Nam Chau Kopitiam on Market Lane is walking distance from Concubine Lane. Their most popular dish is their curry mee.
But apart from their signature dish, what else can you order here, and how does the coffee shop hold up in terms of service, dining environment and pricing?
Read how we as Ipoh locals feel about this eatery in this post.
History
Since starting in 2005, Nam Chau Kopitiam is approaching 20 years of business, operating out of the same corner lot.
Their legacy is their curry mee as well as their coffee which is sold in-store and online in powder variations as well as 3-in-1 packets.
Beyond this, they also sell their dry curry paste.
Local celebrities have visited this coffee shop before, and they proudly display the videos and photos on one of the walls.
Ease Of Parking
Parking is never easy in Ipoh Old Town, but on weekdays (e.g., Wednesdays and Thursdays), it’s a little quieter around this area.
Despite this, parking is still scarce with nearby office and bank staff going about their day jobs.
So, bear in mind that you’ll likely have to park further and walk to the restaurant.
Ambiance
The coffee shop recently got a much-needed refresh. Although the tiles on the floor and walls still look grubby. Back then, their exhaust system wasn’t working too well but during our last visit, we no longer smelled of their cooking after leaving the eatery.
They have retained some vintage décor, lights and a large mural on one of the walls. Now, instead of coming across as something between an old-school kopitiam and a very simple café, they look like a modern kopitiam. Complete with a glass front and air-conditioning!
The last time we came, it was very dim in the shop. Artificial lights not make up for the lack of natural light entering the shop.
Another thing that has changed about the appearance of this eatery is the spacing of tables. It used to be that they didn’t cram too many tables in such a small space.
It’s a little bit more cramped now than it was before. We came during lunchtime on a weekday so the tables were not full but on weekends, we imagine that this is a very popular breakfast spot!
Service
Some say the lady boss is rude, but we don’t find that to be the case. She frequently checked up on us despite having other customers around.
The staff, however, are indeed mostly foreign and we couldn’t help suspecting if that extends to the kitchen staff and chef as well. It does take a little struggle before we can communicate to the waiter what we wanted but he did get the orders right in the end. That was during our last visit.
But on our most recent visit, they now have clear menus with photos and it’s easy to let the waiter know what you want.
Food and drinks came quickly but to be fair, there were only a few other occupied tables besides us. And it was not a peak day.
Food
We find that the curry mee here is good. Not great, but good and it is not difficult to finish the bowl with relish.
The kaya toast is thick and evenly toasted with a generous slather of both dairy butter and kaya. The soft-boiled eggs were perfectly done too.
As for drinks, we had soya bean milk with cincau and their iced Ipoh white coffee. Both beverages were average (i.e., not exceptional), however, they were also not too sweet (which is how we like it).
On our most recent visit, we tried their iced cham (a mix of coffee and tea) and it was very nice. The dry yee mee is not bad, albeit a tiny bit oily. We had fried pork patty with rice too, and it was tasty and well prepared!
Pricing
Now that they have air-conditioning, their pricing makes more sense. We used to find it a bit pricey since the ambiance was really lacking.
There are rice sets that are great value and we can guess that these are popular with the working lunch crowd.
They do serve well-portioned curry mee and use butter for their kaya toast. There is the option of adding cockles to your curry mee too (an additional RM2.50).
Conclusion
To wrap up our thoughts on Nam Chau Kopitiam – it is a convenient and comfortable (with the air-conditioning) alternative for local style breakfast if other tourist favorites like Thean Chun and Restoran Kong Heng happen to be closed (i.e., Thursdays).
We find that having lunch here is affordable too.
Recommended Breakfast Spots In Ipoh
See other places to get breakfast in Ipoh if Nam Chau Kopitiam is not what you had in mind. There are other dishes to try instead of curry mee too!
Curry Mee In Ipoh
Here are some other places to eat good curry mee in Ipoh. We like curry mee and we’ve tried all the supposedly good ones. You can see from this post which are our favorites!
