My missus and I went to Kuching on Thursday, 16th September…but the actual day for the wedding was two days later, Saturday the 18th. However, there was a pot-luck get-together for members of the family on Friday night, 17th – the night before the wedding and all those who were around already by then were invited to the reunion.
Well, we had our own reunion of sorts that very morning ourselves – a prequel to the real event when around 10 or so of us gathered at this place…
…for brunch. It seems that there is a stall there that is popular for all the Foochow favourites. Imagine me going all the way to Kuching to eat those stuff that we can find in abundance in Sibu…but with all that Foochow blood coursing through everybody’s veins, I guess everyone was in favour of having those…especially the ones from other places where it would not be possible to have the same or at least, not what is decently good enough for the likes of us.
I had the Foochow fried noodles (wet/with gravy)…
…and it was really good – just as good as at any nice place that I can find in Sibu or perhaps, even better. I think that costs RM4.00 or to the most, RM4.50…but considering the amount and all those ingredients, I definitely would consider it a steal – compared to the RM2.80/RM3.00 ones in Sibu…with the few miserable tiny bits of meat and chai hua (green leafy veg).
Somebody also ordered the soup variety…
…for which they usually fry the noodles first before adding the soup and cooking it altogether, hence the name zhar-chu mee (fried soup noodles). I did not try it but they said it was good.
I did sample the kampua noodles though…
…but despite the fact that it looked pretty good, I think if you want better kampua, you will have to go to Sibu – and even in Sibu, not all are nice. One would need to know where the better stalls are.
I did not try the dianpianngu either…
…as I’m not a fan of the stuff and neither am I crazy over zhao cai hung ngang (big mihun or rice noodles in preserved vegetable soup)…
…so I did not taste it as well. My missus did and she said that the latter was pretty good (sour enough) but not the dianpianngu, compared to the original one that we have in Sibu.
I had a bit of the Foochow mee sua (thread/string longevity noodles) in chicken soup cooked with ginger and traditional red wine…
…and I would not hesitate to give this my two thumbs up! I missed the usual hard-boiled egg that would come with the mee sua though; I think whoever ordered it chose not to have it as some of them are quite health-conscious…unlike me! LOL!!! This cost RM5.00 a bowl, so it is slightly more expensive than Sibu where we can usually get that for RM4.00-4.50.
That was indeed a delightful brunch and everyone was full of praises for the Foochow fare – now available at this place in Kuching.
That night, a whole lot of us showed up at the gathering and needless to say, there were lots of good food…and booze. The lights were somewhat too dim to allow any nice photographs to be taken unless I used the flash…which I did, and I only managed to take a photo of these sambal udang galah (freshwater prawns) that an auntie of mine brought all the way from Sibu…
I don’t like the colour when using flash and did not use it for the other dishes. Thus, they did not turn out very nice, so I have decided not to include them in this post.
Well, this is one thing good about having a wedding in the family – it provides an opportunity for members of the family to come together and meet one another – especially those who have relocated themselves to other parts of the globe and are living far away…and also for the younger ones to get to know who’s who…especially those whom they have never seen or heard of before in their lives. Imagine them passing by one another in the street and they do not even know they’re blood relations…and hasn’t it been said that blood is thicker than water? Sad, isn’t it?
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Ohhh, God!!! The prawns! The prawnssss!!! Loooks so damn yummy! OMG! I need to have some! Cis… die die later must cari petai and cook it with prawns!!! ARGHHHHH! *pulls hair*
LOL!!! Withdrawal symptoms starting to show eh…? Prawns like those, I’ve a lot right now in my freezer…but no petai. Just used a few yesterday to fry some noodles for breakfast. Now what am I going to cook today…? Hehehehehehe, eat your heart out! 😀
*sulk* So jahat! Later I must go and hunt down some petai liao la… cannot tahan oredi. Today got pasar pagi… must wake my husband up and go later. I’ve been craving for petai for weeks!
