Well, my daughter’s not home so we did not actually go all out to celebrate Mother’s Day that Sunday over a week ago. My missus and I went to the evening service in church and after that, we dropped by here for dinner…
Ah!!! I noticed that they had put back the missing E – that’s good…and I must say that the place seemed very much more cosy in the evening – a great place for couples to go on a romantic date, I would think. Wink! Wink! LOL!!!
It was very crowded that night but we were there a bit early, before 7, so getting a table for two in the cafe wasn’t a problem. We were served by a very nice waitress, a young and Mandarin-speaking one, of course…but when she heard my missus and I speaking Hokkien, she switched to the dialect instantly. Glory be!!! With the dominant Mandarin-speaking culture in this town, many can no longer speak Foochow and Hokkien is quite extinct by now. These days, only the older folks (like me) and maybe a sprinkling of the younger ones, depending on their home background, are conversant in these Chinese dialects, I’m afraid.
Well, she said to us very nicely that the crowd had not come in so we would not have to wait very long. Of course, there being just the two of us, we could not have the Mother’s Day special set dinner…
…which was supposed to be for 3-4 persons. Β Honestly, I loved her enthusiasm – the way she was able to sound so eager to serve and to please and make it sound as if everything on the menu would be good. If only all the waiters and waitresses in some of the cafes and restaurants in town were like that too.
In the end, my missus settled for their honey-grilled fish fillet rice (RM9.90)…
…and I tried a bit of it. It was very nice and I especially loved the fragrance of the curry leaves that they used in cooking that.
I decided to try the Siam-style chicken rice…
…and I expected something sourish and spicy like tom yam but unfortunately, it turned out to be just steamed chicken with some oyster sauce and ginger gravy. It tasted quite nice though, just that it wasn’t what I had expected. Unfortunately, it was a bit expensive – RM13.90, and looking at the two scoops of chicken rice, I guess that was meant to be shared by two but if that was the case, I would not think the chicken was enough to go round. Between the two, should I drop by the place again, I certainly would opt for what my missus had which was cheaper and also nicer.
I had the belimbing (starfruit) juice (RM6.90)…
…which I found to be very nice and refreshing (or maybe I was very thirsty after the church service that very hot evening) and at places like this, the price was expected, being quite usual for fresh fruit juices but I thought the iced lemon tea that my missus had was very much over-priced at RM5.90 a glass.
All in all, it was a pleasant dinner. The piped-in music, all the romantic songs of the 90’s, was definitely better than what they would usually play elsewhere and we did not have to wait very long. Just when it was getting a bit crowded and noisy, we had finished our dinner and were out of the place and on our way home.
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Not an expensive meal considering that it was a paktoh meal! π
+Ant+
What paktoh? At our ages, all we would be interested in would be to fill out patoh… LOL!!! π
I’ve always thought that the Foochow dialect was gaining more traction in the younger generation…which is a bit of a problem for me since my Foochow is not fluent at all, compared to my Mandarin.
My Hokkien is much better than my Foochow.
I don’t know, maybe it’s coz I used to hear a lot of Foochow when I was working in Sibu. Haha.
Yeah, I reckon the two scoops of chicken rice is for presentation too, since there’s just one portion of chicken. I like it though, good aesthetics. π
The Nyonya fried rice your missus had in the previous post had two scoops too. Maybe it’s the chef’s signature.
I went to Enjoy Cafe for the second time in 2008 coz they were doing this advertising blitz near my office – flyers at every car. The first time I went, I didn’t enjoy the food at all.
The second time I went it was better, went with Mary and we both reviewed it, but the menu was all over the place. The waitress was quite nice too. π
It looks like they have streamlined their offerings now. I won’t mind trying the place again. π
Not if you’re going to be here for a day or two…but it’s an ok place for a change from the usual once in a while. Food’s ok, cafe prices…and actually, two scoops are a bit too much for one person to finish.
