That night…

That night, when Cibol and his missus, Lily, were in town, we went out for dinner together and since Lily wanted rice and dishes, I had to bring them to where else but here.

We did not have the specialty of the house though – their braised pork with mantao (steamed buns)…but we did see every other table having that and also their fried ladies’ fingers in XO sauce. Instead, we had their pork ribs cooked in stout…

The waitress told me that we were in luck as they do not have that every day and it so happened that it was available that evening. It seems that the preparation is not that easy as they would need to marinate the meat for a long time before cooking or something like that.

We also had their sweet and sour fish fillet…

– something that I had not ordered for quite a while on my last few visits to the place.

This time around, I wanted the crusty butter prawn balls…

…and also the midin (wild fern), fried with extra belacan…

We also had their Foochow-style tofu soup, with minced meat and canned oysters, and rice with all these dishes.

While we were there, the place was crowded as usual with somebody celebrating his/her birthday and I met my ex-students, Patricia and her sister, and their parents…and the mum pointed at the fish saying, “There! We’re eating all that we see in your blog!” LOL!!! Then, there was my Facebook friend, ex-blogger, Anthea, and her family and I wished I had taken a photo of her eating the mantao stuffed with the braised pork. Muahahahaha!!!

Of course, Cibol and his missus enjoyed the food there – I’m afraid I do not know how much it cost as halfway through dinner, Cibol sneaked off to settle the bill. He said it was to make up for the fact that I had to miss their wedding reception sometime last year. Well, ok…so thanks a lot for the treat, Cibol, from me and my missus and we certainly hope that you two would drop by our llittle town again soon…

I’m coming…

It certainly was a pleasant surprise when I received an sms from my long-time blogger friend, Cibol, last Saturday morning telling me that he and his missus would be driving to town for the weekend.

He was the one who got me started in this blogging thing way back in 2008…and I had not met him since 2009 when I went to KL for my radio family reunion. Actually, he invited me to his wedding last year but unfortunately, I was unable to make it at the time.

Anyway, they got here at around 1.00 p.m. and I took them here for lunch.

Lily, Cibol’s wife, insisted on trying their classic kampua noodles (Rm4.20)…

…which she did not like as it wasn’t as soft/soggy and wet/oily as the original authentic Foochow kampua should be. Cibol had the sizzling beef kampua that I strongly recommended and he loved it!

I decided to try their minced meat and braised egg porridge (RM5.50)…

…which was nice at first bite but unfortunately, being plain porridge, there just wasn’t enough to sustain the pleasure as I ate on. It would have been nicer if they had had pork/chicken porridge to go with the condiments instead

They loved the kompia though…very very much! Lily enjoyed the ones with minced meat filling while Cibol indulged in those with braised three-layer pork. They liked how it was deep-fried to perfection – crusty on the surface, soft on the inside…and the best part was it was not oily.

I ordered this for them to try – the double chocolate mille crepe…

…and it definitely blew them away. Both of them loved it so much!

It was nice seeing you again, Cibol, after all this time and my pleasure to finally get to meet you, Lily. I certainly hope that the two of you enjoyed your very brief stay in Sibu.

Slippery when wet…

I had something slippery for dinner that night – ikan keli (catfish)…

…when Huai Bin and I went to the Payung Cafe here in Sibu (See previous post).

They call it the Payung Fish Rice in their menu…

…and it is actually ikan keli cooked with lots of ginger and black beans and everything else, served with rice, and I must say that I really loved it a lot. It was very nicely done…but I think the ones that we cook at home ourselves have an edge over theirs – we would adulterate ours with lots of brandy, XO no less. LOL!!! Next time when I go for that, I’ll bring my own liquor…

I also love their belimbing prawns with rice but that night,  Huai Bin opted for that with spaghetti…

He let me try a bit and I thought it was very nice too – very compatible, I must say. I certainly would not mind having that sometime – when I’m not in the mood for rice.

We had the Payung rojak as well…

…and the serving was so large that I would think that would be good for at least four people.

I had their jelly pisang while Huai Bin wanted to try their durian milk shake…

This is what bloggers do all the time when they dine out – take snapshots of the food and drinks. LOL!!!

