June 24, 2023

Let’s eat at Makan Time

With a name like Makan Time, you know they get right down to business with their best food forward. The decor evokes nostalgia, and you can’t help but feel you’re having a taste of home. The interior resembles an old-school coffeeshop, and the entrance is partly shielded by lush greenery, giving off kampung vibes, replete with a kiln which the owner Dan Chong himself built.

Specialising in Ipoh fare, the resto’s kai si hor fun (shredded chicken with rice noodle) is well-known, the broth sweet from hours of boiling chicken bones and meat, topped with large fresh bouncy prawns, to be slurped down with slippery silky kway teow. A once a week special, the smooth tender poached chicken completes the excellent ensemble. Daily breakfast here includes staples like nasi lemak, mee Siam, kaya toast, local kopi and an assortment of Nyonya kuih.

Dan who hails from Ipoh, also gave us a taste of beef noodles – robust soup with tender meat – cooked with a myriad of herbs and condiments, giving layers of flavour that you can’t put your finger on and can’t get enough of. Usually not a fan of Asam Laksa outside of Penang, this scored big time – sweet, sour and spicy – generous ingredients, hitting all the right taste notes. Comes with fuchuk as well, not typical but nice addition.

The Nasi Kerabu checks all the boxes and is highly recommended. What’s even more impressive is the authentic Kelantanese Nasi Khao Jam, and if you’re lucky to catch the special, the Myanmarese Biryani. The unique flavours are indescribable and you will hardly find anything like this replicated in town. This alone is worth going all the way there to eat.

Makan Time also features different chicken and rice one dish meals, very generously portioned. The fried chicken and petai sambal rice in particular caught my attention as I loved the sambal! The Hainanese chicken chop is good too, comes in minced chicken patties and house gravy.

I won’t wax lyrical about the cendul which has gone viral. The pandan jelly here is something else, handmade by Dan himself after painstaking research. You cannot leave without having a bowl, it’s really that superb. I’m not a cendul fan but this I will eat.