Actually, there were three ladies – my aunt who’s my mother’s youngest sister and two aunts-in-law, wives of my uncles (my mother’s brothers) – who came to town from Kuching for a few days. They brought me a lot of things – the Kai Joo Lane char siew pao that I love and others…and one of them gave me this…
– durian flower acar (pickle). It was really very nice, nicer than the acar timun (cucumber pickle) that we would usually have around Chinese New Year time and eat it with keropok (prawn crackers)…and talking about keropok, a cousin sent me a packet of that through them…and from the look of it, I’m pretty sure it is of really good quality – I heard that she got it specially made by a friend who would only make it when she’s in the mood…and such occasions would be few and far between. Gee! I must save that for some special occasion…or when somebody special comes to town. Anybody planning to come to Sibu in the near future? Hehehehehehe!!!
Well, I took the ladies for dinner here…
…as they wanted to eat crabs and this place is renowned for the best (though not the cheapest) in town…
…and I’m sure some of you would be amused to see what we were given to eat it with…
LOL!!!
I also ordered this claypot sea cucumber…
…instead of the usual soup and we also had the Foochow specialty, the ang zhao duck…
I guess everybody would know by now that ang zhao is the residue that is left from making the traditional Foochow red wine. Unfortunately this dish was a disappointment and paled in comparison with the ang zhao dishes that my missus cooks.
The fried asparagus with prawn balls was very nicely done…
…and I liked the Foochow fried noodles too…
…even though I would not say that it is the best in town.
Of course, the dinner did not come cheap – RM143 for the food…but that came as no surprise as the crab dish alone was around RM50…and sea cucumber isn’t that cheap either so I would think it was pretty reasonable and what was most important was that I could treat the ladies to a decent dinner – they do not come to town very often, you see…and I would certainly do the same for anyone who cares to drop by this little town to say hello…anytime!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Yummy!! yummy! is all I can say! Supa dupa yum! So you must be very busy the last few days entertaining 3 gorgeous ladies,huh? 😉 ! I hve 2 duck maryland sitting in my freezer so now I have an idea what to cook with them. My Mil gave me really nice angchow she made herself.
So when are you coming? Always glad to have visitors in town… At least, something’s happening and good excuse to go out and eat! LOL!!! 😉
You are such a very good host who would bring everyone to eat yummiest food. I definitely would love to be your guest when I visit Sibu. I will look for you, yeah! Have a good weekend!
Durian flower acar is really something new to me! In Thailand, they almost eat, cook or chew any flowers! As long as there were bees humming its nectar, it is deemed as safe. I think I ate Ang Zhao once and didn’t know that is Foo Chow food as there is hardly any Foo Chow restaurants here.
Of course! So when are you coming? I’d be delighted to take you around and treat you to the best food in town. Yum! Yum! Here, we’ve been eating durian flowers since small but these days, not that easy to get and quite expensive to buy at the market. It’s very nice! Belum cuba, belum tahu… No Foochow restaurants? Where are you? KL? If Ipoh…or Sitiawan, Perak…sure a lot of Foochows.
Your picture of crabs remind me that I haven’t eaten some in quite a while. My favorite are Marmite crabs.
It’s interesting reading your blog coz’ I learn about foods that I’ve never known before 🙂
It’s ironic, isn’t it? We’re all in the same country and many are more familiar with all kinds of stuff from countries far far away but do not know what can be found righ here at their doorstep. 😦 I like chilli crabs…and salted egg but they do not cook it like that at this restaurant.
Sibu…i belum tahu lagi bila nak pergi sana, but sure i cari u to bring me jalan-jalan cari makan 😀
Come, come…make it soon!
Your pixz uploading is getting crabby hahaha, WordPress got some technical glitch last nite..
Got kah? No leh… All’s fine at my end. Your connection is acting up on you again, maybe…
Oh love the song ‘3 Times a Lady..’ still waiting for the pixz, I will be right back..muahaha.
I just checked via another window – no problem at all leh? Page opened, with all the photos…instantly….and actually, I’m already on throttle right now as I’ve exceeded my limit – very slow, can’t watch videos but still, no problem. Must be your connection… Hehehehehe!!!! 😉
Wow!…Kai Joo Lane char siew pao…..is it still as nice as before?
