Try it one more time…

I’ve tried the kampua noodles here before…

…because I heard a lot of people singing its praises but I did not think it was really great. We were in the vicinity on Sunday morning, my missus and I, so I decided to try it one more time.

Both of us had the kampua mee pok, the flat version of the noodles…

…and both of us liked it a lot. The man added a bit of garlic to it and that made it stand out from the rest – with its very pleasant, not over-powering garlicky fragrance.

Another plus point was the fact that I could hardly feel the msg – I seem to have developed an aversion to it these days. A little will be fine with me but if I can taste it, I will be having this feeling of the crystals melting  in my mouth for the next hour or so…and I will end up drinking a lot of water.

Other than that, it is only RM2.30 a bowl compared to other places that have raised the price to RM2.50 and theirs are not even necessarily nice. Tsk! Tsk!

I also ordered the liver soup (RM3.00) that the two of us could share…

…and it was very nice too. We were given this special dip for the slices of liver…

…and it went really well together.

I used to drop by this coffee shop quite often for the very nice char siew (barbecue pork) and the whole works and also for some of the things from another stall in the shop – my daughter loves the porridge there. Well, it certainly looks like they haven’t seen the last of me yet – I’ll be back!

Waited so long…

My young friend, ah^kam_koko’, was in town for the weekend and he had been waiting to eat this double cheese beef burger (RM16.90)…

…since he saw my post on it so long ago when I went there with my daughter.

So I took him to the place for this well-deserved treat. I thought of having a nice thick sandwich, a Club perhaps but unfortunately, they did not have any on the menu so I decided to give their mushroom beef burger (RM14.90) a try instead…

It was very nice and I particularly loved their own-made patty, not one of those that you can buy at the frozen section of any supermarket.

My daughter would love the mushrooms but I’m not really a fan. I think the next time around, I will just go for the double cheese as well but for one thing, that day, I found myself struggling to finish everything on the plate. Somehow, it seemed that the serving was too big and there was simply too much for me to handle. Good grief! It was never ever like this before and I guess the reason is plain to see – I’m growing old… Sobs!!!

Well, iced lemon tea (small) was RM3.80 a glass and one good thing was that I had a big mug of very cold iced water, so big that it was more like a jug, and they did not charge us for that. Besides, there is none of the ++ that can, in fact, add quite a substantial amount to the overall total in the bill.

All things considered, this is one place where I certainly wouldn’t mind bringing people to for a bite and to relax, sit around and chit-chat and watch the world go by…

Right next door…

I sent my car to the car wash the other day and I decided to go for a simple lunch at the coffee shop right next door.

There used to be a Chinese kampua noodle stall there but either it has closed shop or moved elsewhere. Now you have a choice between the usual stuff from the Malay stall in front or the nasi campur (mixed rice) from the counter at the back.

I opted for the latter and this was what I got for RM4.50…

The daging masak hitam (black-cooked beef) was nice and the fried fish was like…fish!

As for the kerabu of paku (jungle fern) and long beans with goodness-knows-what-else, I thought it was bland and quite tasteless and the kangkong (water spinach) was not much better, I’m afraid.

On the whole, I would say that it was not something that I would want to have again…and definitely not for RM4.50!!! I think the next time around, I would try some of the things available at the stall in front – perhaps, I may stumble upon something nice there.

Where the twain shall meet…

Do you believe in fate? You may be from different ends of the country or different parts of the world but if it is fated, no matter what, you will eventually end up together. Well, this is not the first case and I’m sure it will definitely not be the last.

Another one of my ex-students got married the other day…

He was such a nice boy in school, so pleasant – a really very good boy indeed. He was very active in church activities and I used to jokingly ask him whether he wanted to become a priest and then we would have a Father Elvis! Well, that’s his name and he didn’t end up becoming a priest but instead, he tied the knot on Friday last week to this girl all the way from Serdang, Kedah…

I went to the church service in the morning and that evening, the wedding reception was held at this restaurant…

…which is in fact the sister-establishment of this restaurant in town.

Of course, it started with the Four+1 Treasures…

…followed by the not-to-be-named soup as usual…

The steamed fish was really good, I must say…

…and this meat combo dish of pork and Thai-style chicken came next…

I did not touch this…

…but I did take a couple of prawns from this next dish…

Then, there was the dessert – or nee (yam paste) with sio bee (meat dumplings), both of which I enjoyed…but unfortunately, I forgot to take a photograph of it.

