Ipoh Garden - San Jose

Ipoh Garden Hainamese chicken

This review is so over due. We went there around end of August on a Saturday afternoon. We brought with us our friends’ kids. I was excited to check out this place because it’s a relatively new Malaysian restaurant. And I thought so far no Malaysian restaurant has come close to our expectation when we are missing any food from that region.

It was past lunch time when we got there around 2 pm. But there were like four tables occupied so I guess business was decent. The décor inside was simple and modern. The wooden table and the chairs made the place looked elegant and a bit more expensive.

The kids love char kway teow and roti paratha so we made sure to order those two items. Beside they didn't care for anything else. I sort of went over board and lost track of our orders and went with Hainamese chicken rice and prawn noodle. Forgot that hubby already ordered mee siam. But in the end was happy that we got to try a few items.



Of the items that we ordered I concluded that their strength was on the stir fry items. The char kway teow (stir fry rice noodle) and the mee siam (stir fry vermicelli) both came out tasty and had enough smoky burnt smell. The Hainamese chicken rice itself was flavorful though a bit dry. But the steam chicken itself was okay and not mind blowing. The chili sauce that came with it was so so too. This was based on hubby's picky observation as a Hainamese chicken rice lover.

Ipoh Garden take on prawn noodle

Mee siam - Ipoh Garden version

The prawn noodle was not very flavorful and the broth was very diluted. On the other hand, the mee siam which was completely different than what I had in mind turned out tasty. This version of mee siam was more like the Thai stir fry vermicelli (pad woon sen).

Not sure if we're going back there anytime soon. If we do most likely just for the char kway teow.

Ipoh Garden
150 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: (408) 297-2930