Walk this way…

The other evening, I told my daughter that I would like to go to Er Chea (2nd elder sister) in Sungai Petani. She has often told me about her eating there because her friends love to go there. It was too near to call a cab and too far to walk…and since my daughter suggested walking all the way, we did just that. We went past the St Theresa’s schools…

The secondary school is to the right and the primary to the left. Then, we came to a junction where SP Plaza stands tall…

It may look impressive but there is nothing much there other than The Store and a few miserable small shops but I think many of the government offices are here…so I guess it is something like Saberkas in Kuching or Wisma Sanyan in Sibu, but at least we have Parkson and many other nicer shops in the latter. Then, finally we reached Er Chea…

Omigawd!!! My heart sank at the mere sight of the place! My poor anak eating at a place like this! Now I feel so guilty for having dined in style in Sibu and also when I was flying here and there recently. I had expected some kind of food court in a nice air-conditioned place, not something like this! It was very crowded though and the people there seemed quite oblivious to their not-so-conducive dining environment…

I have nothing against open-air dining…like the one opposite Cititel in Penang (Red Garden) which is, in fact, quite a nice place to go for hawker food (but I won’t say the same about Gurney Drive! Yucks!). In fact, back home, I do frequent the stalls at Taman Selera Muhibbah which is quite near my house. The place is cleaner and neater, better organised and a lot more presentable than this one…plus the food is nice and cheap! Kongkay has just had a post on this place in Sibu, so if you’re interested, you can just click the link and hop over to have a look…and make your own comparisons.

Anyway, we ordered this chicken claypot rice for two (RM7.00)…

I was down with a bit of flu so my review of the food may be somewhat adversely affected, but when I had the same thing a long time ago in KL (or was it in Singapore?), there were some salted fish and lap cheong (Chinese sausage) that added to the fragrance and flavour of the dish. We also had this plate of fried kway teow…

Actually, we did not order that but this poor boy could not trace the people who had ordered it, so being the good samaritan that I am, I asked him to just give it to me and I paid for it. After all, it was only RM2.50, no big deal. An older lady at the stall said that the kid was new on the job and was not that good at recognising people. For one thing, he was so young and should be in school…if he was not there part-time to put the school holidays to good use, that is! As for the kway teow, I would very much prefer the one I had at a coffee shop along Penang Road or the charcoal-fried ones at a stall under some big trees somewhere on the island.

We also had this plate of fried homemade tofu…

which came together with the or-chian (oyster omelette) that we ordered…

The two items cost RM10.00 but sadly, I felt they were nothing to shout about either…and considering that the total came up to RM19.50 for the food alone, I would think that it was really not worth the torture of sweating it out at the stalls, sitting at the wobbly tables and on those uncomfortable metal stools.

After having had our fill, we walked back and by the time we reached the hotel, my legs were about to give way and I was staggering step by step to our room. All in all, I don’t think I would want to go back there, and definitely not if I have to walk all the way again!