As for me, I'm back in Ipoh and the little town is packed with people - it's the holidays sign! When it comes to Ipoh, the first thing we will say ~ what's good to eat?
Ipoh's old town, packed with delicious local food; one if the places you should visit for cafe hopping or starting a little local food trail. You can find local favourites curry noodles, chee cheong fun (I love Kong Heng's CCF), stay for breakfast, fishball noodles and so on.
Not long ago, local chain restaurants and cafe had started to set foot in this golden gem area making Ipoh old town a must-visit area when you're coming to town. One of it is the local restaurant chain, Plan B by The Big group which opened in year 2013 serving delicious fusion and western food to the locals. You don't have to travel all the way to KL to try them!
Thanks to the team at Plan B and The Big Group, I was invited to attend their new dining concept launch at its Plan B Ipoh outlet mid last month. It was my first time stepping into this charming restaurant with a unique and nostalgic interior and exterior settings. To locate Plan B Ipoh, go to Jalan Panglima and spot the infamous Kong Heng coffee shop and the Sekeping Hong Heng retreat right next to it. The Plan B Ipoh is located at the corner - right next to Sekeping Kong Heng. And if you're wandering where it's entrance is, do remember and recognize the spot in the picture below, it's their charming entrance into the restaurant.
I actually love their alfresco dining concept as well as the air-conditioned indoor area for a lovely evening date.
There's also a full-fledged bar area where you can party all-the-way with your cocktails, wines and beers for a TGIF's moments. I'm quite impressed with its bar because there's no other restaurant in town which have such as large scale and complete selection of alcohol (it's purely my opinion and do let me know if you know other places in town okays).
And of course, with its extremely charming restaurant concept, you can take lovely Instagram-worthy pictures in their restaurant. Wait no more and start shooting once you step your foot here in Plan B Ipoh.
I was there at their new menu launch party with my BFF Mei Kuan and Sean Liew as well as Sean's friend; Ah Bi. Must thanks Plan B and The Big Group a lot because it's been ages since I met my BFFs and this event had managed to bring us together! Yay!
A sneak preview into the signature dishes which we sampled during the launch event.
As for drinks, I tried their Passionfruit Iced Tea (RM10) where the Iced Tea is served with an ice-cream as topping (the ice-cream was a little melted in the picture because I was busy snapping pictures of their lovely interior). You need to stir the drink well for a balanced sweet and sourish taste - and savor it before it gets diluted by the melted ice. I would prefer if there's a bit more strong sweet and sourish elements in this (just my opinion) but overall it's good.
My BFF Mei Kuan had the Elderflower Mint Lemonade (RM12) and it's a great choice of drink! This is the drink which I love the most among all the drink options available and we all agreed! Birds of a feather flock together! It has the balanced & mild sweet and minty elements making it a perfect choice to quench our thirst under the hot weather. And the whole stem of mint leaves makes the drink looks refreshing for our eyes too. Do pluck a leaf or two to munch while you're drinking!
Sean and his friend shared this candy-in-your-eyes looking Iced Chocolate (RM10). Strong icy cold chocolate drink topped with whipped cream, a piece of home baked chocolate cookie and some pretzels. The bold and strong chocolate drink brings you the sweet and a tiny chocolatey bitter elements, the cream creates the creamy flow of drink into your throat, the chocolate cookie gives the texture in your indulgence and lastly, the pretzels serves as the savory elements as a balance and a twist in your chocolatey journey. A great drink for the chocolate lovers especially among the ladies. A must-order to have a complete tea-time session.
We were also entertained with a live band performance throughout the night!
We started off our meal with the Skin On Fries With Dips (RM9) as an appetizer where in-house freshly made fries with part of skin still visible is served with 3 types of special dipping. I love the Singapore Chilli dipping the most because it has the strong savory, spicy and a tiny bit of sourish flavours which serves as a perfect sauce to open our appetite for the incoming dishes. And I normally paired my fries with a spicy elements; thus this Singapore Chilli dipping is like a golden gem created just for me. Love this dipping so much that I kept the sauce to pair it with the other dishes served!
For those salted egg lovers, you can now dipped your crunchy fries into the salted egg dipping at Plan B restaurant. A creamy salted egg sauce with hot and crunchy fries is heavenly. It's a strong savory sauce but I would love it if the salted egg flavours is more intense (just my personal opinion okays). A must try at Plan B!
The last dipping sauce is the Lime Mayonnaise and it's a great dipping sauce too. A bit of twist to your average mayonnaise sauce where this one has a refreshing acidic element to give a kick to your fries.
Up next on the menu is the Kristy's Krunchy Kale Salad (RM18) which also suitable for vegetarians because there's no presence of meat products in this one. It's basically a kale salad with peanut dressing and the twist in this dish is the presence of our childhood favourite snack - Mamee Monster crisp. Instead of the usual bread crumbs or croutons which you can find in a salad, the small bite pieces of Mamee is used as a replacement which gives it a super crunchy texture to your bite. It's a brilliant idea by incorporating the unusual elements in our daily salad. I love this salad a lot and I it's actually my second time tasting it - where I actually praised this salad a lot during their Plan B Kitchen Takeover event.
