Ipoh World

*An interview with Mr. Cliff Tan and Mrs. Tan Soo Heong, the son and wife of the current owner of Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fa & Soya Bean Milk (奇峰豆腐花)

It all began in 1952 by Cliff’s grandmother (in her early 40’s), Wong Yoke Sim, who came from China and uncle, Tan Soo Hor (in his 20’s), who started selling Tau Fu Fa & Soya Bean Milk on a hawkers mobile stall on Osbourne Street (Jalan Dato Tahwil Azar).

The name of the business, Funny Mountain came as a result of the translation– from the Chinese characters ‘Kei’ Guai (Weird - 奇), San ‘Fung’ (Mountain Wind - 峰) with the help of a friend.

In the 50’s when the business was run by Madam Wong and Mr. Tan (Cliff’s Uncle), they would sell tau fu fa and Soya Bean Milk at 5 cents per bowl / cup from about 3pm right up till midnight. But in the 1970’s, when Mr. & Mrs. Tan, the current owners took over the business, the desserts would be sold at 10 cents per bowl / cup.

Back then the whole of Osborne Street (presently Jalan Dato Tahwil Azar) would be full of hawkers selling their delicious delicacies like beef noodles and a couple others, “Can’t claim to say we were popular but we were able to earn a living at the time.” Mrs. Tan, when asked was the dessert popular at the time before they moved. Osborne Street would be full of people looking for some light bites before heading home after the movies in the theatres finished.

In 1988, when the hawkers were forced to move into shops by the town council, the couple rented a 10 x 10 shop located on Osborne Street (Jalan Dato Tahwil Azar) right next to the current shop which they are at (49, Jalan Dato Tahwil Azar) where they paid RM350 per month. After moving into the shop, they started selling Tau Fu Fa and Soya Bean Milk from 8am to 6pm, sometimes up till 10:30pm.

The process of making Tau Fu Fa & Soya Bean Milk would usually take 4 – 5 hours to complete where they would start soaking the beans at about 3 am and start processing at 5:30 in the morning on normal days but on public holidays / holidays, they would start the process earlier at 4 am. After grinding the soya bean on a stone grinder, they would then cook the milk of the soya bean on a 48 inch wok that came from China.

When asked do you enjoy what you do? Mrs. Tan responds, “In terms of work, we take it as a past time because we don’t go out much during the holidays but instead help out at the shop both the young and old. We’d feel very happy because our children are by our side helping us and as time passed they’ve now taken over from us, we’d feel okay and not lose the passion in making good tau fu fa, plus getting praises and encouragement from customers makes us feel more encouraged and happy making them. As the days passed, we’ve done it for so many years now.”

Does modern technology help ease the process? “Today with the help of technology it makes things easier but still focused on man-power with the stone grinder. In those days it would be very expensive to get a stone grinder as you would need to order it with the measurements you would want which made it expensive but today its’ not as expensive as it was before.”, Cliff replied.

They open every day of the week from 10:30 am until they finish except on Tuesdays, they have been doing so even before moving to where they are currently located.

What makes “Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fa” stand out from the rest?
According to Cliff, they are still using the traditional methods of making tau fu fa, where they would use edible gypsum not the ones that people believe to be used in making cement. During the time when his grandmother and uncle were running the store, they would use Soy Beans that were from China but since taking over the business and after some research, they started using Canadian Soy Beans in producing Tau Fu Fa & Soya Bean Milk.