A scallop topped with Malaysian caviar, served under a chandelier hanging from a 260-million-year-old limestone cavern — dinner at Jeff's Cellar in Ipoh is not your typical Malaysian meal. The restaurant, the signature dining room at The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, was once the private wine cellar of Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah, the Ipoh-born billionaire behind Sunway Group. Recently refurbished and reopened, it now seats diners among dripping rock formations, with a VIP chamber for up to 16 guests and rare vintages and aged whiskies still part of the draw.
The cave restaurant is just one piece of Sunway City Ipoh, the estate Cheah began assembling in 1995 on scarred tin-mining land at Tambun, 20 minutes from town. Rather than flatten the terrain, he built around its natural grottoes and geothermal springs. The result is The Banjaran, Ipoh's most premium hotel: 44 adults-only villas (guests must be 12-plus), each with its own geothermal soaking pool. Lake Pool Villas start at about RM1,535 ($480) a night, refurbished Grand Garden Pool Villas from RM3,569 ($1,120). Not staying over? Day passes to the mineral pools, ice bath and fish-exfoliation pool cost RM350 ($110). The spa blends Malay, Chinese and Ayurvedic traditions — one scrub uses finely ground Ipoh white coffee.
Beyond the resort, the limestone hills hide layers of history. In the Lost World of Tambun theme park, a forest hike and a 600-step climb reach the Picasso Cave, where shifting light turns stalactites into abstract shapes. Kanji inscriptions at The Banjaran's Sky Bar mark where Japanese soldiers sheltered during the Second World War.
The caves also serve the divine. Ipoh's Cantonese and Hakka mining communities began carving out cave temples in the late 19th century, and researchers found more than 30 of them in two months of surveying for a 2017 book. Perak Cave Temple, founded in 1926, pairs a golden Buddha with murals and a hilltop climb to pavilions overlooking the city. Quieter Da Seng Ngan, buried by a mudslide in 1974 and only rediscovered in 2006, now holds shrines, gardens and even a memorial shrine to a beloved Pekingese named Rocky. For deeper history, the 2,000-3,000-year-old rock paintings at Gua Tambun and the 11,000-year-old Perak Man skeleton — back at the Lenggong Valley Archaeological Gallery, a UNESCO site an hour north, since June 2025 — push the timeline back dramatically.
Ipoh is barely an hour's flight from Singapore on Scoot, yet it offers a blend few cities can: fine dining inside a cave, geothermal wellness, jungle trails with tapirs and langurs, and temple-hopping through millennia of human stories. It suits couples on a luxury spa break, food lovers after the town's famous hawker scene, and culture buffs who want cave temples without the crowds of Penang. A long weekend barely scratches the surface.
Story via SilverKris.
