Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant is in Ipoh town but out of sight from the main tourist attractions. Because of this, it is a lot more convenient to dine here than at more famous dim sum restaurants in Ipoh.
There’s also a bit of a garden setting here thanks to the surrounding trees and abundant hanging plants.
If you want to know more about what the prices are like, or how good the food is, keep on reading!
About
Official opened in early October 2020:
Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant is not a halal dim sum restaurant. Many of their dishes feature prawn and pork.
Signature dishes included their red Hong Kong style chee cheong fun, fried raddish cake with XO sauce. And their black custard buns. They do have a few variations of chee cheong fun to choose from.
Their menu is in Mandarin with photos of all their dishes. Each dish has a short description in English too. Which is nice if you are not Chinese-educated!
Ease Of Parking
Compared to other eateries in this area, it is relatively easy to find parking close to Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant.
You’ll have even more choices of street parking if you come here before 9am.
Ample parking is one of the best things about Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant.
Ambiance
Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant offers a casual yet comfortable and clean setting for its customers. The many plants they have make the restaurant more welcoming.
One side of the restaurant has indoor seating with air-conditioning, but this space is not fully enclosed either. Because they keep the doors open between the outdoor seating and indoor seating.
In the early morning, it is very quiet and calm at Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant.
But after 10am, you may see tourist buses unload their passengers at Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant too.
Service
The menu states that it takes 15 minutes for food to come after placing orders. Some dishes have a 25-minute wait time.
These predictions are reliable enough but serving times can be slower as more and more customers come in.
We placed our orders at close to 8:30am on a Friday morning. It took about 20 minutes for the first dish to show up. Bear in mind, there were only two other occupied tables besides ours.
This is because they make the dishes fresh by order. Steamed dishes in particular, take longer.
Deep fried dishes will come first.
The proprietress, Elizabeth Boh is very welcoming, and her staff are polite. They are attentive in refilling drinks too.
PS: If you’re a local, let them know and you can get a discount stamp for future visits!
Food
Here’s what we ordered for our group of 7:
- Siew mai with fish roe – three sets
- Prawn dumpling king – three sets
- Loh mai gai
- Mango fresh shrimp roll
- Wu gok – Flavored taro (pork)
- Lo bak go – Fried raddish cake
- Reddish crispy prawn rice roll
- Har guen
- Prawn rice roll
- Ku chai kuih – Steamed chive dumplings
Most of the dim sum we ordered was good. We especially like the siu mai and loh mai gai. The prawns that they use are fresh and they’re not stingy with them either.
Mango fresh shrimp roll is interesting. But the taste might be a bit bland for some since there is no sauce inside. We don’t see this item at other dim sum restaurants.
Lo bak go is crispy but plain tasting – it doesn’t have dried shrimp, or bits of lap cheong (Chinese sausage).
Of the lot, we find the ku chai kuih to be the most unpleasant since there were too many chives inside.
And maybe we were just full by then, but the reddish crispy prawn rice roll is a bit much – too much going on in terms of taste and textures.
Pricing
Together with a pot of tea to share, our total came up to ~RM152 for 7 of us. Which is not bad considering that we over-ordered.
Per plate, dim sum ranges from RM6.50 to RM9.00.
Conclusion
We would rate Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant a 7.5/10. Overall, portions are fair. And the food is good (siew mai was our favorite), but some dishes could be better. They have some unique items on their menu too.
The dining environment is comfortable, family-friendly, and peaceful in the early morning.
Depending on what you order, the price is average to high. Service is a little slow, but you won’t have to worry about finding parking at Zhen Hi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant!
If you don’t mind struggling for parking, the food at Chooi Yue Dim Sum and Ming Court Hong Kong Dim Sum is tastier.