While peanut candy is traditionally a Chinese New Year treat, you can find them for sale in Ipoh throughout the year! Hence, it is a highly sought-after snack that visitors buy for friends and family.
Shops that specialize at making this crunchy and sweet peanut brittle treat basically use the same ingredients – sugar and maltose, some salt, sesame seeds, peanuts, puffed rice grains and vegetable oil.
Here are some recommended places where you can get the sweet and salty treat. Customers will wait in line patiently just to buy the candy fresh and in bulk! Some of these shops sell other goodies you might be interested in too.
Table of contents:
- Sin Weng Fai Peanut Candy Shop
- Ming Yue Confectionery
- Ching Han Guan
- Happiness Confectionery (美心饼家)
- Guan Heong Biscuit Shop (源香饼家)
- Peanut Candy By Happy Delicious Salted Chicken
1. Sin Weng Fai Peanut Candy Shop
This shop (and the second one on this list) is the go-to shop for tourists. Even the local newspaper has featured them before!
They have been churning out their signature fragrant peanut candy and kaya puffs for over 5 decades!
Their peanut candy makes for a great (and addictive) snack, and you can also gift it to your friends and family. It costs under RM20 per pack.
Another pastry you might want to try from here are their peanut cones. And they make their own heong piah too.
Good To Know:
- Walk-in customers can only buy 10 300g packets/ person (or 5 for busier days)
- On weekdays, the queue is still at least 30 minutes long
- Their peanut candy is not too hard, too sweet or too salty
- Price range: ~RM9 for a single packet (300g)
- Usually sold out by late afternoon
- Not easy to find parking here
- The first batch of peanut candy only comes out of the oven after 10am
- Location: 69 & 69A, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Perak
- Contact: +605-243 1211
- Opening Hours: 9am – 9:30pm
2. Ming Yue Confectionery
Ming Yue got even more popular when Hong Kong actor Chapman To visited their shop for his show, Pick Me Up To Malaysia – a travel show on Malaysian food.
The wait time is just as long at Ming Yue’s as it is at Sin Weng Fai. And there is a queue just for the peanut candy!
Which may be crunchy and tasty but, in our opinion, the long queue isn’t worth the wait. What makes the wait so long is that they pack the peanut brittle on the spot according to each customer’s needs.
Note: Minimum of 200g and maximum of 2kg peanut candy per customer.
However, their seasonal moon cakes are worth a try! These are some of the best in Ipoh.
Good To Know:
- Not too sweet – You can try some first before buying
- Pre-orders are not accepted
- They only start selling the peanut candy at 11:30am
- Candy is not pre-packed. The staff pack it on the spot
- They just make 150kg worth of the candy in a day
- Price range: ~RM4.4 per 100 gram
- 2kg maximum per person
- Cash payment only
More information on Ming Yue Confectionery.
- Location: 50, Jalan Peh Kee Koh, Taman Kampar, 31650 Ipoh, Perak
- Contact: +605-255 4128
- Opening Hours: 9:30am – 6:30pm for most days and 9:45am to 6pm on Sundays
3. Ching Han Guan
For those watching their sugar levels, you can get low-sugar peanut candy at Ching Han Guan. This shop is across the road from Guan Heong Biscuit Shop.
There are many different types of childhood biscuits, and sweet treats here in the small, air-conditioned shop.
We like their low sugar walnut soft candy as it is lightly sweet and easy to chew. The texture is a bit like soft fudge. It’s a unique treat we don’t often see.
The higher price is justified by the many fresh walnuts and sesame seeds they use to make this candy.
The pandan meat floss pastries are just okay too – we find the filling too dry and the pandan taste is overwhelmed by the meat floss.
Overall, prices are quite steep here, but their packaging is very presentable if you plan to buy these back as gifts.
- Location: 145, Jalan Sultan Iskandar, Taman Jubilee, 30000 Ipoh, Perak
- Contact: +605-2545126
- Opening Hours: 9:30am–6:30pm; Closed on Tuesdays
4. Happiness Confectionery (美心饼家)
Having been around since the 80s, and currently in the hands of the third generation:
Happiness Confectionery specializes in Chinese pastries like sachima or single yolk mooncakes. Including peanut candy.
And since Happiness Confectionery or Konfeksi Happiness is walking distance from Ming Yue Confectionery:
You can still pick up peanut candy from here if the tremendous queue at Ming Yue Confectionery discourages you!
- Location: 32, Jalan Tokong, 31650 Ipoh, Perak
- Opening Hours: 9am – 5:30pm; 9.30am to 5:30pm (Sunday)
- Contact: +605-254 7306
5. Guan Heong Biscuit Shop (源香饼家)
An exceptional home-grown business (of 4 generations) selling traditional Chinese pastries:
Guan Heong’s signature products are their meat floss and salted egg biscuits! Other innovative pastries you can find here are their dried meat biscuits and moon cakes. And different variations of heong peah!
And while you’re happily browsing in their air-conditioned store, you can pick up some peanut candy too.
Good To Know:
- Friendly and efficient service
- Vegetarian options available
- Parking is hard to find
- You may want to make a pre-order
- Location: 160, Jalan Sultan Iskandar, Taman Jubilee, 30000 Ipoh, Negeri Perak
- Contact: +605-241 2399
- Opening Hours: 9am – 6:30pm
6. Peanut Candy By Happy Delicious Salted Chicken
If you like your peanut candy to taste more salty than sweet, you can get the peanut candy by Happy Delicious Salted Chicken.
Personally, we still prefer the more moderate taste of the peanut candy by Sin Weng Fai Peanut Candy Shop.
Happy Delicious Salted Chicken sells their peanut candy right on top of the counter. And it’s convenient if you’re also here to pick up their Ipoh salted chicken. Theirs is not outstanding but decent.
The shop is not far from Funny Mountain Soya Beancurd or Lai Kee Soya Bean either if you happen to be on the hunt for tau fu fah at the same time.
- Location: 54, Jalan Theatre, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Perak
- Contact: +6012-5283369
- Opening Hours: 9am–6:30pm
Getting Around Ipoh
The last thing you want to do in Ipoh is to waste time going around in circles finding somewhere to park your car! Especially when you plan to check out a few different souvenir stores in Ipoh.
Eliminate that headache with a private guided tour in Ipoh!
RayTheTour private tour service can pick you up straight from the Ipoh airport or from your hotel in Ipoh. And as part of a personalized Ipoh itinerary!
WhatsApp RayTheTour to inquire about a booking.
Conclusion
Peanut candy are great local snacks to try, along with traditional biscuits and Ipoh white coffee.
The most well-known bakeries like Ming Yue and Sin Weng Fai are very popular with tourists due to their reputation and location.
While bakeries like Guan Heong Biscuit Shop, are a good one-stop shop to buy edible local souvenirs!
Ipoh Souvenirs
Can’t pack any food to bring home? Or just want something other than food to gift to friends? We have some suggestions on what you can buy in Ipoh. And we don’t mean mass produced tourist souvenirs either. These are locally made and unique.
Ipoh White Coffee
While you can buy 3-in-1 instant coffee packets anywhere, we recommend trying the real deal when you are in Ipoh. There are so many coffee shops that serve a cup of authentic Ipoh white coffee. Many of these are ideal breakfast and lunch venues as well.