Sedapnya!!…crab, claypot sea cucumber and fried asparagus. Never came across my mind that durian flower can be made into acar. It seems pretty awkward to crush the crab pincers with a hammer,no?As for me, I usually do that before cooking….and the foochow fried mee…macam not enough “liao” and for the ang chao duck, I would still prefer chicken instead of duck 🙂
The pastry is as nice as before…but the filling is a bit different. Seems drier but it still tastes o.k. I think there is high garlic content as during heating, the fragrance would fill the whole kitchen. Yum! Yum! Nice!
The restaurants will not crack the crab shell before cooking…in case diners accidentally swallow a piece of the broken shell…and they will land up in court with a lawsuit in their hands.
Foochows will cook duck or pork leg in this manner – my missus does not eat duck, so she cooks chicken…or pork belly.
The durian flowers acar was really very nice – a welcome change from the usual frying with sambal haybee…or cook curry/lemak….and this one, you can keep for a long, long time…
Oh!..How come I didn’t think of it…but so far nothing happen. Praise the Lord!!!… Next time better get a nutcraker/wooden baton to do the job. Better safe than sorry. Eat crab is so “ma huan” thing to do.
I guess so. Good for eating out with friends…with lots of time in your hand to sit and chit chat and work on the crabs and eat. I don’t think anything wooden would be hard enough… Have you eaten crabs at that Chinese restaurant at Grand Continental? Their baked crabs are heavenly- and you get one whole crab each….and they give each person a hammer too – so you can see all the holes in their tablecloth and you know what everybody has been doing. LOL!!! 😀
For that amount of food, the price is not too sky high…. sea cucumber, crabs.. these two are costly … anyway.. u better start saving now if you keep on issuing invitations like that.. hahaha…
Ya, it was quite ok…and there were 5 of us – pretty reasonable considering what we had. No worries! If you come, I would beg, steal or borrow to make sure you will eat to your heart’s content while you are here…. Coming? .)
YES!!! but most probably next year only… sigh… this year.. u know la.. susah sikit.. so that gives us time to save up more money to “eat all we can!!”
Next year??? You’d probably get to see me in Ipoh first! My girl’s going back to SP next year….and I’ll quit teaching before year end. Next year,. going to be very very poor liao… Sobs!!! 😦
the hammer is really a… hammer! I thought some places give you these cute little wooden batons to crack the shells of the crab. Guess this restaurant figured the hammer will do the job better. XD
I’ve seen shops giving nutcrackers…but there are shops in Kuching too that will give you a hammer- dunno elsewhere, never gone to eat crabs at other places…and the table cloth full of holes cut by the crab shell in the process of hammering! LOL!!! 😀
Omg they shouldn’t have put table cloth then! My colleague used to comment, “we can always use the old mobile phones (the big ones) to crack crabs too!” Frankly speaking, I don’t really eat crabs, probably because my family rarely bring me to have this delicacy when young. But now that I can afford it, I always belanja my parents these good food when I’m back in Penang.
Aiyor…now they’re old, cannot belanja too often – high cholesterol and “tok” (poisonous) – may cause allergies…but belanja me, ok. Anytime. Muahahahahaha!!!! Yes, I’ve heard about the handphone but I’ve never tried. Can use to throw at fierce dogs too… LOL!!! 😀
Actually, there were three ladies – my aunt who’s my mother’s youngest sister and two aunts-in-law, wives of my uncles (my mother’s brothers) ..
Wah that’s quite a ‘mouthful’ to mention. Not too sure but better to consult our Cikgu is there any other shorter term for ‘uncle’ or ‘auntie’ from father side or mother’s side? We were brought up from a typical Chinaman family where Papa would insist we ‘call’ out the names of relatives who visit us or when we visit them. During any meals before we pick up the chopsticks must call out the names of all present to start off with Papa ‘sit fun’ *eat rice*, Ah Mak ‘sit fun’ *eat rice* Tai kiew fu, tai kiew mu, piao kor ‘sit fun’ obladi oblada.. The Chinese way is very specific as per the names of relatives even mother/father-in-law as well and immediately we will know ‘ah this uncle is my Mama’s brother or that auntie is my Papa’s sister etc. Thinking to blog about it for sharing purposes in future. tQ.
