Healy Mac, Ipoh - Irish themed bar

 At first I thought Healy Mac was another copycat of the sudden bloom of bistro/pubs/bars/chillout places trend in Ipoh, particularly a mimic to the St Patrick Irish Bar theme. I was wrong to find out that they are actually a chain store, just like Overtime. You can read more about their website here. This is their third outlet, situatied in a corner lot in the same row with big guns Berlin Bier House and ChaTime.

 Ambience is quite welcoming with portraits of the Irish pride, Whisky on the wall. There is a Leprechaun doll or two hanging around the barrels/tap at the bar counter. Background music is mainly hits from the 80s, featuring numbers like Beat It and Sweet Child Of Mine, shown in their MTVs version on a LCD screeens around the bar area. The crowd here are mostly from the working age group. No sign of any Ah Beng, golden haired La la Chais nor any fish net stocking Ah Lian throughout the whole 2 hour chilling out session on a Thursday evening.

 Ambience aside, lets move to review the food - Organic Pork Spare Ribs. I do not know how organic this can be, but the meat was indeed very tender and fell off the bone without much effort to rip it. Tasted a bit mild without much overdone with the sweetish BBQ sauce, they take pride in incorporating Guiness Stout to marinade/glaze the ribs. Served with a side of buttered corn and carrot and a scoop of mashed potato, this is comfort food to go along with your beer/Stout!

 Grilled Fillet of Salmon was our pick from the 3 fish dishes in the menu. IMHO, I find the menu to be quite limited. Perhaps they want to make sure they give you the best that they can offer. Its either fish and chips, cod fish or salmon. The salmon is served in a chunky cut drizzled with some white wine sauce. Portion of the fish is not very big. But the sides of Guacamole, sun dried tomatoes, mashed potato and mixed vegetables should make it a wholesome meal.

 This is the Aglio Olio with Bacon Bits and Smoked Salmon looked a bit childish in terms of presentation but it was quite nice! Perhaps I have a soft spot for bacon! and also smoked salmon!!! Lightly tossed in olive oil infused with some garlic, this dish tastes better than it looks.

 The Mixed Sausages platter comprising Emmenthaler, Frankfurter, Hungarian, Thuringer Sausages. A mustard-wasabi dipping sauce is served but it doesn't complement the sausages well. Nothing really spectacular about this dish, except being a good finger food for beer.

Last but not least, the photo of the bill. Hehe... This are the sides of mashed potatoes and Sauerkraut which comes along with the sausage platter. They are served on a wooden like tray which normally used to present the bill. =.= Poor presentation here. Anyway the total bill for 4 of us come to nearly RM200. They have various type of beers, both drafted from the tap or in bottle form. The Carlsberg draft here is RM35 a jug which is quite reasonably priced. Kilkenny and Strongbow and various type of hard liquor and cocktails are also available. There you go, another "in trend competitor". How well will Healy Mac fare, it depends on Ipoh people!