Fine Western Food @ Citrus Ipoh

The thought of dining western cuisine when one is in Ipoh is already very salah (local language for wrong) but seriously I see no harm venturing into something unorthodox because Ipoh is so famous for its hawker food that the fine dining / western cuisine is always overlooked.

Personally, I have been to Indulgence twice, the acclaimed fine dining restaurant with a boutique hotel housed in a colonial bungalow located on Jalan Raja Dihilir and apparently a favourite place of the royalty in the state. To be fair, the restaurant is nicely done, the food is of acceptable quality but I wouldn't say it's really that good to warrant a "fine-dining" badge as it still lacked the fine details. However, the wine list is quite impressive. They might have expensive ingredients to boot but sometimes the way of preparation and the outcome of the dish is equally important.



Jasmin recommended that we try Citrus, a new fine-dining restaurant located in Ipoh Perdana, which is very near to Ipoh Garden. It was a new place for Yiling and I and since Jasmin is driving, we have no complains at all! This place does not look like Indulgence but it's located in a housing area which is not known to many.

Citrus has a very simple set up, with warm ambiance and spans over 2 shop lots and with upstairs reserved for private functions, it may seemed to be lacking of a nice address compared to Indulgence but I would say the outlet is nicely and tastefully done. Although I expect a fine dining place to be more elaborate and classy, this place seemed to be a laid back dining outlet.



They are some interesting cocktails and mocktails on the menu if you do not like wines. Since we are there for lunch, we didn't have any alcohol. Very rare occasion for me I know, but it's nice to have an alcohol free day.



Yiling ordered a Mushroom Soup and Jasmin had the corn soup which comes together with the set meal. According to the foodie sister, she tests a restaurant based on their mushroom soup to which I agree as most restaurants failed to serve a good mushroom soup and some resorting to canned ones! The sister gives her approval to the soup.



I had the stuffed chicken with kebab. This is like a fusion dish where the east meets west. The presentation was good and the prawns were really fresh. It's pretty perfect for a light afternoon lunch as the portions are small. Probably not ideal for a big eater!



Yiling's spaghetti aglio olio with beef tenderloin is a refreshing twist to the normal aglio olio or the seafood version. There were lots of capsicum and zucchini but the pasta looks rather little. There is no choice of ordering your tenderloin in medium or medium rare as the beef comes well done. Since it was not a big chunk of meat, the lack of freedom to choose is acceptable. Overall the dish well prepared and the spaghetti is cooked al dente.



Jasmin's BBQ chicken with Caesar salad and turkey ham served with wedges is part of the set menu. At RM 19.90, it comes with a soup, a main and a dessert. I think it's a fair price for the quality of food served here.



The 3 desserts platter is really nice. It has a combination of chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream, a cheese cake and a chocolate molten cake. I love the chocolate molten cake that oozes with warm chocolate sauce when you sink that spoon into it.

The lunch for 3 of us comes up to about RM130+ and I think the bill is quite reasonable. You probably won't get these prices in KL but then again by Ipoh standards, it's considered expensive. They do have fancy gourmet food like foie gras, brie cheese and also scallops if you fancy those but honestly, I think this is not the "fine" that I expect it to be. If compared to Indulgence, this one here gives you a better value.

Dearest BFF - Jasmin, the cute Geologist!

Btw, these pictures are taken with my cool Samsung Galaxy S! heheh...

CITRUS WINE & DINE
No 38-46, Laluan Ipoh Perdana,
31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-5451010
Business hours : 11.30am – 3.00pm, 6.30pm – 11.00pm.
Closed on Mondays.