LOL… you wait.. a few more days, Kat will show you how glutton-like we are… LOL! Went and eat some steamboat buffet with her, and I guess, the tauke will be closing shop once he sees us again! LOL!
Oh yea… would love to try the mee suah… looks nice. 😀 The chicken looks really tender too!
I think I read about the steamboat outing somewhere…and how some auntie really pigged herself out – not difficult to guess who that was. Muahahahahaha!!!! 😀
padan muka me….Cleff already warn me about this…yet i went and click. Now hungry already. Have to defrost the frozen vinegar pork knuckle to eat
LOL!!! Did she warn you? Muahahahahaha!!!! Oooo…I love vinegar pork knuckles! Have a post on those coming up…but not the Cantonese black vinegar ones! Drool!!!
LOL… Curiosity… kills…. the… kat! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Gee! You tell her what’s in my posts kah? No surprise anymore lah…like that! Bet you must be bodeking her for petai – not in season, I think… Must check out my regular Malay stall these few days…
when when? will avoid this blog on that day LOL
Not yet! Not yet! That fella…Raya already over for so long, still not back in business yet. I hope he’s ok… Starting to miss his food already.
Interesting name for a Foochow place. Isn’t the Mekong River in Vietnam? That dianpianngu looks really good, better than the original alleyway fare in Sibu. But why don’t you like dianpianngu? It is the quintessential Foochow dish. Can’t be Foochow without liking dianpianngu. Even my Texas born son loves it. BTW, the best dianpianngu I’ve had was in LA, in the Fuchow Restaurant (featured in Jackie Chan’s Rush Hour). They used real seafood, fresh squid, scallops etc. Made me realize that dianpianngu is actually a seafood dish.
It is, isn’t it? In Sibu, they put in fish balls and meng-ngee (dried cuttlefish). Nope, not a fan of dianpianngu! Guess I’m not 100% Foochow… LOL!!! Ya…what a name! I would think they’ll be selling Vietnamese beef noodles, spring rolls and stuff like that there. Foochow-owned…like many places in Kuching now! They came, they saw…and they conquered!
Not 100% Foochow? I actually thought you’re Hokkien until you told me you’re Foochow. Somehow your surname doesn’t sound very Foochow. Perhaps half Foochow?
75%. My maternal grandma was Melanau, so I’m 25% Melanau. LOL!!!
Great combination. Three of my nieces are half Melanau. All brilliant girls and very beautiful.
Aha! That explains my intelligence and good looks then! Muahahahahaha!!! 😀
hu….now missing chaa mian la… i thinnk i will hv to go eat breakfast now.hungry… no cha mian, eat other noodles lor. ish
Kesian…Cantonese fried? Hokkien fried? Nothing like Foochow fried! Simply the best! Hehehehehehe!!!!
ate wantan mee instead but not even half as tasty as kampua noodles seriously:(
Never like wantan mee. My daughter prefers it to kampua though… I guess one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Personally, I prefer Kuching kolo mee… 😉
The Foochow fried noodle looks the same with Canton Yee Mee here but I wondered they have the same taste too… 🙂
Not the same in that they do not fry the noodles till crispy first and then pour the gravy all over it…and also they use soy sauce. Cantonese one…very pale, not dark-coloured like this. I don’t mind the Cantonese-style noodles… Nice to have sometimes.
So basically you guys ordered everything off the menu kah? But they do look nice!
