I was quite puzzled when I shared on Facebook an album of the photographs that I took when we took Melissa’s friend on a tour and went to this little town that I had grown to love so much…and a friend, currently working and residing in KL, said, “Cannot wait,” and I was thinking that he could not wait to come home to pay a visit as well but I was quite tickled when I realised that he was actually referring to the similar-sounding name of the town, Kanowit. Well, that isn’t so bad actually for when I was teaching there, 1978 to 1982, a letter from a friend in the US arrived some six months later – it seemed that it got sent to Kuwait and after being redirected here and there, it finally got to me safely. Amazing but true!
Of course, I had to take them to eat the kampua noodles…
…my favourite since those days when I was there (it is slightly reddish probably due to the bit of char siew oil added and that makes it different from the usual that we would get elsewhere) and we went on a quick tour of the places of interest in the town (You can click the link above for a look or you can check out my album on Facebook) before proceeding to the longhouse at Rantau Kemiding. Melissa’s friend was stunned by the mere sight of the place – she had been to the one at The Sarawak Cultural Village in Kuching and she said it was short and nothing like this – THIS, she said, was the real thing and was definitely worth driving all the way from Sibu just to have a look.
When we got back to Sibu way past noon that day, we went for lunch here…
– the 1st-in-Malaysia Korean fried chicken franchise restaurant right here in good ol’ Sibu town.
I had the burger that Melissa had when we last were here…
…and she obviously enjoyed it a great deal as she wanted that again…
…though I wasn’t exactly thrilled by it but then again, I am never a fan of the stuff at any franchise place so you need not take my word as gospel truth. You may just like it, I wouldn’t know.
My missus had this…
…but she did not say anything at all – I guess when anything is not hot and spicy, it will not get her jumping up and down with delight. Period.
Melissa’s friend had this set…
…with the two varieties of their chicken – crunchy and spicy and those came with this side dish of seaweed…
…and some very nice chunky fries. In fact, they gave fries with the burgers too so we had a whole lot and were not able to finish it all even though we all enjoyed that a lot, dipped in the chili sauce provided.
She enjoyed the seaweed which she said had the fragrance of sesame oil in it and though she was not fond of the spicy chicken (as unlike my missus, she is not into anything spicy), she loved the crunchy one that went so well with the Korean yellow sauce…
…that she, like Melissa before, loved a lot.
On the whole, she enjoyed what she had and though she had been to Korean restaurants here, there and everywhere before, this was her first time trying out a Korean franchise one…and never in her wildest dreams did she ever expect that she could do that right here in Sibu.
After lunch, we went home to have a quick rest and soon after, we were out and about again. Hang around for more of all that we did when Melissa’s friend was in town…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
oh my I;m hungry now at this hour, that chicken burger is superb delicious.
It does? Hmmmm….
chicken since 1982 … that’s nearly 32 years … a really admirable amount of time for a business to survive and still thrive. chicken burger looks nice to me, on a positive note 😀
Ya, I went to Korea in the 80’s, didn’t see any such place or maybe it was somewhere around that we did not go to…or perhaps it was just a roadside stall selling fried chicken in some obscure part of town then, I wouldn’t know. After all, our Sarawak’s own franchise, Sugar Bun, was an ice cream palour enjoying brisk business at a residential estate, Kenyalang Park, in Kuching in the mid-70’s. Look at it now! It has an outlet in Melbourne, Australia even. Talk about humble beginnings.
Seaweed as side dishes for fried chicken, This is my first time seeing these. Those fried chicken are just look alike KFC. So how was the taste? same?
McD’s chicken burger same as KFC’s or not? I wouldn’t touch the seaweed…nor their Korean rice. I don’t like sesame oil. 😦
Truly Korean version of fried chicken.
Definitely. It’s listed here: http://zenkimchi.com/FoodJournal/restaurant/8-best-korean-fried-chicken-joints/
and they’ve an outlet in Sydney too: http://www.iatemywaythrough.com/2013/06/korean_fried_chicken_sydney/
I hear it’s a million-dollar franchise…
[suituapui] did you just say you don’t like sesame oil? How can?? gimme all the seaweed !!!
Come, come. Let’s go together. You can have all the seaweed…and the rice too – so strong the smell of the sesame oil, no, thank you.
Ooh…The burger really looks good. I want a fix tomorrow and you spoilt my diet plans again ! Arhhhh ….
Hah!!! Then there are many blogs you should avoid – all those awesome burgers. Thank goodness I’m not really a fan of such stuff, count my blessings!
I never tried Korean food. Looks delicious especially the burger. huhu
They’ve a new burger out – since 6 December…after our pit stop there. Will drop by there just to try…not that I’m a fan of burgers or franchise stuff. My daughter would love it, I’m sure.