English, the best…all aunt, uncle…no difference. Chinese one – so complicated… My daughter is often at a loss as to who’s who and how to address. Chinese people trying to be ultra-polite but end up making it such a hassle for the uninitiated. Maybe that’s why the young ones just keep quiet and the parents always scold, “Boh kio! Chui chau khi to lor?”
Yes agree a bit complicated for the Chinese way and can understand your situation especially for bananas like you and me but to the Chinese educated its like eating tofu bro. Haha ‘chui kum kim’ *mouth got gold* scared open mouth gold all dropped? Well it could be the fault of the parents to advise their children what names they should be addressing. Maybe the parents took for granted or the child forgets what to call. Should educate and not scold kids in front of the relatives tiok boh? ~;).
The dying out of the extended family. In the past, everybody stayed together…and they would see one another everyday and call one another everyday. These days, the family unit is all broken up – and one small family may be at another part of the country or one end of the world – a set of parents and a child or two who never gets/get to meet any of his/her/their next-of-kin…so if they happen to meet, they would not even know who the fella is…much less know how to greet. Is it any wonder that filial piety is fading into oblivion these days?
Not a very pandai person to eat crabs as Bananaz do not know how to maximize eating them. This comment came from a ‘crab expert’ who after seeing the shells on the table said it’s a total waste not eating the crab completely haha.
You lazy bum…simply eat, not sampai bersih. Crab so expensive…cannot waste like that. My daughter would not eat crab because of this reason…unless the mum does all the “work” for her. LOL!! 😀
Ah ha.. the hammer!..
If I had a hammer
I’d hammer in the morning
I’d hammer in the evening … all over Sibu..
*Hammer*
What hammer are you using, Bananaz? Yours huge or not? Muahahahahaha!!!! 😀
Huge enough to hammer your pretty big fat head hahahahahahaha..
Temper! Temper! Getting violent, are we? Muahahahaha!!! 😀
Kesian the crabs… kena hentam wif hammer. LOL!
At home, we use the lesung batu… It certainly does not look as crude as a hammer! LOL!!! 😀
Where is this restaurant? the crab dish looks good lol….but I feel strange,eat crab using hammer……?
Jalan Maju…across the road from the Rejang Esplanade and the Ark. They have the best crabs but they’re expensive – the other one, very popular and formerly near the Sibu bus terminal – those crabs are reared…from Lawas/Limbang, cheap but I do not like the crabs there.
Hello Arthur. I ‘cop’ the durian flower acar..if got somemore lar by the time I visit you..hahaha.I’ve heard so much of it but so far not lucky enough to get to try.Not expensive lar the dinner as all quality and pricey food.NZ$80 for a lobster here can pay for that whole dinner with change!..and your dinner looks much better and bigger portion than the lone miserable lobster…wah,now I feel so heart sick..hehehe!
Oops! All gone! LOL!!! My auntie-in-law gave me a small bottle only. Hopefully, when you’re here…the flowers will start blooming and then you can get to try them. Hmmmm….not expensive kah? Some people here say cannot convert, compare 1 to 1…and also you people there are highly paid, all kaya raya so even if the prices are higher, not a problem…life there is soooooo good, not like here.
I never heard of Durian flower before, nor eating them. Some durian fanatics actually can’t bear the wait of the durian, so they’d eat the flower?
I love the hammer time! (I want crab now, the crustaceans-not the condition).
ROTFL!!! Notty! Notty! Nope, the flowers do not taste anything like durians. Now, this is something that my parents’ Indonesian helper told me. She was amazed at the things that we people cook and eat here – e.g. durian flowers. She loved them…and she said, “Orang Indon, semua ini buang!” She also said that there are many things that we eat here and are available over there but nobody eats them. That was what she said – I wouldn’t know how true that is.
