It was a pleasant surprise when I received an sms from a friend saying that he was back in town. I had not expected to see him again so soon…but he said that he had some personal matters to attend to so he had to come back unannounced. For reasons known only to him, he did not want to “crash in on our party” when my NZ friend and her family were in town and it was only until Ivan had left that I managed to meet up with him and we went out for a nasi bryani lunch.
I had the chicken…
…and he had the mutton…
This was at one of my favourite places in town…and I also ordered a bit of the fried paku (wild fern) to try…
This little bit cost RM1.00 but it was nicely fried with lots of belacan and udang kering (dried prawns) and ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and although it was so very cold already, I thought it was really very nice.
That was a delightful lunch indeed…and it certainly was nice to be able to meet my friend to catch up a bit on what had been going on in our lives before he left town.
Well, we’ll meet again, of that I am pretty sure…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Wahh… the chicken really looks big. Is it really big or it’s just illusion?
It was big! That should be a quarter, I think. But if I remember correctly, we used to get a lot more mutton than that… 😦
The dish really look good, salivating liao! U really good at hunting for good makan place!
I go around and taste and “bookmark” all the good ones…so I know where to bring anyone who drops by Sibu. The forgettable ones, I would just forget – will never go there again.
Hey Arthur,,, you have a great weekend ya…………..me? I am going for good dinner today, probably food to do with chicken though…………take care now ya
Enjoy your dinner and do have a great weekend too…
Balqis Islamic Cafe?
Nope, New Nur…next to Academy Book Centre. Balqis is also good…but I don’t like the extra charges for everything you order – every drink, every dish if you are sitting in the air-conditioned section…and it is not even cool, much less cold inside. If you add up all these extra charges, it can come up to quite a lot. 😦
Ya. I have not been there for years. Only I can remember the nasi briyani is nice.
They have bryani? Didn’t know that…
How come your friend’s portion does not have any rice ? Never tried wild fern before but I think the texture are rough ? Looks rough to me. hehe
Rough? No leh? Ah well, you’ll never know if you will not try. There’s rice lah…hidden under the papadom…
Big chicken .. 🙂 But only few pieces of mutton and I’m guessing there was no nasi bryani? Or it’s hidden somewhere
Yes, the rice is under the papadom. Bad enough that my friend had to wait for me to take the photograph before he could start eating – I wouldn’t want to start moving the things around on his plate for my photograph. I’m sure he would not mind but I’m not that kind of inconsiderate person.
I know people who will arrange everything nicely before snapping so that they will get very nice photographs – not me. What you see is what you get!
was there something missing in your friend’s plate, yeah, why there’s no rice??!! he’s not eating rice to get slim, haha.. BTW, i prefer your chicken, looks so good~~
Got! See my reply to Julia’s comment… Yes, the chicken was really good! /strong>
So….who’s next?? Looks like you are more busy than the Sibu ambassador…lol…
Dunno. So far no news of anybody coming over… 😦
Both looks nice but Oopss!!..only 5 small piece of mutton. I would rather go for the chicken nasi bryani then. Any nasi takut….hahaha. The fried paku looks dull and so different.
My daughter will always have the mutton and I would rather have chicken. I guess it all boils down to individual tastes – what you like, others may prefer something else.
The paku looks real kampung-ish…not much to look at…but it was VERY good! Never judge a book by its cover. Better than any at the Chinese economical fast food joints – all aji-no-moto and not nice. I would prefer it warm though…
The paku dish reminded me of how much I miss eating at an eatery at a new village near KL. Shall head there and order a large paku dish. ^^
Have a pleasant weekend Art, ^^
+Ant+
That was RM1.00. I just wanted to try…and the bryani plus all the sides were more than enough for me. Otherwise, I would have ordered more…
Yours is a prefect set with 500 grains of rice and lovely chicken. So you took a photo of your friend’s first before the 1000 grains of rice blocked the mutton. Don’t take too much paku nanti rusty inside intestines.
But they say our body needs lots of iron so must eat more paku lor….!!!! 😉 Nope, the rice was hiding under the papadom…
hehe…u seems to dine out for a meal daily?