I suppose so…and I had a great time taking the photos of everything! Was hoping and praying that not everyone would want toe at the same thing. 🙂
gd afternoon STP 🙂 The one your missus said is sour enough I wanna try ! Coz I very da suka sour stuffs 😀
You know wat happen to me last nite? William ordered ‘Tai Chow’ *dunno how to spell* for me. Waited 20 minutes that thing did not appear… went to another stall, ordered fried oyster.. oso did not appear… dunno wat my LUCK! 😦
That’s a favourite of many…but I’m not a fan. Maybe fat people don;t really like sour things, prefer anything that’s sweet. LOL!!! What happened? Business so very good or service really bad?
haven’t really tasted the authentic “kampua mee” from sibu, because all the stalls here just claimed their kampua are from sarawak, so which one is true?? hehehe..
i am very interested to try that “zhao cai hung ngang”, looks good and special, actually i like the thick beehoon…
Dunno if they have that anywhere over there – looks like you will have to come over here and try. Any plans to come to Sibu for your holidays…or Kuching. So far, everybody who came really loved it here – they all say it is so very “different”! 😉
I love the kampua noodles best here.. i mean i would love to try that one out.. its been …er.. 12 years i think…since i last went to Kuching during the inter state sports… those were the days..
so now back in sibu… got gained weight or not? 🙂
Gosh! So long ago… Time to hop over again, so very different now lor! Kuching already a city…and personally, I think it is nicer than Ipoh (…Sibu is very much smaller, so cannot compare) but these days, the traffic jams in Kuching are terrible. City mah…mesti ada jam punya…like Ipoh also! I’ve been back in Sibu for a week already…so I think all back to normal liao! LOL!!! 😀
Thank goodness that it is almost lunch time when I saw this post of yours. ^_^
I agree with you. There are those times (a long time ago) when everyone in the family knows one another even if some relatives are already in 4th degree of relations.
It is indeed sad that this thing happened. It is only during weddings and funerals that the whole clan come together and see and each other.
Yup…but thanks to Facebook, many of us keep in touch regularly…just that, some are not technically-inclined…or are not bothered, so we would not be able to keep one another updated on the latest going-ons. Hahahaha!!! What’s for lunch? 😉
Yeah, I agree. Facebook is quite useful. My high school classmates keep in touch using Facebook, especially now that many of them are outside of the country.
My lunch today is sinigang na bangus. Bangus is milkfish and sinigang is a dish that sour broth. The sour taste could come from calamansi, guava, or other sour fruits.
That sounds like an interesting dish – fish soup that’s sour? We (Foochows/Chinese) have our own version too…but no fruits, just one kind of preserved vegetable. The Thai tomyam is also sour seafood soup…but spicy.
@Cikgu…. no la… trying to lure her come teman me makan… but too bad… sobs… her hubby kerja… nobody drive her to cari me… so cannot feed her… sobsob… that means, nobody teman me jadi pig. No fun!
You need more friends… Next time I go KL, you can meet my friends – eating no problem one, anytime any place! 😀
o.O Wah! Your friends all makan kaki kah? LOL… I dun like to shop… but I enjoy good company… and makan makan… LOL…very syok… hahahaha…can be deliriously happy after makan, even if I can’t eat so much at one sitting. Aiyaks… this weekend slow weekend… tarak date. LOL…must go and kacau ppl to go on makan rampage for next weekend liao… else I will gila…hahahah…
Cham la… most brats my age… tarak tau enjoy life wan… die diet diet all the time. No fun la… ishhh! I can’t believe la… one of my friend just subscribe to dono wud gym program… loose weight punya… so expensive… use that money to makan oso can dono go how many rounds! Tsk tsk tsk!
My friends like me – eat and have fun! Be happy! Not into shopping…not like my missus – shopping number one, eating not that keen, scared of getting fat…even though I keep telling her…already fat and already old but all fall on deaf ears. Not a makan-kaki, that’s for sure. Sigh!
i will never be able to pronounce the noodles dishes. Are those in foochow language?
I think so…all the -ng words are definitely Foochow. That’s why many have an accent when they speak English… I can handle Mandarin quite well…enough to survive, but not Foochow – the intonation is really something!
where’s exactly is this cafe? 😀 i’d like to try the foochow mee haha.. er.. i’m 100% foochow but i dont like the dian miang ngu.. probably bcoz i cant speak foochow wahahha~! XD i used to go to sin poh poh cafe for foochow food last time, after they’ve shifted to Miri, i just cant find any other place’s foochow food tht can satisfy my tastebud 😦 so sad..