OMGawd Arthur you are certainly a food connoisseur and great host! The food looks heavenly. We here only know ang chiew to be in noodles, never cooked with meats. The durian flower acar looked interesting too, never had that before. Was in Bangkok recently and was served a veggie dish which turned out to be a cluster of unopened flower buds. Tasted heavenly!
+Ant+
Ang chiew with noodles, this is ang chao – the residue…but we do add ang chiew in cooking various meat dishes as well – both steamed and fried. Come, come to Sibu…and you can get to try all these yummy delicacies.
DURIAN flower acar?!! haven’t tried it before. does it have any durian tastes?!! haha
Nope. Crunchy…nice texture and taste like midin, light flower fragrance. Dependent on other ingredients to enhance the taste.
I miss asparagus…
Lots there, I’m sure… Cameron ones should be cheap, so near.
Arthur…Happy Father’s Day to you and I have posted up the Sarawak Laksa..remember the paste you gave me..hahaha finally cooked it and it was lovely. Thanks for the sambal and I gave Claire her share…ask her whether she likes it anot? If she doesn’t like it then it is my fault coz my first time cooking it. Thanks a lot for it. We had a wonderful breakfast !! 🙂
You are so blessed to have aunties bringing you good stuff 🙂 durian flower acar…I have not heard of it before…flowers of the durian you mean? And the scrumptious dinner you all had… love that crab dish and the sea cucumber dish…I want to fly over to Sibu after looking at the food 🙂 for the meantime I shall just drool over it.
Have a great day,
Elin
Thanks, Elin for the greeting and the same to Joanna’s papa.
Certainly not your fault. It looks so nice…drool…drool! Claire’s more into the mild Chinese cuisine, I’ve noticed…not into the more exotic and spicy stuff. LOL!!! Glad you like it.
Yup, they’re the flowers that bloom first on the durian tree and they drop…and then the durians will appear. We collect the flowers to cook and eat…but must collect and cook on the same day or they shrivel up and turn brown fast – not so nice anymore. My parents’ Indon helper was amazed that we eat everything here – she said they never ate that at home…and she loved it so much – fried with sambal hay bee!
Come, come over to Sibu anytime. Most welcome.
LOL! With sea cucumber dish of course it won’t be cheap!>_<
I reckon I would love the durian flower acar, just can't resist temptation for any acar or pickles!
Once again the food looks delicious !!!
And a very Happy Father’s Day to you !! 🙂
Thanks, Joanna. I wonder where you are now. If you’re in KL, you can always hop over sometime when you feel like you need a food break… Always welcome. 😉
Hai Bing, still the famous place for crabs? No new place coming out for crabs? I remember everytime when i said want to have crabs, my mum sure bring me to here.
Aiya..last few days i just mention to my friend saying long time didn’t go for crabs, should arrange one day go for crabs, now you post up crabs. 😦 Here they also give us hammer, but small hammer not as big as Sibu one. hahahhaha.
Claypot sea cucumber, my favourite!! I think i can finish that pot all by myself, yummy!
Ang chao, i like to marinate with chicken or ribs, then deep fried it, very good. Now, over here, i marinate it with pork chop and fried it, very nice too.
I know there’s the very popular Hong Fu but I don’t like the crabs there – reared ones from Limbang/Lawas…and other places but I seldom have crabs and whenever I want to take people to go and eat crabs, I would go to Hai Bing lor…since it’s supposed to have the best crabs. Long ago, I used to go to “Siong Loke Hui” or something…near TungHua/DewanSuarah but have not gone there for years and years…and the steamboat place there also, now moved to Rejang Park. Maybe I should go and try elsewhere and see – Hai Bing is getting simply too expensive.
aaah love that fried asparagus with prawn balls..
I love young corns
This should be very easy to cook…but asparagus is expensive here in Sibu. Imported. 😦
hey! my friend baru told me about durian flower acar. Said she and her aunt used to walk around and collect durian flowers that dropped and make acar. I am not sure she know how to make or not la but her aunt knows. Too bad now cant find durian flower already.
Same as the acar timun…except that instead of the dried timum strips…you put durian flowers. Nice!