On their final night in Sibu, my missus and I took my NZ friend and her family to this restaurant for dinner. She wanted crabs…
…and Peking duck but unfortunately, we do not have Peking duck at this particular place so we had to make do with their roast duck…
…eaten with some special black sauce and stuffed in steamed buns…
The crabs were a bit small but they tasted all right…and the duck was pretty good too – not tough and went well with the sauce and the buns. However, my friend did not seem too excited about either and I guess that would be because she would be able to get these and much nicer ones at that elsewhere – wouldn’t have to come all the way to Sibu to eat them.
She preferred the fried midin that she had the previous night at Ruby but I liked the ones here…
This one was fried with dried prawns and belacan while the one at Ruby was all belacan. Ah well, I guess everyone has his or her own preferences.
She also liked the sea cucumber soup at Ruby more than this Foochow-style tofu soup…
…and again, I would think it’s a matter of preference and taste. I would be quite o.k. with either one of the two.
But the general consensus among all of us was that the Guiness Stout pork that we also had that night was indeed really very nice. Unfortunately, the photograph came out blur so everyone would have to wait till I drop by the place and order that again so that I could snap another one to share – and hopefully, it would turn out sharp and clear this time.
After we all had had our fill, my friend saw this being served at the next table…
*recycled pic*
…and was attracted by it. I’ve had that so many times on my previous visits and I would have ordered that again if she had not said that she wanted crabs and duck and I had been left to my own devices. Ah well, my friend! Come again to Sibu and I’ll make sure that you’ll get the chance to enjoy that next time.
The next morning, my missus cooked some mee sua (string/thread noodles) served in chicken soup cooked with traditional Foochow red wine for them for longevity, good fortune and prosperity. We usually will eat this on special occasions like birthdays, weddings and anniversaries or when somebody is leaving or coming home. After that, I drove them to the airport for their flight to KLIA on transit to Bangkok.
I guess they had a delightful visit in Sibu – ate a lot, saw a lot and bought a lot. My friend was thrilled to see the old school ice cream man on his bicycle – cones on the handle and hanging on both sides would be those vacuum flask-like containers probably containing the local/home-made ice cream that the modern kids would not touch with a ten-foot pole – something she had not seen since her childhood days.
She saw a trishaw man too and was so glad to see him because she appreciated the fact that he had not modified and decorated his three-wheeled vehicle and painted it in gaudy colours like those in Malacca or Penang – this was the real thing! Authentic, unadulterated!
Last but not least, I let her try a bit of the traditional Iban rice wine – the tuak that my friend gave me when I visited her longhouse in Kanowit not too long ago. She liked it a lot and wanted to have more but I would not let her as that thing can be quite potent and because it is so nice, you will want more and more but when it kicks, you’ll never know what has hit you and knocked you out cold.
Well, there are still many things to eat and do, many places to go to and many things to see but all those would have to wait till the next time they come to Sibu.
After they had left, my missus found a note and a BIG ang pao hidden somewhere under her netbook. In the note, they said that they had been to so many countries and they had had so many holidays but this holiday in Sibu was by far their most enjoyable ever. We certainly hope so for it certainly was so very nice to have these wonderful people come and visit us and if only they could stay much longer. We had a great time too…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Roast duck? Is the skin crispy enough?
I think they have to exercise more when they went back~
Crispy enough. Meat was nice and tender…just that it wasn’t Peking duck… 😦
What is that? It looks like a prime chunk of juicy pork belly! 😀
The crab looks nice, the gravy would taste lovely with the bun.
Yup! That’s pork belly all right. Simply out of this world! Very very nice… We can go there the next time you come back. The crabs were very good too…only that they were a bit small. Saw similarly small ones at the market – dunno where all the big ones have gone. 😦
And I am sure that Shereen and family really did enjoy themselves,all thanks to the great hospitality of Arthur and Missus, me come, same treatment or not?