I guess when you were working, people were those from my generation and yours or in between. The younger generation, those in school now and those who have left recently are the Mandarin-speaking ones. Wouldn’t be so bad if they can speak English and the dialects but in the cases of many, the only alternative would be to speak Malay to them…and some can’t seem to be able to converse in that either. Looks like we’re becoming a mono-lingual community.
Not so special lar the dishes compared to what you would normally blog about….and the drinks, mak datuk soooo expensive! You can get a loaf of Gardenia Butterscotch bread for that price and still have some money leftover to buy the ikan bills bun… Lol!
Special day mah…can’t afford to go to the “special” places with all the “specials” at unreasonably jacked-up prices so this was good enough for us. Love the songs they played – like Rod Stewart’s “Have I told you lately…that I love you”, Bangles’ “Eternal Flame”…but eyewwwwww!!!! “My heart will go on” and on and on…. LOL!!! π
So nice and romantic! No need for expensive food, just being with your love one is “tasty” and memorable enough… :p
Haiz!!! At our age, food more important lah. Not like when young that time, no need to eat…already full!!! LOL!!! π
Haha, that is so true. Now old already, I am hungry for food more than romance. Food first, romance can come later. Muahaha
Romance? What’s that? Muahahahahahaha!!!! π
“home made sauce with garlic prawns”.. so the focus is the sauce, and they perhaps only give you two little prawns to dip with the home made sauce?? haha..
Dunno. I did not eat that…
the fish looks good!! as for your chicken rice, hehehe, could it be because they see your size and decided on your behalf to add another scoop of rice for you, then they charge you RM3 more?? :p
LOL!! Maybe… But honestly, I do not eat that much…not like when I was younger. I could not finish the rice, of course. π¦
but i think the drinks are so overpriced!! not just there, but i guess it’s everywhere!! i really wonder why?? i don’t see the cost is more than RM1, and they are selling almost the price of the food!! ridiculous!!
Like Secret Recipe! I am not going there ever again, never mind nice or not nice. Drinks RM6.50…and here they add RM1.00 more than your side – RM7.50…and the cake is RM6.50 a slice. So @#$%^&* unfair – if cake extra RM1, I can understand – they bring the ingredients over, bake here…but the drinks! That’s daylight robbery! π¦
yup we must teach our children on all dialects..
My dad is a hokkien and my mum is hakka..
as you know those old ppl are very persistant and must communicate with their own language..
I have to speak hokkien when I go to my dad place and I have to speak hakka when I go to my mum side…… nowadays my communication is a bit rojak…..
hmm they serve you 2 bowl of rice again.. l
i remember that last time there is a post and they serve you 2 bowl of rice too..
That’s very good. My daughter speaks Hokkien, of course, like me and my missus and like me, she has picked up some Mandarin as it is spoken all around her in school and now in college.
I read somewhere that the Chinese culture is made up of the cultures of the different dialects – once the dialects die, the culture dies too. Mandarin is just a language.
For one thing, I see at weddings these days a rojak of all kinds of things that they see in the Hongkong or Taiwan series (and I wonder whether they even understand the significance of all those things they do, the origin, which dialect – not that they care at all – a whole lot of fun, that’s all they want and all they have in their minds), things that I had never seen before in a typically traditional Foochow wedding (I’m Foochow!) and things that they used to have before have all been shelved, taken a back seat – extinct!
No, the last visit…my missus got the two bowls of fried rice, not me. Hehehehehe!!!! π
What a romantic dinner you and your missus have on Mother’s Day. Food looks good x’pecially the honey grilled fish fillet set. I would think fish are more expensive than chicken.
Ya, the fish was good… Imported frozen fish fillet’s cheap, I guess.
From the pics, the food look so-so. But glad it was a pleasant dinner – romantic songs, relaxed atmosphere. Guess you & your missus enjoyed yourselves at Enjoy cafe! π
Ya, food’s ok, not great…and cafe prices. Good place to hang out, relax…sit and enjoy the ambiance and the music but so far, I have not had anything that would make me want to go back there again just to eat that. π¦
its good to have something nice. good service and no fuss from the staffs…sometimes on mothers day fathers day or whatever day, we get sour face from staffs ulak coz overworked
And have to pay so much some more – over your side, RM100 or more per head for a set dinner, so very common. Here, also not cheap! No, thank you. I’ve a lot of better things to do…and to eat with that kind of money. π¦
don’t you think that the belimbing juice is a bit too expensive? I mean, I wouldn’t pay that amount to a simple juice as such.