It certainly was a delightful evening and dinner and thanks so much, Elvis, for the invitation. As always, it is so very nice to be remembered…

You smell so good…

Well, that’s what I personally feel! When it’s frying in the kitchen and the fragrance fills the whole house, you can hear your tummy rumbling…and you just can’t wait to sit down and eat. Nope, I’m not talking about belacan (dried fermented prawn paste) here but instead, I’m talking about what we call long kiam hu…

In Hokkien kiam means salty and hu is fish, so kiam hu is salted fish. I do not know what long means but the whole thing together, long kiam hu, refers to a special type of salted fish that is not dry and hard.

I was told once that the fishermen would clean the fish at sea the moment it is caught and stuff salt inside it unlike the normal process where they just salt it on the outside. I don’t know how true that is but the end product is definitely different from the usual. It is softer and moist…

…and goes absolutely well with porridge. You can top it with thinly-sliced chilies and a squeeze of lime to enhance the taste even further.

We use it for cooking too. Sometimes, we mix slices of it (instead of cincaluk or fermented shrimps) and ginger with pork belly, add a little msg and steam.  We can also place slices of it on top of soft white tofu and steam to get another very delightful dish. Sprinkle some chopped spring onions (and chili) and serve.

I got this one from my cousin who was in town – she got it from Sarikei and she said it was ngor hu, whatever that is but that is supposed to be very good quality fish. We can also get the bay ka or tenggiri (mackerel) ones from the market but they must be fresh or quite new…or else the on-going fermenting process may end up doing more harm than good – the long  kiam hu would become somewhat mushy and not so palatable.

Of course, this is not very healthy especially for those with hypertension or high blood pressure…but then, one usually does not eat very much of it since it is too salty and has to go with rice or porridge but then again, I’ve heard people saying that, normally, they would eat one plate of rice but if there’s long kiam hu, they will definitely have seconds. I guess that is where the danger lies. LOL!!!

Pretty in pink…

I don’t know how many of you have seen this but it was the first time I ever saw one…

Pretty, isn’t it? Well, if you’re an ignoramus like me, that’s the torch ginger flower or what we normally refer to locally as bunga kantan.

As far as I know, it is commonly used in Malay and Thai cooking and one West Malaysian colleague of mine once said that some dishes would never be complete without the bunga kantan. Tak best lah!

However, we seldom used it in our dishes in the past and as a matter of fact, my missus did not like the smell at all. She still doesn’t but does not mind it as much as before.

But what I would see at the market and in some dishes that I’ve eaten before would be the bud and I had never seen it bloom before, not until now.

I hear that if you do not stick it in water and leave it to shrivel up, you will be able to get some very nice dried flowers…but I’ve yet to see those so I can’t tell you exactly how true that is.

How we do it over here…

If you order fried noodles in Kuching, they will deep fry the noodles and after that, they will cook the tomato gravy with all the other ingredients and pour it over the noodles. Because of this, if you eat it on the spot, the noodles would be hard and crispy and many of my college mates (from Sibu) in the mid-70s did not like it at all. I, on the other hand, loved it a lot…and if you tapao it to take home, the noodles would have soaked up the gravy and turned soft and I would not mind it either way.

We cannot find noodles cooked this way anywhere in Sibu but we do have our own tomato char kway teow (fried flat rice noodles). This is the tomato char kway teow with crispy seafood at the Garden Hotel coffee house (RM10.00++)…

*recycled pic*

…which is the best I’ve had so far in town but as you can see, it is a bit pricey and not something that I can afford to have on a regular basis. I have also tried the one  at the Red Carrot (RM6.50)…

…as well as those at some other places in town but so far, none had me jumping up and down with delight and running back for more.

Well, the other day, I decided to give it a try at this coffee shop. So far, the noodles that I’ve had there have been very good…and actually, I took the three senior ladies (my aunties) there for the Foochow fried noodles…

*recycled pic*

….when they were in Sibu and they said that they were nicer than what we had at this restaurant.

Well, this was what I got for RM5.00 with all the extra ingredients – the shrimps and the squid…

…and what it lacked in the colour, it certainly made up for it in the taste. It was very nice but I think the next time, I would ask for a bit more tomato sauce in order that it would have a stronger sweet and sour tomato flavour.

In the meantime, the hunt continues. Who knows I may find a place where the tomato char kway teow is even nicer than this one?