Hey have a great start to a great week ahead,, this week will be rather busy for me
Same to you, busy = money pouring in? Hope so. Of course, if you come, you’ll get the same… Everyone who cares to drop by will get nothing but the best – too bad nobody wants to come. 😦
hey..who said nobody wants to come.. i see u always entertaining only, taking them here and there, makan-ing all the good food… i worry that you will be tired to entertain us when we go next time..
Just look at the “gorgeous” food.. look at the way you served your guests, the layout on the table.. gosh! I would never have done that if i have guests in my house.. guess i have to start learning about giving good service! hahaha…
Where got tired? I love it so much… So nice to have good friends around – see tomorrow’s post. Another one came – this one’s from Ipoh. So happy – coming all the way to visit me too… 🙂
No leh! That’s very usual for us. Maybe it’s the peranakan/nyonya way – nothing special. I think it’s the culture – must make sure everybody eats well and enjoys the food.
oh, this is a very nice post!! all the food look so damn delicious, haha!! just woke up and feel so hungry wanna have all them for breakfast~~ :p
Come to Sibu – you can have them all…and more! 😉
I’m sooo liking the steamed bun! looks so puffy! i thought people only serve that with pork in special sauce?
Here, we do eat it with duck…or prawns…as well. Sometimes, they’re lightly deep-fried. Very nice too! 🙂
nice food.. 🙂
I’m sure you could be an official sibu tour guide! haha..
Indeed! Now that I’ve fully retired from teaching, perhaps I can go into this homestay business – airport transfers, tours and food inclusive. Wanna make a booking? 😉
Well, given me the choice I will go for roasted duck. Instead of getting the crispy skin, I prefer more tender and juicy duck meat…Slurppp!!
You have been a great host and I am sure everyone who drop by Sibu will be leaving with a big smile. cant wait for my next year trip**rub rub hands** LOL!!
I don’t mind both – roast duck…or Peking duck, eating only the skin rolled with the black sauce and cucumber and stuff in a pancake. Yummmm!!!!
Ya…you’ll be here in April, right? Must black out the dates in my calendar – already booked. 😉
Wah…early morning already saw my favourite. Can see, can’t eat. sob sob sob…..
Which one is your favourite? The crabs? Or the duck? Kesian… Hehehehehe!!!!
Hmmm…u r certainly a great host /’food GPS’…. Wonder how many kg I’ll gain if I kau kau hentam those delish food!!! hahaha
No lah… Most of the time, we ordered a bit of each thing and everybody would get to sample. Wouldn’t put on so much weight like that. Ya…GPS indeed! Somebody wanted to buy masak hitam today and I had to give directions – straight to the traffic lights, turn left…go along that road…etc…etc…and viola! He found the place! LOL!!!
Wow such hospitality from you and your wife STP! Make sure we also get the mee sua when we visit Sibu next time ok! 😛 Hahha .. btw, i have the exact same bowls like yours!! From some toothpaste right 😛
No problem at all! So…when are you coming? Yup, the bowls are from some toothpaste all right. Don’t like the colours inside – may affect the colours of the food in it sometimes when taking photos…
I am sure they will come back again for all those great hospitality and food you offered them. Lol!
We certainly hope so – would love to have them around again – still lots of things to eat, see and do here… 😉
Gosh!…all the food looks jolly good…and with good company. You and yr missus play a great host. Thumbs Up for both!!!….and I am sure Shereen & family will greatly miss all the nice food they have in Sibu.
Our door is always open to those who care to enter – we love company. So nice to have good friends around. 🙂
You are really a great host! Maybe I should pretend to be a tourist when I’m in Sibu. Hahaha joking. 😀 I remember using a hammer to crack the crab shells. Good fun.. Probably not the most polite way to eat crabs
That’s at Hai Bing. Dunno Hong Fu, never gone there. This one’s ok. They did the cracking…and they said any problem, just give to them – they would do it in the kitchen. At least, not so bad hor?
OMG, ARTHUR!!!!!…no other nice photos of me is it!!!!!…arrrrrgghhh!!!! I DON’T LIKE YOU!!!..lol!