Well Arthur Wee, my dear friend…I must say that this picture of the kampua is certainly one of the best looking kampua I have seen . I am sure that it will taste as good as it looks and delicious…the roast pork looks so beautiful and fresh….You have made me so eager to take a day trip to the so called Kanowit on my next trip home and I am sure that it will be so worth it…yeah Arthur…cannot wait…have a great day
It sure is worth a visit, quaint little town and yet lots of interesting things around. You were not around already when I was based there – lots of friends dropped by for a little bit of fun… 😉
Kampua noodles is the “anytime meal” for me… hahahaa… the rest can go to the kids.. I am really “totally asian”… must change my food habits otherwise I will miss out a lot of food.. hahaha..
I don’t mind having what the kids love…once in a while for a change and for special occasions – they do not come cheap, you see. I guess old folks like me are more “careful with money”. 😉
Maybe one of the day, the TV media will look you up for tv show to introduce yummy yummy foods in Sibu…
Not likely that they would come all the way to Sibu to do a feature on the food here – not many tourists bother to come by this small town…and they do not know what they’re missing!
Kampua & the two varieties of chicken for me pls. Looks yummy. Drooling!!!!…
Come on over. So near, yet so far. People came all the way from Kedah, you right here in Sarawak…never bother to hop over. 😦
That clumpy wet rice with corns dish does not look appetizing at all! gosh…..
I couldn’t agree more. I wouldn’t want to order that, thank you very much.
The burger very much looks like the KFC zinger burger. I bet must be good else she wouldn’t want to have it again..right.
Young people, taste bids not like old man’s. Hehehehehehe!!!!
Kuwait and Kanowit? hahah! VEry funny. But at least it safely arrived in your hands after 6 months.
Too much fried chicken not good to be taken all the times.
Yup! We seldom have that – hardly, in fact. At home, we’d just roast in the oven. Much healthier and a lot nicer too.
chicken since 1982 still can eat ah…ancient liao wor ..LOL.
they should put the rice and corn separately…kinda soggy if they put like that
Dunno soggy or not but the mere sight of it puts me off. The Korean noodles here too, can just give it a miss. Nothing to shout about.
All the foods shown, somehow or rather gave me the impressions that Sibu foods are so appealingly delicious. Although over here and over there we have the same food cultures but seem like over there yours are better somehow. Keep on writing, buddy, you are among one of the best food blog listed in my “favourites”. Die die must go Sibu.
FT from Singapore
I’m sure you have lots of nice things to eat there TOO. I was there in the 70’s and I would hop over regularly but not lately as it is way too expensive, even when staying in a miserable small hotel, especially after converting out currency. Saw at a money changer today – it’s RM2.70 for SIN$1.00. *faints* Much better for you all to come here – will be very rich upon touchdown. Hop over anytime – just let me know When you’re coming. Would be my pleasure to take you around. I love having visitors!
That kampua different from the Sibu one? it’s look like one type of kampua i use to eat when i am young. It is at Lanang Road, we always had that when we go to church, the kampua colour is a bit red/orange colour, very nice.
Yesterday i just had KFC for lunch, now i see fried chicken, make me very “full”. hahahhaha
Yes, different and very nice. I think it was nicer when I was there 1972-1982 though. The old man and another guy had dies and another one had a stroke, didn’t see him this trip. The people are still members of the same family though.
No KFC for me – not a nice experience the last time I had some from the Delta Mall outlet here – the meat like jelly, made me want to throw up. I’d rather go to Sugar Bun but anyway, I’m not really a fan of such stuff.
Kampua noddles again?? Hoho…
Imagine that I drove alllllllll the way…over an hour’s drive just to eat this! You can guess from there that this must be really special! 😉
the 1st-in-Malaysia Korean fried chicken franchise restaurant!!! wow, no wonder this is so new to me, but i remember you’ve blogged about it before huh?? the chicken burger looks quite okay to me, but that plate of thing your missus had, errr, rather unappetizing to me actually.. :p
Yup, I would never order that. Had their noodles too during my last visit, never again. Ah well…I guess this is a fried chicken franchise…so should go for the fried chicken lah – want to eat rice and noodles, go elsewhere lor. Simple as that.
Noodles! 🙂
The roll/bread/bun looks good, too!
Was all right, didn’t catch our attention, just any ol’ bun.
Crunchy chicken looks nice! Though not sure if I will indulge in it. LOL.
Watching your figure? Gee!!! How to go and do all the food reviews like that?
i didn’t dare to go to this place. even though whenever i was in sibu, after my nap, i always felt hungry. this place looked very empty, i just didn’t have the guts to go in. but i think i should give it a try, at least.
Yup, not many people during the day – maybe at night, a place for the younger set to hang out but that rules me out…unfortunately. 😦
I love fried chicken! There is a Korean chicken franchise at 1-Utama and I am not certain of it is the same one. I dare not try it because there don’t seem to be many people patronizing the restaurant. Don’t know f it is still there. The Koreans are making a big impression – Korean music, Korean mini series, Korean movies, Korean food……
Not many people at this one too…but dunno at night, never around there that time of day.
Love the burger and fried chicken, it look extremely good. Once a while indulge in these should be ok, not so sinful. 🙂
It’s not the sinful bit that I’m concerned about – it’s just that I’m not all that crazy about such things, much less the franchise ones.