Fruit juices are usually expensive – that’s cafe and hotel price. I remember once I had a dinner with my students, 30 of them, at a restaurant. They kept ordering the drinks like they had never drunk before, fruit juices no less…and in the end, when I paid the bill, the drinks more expensive than the food. Tsk! Tsk!
Next time, I would just order iced water/sky juice…50 sen only. I’m cheapskate. LOL!!! π Our Malaysia’s own franchise, Secret Recipe’s drinks are even more expensive actually…and here in Sibu, for reasons known only to them, they’re RM1 more expensive than in mainland West Malaysia – RM6.50 > RM7.50 even though the standard of living there is higher and people are drawing higher salaries than those here in our little town.
Ah! Mother’s day dinner, so sweet and so romantic. π
What is that braised 4 shroom with japanese tofu on the menu? Mushroom and tofu?
Two scoops of rice, so much! Yes, i remember last round Lucy had two scoops of rice too. ahhaha…if i ever dine there i have to ask first before i order, it serve one rice or two rice. ahhahahha
I suppose 4shroom means for types of mushrooms…but that’s just my guess. Ya…next time, I would ask too. π
Hehehe.. I’m one of those who can’t speak my own dialect. Shame shame..I can understand foochow if I pay attention. If I do try to talk foochow, I’ll get stuck in the middle of the conversation. Haha.. I reckon foochow needs a lot of tongue twisting.
I don’t mind keeping some of the foochow/Chinese traditions but there are a few traditions I don’t quite understand the significance of it. For example.. having the wedding reception in seperate venues for the bride’s and groom’s side
The groom comes to get the bride from the house…and off they go, to get married. After the wedding, they have to go back to the bride’s house as man and wife to pay their respects. For convenience, instead of going to the bride’s house, they will have the wedding reception simultaneously on the same night – so halfway, the couple would have to leave the party to join the other side for a while…and come back again later.
These days, they have it at the same venue – maybe different floors or different function rooms…but what I find funny would be when they have it at the same venue – the groom’s guests on one side of the ballroom…and the bride’s on the other…and halfway though the dinner, the couple would move from one table on the groom’s side to the next table on the bride’s side.
I did not have that when I got married – we went back to my missus’ house that afternoon after the church wedding in the morning, the reception was at night…and the reception on the bride’s side was on a different day.
I’m Foochow but I speak Hokkien. I can speak a bit of Foochow but I just can’t get the intonation right….and may end up getting scolded. I speak much better Mandarin, I must say – a whole lot easier to master.
looking at the siam styled chinese rice, im wondering if the rice has any difference with our usual chinese chicken garlic rice?
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The rice was chicken rice all right but I did not think it was great, not at all – I’ve had better (and cheaper) elsewhere. Given the choice, it was definitely not something I would want to have again.
sorry for the long spell of silence, i was busy traveling. hey this is the first time I see a restaurant serving 2 scoops of rice. just for you? hehe
Seems that they have that for certain dishes. Next time, I would ask first and request for one only… Old people don;t eat so much. LOL!!! π Ya..I know that from your updates on Facebook. No matter – we stay in touch over there… π
Two scoops because they know Arthur loves things that come in pairs! π I’d take what your wife had too anytime lah. FISH! FISH… FISH!
I guess you like it HUGE but in single serving? LOL!!!! π
i love the exotic flavour of curry leaves in my food.
Me too. They put those in butter or cereal prawns as well….
Me too I can’t speak or understand Hakka. Lucy will love you long time for this Mother’s day treat. I am familiar with all the old songs and I feel they always sound better than the present ones.
Yup, except for a few…very few, the current songs aren’t anything worth remembering. Well, you do speak Cantonese so that’s good.