Pak Kong Chicken Rice Restaurant or Nasi Ayam Pak Kong is a long running eatery on Jalan Theatre in Ipoh.
Their signature dish is none other than Hainanese-style chicken rice which is a quintessential local dish that many come to Ipoh to try.
Queues can be long, and service slow during lunch times as they also cater towards food delivery. But how else does this restaurant score in other aspects? Is it worth patronizing this place?
Location
The eatery is not far from other notable chicken rice eateries in Ipoh New Town. These include Cowan Street Ayam Tauge & Koitiau Restaurant, Ong Kee Restaurant and Restoran Tauge Ayam Lou Wong.
However, since Cowan Street Ayam Tauge & Koitiau Restaurant only opens for dinner and both Ong Kee Restaurant and Restoran Tauge Ayam Lou Wong can sell out of chicken quickly:
You might find yourself left with this eatery as your only option. And this is not entirely a bad thing.
Ease Of Parking
1pm is the peak time here. If you go before then, it technically should be easier to find parking and a table.
But parking is not a given in this area. Especially on weekends and public holidays so if you see a free spot that is walking distance from the restaurant, you should take it without hesitation.
Ambiance
As typical for traditional shophouse lots, this restaurant is narrow, and they do cram tables in all the way to the back.
Hence, it can get noisy and feel warm when it’s full house. There’s not much elbow room either and servers will squeeze between tables when serving food.
The cleanliness standard is average and typical of any other kopitiam in Ipoh.
Service
At their busiest times (i.e., during lunch time), the staff is busy taking orders, preparing food deliveries besides serving tables so don’t expect them to stop by for a chat, let alone a smile.
It’s not that they’re understaffed either. They just have many delivery orders.
We went on a weekday and before the lunch crowd filled the space, and even then, it was slightly over 30 minutes before we saw food on our table.
Luckily none of us were hungry, but that is a considerably long waiting time despite it not being a weekend or their peak lunch time.
Food
Aside from chicken, they do sell roast pork and char siew too. And we will add that both are delicious and worth ordering.
Overall, the chicken, rice, and beansprout dish meet local standards. The chicken is tender and the tauge (or beansprouts) are plump and crunchy.
Note: You can request for kampung chicken if you want a leaner chicken
If you want, you can order chap geok here too. This is a Chinese vegetable dish that involves dried chili and vinegar – a sour and spicy combination that few restaurants serve!
Pricing
Pricing is fair. For 3 pax, we ate our fill along with drinks (chilled chrysanthemum tea) without spending a lot.
Portions are neither stingy nor generous.
Conclusion
Because of the hassle of parking and slow service, we will not be returning to Pak Kong Chicken Rice Restaurant any time soon.
But if it’s your first time to Ipoh and you really want to try chicken rice, the taste of the chicken rice here is authentic and pricing is reasonable too. You’ll just have to tolerate the cramped dining environment and wait for parking, a table and the food.
Chicken Rice In Ipoh
Pak Kong Chicken Rice Restaurant is good but it’s not our favorite place for chicken rice in Ipoh. Here are more suggestions on where you can go instead.
Ipoh Dishes We Recommend
Besides chicken rice, you really ought to be trying other local dishes like wantan mee, curry mee, or chee cheong fun! See our recommendations on where to try local food in Ipoh.
