
See a full list of the best cafes in Ipoh.
Note: If you have elders in your group, note that the sourdough bread will be tough for them to chew.
