After loading our bags and two kids, my wife and I started the journey to Bidor at about 7 am. It took us about 1 hour 15 minutes to reach Bidor from Shah Alam via North South Expressway.
Bidor is a small town south of Tapah, east of Changkat Jong, and north of Slim River. There is one main road cutting through two rows of pre-war shops, and it is aptly called Jalan Besar (main road in Bahasa Malaysia). It is also where the famous Pun Chun Restaurant is located, somewhere in the middle part of the main road.
We reached the restaurant about 8.30 am. It was not that crowded at that time. But when we left, the whole restaurant was almost packed with people.
Pun Chun Duck Drumstick Noodles
We ordered the well-known duck drumstick (thigh) noodle, dry and soup. The restaurant is very proud of the home-made noodles and the duck thigh is boiled with some Chinese herbs for hours. The duck herbal soup was excellent. I find the noodles were a little soggy and the dried noodle was too salty as compared to what I had in Pun Chun’s Kota Kemuning branch. However, the drumstick was still as tender and delicious.
With recommendations from some bloggers, we also ordered woo kok (yam paste with meat) and sui kau. Woo kok has lived up to its fame as it is tasty and the fillings are generous.
Besides noodles, Pun Chun is also popular for its chicken biscuits (kai chai peng in Cantonese) and shat kek ma (a sweet snack made from egg, flour, and molasses). We did not buy any as we can get this easily back home at Pun Chun’s Kota Kemuning branch.
Pun Chun Restaurant
38-40 Jalan Besar, Bidor,
35500 Perak.
Telephone: 05-434 1554
Opening hours: early morning to 10pm, daily
Kota Kemuning Branch
10, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla AC 31/AC,
Kota Kemuning,
40460, Shah Alam
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia
Telephone: 017-7701121, 019-3206773
Opening hours: 6.30am to 4pm, daily
Seedless Guavas and Other Local Fruits
You can’t leave Bidor without getting some seedless guavas, which is another specialty of this small town. They are sweet and crunchy. After checking with an old uncle who served us at Pun Chun Restaurant, he recommended the third fruit shop from the restaurant. Wife noticed that the fruits from this shop (called Long San?) were fresh. We bought some guavas at RM5 per kilogram. Alternatively, you will find some fruit stalls outside Pun Chun Restaurant. After checking, the prices for guavas are the same at these stalls. If you are not a guava person, you can get other fruits like pomeloes or mangoes.
Note: This is the first article of Family Weekend Getaway: A Road Trip To Lumut series.