Continuing with our quest of getting to know our fellow food bloggers, we recently interviewed Jason of Ipoh Mali Talak Sombong!
1. Can you give us an introduction of yourself, when and how did you start out and what made you love food so much to start a blog about it?
As you can read from title of my blog, I’m originally from Ipoh. I was exposed to the wide array of food available in Ipoh few years back after I got to know a bunch of friends who like to eat out, and my interest in food was ignited. That time, they frequently mention that we should document all the eateries we tried, compile them and put on a food portal for public viewing, but the idea doesn’t seem worked out. I, on the other hand, started to read food blog (the first food blog I read that time was I Am BM Kia!), took one step ahead by purchasing my first digital camera and started Ipoh Mali Talak Sombong. Like most food bloggers, I only talk about food and eating places at first, but after two years of blogging, I started to venture into food photography and now, I’m also a regular contributor to Food Street as a freelance food reviewer. And by the way, Ipoh Mali will turn 2 on this coming 27 December!
2. Just like backStreetgluttons and Cumi & Ciki your site has been up for a long time and has gained quite a following. What do you think is the key factor to your success?
Actually it’s not really that long, just 2 years (by 27th Dec 2008). That time when I came up with the blog, food blogging scene was relatively new and most food bloggers were excited to blog hop, write comments etc. Subsequently, we held the first food bloggers gathering at Sandias, Bukit Damansara on the 27th April 2007 and we made quite a number of friends, who also turned out to be my readers. You can say that, the gathering actually helped to promote our blogs!
3. What is your favourite food of all time?
Ais kacang with plenty of condiments and a scoop of ice cream!
4. What is your favourite restaurant of all time?
This is a bit difficult. I practically like all places with nice food but so far, Famous Seremban Favourites at Sunway Mas has my vote for dishing out mouth-watering char siu with consistent quality and taste.
5. Currently, what is the one tip about food blogging you would give to new food bloggers?
If there’s by any chance you could talk to the proprietor, try to learn more or get some tips on how the food is prepared. For me, food blogging is not just merely order, take pictures, eat and write but also the knowledge you can get through your gastronomical adventure. Also, be adventurous – there’s no point to constantly go for the food from similar type of restaurants or those which are already famous. I’m sure many readers would love to hear about a particular wooden shack in Old Klang Road that serves good beef noodles rather than a few similar posts about a chic and posh establishment.
6. What do you think about the food culture we currently have in Malaysia?
Still going strong but with plenty of char chan teng, kopitiams and fusion cafes mushrooming every where, it’ll be a doubt whether the younger generations will still remembers how does wood-fried Hokkien mee or the good ol’ authentic Ipoh white coffee tastes like in the future.
7. Your final thoughts about food you’d like to share with the Feedmelah.com readers?
Proprietors can upgrade their premise to attract customers but at the end, service and the passion on food preparing are the most important factor in long term run. Sadly, these two factors are usually not emphasized in the real business world.
End of the interview.
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12 Comments
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-Jessen, 3 years ago
Interesting interview
Ipoh Mali reminds me about a song from Point Blanc. -
-William, 3 years ago
What song would that be? Actually Ipoh Mali sounds like that pop song by a local artist… can’t remember who it was though.
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Featured in Feedmelah.com! « Ipoh Mali Talak Sombong!, 3 years ago
[...] Ipoh Mali Talak Sombong was featured in Feedmelah.com! recently. Read the email interview here. For your information, Feedmelah is a relatively new food blog comprises of the intelligent and [...]
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-vkeong, 3 years ago
Wow, my blog is mentioned. Thanks Jason!
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William, 3 years ago
Hi vkeong! Thanks for stopping by! And thanks to Jason for agreeing to do the interview…
=)
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-Jian, 3 years ago
woohoo…Can still remember you were the first food blogger durianberry and me meet. Happy times always supersonicly flies by.
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Jian, 3 years ago
By the way, happy new year!!!!
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-PenangTuaPui, 3 years ago
wow… my photography sifu is featured here…. so proud to be his student……
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steve-0, 3 years ago
happy new year u guys!
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-J2Kfm, 3 years ago
nice interview.
jason’s one of the blogger who spurred my interest in blogging. -
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William, 3 years ago
Wow. Jason, you are quite the inspirational food blogger… and sifu to so many!
haha… it’s an honor to have you here on our site… thx again!
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[...] Ipoh Mali Talak Sombong was featured in Feedmelah.com! recently. Read the email interview here. For your information, Feedmelah is a relatively new food blog comprises of the intelligent and [...]