If you love waffle and also fried chicken, you will adore their Buttermilk Fried Chicken (RM33) dish. The fried chicken is great - crunchy coating - juicy chicken meat - great flavours. The thing is that you gotta eat the fried chicken, waffle, coleslaw and a bit of chilli dipping together in one bite. It has an unusual combination of flavours and texture. That's how a true savory kind of waffles should taste like.
The next dish on their preview menu is also one of my favorite item on their menu. This Zucchini Spaghettini (RM22) is a twist to the normal aglio olio styled pasta - in fact a healthier option I would say. The al dente spaghetti is served with thin strips of zucchini, generous shaves of parmesan cheese, chopped tomatoes and garlic confit - with the confit oil to give a great flavours to the pasta (garlic poached in olive oil resulting in a gently, sweet and flavourful morsel - I love them!). The presence of zucchini gives a crunchy and refreshing texture to your bite - and supplying you with great fibers! Great that they provide a generous amount of shaved parmesan cheese in the dish that you don't have to ask for extra cheese powder if you do at other restaurant.
Our last mains which was served the other night was the Salmon Rice Bowl (RM33). You'll be served a bowl of Japanese rice, topped with the star - grilled salmon, pan-fried avocado coated with sesame seeds, edamame, strips of carrots, white radish and cucumber ~ together with a tiny science lab beaker filled with special in-house chilli soy dressing. Before you eat, pour this special sauce around the rice, then mixed the vegetables (except the avocado and salmon) with rice - just like the way you eat your bibimbap! It's a refreshing bite with all the vegetables presence - healthier alternative and another reason to eat rice for your meal. The grilled salmon and avocado is another wow thing that you can alternate them between your bites - a healthy source of protein that you'll need.
Then, it's the another exciting moment which I was waiting for - it's dessert time! We were served 4 types of signature desserts from their brand new menu.
The most eye-catching dessert served is the Springfield Donut (RM18), and you might associate this pinky donut with The Simpsons Movie. Oh yeah, you can now have a taste of the dessert which you have always seen on the film at Plan B. And it's actually not a doughnut even though it might look like one from the top view. It's actually a doughnut shaped cake coated with bright pink frosting and decorated with bits of oreo, marshmallow, Kit-Kat and rainbow sprinkles. Pretty for your eyes with great flavours in your mouth and best part, I love PINK! Pack this pretty Springfield Donut as a gift to your loved ones and they will be melted with you! Haha.
And chocolate lovers will be delighted once again - with this Jaffa Cake (RM15). This is another masterpiece where it's worth to be on your Instagram. A rectangular orange-flavored chocolate cake covered in white sugar icing, topped with an orangy lego-man shaped chocolate and a chocolate ball with a real-cone forming an ice-cream structure. Lots of details are structured in this dessert and I love its bold and strong flavours cake. Yum!
The third item in our dessert menu is the Black Forest Pavlova (RM18). A mini pavlova topped with rich chocolate brownies, chocolate pieces and of course, the infused black cherries! The best part of this dessert is the chocolate brownies and the black cherries because they are superb but the pavlova is passable though (just my opinion okays) because I love those super airy and crunchy version. I'll be sure to grab all the brownies for myself the next time round.
Last but not least, the Cham Affogato (RM10) is relatively perfect where a mixture of coffee and tea which is the 'cham' - which means mixture in Cantonese (and we always refer it to coffee and tea) is poured onto an ice-cream before being served. You'll get an intense coffee plus tea flavours in this case; a bitterly and bold taste and balanced by the creamy texture and sweetness from the vanilla ice-cream. U-la-lah! I need this icy cold and strong flavours to end my meal from now on! It's great and you should try this too.
That was the culinary journey of their new menu launch event at its Ipoh outlet. And now, this awesome menu with a twist is served at all Plan B outlets nationwide and in fact, they revamped their entire menu to serve you chic fusion dishes with a twist in your mouth. And that's why you need to visit your nearest Plan B outlet to check out their brand new menu which includes other signature items such as Singapore Chilli Crab Spaghetti, the real Johor Laksa with pasta, Pineapple Salad and so on. The new Plan B concept's tagline #Your New Local aimed to serve you delicious fusion dishes with a twist - the localized taste and favourites.
Thanks to The Big Group for the invites and I had an awesome moment trying out new dishes with my fellow friends. And in-fact, I'm a big fan of The Big group myself because of the unique concept in all its dining outelts as well as the supermarkets, Ben's Independent Grocer which I usually shopped at (have you visited their new outlet at Glo Damansara which offers free parking currently?).
Visit your nearest Plan B outlets today and do check out their latest news, promotions and offerings at their official website or their Facebook page at Plan B by BIG. And do follow Plan B's Instagram for their yummylicious post too.
Plan B (Ipoh outlet)
No. 75, Jalan Panglima,
30000 Ipoh.
- located right next to Sekeping Kong Heng.
Looks like Plan B have changed a lot as previously I think that food is not cheap and not special. ahaha...
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