Seldom. Once a week, for lunch with my missus after the Sunday service… Other days, we eat at home – my missus has retired and she insists on doing the cooking…so let he lor. At least, she has something to do to pass the time. Of course, if there are visitors – friends and relatives from elsewhere, we’ll take them out some place to eat something nice…
For i dont take mutton & beef….so the chicken shall be the only choice and also the ferns are good enuf. Anyway, I just had baked chicken last night……..
I’m ok with any kind of meat – my missus is not a fan of lamb or mutton and she would not touch duck. Luckily, my daughter’s like me…but she prefers mutton or beef to chicken.
I miss the nasi briyani there too. The ones over here tastes a bit different, I don’t know why. Maybe coz I grew up eating Nur Islamic Cafe’s nasi briyani. Haha! I think I met you there once, a long time ago. 🙂
Yup! That’s the place where we had these… Still as nice as ever. I think I do recall meeting you there once – lunchtime, you and your dad and me and my daughter. That was so long ago, wasn’t it? Ya…I’ve had bryani at the nasi kandar or Malay shops over that side…but I think I prefer our own – the ones here or Balqis…anytime better. Hah!!! Another thing to add to your must-eat list the next time you come home… 😉
Both dishes look very edible indeed but I think I prefer the mutton. No rice? Wonder if it is hidden somewhere.
You’re in the same league as my daughter – she would always have the kambing whenever we go for bryani. Ya…the rice is camera shy… LOL!!! 😀
Sure nice to catch up with a friend! 🙂 I love briyani but I guess have to wait till I get well. Having sore throat and cough now. Must be the heat brought back from Sibu last week. hehehe! You have great weekend there.
Hahahahaha!!!! Dehydrated! Same as Shereen…but she said she caught it in Singapore, not here. Here, well taken care of…sure will not fall sick one. 😉
The shop owner know you are famous food blogger, so give you a big piece chicken and your friend only got five miserable mutton. tsk tsk tsk
I like nasi bryani, i prefer to go with honey chicken instead of curry. Hmmmm…don’t know why i am not a curry person. ahhahhaha. Last night we cook curry ribs at home and i got bad sore throat today. 😦
Where is this place? Near where?
New Nur Islamic…Opposite RH Hotel, right next to Academy Book Centre. The guy was formerly the chef at Cafe Palmelia (Premier Hotel) – been out on his own for a long time now…back when I was still teaching in school and still going strong. Ya…you’re more into Chinese and other less stronger cuisines like Japanese or Korean. I’m not into those so much…
Aiyah..with that kind of food, I wouldn’t mind if ‘your friend’ were to crash in on our party..lol. Did I ever tell you I love nasi briyani and any kind of flavourful nasi? I can makan tak ingat dunia!!…and the pucuk paku if got belacan, sure very nice one…I’ll even jilat the pinggan..kih!kih!kih! ( oh gosh…withdrawal symptom!!!)
Haiyar!!! If I had known, I would have taken you all there! So very nice… Yummmmm!!!! See!!! So many reasons for you to come to Sibu AGAIN!!!
No lah! He’s very shy one, not kulit tebal like me – asal got makan, no problem one.
Btw, check out my tag on Facebook – MALAYSIA’S LARGEST TEMPLE…right here in Sibu… 😉
They look so delicious! I don’t want to know the price otherwise I can’t wait to go to Sibu! RM1 for the paku… in Miri, I won’t be able to buy anything good for that money.
Not too sure – my friend paid. Don’t think it’s very cheap – probably around RM6…
alo alo…am back :)…..nasi beriani ah? Cleff just belanja me ate kabsah rice kekeke
Welcome back. Full of nasi dagang and nasi kerabu? 😉
i think RM1 is fine. I wish we could have that here too!
I guess you can’t get anything that cheap over there? 😦
Are my eyes deceiving me or is that a whole chicken they gave you?! It looks huge! I love nasi briyani 🙂
Not whole lah…but it was big – a quarter, I think… 🙂
i have always wanted to try nasi bryani and i was able to try that but it made my stomach queasy maybe because of the scent and what it reminds me 🙂
Indian spices. Some people would not like it…but my sister-in-law loved the one she had here. Here, they usually tone it down a bit to cater to the local tastes – that’s probably why somebody commented that he loves the ones here more than those in the peninsula.