That was indeed an enjoyable dinner – something very different from what one can get elsewhere, that’s for sure and this is one place that I would not mind going to again and again…

Can’t help fallin’ in love…

I went here…

…for dinner one night with Huai Bin when he was in town.

They’ve extended the sitting area out a little bit and they have put up some new decor – the umbrellas all the way from Myamar…

…and you can see that they use all kinds of things such as fish traps, rattan baskets, dried palm leaves and so on to create a very unique setting all around. It is so very tastefully and nicely done that one just can’t help but fall in love with the place. Huai Bin said it looked like some place in Bali and he was not the only one who said that. When I came with my auntie and her family once, she also said exactly the same thing.

I love how they use the common flowers that one would find in anybody’s garden and the candles also add to the very pleasant ambiance at the cafe…

Here, Huai Bin was intrigued by these colourful balls made from folds of cloth hanging all around…

That night when we were there, they were playing a repertoire of songs by Julio Iglesias including his hit “Moonlight Lady” and his duet with Dolly Parton – their cover of Diana Ross’ “When you tell me that you love me”…and so many other lovey-dovey songs that I did not know he sang such as “Careless Whisper” , “Can’t help fallin’ in love” and “Right here waiting”. I was waiting for his duet with Willie Nelson – “To all the girls I’ve loved before” or “All of you” with Diana Ross  but they never came by the time we had to call it a day and leave the place. But it did not matter much as I loved all the songs and listening to them in that erotic…oops, I mean exotic setting certainly contributed in no small way towards making the evening extra pleasant.

As we were about to leave, I saw the proprietor, Peter, making the otak-otak – one of my favourites on the menu…

Some people complained of the absence of air-conditioning and the mosquitoes; I have no compliants – in fact, I like the fact that it is not air-conditioned (more environment-friendly) and as it is quite open and has ceiling fans whirling above our heads at top speed, it really is  quite comfortable there – not hot at all. As for the mosquitoes, I never had that problem…probably because they do not like me and avoid me like a plague due to my high cholesterol content! LOL!!!

One thing’s for sure, I certainly would be back…

Putting it together…

If you’re hosting a buffet dinner, it may be quite a hassle to distribute the fork and the spoon and the paper serviette separately especially when there are a thousand and one things to see to and to be done before you can get the party started. One solution would be to do what I usually do and put it all together way beforehand like this…

…so that you can hand them out easily or leave them at a convenient corner and your guests can just help themselves and take their own.

To fold the pockets, you need a paper serviette or perhaps, you may prefer to use a kitchen towel. I like the latter better as they are thicker and stronger and when you wipe your mouth, you do not get the disintegrated bits of it all over your face.

Just take a piece and fold it into two…and then, fold one end of it to form a triangle…

Turn it over and fold the opposite end to form another triangle so that the sides will be parallel to each other…

Fold one of the triangles into half and keep folding in the same direction…

…till you get a loose end like this…

Tuck in that loose end into the pocket nearest to it…

…and you can stick in your cutlery – your fork and spoon into the pockets…or if you are having a Chinese sit-down dinner, your spoon and chopsticks…

…and you can lay it neatly beside the plate or bowl.

You think you want to give it a try sometime?

Crazy in love…

I think I’ve shared this story before about this Ah Lian who showed up at a coffee shop where her friends were having breakfast and seeing that they were all having beef noodles, she exclaimed, “Aiyor!!! You all not scared of crazy cow disease kah?” LOL!!!

And talking about the crazy…I mean, mad cow disease, some of you may recall that we used to get Bovril, made from beef extract, from the UK and when the disease surfaced, it was taken off the shelves. Eventually, it reappeared but this time around, it was made from yeast extract – just like Marmite. These days, we can get the original (made from beef) at some places here but they’re not easily available and are very expensive.

Now, actually, I’ve blogged about tossing noodles or mee sua with Bovril more than once but the other day, when I shared a photograph of the Bovril mee sua I had for breakfast on Facebook, it caused quite a stir…and sent one of my readers/commenters, goldflower, out right away to grab a bottle and cook her own Bovril kampua noodles and she literally fell crazy in love with it.

