Fried Noodle For Breakfast At Kopitiam Huan Le, First Garden, Ipoh

I was so tired and sleepy last night that the minute my head touched the pillow, I was totally knocked out until this morning when the alarm clock sounded. I forced myself to get out of bed to off the alarm, went to the toilet and flopped back to bed and went back to sleep again.

By the time we finally got up from bed, it was past 9 am. This morning, my hubby decided to drive out to Ipoh town for breakfast. As we drove around, we saw many eateries closed for the festive season. The ones that were opened were all crowded with customers and we could see many customers waiting for tables.

It was already late and we didn't want to wait around for our food, so hubby decided to drive back to our own area. We saw that Kopitiam Huan Le was open and it was not very crowded. Our favourite fish noodle stall was still closed until next week, so we ordered fried noodles.

Initially I wanted fried rice vermicelli but hubby came back to say that there is no more rice vermicelli. So we both changed our order to fried flat rice noodle. Because it is a festive season, for some reasons, the fried noodle boss couldn't get fresh prawns so we ended up with 2 plates of fried flat rice noodle with chicken breast meat, egg and bean sprout, MYR 3.80 per plate (approx. 1.04 USD). We ordered iced white coffee for myself and hot black coffee without sugar for hubby.

While waiting, I took my mobile phone to take snapshots of the fried noodle boss in action. I got her permission and snapped 2 shots of her and her stall. Only then she remembered our fried noodle orders and told me that she will fry our's immediately. It was a good thing I went up to her or else we will be waiting for a long time without any breakfast.

This fried noodle stall has been in business since this Kopitiam started. The coffee shop has changed ownership a few times but this stall remained. The fried noodle stall was started by her husband but now she has taken over the business when her husband's health weakened.

She is a grandmother, still strong and diligent and seldom takes day off, unless the coffee shop closes on its rest day. She opens her stall full day, resting in the mid-afternoon for a few hours, and continues till the Kopitiam closes for the day. This stall has been in operation for more than 33 years and many of her outstation customers still come back for her fried noodles whenever they are back for holidays.

The shop is usually crowded every day and especially so during festive seasons. Those standing around the stalls are waiting to pack and take away the food.

Kopitiam Huan Le, Lorong Taman 11, Taman Pertama, Ipoh.

The plans of the diligent lead to profit

as surely as haste leads to poverty.

(Proverbs 21:5, New International Version-NIV)