It’s easy to miss this restaurant if you are in Ipoh Old Town because of its plain exterior. Memories Ipoh By Morel Restaurant is by no means, an ordinary eatery though.
There are several reasons why we think this eatery stands out from others.
Follow along in this post as we share what we like about it (and what we don’t like).
Food
The menu has things you won’t find at many other restaurants in Ipoh. Things like squid ink pasta or lamb shank pasta!
As well as a lot more vegetarian options for their pizza. You have the choice of adding more ingredients to your pizza base as well.
We’ve tried their mushroom, beef salami and aubergine pizza and all good if you prefer your pizza to have more natural flavors rather than smothered in all kinds of sauces (as some locals prefer).
Among these different flavors, we’re partial to the aubergine pizza. The beef salami is salty but it is to be expected for salami.
Their pasta is all handmade too. We have tried their beef meatball spaghetti and the sauce was a little sour, but more true to the authentic taste than what you will find at most restaurants that tend to accommodate Malaysian tastebuds.
The seafood risotto is small in portions of the rice, but the flavors of the seafood are very strong. It makes for a very tasty dish.
Drinks
There are plenty of options on their beverage menu. We’ve tried their winter aloe vera and honey herbal tea. As well as the smoked plum juice. Both are nice although the former is a little bit sweet.
They do have coffee as well. We got the rose café latte, and it was alright but not memorable.
Note: they do not have self-serve drinking water here.
Ambiance
Many vintage collectibles and plants decorate this restaurant.
There are seats downstairs but not many, since this space is shared with a turtle tank and the massive wood fire oven in the middle.
Up the steep stairs is another seating section along with a showroom for wooden furniture and an event space.
Like the rest of the building, the upstairs seating is beautiful in a rustic way with lots of wooden elements. We’d love it more if there was air-conditioning or more coolers. The few fans and single cooler that they have are not sufficient to keep this area comfortably cool.
We imagine that this would be a great place to knock back some beers and a pizza with friends. There are seats overlooking the street below too.
They do have a room with air-conditioning, but it is small, dark and often booked.
Pricing
Pizzas (without additional toppings) cost between RM26 to RM48 depending on the flavor and size – they have both 8 inch and 11 inch.
Pasta dishes can go up to RM55 so this is definitely more costly than your average restaurant in Ipoh.
On the whole, we think the pricing is fair, since they do use quality ingredients. Portions can vary according to the dish. We found our spaghetti to be adequately portioned but the seafood risotto was small.
Ease Of Parking
We’re not sure if this place ever gets packed on weekends, but there is street parking all around. And a paid parking lot right behind the building. From here, it’s very easy to cross over to the restaurant.
Service
Expect serving times to be a little slow since the pizzas need baking. Our pasta came around the same time as the pizzas too.
Only drinks come shortly after ordering.
The servers are well-mannered considering how hot their workplace is. Particularly the guy who mans the pizza station.
Our waitress was very patient in answering our questions about some items in the menu.
Conclusion
For the price range versus quality of food, we think Memories Ipoh By Morel Restaurant is worth a visit. We’d come again for the wood fired pizza.
But the restaurant setting alone is interesting. Especially if you love photography or vintage items.
Western Restaurants In Ipoh
For more options for Western cuisine in Ipoh, we have a separate post that you can check out. Memories Ipoh By Morel Restaurant are not the only ones that make a great pizza.
Fine Dining In Ipoh
If the prices of Memories Ipoh By Morel Restaurant don’t bother you, you can visit our suggestions for fine dining venues in Ipoh too for even more options. The fine dining restaurant, Opëam has fabulous skinny pizzas!