I can’t speak the dialect much either, prefer to resort to Mandarin instead – normally speak Hokkien – for reasons unknown to me. LOL!!! It’s in the area of shophouses across the road from Li Wah Hotel/Chilli Peppers (Jalan Song Thian Chiok?) where Eon Bank is – somewhere in the midst of the area, opposite Heritage Restaurant and Hidden Treasures Christian article shop. Across the road from the other side, it’s the area opposite Grand Continental Hotel and that famous laksa place…
haha thanks! i shall check with my mom.. this will bcome 1 of my tasks when i go back to kch next week 😛
Oh, you’re not in Kuching? Shouldn’t be hard to find as Heritage is pretty well known – one of the top restaurants in the city these days (opened by chefs from the former Tsui Hua Lau).
:O Tsui Hua Lau, oh my, tht’s the restaurant where i had my wedding dinner in ’06.. and it closed down after tht =.=” very sad. glad to know they’ve open another restaurant 🙂 . ya, i come to KL to study and staying here for abt 12 yrs already. going back to kch abt twice a yr 🙂
I see… They’ve opened this new one for quite a while now – was already around last year, I’m sure. The food’s as good as the old place, I hear…but I’ve never been there so far. 😦
sighs…reading this post just makes me miss kuching food so much…esp the char chu mee with lotsa wine..oh boy…
despite so many people labelling penang as food heaven…i still prefer kuching food.hahaha! i hope no penangite is going to come n stone me
Ya…I guess Penang has some of her nice stuff…but Kuching has her share of a lot as well. But between the two cities, I think I prefer Kuching…
Definitely Kuching better than Penang!
Yup…for one thing, it’s not so crammed and congested and the last time, I was in Penang, when I went round the narrow roads in the city centre, the old shops were all so run down and badly needed a new coat of paint…and the traffic jam! But as far as the jams go, Kuching is definitely catching up! Will be as bad if something isn’t done quickly…
I wanna eat foochow mee sua. 😀
Come, come…you get get really nice ones here in Sibu also… 😉
too bad missed out on the brunch but thks to gundot, gerrie n mum, my bro m. managed to fit in at least 3 kolos ice kacang jiu hu etc… N really enjoyed the get together n now my son can put a face to a name 🙂
+ he thinks u n sophia sings well!
Thank you, thank you. Lucas is such a sweet boy – so polite and pleasant. Thank goodness he was not shocked by us, crazy people! LOL!!! I guess you’re still in Brisbane right now, commenting via handphone? 😉
Oh, you know what food i miss in this post? zhao cai hung ngang !!! Yummy!!! I think over here i cannot find zhao cai? Here is either sweet one or salted one. I ask my mum bring over once for me to keep, so i can boil the soup, it’s sourish and taste so good with add little bit more vinegar in it. My boys love that soup too.
That bowl of foochow mee suah look good, i just had it yesterday.
Aha! Another thing to add to my list of things to bring over should I happen to go to KL! LOL!!! I don’t really like… If my missus cooks the soup at home, I will drink the soup and eat the meat or fish…and leave everything else behind. LOL!!!
wow…i’ll love the mee hoon in preserved vege soup…looked so nice. And the prawns also looked very nice……
See what you people miss…not coming to Kuching or Sibu! So many nice things here….a lot better than going to those Third World countries.
STP!! the dianpianngu is wat?? look nice ehh.. here in kk got or not??
That’s a Foochow dish… Don’t think they have that in KK. Even the ones in Kuching, not nice…and Sibu too. Have to go to the original, that one’s the best – but I’m not really a fan of the stuff.
Oh dear, the spread of food made me drool… I would like to try the Foochow noodles!^-^
Come, come… Any plans to visit Sarawak soon?