Well, in case you missed it, this was the Bovril mee sua that I cooked…

…and to cook that, you can fry some sliced shallots in a tablespoon or two of cooking oil till golden brown and pouring that onto a plate, add a teaspoon of Bovril, some chopped spring onions and chili sauce. I used the chili dip that my missus made for our steamboat dinner sometime ago – blended chilies plus garlic and lime. Just boil the mee sua and drain…and toss it in the ingredients and your breakfast is ready. You may want to add a pinch of msg, if you so desire…but I did not and it tasted just as good without it. I had some leftover boiled pork slices so I added those and I also fried an egg to go with it.

If you’re very diligent and you would not want your noodles to stick together, you can do what the kolo mee man does – cook the noodles in boiling water, drain and rinse in cold water (to remove the excess starch) and put in the boiling water again to heat it up once more before draining and tossing it in the ingredients prepared…and if you have lard, you can use that instead of the usual cooking oil and it will bring the taste to a whole new level, believe you me.

Go ahead! Give it a try! It is so easy…and the best part, of course, is that it is nicer than most noodles that you can get at  the shops.

A little piece…

This is new at this place in Sibu – their double chocolate mille crepe (RM8.80 a slice)…

They launched the sale of this new item on the menu last Friday and it sold like hot cakes and by the time I dropped by with Huai Bin at around 1.30 p.m. or so, it was already sold out. Via their page on Facebook, I had specifically asked them to reserve a slice for me but they were very apologetic when I arrived, saying that one of the waiters had served/sold the last slice so there wasn’t anymore for the day…but the next time when they would have that, they would   save one for me – on the house.

Then on Sunday morning, there was word on Facebook that they would be having it that day so after the church service, my missus and I dropped by there for lunch.

Their caption for this mille crepe is: 20 layers of chocolate crepe + 20 layers of ganache = 40 layers of heaven. So, is it any good? I would say that it certainly is. I found the chocolate a bit too sweet for me but if eaten with a bit more of the layers of crepe, it was just nice. The vanilla one that I love a lot is nice but it has to be shared by at least two persons – it is something like those very rich cheesecakes whereby the first few mouthfuls would be very nice but towards the end, one would feel queasy and would be struggling to finish it. This one is ok – I think I can manage one slice quite well on my own.

Of course, we did not just eat that little piece of mille crepe between the two of us for our lunch. My missus had their sizzling beef with rice (RM9.80)…

She did not want what I think is very nice – the sizzling beef with kampua noodles and thankfully, she liked what she had ordered a lot.

I had their chicken curry with rice (RM7.90)…

…which was nice and spicy but I think they should give the A1 Mountain Globe curry paste a try.

We were served these bowls of complimentary lobak (radish) soup…

…and they were obviously quite generous with the pork bones. I liked it a lot as it was not salty and had very little msg in it. Some people may feel it is somewhat bland but I like my clear soup like that and would cook it that way myself.

I probably would not be having the chicken curry rice again but rest assured that I would be back there again…and again – for the double chocolate mille crepe…and the kompia! Yummmmm!!!!!

Earlier than expected…

It certainly was a pleasant surprise when I received a text message from Huai Bin telling me that he was back in town (considering that he was home not too long ago for Chinese New Year) and he suggested that we met for lunch. Everything was agreed upon and there we were on the stipulated day and time at this place – most of you would know it by now as one of my most favourite dining places in town, I guess.

He said that he liked pork belly so I ordered the specialty of the house for him to try – the braised pork…

…with the mantao (steamed buns)…

…and he loved it very much.

He liked the creamy butter prawn balls that I ordered too…

…and their own-made tofu…

…and he enjoyed the mixed bean combo as well…

It certainly was nice meeting him again and I’ve always enjoyed his company – we never seem to  run short of things to talk about…and lunch took about one and a half hours that day. I enjoyed the food, of course…as always, and thanks so much, Huai Bin, for the lunch treat.

After that, we headed to this place…

…as they were having the launching of the double chocolate mille crepe that day. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, they were all sold out. One of the bosses came to apologise, saying that actually, they had reserved a slice for me but one of the waiters took it and served it to another customer. I don’t know how true that was…but he promised me that the next time they make it, he would let me have a slice…on the house! Now, that is more like it!

