My missus and I stopped by the coffee shop behind the Sibu Polyclinic for breakfast the other day. Annie was telling me that her mum would bring her there for kampua noodles and I used to frequent that coffee shop many years ago. Well, since I had not been there for a long while, I decided to drop by to see what I could get there these days.
There was a stall selling Sarawak laksa (I could not detect any fragrance of the laksa gravy, so I guessed it was nothing to shout about!) and lor mee and there was a kampua noodle stall, of course. I think I can safely say that here in Sibu, you can find that in virtually every coffee shop…even in the Malay ones where they sell the halal version of it. I ordered the chap-chap…
…but they had run out of liver and judging from the photos, it was obviously not as good as what Annie had…
*Photo from Annie’s blogpost
…but it was o.k. I think she had hers at Yummy Cafe (in the town centre area – opposite Ngiu Kee).
I also ordered the Foochow fried noodles (Rm3.00)…
…which tasted really very good. They also have these fried noodles everywhere but not all of them have that authentic taste that I have known all my life. Some are really pale imitations that may look the same but failed miserably when it comes to that unique special taste. However, the serving was small and they only had three tiny bits of meat unlike what Gerrie and the rest of the Dimong Gastronomic Society members had been eating at the Mekong Cafe in Kuching…
*Photo taken from Gerrie’s photo album on Facebook
…and that cost RM4.00. The size of the prawns may vary between visits though, depending on your luck and the catch of the day, I guess, but at least, there ARE prawns!!! It is such a shame really that considering that the dish originated from Sibu, we are losing out to our counterparts in Kuching and perhaps, elsewhere as well.
As it is, Sibu has very little to offer other than nice, cheap food especially her special Foochow delights (…and nice people like me! Hehehehe!!!)…and if she loses out on those too, then there is really nothing much left in this miserable, insignificant little town. Sigh!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 