What a surprise…

I dropped by the Guardian outlet (the pharmacy) near my house to pick up some stuff the other day and then I stopped by the stationery store next door to browse around. Imagine my surprise when I saw two packets of these…

…on the cashier’s counter, together with the complimentary chili dip. The last thing I would expect to see in a shop like that would be food and my initial guess was that they belonged to the employees and they had bought them to eat for their break or for lunch.

These are our Sibu Foochow-style sio bee…

…which are different from the siew mai at the dim sum places where they mix the meat with prawns and beat them till firm and springy. These are all minced meat usually mixed with mangkuang/sengkuang (turnip)…and the better ones would have more meat while the not-so-good ones would have more turnip…or worse still, mostly flour.

When they told me that someone had left them there for them to help sell to anyone interested, I decided to buy the two remaining packets on the counter to give it a try. They cost me RM7.oo for a packet of 10 so that worked out to 70 sen each. Not cheap, I must say, but the consoling part was that they were nice – a lot of meat inside…

…and on the whole, they tasted good…especially with the chili dip.

I wouldn’t mind buying some more, should I happen to see them again at the shop.