There must be a hundred places where you can get an egg tart in Ipoh, but why buy from plebs when you can go to the KING? Ipoh Tart King is a non-halal egg tart bakery shop with a telltale cart that you have to hunt for.
Location & Hours
The Google Maps pin for the Ipoh Tart King is now outdated. We eventually found it on Jalan Bandar Timah, just around the corner from STG Ipoh Oldtown. If you are heading north on Jalan Bandar Timah, the Ipoh Egg Tarts King will be on your right side.
Address: Jalan Bandar Timah, near where it intersects with Jalan Bijeh Timah
Phone Number: 010-909-5346
Hours: Daily, 7:30am – 2:30pm
Closed on Fridays
Goods For Sale
The cart was initially unattended when we stopped by, but a jovial uncle appeared within a few seconds. He talked up his goods – how yummy and popular they were – but wasn’t too pushy. He spoke good English, so foreigners don’t need to worry about communication. Behind the cart in the shop section are some tables where you can eat your purchases (when COVID allows it).
The Ipoh Tart King used to be pork-free, but the claim has now been covered up with duct tape on the cart. Now on offer are pork puffs, kaya puffs, and five kinds of egg tarts: original, Portuguese, pandan, cheese and coconut. Ipoh Tart King is also equipped to handle pre-orders if you call beforehand.
Everything is in limited quantities, so once something is all sold out, you’ll have to try again tomorrow. The uncle told us that he closes officially at “3 pm or so”, but just like every other place selling egg tarts, it’s best to go early in the morning for optimum freshness and variety. If you visit in the afternoon or near to closing time, be prepared for an extremely limited selection. We stopped by comparatively early at noon, and already you can see that the cart is completely sold out of cheese tarts and kaya puffs, and very nearly finished all of the egg tarts except for the original kind.
I’ve eaten enough egg tarts in my life that I’m sick of them, so I wanted to try something different. We picked up two Pandan Tarts (RM2.30 each), two Coconut Tarts (RM2.60 each) and a Macau Portuguese Egg Tart (RM2.80). We spent a total of RM12.60 for five tarts, which was packaged into a nice takeaway box for us.
Tart Review
The Macau Portuguese Egg Tart has a much more delicate crust than the traditional egg tart. It’s much flakier and you can clearly see the multiple layers, much like phyllo pastry. The custard is sweeter with the hint of torched sugar bringing a different twist. It was good, but I’m not a huge fan of egg tarts anyway, so I preferred the other two varieties.
The Coconut Tart was the most interesting and not like any tart I’ve had before. If you prefer the velvety egg custard texture, this isn’t for you. The familiar pie-like crust is back, but the middle was really dense and chewy like a macaroon. The sweet coconut filling is moist, so there were minimal crumbs that fell off while taking bites.
For those who have never had a Pandan Tart, this is an original egg tart with pandan essence in the middle. Ipoh Tart King’s pandan tart has a saturated emerald-green filling that is much darker than I’ve ever seen. The egg centre was very smooth and silky and had a noticeable pandan taste.
Saturday Worthy?
As someone who doesn’t care for plain egg tarts much, the Ipoh Tart King had enough different takes on the egg tart to intrigue me to try them. The tarts are a decent size with not too much crust. I quite liked the pandan and coconut tarts and would buy them again. The quality of Ipoh Tart King’s sweets makes me keen to try their cheese tart and puffs in the future.