Actually, the food that night was good but it is just that RUBY’s was better…I’m a belacan girl,remember?…and RUBY’s food is pretty unique.
I’ve come to the conclusion(hubby’s and son’s too), Sibu’s food may not be much to look at, but the taste is like nowhere else in Malaysia. The food in Sibu is subtle and refined, just a perfect balance, whereas other foods in other parts of Malaysia are just too ‘loud’ in comparision. It’s like you really have to slow down and savour each and every morsel with eyes closed and not like our usual fare where you will get bombarded with the smell and have a bomb gone off in your mouth with strong tasting food. I would never again look down at the anemic looking kampua…the taste is nowhere close to the best wantan mee I’ve ever had…honest, cross my heart!!
Also, I would never again ridicule Sibu.I was pretty taken aback when we arrived at Sibu airport. Okay, it wasn’t the prettiest airport as it was under renovation but my family and I were speechless when we were walking towards Arthur’s car and saw how huge the airport will be when it’s ready. Don’t even get me started on the size of the hospital…like a resort! When driving towards town/Arthur’s home, (still at the kampung road), we were making comments how/why some kampung people can be so silly to build huge houses little did we know that almost the whole of Sibu is full of mansion/palace like houses! Some are so huge and bombastic that I think the owner can hide a mistress or two in the house and yet the wife will never be able to find them!!! Some of the best houses in the best areas in KL pale in comparision…even the wooden houses that Lucy (Arthur’s lovely wife) pointed out to us that were leaning are pretty huge! It seems that poverty hasn’t reached Sibu! Proof of this was when we flew FireFly back to KLIA, we saw a few hands reaching up for the aircon duct, each with a Rolex ( not even an entry level Rolex, mind you!) on their wrist! When the flight was over, we managed to catch a glimpse of these people and I can tell you that they are not the type of people you would have thought of owning Rolexs!!
Now, don’t even get me going on Sibu’s ‘mini market’…aiyoh!!!…shy,man…the ‘mini market’ is so terror…all imported foodstuff and the ‘mini market’ was so busy.
All in all, my family and I trully enjoyed our stay in Sibu with Arthur and Lucy. There was so much laughter ( Arthur is a natural storyteller and joker ), the food was great…even the plain water is delicous..hahaha..I kid you not. The people are friendly and nice…not a single bad experience while in Sibu. I was especially surprised when my son asked me whether does he really have to follow us to Bangkok and Singapore as he was really enjoying his stay in Sibu. I guess I can write a thousand words as how nice Sibu was but for a 13-year-old boy who has been to almost half of the world and a city boy at heart to say that, wasn’t that enough to convince you how great Sibu was…the food and the hospitality shown by Arthur and Lucy.
PS: Lucy is a great cook…no matter what Arthur writes.Her Sambal Hay Bee is so shiok and her mee sua is to die for!!
PPS:Hubby very disapointed..Sibu not so good after all…he can’t find mee hoon kuey…dry!!
Gosh!!! Looooooooong comment! LOL!!! Ya, can’t blame you cos so many nice things to say after just two days here. 😉
Sibu…simple people, simple food, simple ways…but the beauty is in the simplicity. I guess now you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that people who have been away for a while would stop on the way home from the airport…just to eat the kampua. They miss it sooooo….much. I think I had a post on that after I came back from a trip to Penang but at least, I waited till the next day. Rolex, mansions and palaces…too bad I haven’t any – so I cannot hide any mistresses in every corner. Sobssss!!!! 😦 Muahahahaha!!!! Hmmmm…you haven’t had the chance to try MY cooking – tak kalah pun. Hehehehehe!!!! Must come again and stay longer…
P.S. What’s mee hoon kuey? You have a post on it in your blog or not?
P.P.S. Will post my photo in a post coming soon…so must post not so nice photos of other people first…and then when people see mine, they’ll be stunned! I’ll look so good! LOL!!! 🙂
Mee hoon kuey is pan mee lar..but he like the dry version ones!!
