A CHINESE MUSLIM KOPITIAM in KULIM

Syukur alhamdulillah. Today my wish to have authentic Chinese Muslim food was granted. And not only that, husband and I had the great opportunity to have a rather long chat with the taukeh himself.
"Where shall we go? Bertam or Kulim?" asked my husband, trying to please this heavily pregnant wife of his who was having cravings for Chinese noodles, and who's been saying, "Can't eat as I like during pantang later!" hehehe.
So we finally decided to go to Kulim, remembering that there's a Chinese Muslim kopitiam there.

And there stood Kopitiam Puteri Hang Li Poh, a corner shop opposite the SMK Bestari, in Kulim.
It's also known as the MACMA kopitiam by locals.
I was there for the first time, as many previous trips had to be cancelled due to various reasons I could no longer remember.
Parking was not a problem.
The choice of food?
Not bad.
There're dim sum [out of stock by the time we arrived in the evening], chinese cuisine, steamboat, and also western dishes.


We were greeted by Hj Ibrahim Tan, a Muslim revert and the owner of the kopitiam.

As we were the only customers there at that time, we chatted with Hj Ibrahim, who revealed that he embraced Islam in Arab Saudi many years ago. His wife, also a Chinese Muslim, arrived later but was busy in the kitchen. Customers had begun to arrive in groups for dinner.

I ordered a bowl of the kopitiam's signature dish, and also my favourite Chinese noodles recipe - Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee.
Husband had a bowl of Wantan Soup Noodles with Wantan [his first bowl, hehehe]
Sorry la... I was too hungry and forgot to snap a photo of the food.
MY QC marks? Hokkien Mee scored 9 /10 for its deliciousness and authenticity, and the Wantee Mee 8/10.
The prices are reasonable, considering the large amount of noodles in each bowl.
Anyway you may check here for some pictures of the food. [It's in Chinese]

Hj Ibrahim told us that the kopitiam serves two purposes; one for Islamic dakwah and another to serve good Chinese Muslim food.
Indeed, I was impressed. On each table was a transparent photo frame which bears the number of the table, and printed stories from the hadith. You may read the stories while waiting for the food.

At a corner of the kopitiam were two bookshelves with English reading materials on Islam. You may read them while having your meals or borrow them. We were told by Hj Ibrahim that he receives the materials from his contacts in Saudi Arabia. Subhanallah!

For those who live in Kedah and would like to visit the Kopitiam, better go there before the last week of May because it's going to be shifted to a new location in Perai.
It's opened daily from 11am until 10pm, with a break for Friday prayers.
It's closed on Monday.

The new Kopitiam Puteri Hang Li Poh will be officially opened on the 16th of June 2010, on the 2nd floor of Pacific MegaMall, Perai, Penang [behind Popular Bookstore].
It is hoped that the food business would be better in Pacific Megamall, as well as promoting reading of Islamic materials for shoppers who drop in for their meals.
For further information, you may contact Hj Ibrahim 019-4816492 [he speaks Malay, English, Chinese and some Arabic]

note: Took the pics with my handphone, so pardon for the poor quality images.