Ipoh Tau Huey Battle, The Soy Pudding Showdown

Hello and happy new year! Hope you all are having a good start, and if not do not worry as there is still many more weeks and months to go.

As some of you might have new year's resolutions like getting fit and hitting the gym more often, why not we do something that is high in protein for this time (well, which is quite often considering the amount of fish and meat that has been published for your viewing pleasure).

I was looking forward to write about a food battle and it was a recent trip to Ipoh with my parents and brother was when I got he chance in doing so (more posts on food in Ipoh soon). After calling for my Uber to go the the notorious Funny Mountain Tau Huey stall, my Uber drive recommended me two other places. Stating that Funny Mountain is popular just for being popular, we took his advice.  As such, the table is set for a three way food battle : Woong Kee, Funny Mountain and lastly, but certainly not least, Lai Kee. To make it fair to all combatants, the comparisons will be made based on the same dish which is the tau huey soy pudding with a sugar syrup. Of course, variety will be seen as a plus point.

Kedai Minuman Woong Kee 

Front of the house

The first contender provided a strong intro to the battle. The standard tau huey with sugar syrup is RM1.30 per bowl.  But to not let its humble exterior fool you. The soy pudding was smooth and clean. It is so smooth that you do not even have to chew. It was that smooth and silky.

The start of a tasty war

The syrup was the classic ginger syrup and was pungent, but yet aromatic at the same time. It has a lot of depth to the dessert and was a great supplement to the soy flavour. The soy pudding also has a hint of sweetness, which I like. A plus point for them for that. There are other variant to the pudding and they have freshly made soy milk. But for now, I can easily say I can leave a happy patron.

Not a pot of gold, but probably be just as valuable

Funny Mountain Soy Bean

When eating out, the general rule is that a line means its good.
This is the exception to the general rule.

Then comes the high profile player.  Coming in at RM1.20 per bowl, you would think that that would be of great value. But unfortunately this place hits all the wrong notes. With a 10 sen deduction,  it would be fair to expect a smaller portion. But not half of a bowl, which was in this case. So they did not score well in the portions department.

Disappointingly little

The syrup was just a plain sugar solution which was uninspiring.  The soy pudding had some buoyancy. This will be a plus point if this was a tofu dish to eat with rice or a hot pot.  A hot pot this is not. Another point down. A plus point if you like your tofu bouncy, but not for me.

As a matter of opinion, I am not even sure how this place got famous. It is very plain. Probably its because its located at a very central area of the town, but I digress.


Kacang Soya Lai Kee

There is no line, but do not let it stop you. 

Luckily, the final contestant was able to salvage the atrocity that was earlier. With a bowl at RM1.50, this is the most expensive. That is not a put down or anything of the sort, because they are good.  The place served the pudding with 3 kinds of syrup: gula malacca, ginger and plain. I opted for ginger and gula malacca. Both of them were very good and the ginger is more intense that Woong Kee. However, it can be too spicy for some so it may be a down point for people.

Gula malacca on the left, and ginger on the right.

I can agree on this as Ipoh isn't the coldest place in the country. If it is raining however, this will be an amazing potion.

Final Verdict.
My family and I actually had a hard time deciding on who should be at the top. Both the first and third contenders have something different to bring to the table and they all provide great tasting desserts. If I need to pick a winner though, then Woong Kee takes the cake. However one thing for sure, we all agree that Funny Mountain is at the very bottom.

Have you guys tasted the three shops above? Do share you experience in the comments sections below.

Me taking this job very seriously