Indulgence Restaurant

Julie Song opened Indulgence in a colonial mansion on Jalan Raja Dihilir in 2008, and it has stayed Ipoh's most serious Modern European kitchen ever since. Song still runs the pass, bakes the breads and pastries herself, and changes the menu with what she finds. Mains land between RM30 and RM68, with the kitchen's celebrated desserts following. The warm hibiscus soufflé is the dish regulars drive up from Kuala Lumpur for. There is no Michelin in Perak, which is the only reason this room does not carry a star.

The Kitchen

Julie Song trained as a pastry chef before she built Indulgence into a restaurant, a bakery and a small boutique stay on the same Jalan Raja Dihilir compound. She cooks Modern European with a Malaysian larder behind it, and she keeps learning in public: a few times a year she folds Korean and Japanese techniques she has picked up on her travels into the carte.

The food is precise without being fussy. A blood orange and mango salad arrives with lamb bacon she cures in house; mussels come in a broth with real depth; the rack of lamb is the main most tables order. Bread, scones and jam are all made on site. Desserts are the reason Indulgence built its reputation, and the warm hibiscus soufflé is the one to order. Mains run from about RM30 to RM68, which puts a full dinner with dessert at the top of Ipoh's price range and well below what the same cooking costs in Kuala Lumpur. The address is 14 Jalan Raja Dihilir, a few minutes from the Ipoh padang, in a restored colonial villa. Song opened the room in 2008, making it one of the first fine-dining restaurants the city had, and it has outlasted almost everything that opened after it.

The Room

The dining room sits inside a restored colonial villa, white-walled and high-ceilinged, with a handful of well-spaced tables rather than a packed floor. Lighting is warm and low in the evening. The noise level stays at easy conversation; you can hear your guest across the table without leaning in. There is no jacket rule and the code is smart-casual, though most diners dress up for the occasion. The setting reads as a private house more than a restaurant, with art and books from the attached living space spilling into the room. Service is attentive and unhurried, and the kitchen runs at the pace of the table rather than rushing turns.

Best for Proposal

Book Indulgence for a proposal because the colonial villa does the staging for you. The tables are spaced far enough apart that the moment stays private, the lighting flatters, and the long dessert run gives you a natural window to ask the question over the hibiscus soufflé. Tell Julie Song's team when you book and they will quietly help with timing. Picture a corner of the white-walled room, the garden through the windows, and a ring coming out as coffee arrives. For more rooms suited to the question, see our guide to proposal dinners, or browse the rest of the Ipoh dining guide.

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