It’s been so long…

I was in the midst of my tuition class when my handphone rang. I did not recognise the number so I rejected the call. After a while, I received an sms – it was from an ex-student of mine. I had not seen him since he left school – it’s been so very long…but I do remember teaching him when he was in Form 5 (not too sure whether I taught him or not in Form 4) and I can still visualise that nice little boy sitting by the window beside the door in the classroom.

The last I heard of him, he was studying in a private college in Kuching and the next thing I heard was that he had graduated and was working in Australia. Then last year, I received an invitation to his wedding reception here in Sibu – he was coming back for that but unfortunately, I had to be in Kuching then for my sister-in-law’s son’s wedding on that same weekend.

Well, this time around, we met for lunch and it certainly was great to have the opportunity to meet him again and I must say that I felt so very flattered when he said that he could not remember the other teachers that taught him – only me…and mine was the only name he could remember.

We had intended to go some place but owing to the parking problem, we ended up at this place that my missus and I went to for dinner just a few days ago. I had the set lunch (RM10.00 nett) and  given a choice of five options, I chose the lamb with tom yam sauce…

…which was served with a free drink and this complimentary herbal chicken soup.

My ex-student had their Sarawak laksa (RM9.00++)…

…which he said was pretty good and came with this sambal…

We certainly had a wonderful time catching up with old times, talking about people we used to know and all the things that have been going on in our lives. He has grown, of course – no longer the little boy that I used to know…but instead, he is now a handsome young man – more mature and more outspoken and as nice and respectful as ever.

Unfortunately, he had to fly back to Australia in a couple of days but  he said he would be back again next year. Thanks so much  for the delightful lunch, Edgar – I certainly look forward to seeing you again…

In the garden…

Last Sunday was Father’s Day here but as far as I know, they have it on different dates in some countries. Well, my daughter’s not home so we did not really celebrate the special occasion even though my missus did go out and buy a cake a week earlier as she got the date wrong. Half of it is still in the fridge…and I guess that certainly says a lot about the cake.

In the meantime, she went and baked this banana cake…

…and in a blink of an eye, it was all gone…

That certainly says a lot about THIS cake, doesn’t it? LOL!!!

We went to the evening Sunday service at the cathedral as usual and after that, we went to the cafe at the Garden Hotel here for dinner. We had not been there since my daughter went back to Wellington so that would mean that it had been almost half a year since we last dropped by the place.

They gave us this complimentary garlic bread…

…and my missus had the fish and chips (RM12++), my daughter’s favourite…

…and the tartar sauce came in this…

I thought one would use that for gravy that one could pour – like those for steaks and chops. Tsk! Tsk!

I decided to try the chicken cordon bleu (RM15.00++)…

…and got a pretty generous chunk. I was somewhat disappointed,however, when I cut into it at one end…

I could not see anything and reckoned it was going to be just a slab of fried chicken. However, it turned out that I had jumped to the conclusion too soon. As I ate, the cheese began to ooze out…

…and they even had mushroom in it…

But I  do wish they had a slice of ham in it too though, never mind even if it had been turkey. Anyway, on the whole, it was pretty good and something worth having should you happen to drop by the place.

Both of us had iced lemon tea (RM5.00++)…

– not my usual cup of tea, so  to speak…but I usually refrain from kopi-o-peng (iced black coffee) at night in case I’ll be tossing and turning till dawn…

Early bird…

As the English proverb goes, “It’s the early bird that catches the worm.” Well, it’s only the middle of the 5th Month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar and the Mooncake Festival will be in the 8th Month on the 12th of September this year, to be exact…but these biscuits are already in the market…

These are what we called pek-guek pia (8th Month biscuits) or tong chiew pia (Mid-autumn biscuits) and are a Foochow specialty.

I used to like those from Sarikei, a neighbouring town here which is about an hour or so away by road but my sister gave me these the other day…

These are made in Sibu and the packaging is different this year with the biscuits placed in a tray. I guess that’s a good thing as it will probably prevent breakage in transit.

To my delight, they are really very good – with the fragrance of lard and the other ingredients like sesame seeds that go into the making of the biscuits. My sister also sent some to our cousins in Kuching and one even remarked that they’re nicer than Scottish shortbread – now you can imagine how nice these these biscuits actually are. LOL!!!

It certainly looks like this is the one for me this year…