Well, since we were there already, I ordered their vanilla mille crepe and their kompia with three-layer pork for Huai Bin to try. He liked all of them but felt that the mille crepes that he had at one place in Malacca were better in that the layers of crepe were thinner…and he loved the Horlicks Godzilla that he had.

Gosh!!! I was really so full from the heavy lunch plus the “dessert” that we had after that – thank goodness it isn’t every day that I get to indulge like this… LOL!!!

Do it your way…

Sometime last week, I whipped up a plate of cincaluk (fermented shrimps) fried rice for breakfast and posted a photograph of it on Facebook. That triggered a wave of cravings for fried rice and everyone made up their minds to cook that during the coming weekend…or in the case of my friend in New Zealand, she cooked hers right away that day itself and shared this photograph of it on Facebook…

*My NZ friend‘s photo on Facebook*

She, of course, claimed hers to be the true Nyonya original unlike mine as in her own words, I would usually campak (throw) everything in. That, of course, is very true as I do not stick to recipes and when I cook, I just follow my instincts…and it will all depend on what I can find in the fridge to campak into the dish I am cooking.

For one thing, she had serai (lemon grass) in hers – I had that too on one of the previous occasions when I cooked cincaluk fried rice but this time around, as it was around 5 or 6.00 a.m. in the morning, I did not want to go out into my garden in the dark to cut a stalk or two to use. Who knows what creatures may be lying there waiting for an unsuspecting victim! So I just did it my way…with sliced shallots, garlic and chilies.

When she saw my photograph, Quay Po asked whether I used dried chilies for the dish. Nope, they were fresh chilies but normally I would brown the shallots and the garlic in a bit of oil first before throwing in the sliced chilies but that morning, I did not bother and threw everything in. That was why by the time the others turned brown, the chilies looked a little burnt…like dried chilies.

Having done that, I added a spoonful of cincaluk…and the prawns and stirred everything together till the prawns were cooked before adding the rice. Then, there was a little problem with the rice! I had checked the fridge the previous day and found a tupperware full of rice and I made up my mind there and then to fry that for breakfast the next morning. When I took out the container and opened it the following morning, half of the rice was gone!!!! It seemed that my missus did not cook enough rice for our lunch and dinner the previous day so she took some from there to heat up and eat. Thus, there I was…cooking fried rice with not much rice at hand.

To make up the bulk, I decided to throw in some pineapples that were in the fridge and I also added two eggs, chopped spring onions as well as a sprinkling of sugar to counter the saltiness of the cincaluk…and finally, it was done…

A cousin said that it looked more like all the ingredients fried with rice…and in a way, it was true but whatever it was, it tasted very good and that was all that mattered. I certainly would do it the same way next time…with more rice and perhaps, a stalk or two of serai.

What’s good for me…

I went out for tea one afternoon with Lawrence, one of the debaters in the school team under my charge and guidance during those years when I was still teaching and actively involved in such activities.

He had not tried the burger at this place so we made our way there. Of course, he had THE double cheese burger while I decided to give their chicken burger a try. I picked the spicy grilled chicken burger (RM12.90)…

…and I must say that I was quite impressed from the very moment it was served. I took a bite at the chicken and honestly, it took my breath away, it really did. The exact words I said were, “Wow!!! This is really good!” It was so tasty, so flavourful and I enjoyed it thoroughly…but do watch out if you’re taking it apart to eat it bit by bit for you may find a part inside with a whole lot of chili powder and it may be a bit too spicy for your liking. I was okay with it, no problem at all…so if you were to ask me to rate it, i would give it a 9 out of 10…simply because I do not have the habit of giving full scores. It certainly looks a whole lot nicer than what my friend, Huai Bin, had at another place in town, don’t you think?

But if you ask me to give a score for the dish as a whole, I’m afraid I would rate it at 7 out of 10 as I was not too pleased with the sides…

The fries were fine – just like fries…and I’m never really a fan of those but it was the coleslaw that put me off. I had the impression that it was a couple of days old – probably they made a whole lot to store in the fridge and use as and when needed. In the end, I ate up everything else but left much of the coleslaw behind.

So, if you’re dropping by this place anytime soon, perhaps you may want to give this burger a try. I loved it and what’s good for me wlll probably be just as good for you.