Got lah pan mee…but I did not have time to go around to try and find the best one in Sibu, hand torn no less. Wouldn’t want to take you all to eat something that you can find elsewhere…and nicer too. Lose face afterwards. Well, come again…and I should be able to track one down by then. 😉
Sir… you may try the one near Taman Indah there… called Bean Corner.
I’ve been there. You can see my post on it. It seems they do not tear – they cut the noodles. Shereen’s hubby does not like that.
The crabs – YUM ! The pork belly – YUM YUM !! I’ve been updating my hubby on some of your posts and he has already said that perhaps we can visit Sibu on the way to our next holiday spot. You will be his best mate if you belanja him the pork belly 🙂 When we were in Shanghai 3 years ago, we went to a restaurant called The Grape (next door to a former Russian Orthodox church) at 55 Xinle Rd 55, and tried their pork belly. It was done so perfectly that we ordered it again the next night! Over here, got to pre order.
STP – you surely must be the bestest of hosts 🙂 I enjoy watching the Singapore food series, Flavours of Singapore, and I now think maybe you should be a food show presenter!
Come, come…I can think of at least 3 different pork belly dishes available here. See the one in tomorrow’s post – that’s the old school style but it is still the favourite of many. Very nice also. Aiyor…those food show hosts – so skinny…like there’s a famine or what. What do they know about food? All also nice… I guess they’re paid to say that. I’ve a post coming up – TV3 has been to that restaurant…and I did not take Shereen and family there. You can jolly guess why.
Ah, read the comment above, Shereen already back to her home. I can see that she really enjoyed her short holiday in Sibu, the home stay, home cooked food, got “personal tour guide” to bring them around. tsk tsk tsk.
I notice, Sibu’s crabs are small, like my previous trip back, my brother packed some Hong Fu crabs, very small and not much meat too.
Talk about peking duck, i love peking duck, but after my last year trip to HK, now i got phobia. We were at a restaurant, seeing next table having peking duck, hub said we also order, but how can two person eat one whole peking duck? That make me feel so sick after eating so much.
That pork belly is “dong por yoke” ? This is how we call over here, usually they will serve bun and dip with the sauce. yum yum.
Dunno the name of the pork – one is sweet…and another one is salty and has slices of yam. Both very very nice… Hong Fu crabs are reared ones – from Lawas or Limbang – I never go to eat those. Hai Bing ones are big but extremely expensive – and they have only one style of cooking, quite sick of it already. First time I tried the crabs at this restaurant…and I liked it even though the crabs were small.
Annie, Arthur is the best host ever.We really enjoyed our short visit there and will make it a mission to stop over and harass him whenever we are in that part of the world.I think we managed to try almost all that you have recommended and I can gladly say that all of them are super delicious….couldn’t believe myself saying that…hahaha ( Nyonya ppl very hard to please..lol).
If I like, sure you will like one…I’m also sikit like peranakan, as you know, so something must be really good before I will want to get others to go and try. And don’t forget the best part about food in Sibu – it’s so very cheap!!! 🙂
Arthur … Tat was a great post you have written and the hospitality you have shown to Shereen n family makes every one proud of you 🙂 I am proud of you. Next time I come to Sibu, you must take me to eat the crabs …. looks good!
Of course! So when are you coming? You can try our special delicacies…and go back and cook yourself to add to your collection of recipes. So many things here that you cannot find over there… Come, come! Book your tickets now…
Time flies heard of them touching down Sibu and now off they go.
It was a brief visit – landed Saturday night and left Tuesday morning, so actually they only had two days here – Sunday & Monday.
Bye Bye Shareen, have a safe journey! The food sure looks good, I’m sure she gnna really miss you… the food u recommended, lol!
She’s safely back in Auckland now…cherishing fond memories of her visit to Sibu. 🙂
Wah, after eating Guiness Stout pork…..a little high liao….take photo also blur….ha ha ha!
Yahor! That must be it! All the other photos came out ok… LOL!!! 😀
wah the pork belly looks so tempting. I also like this dish especially when served with the mantao
Come! We can go and have this when you’re here in December… 😉