Gimme some more…

A few days back, I received a message from my cousin in Kota Kinabalu asking me what I would like as his friend would be coming to town again and I told him no…no…no! Good grief! After all that he had brought over for me on his day trip to Sibu recently, I really would not want him to send me any more. Unfortunately, it all fell on deaf ears and before I knew it, all these arrived at my door…

He gave me the celebrated Kah Hiong ngui chap the other day and this time around, he sent me another popular one – the one from a place called Menggatal. A number of people have asked me on Facebook how on earth we are able to bring such soupy stuff here and there when we’re flying. The answer is really simple – you can buy it a day earlier and deep freeze it…and when one wants to eat it, one would just have to defrost it and heat it up…

I would usually pour any liquids into a plastic container so it will become like a block of ice once frozen. Then when packing, I would wrap the container with newspaper, seal in plastic and wrap with more newspaper. I always feel it is best that way as in the event that the soup leaks, the newspapers will soak it up so one will not end up with one wet mess.

Incidentally, if you are travelling by Air Asia, you cannot check in any frozen foods so if you are bringing anything like this, you will have to carry it in your hand luggage.

For one thing, this Menggatal ngui chap place seemed a lot more generous than Kah Hiong – the beef came in BIG slices and of course, there were the beef balls, the tendon and the tripe as well…

I just had to cook the beef (they came frozen, raw/uncooked) in the boiling soup and heat up the rest and putting them with the noodles in a bowl, I poured in the soup and there you have it! A piping hot bowl of Menggatal ngui chap…

So, was it good?

Ummmm…I would say that it was different, nice but different. I think it is a totally different recipe altogether so it did not taste like Kah Hiong’s or any other beef noodles anywhere else that I have tasted. Personally, I prefer Kah Hiong’s as that would be the taste I am more accustomed to, just a lot thicker and stronger…and nicer than elsewhere but I do know of people who love this Menggatal one. Just google and you will find all the blogposts on it. Why? They even had a place selling that in Kuching a long time ago, 2004 to be exact, and Huai Bin loved it when he went there to try. – not sure whether it is still in business or not though.

I loved the fiery chili dip that came with this one a lot more than Kah Hiong’s though…

It was equally hot and spicy but it was more fragrant and tastier…and it did not have the cili padi smell that would put me off at times. I wonder if they sell theirs in bottles too…

And moving on, my cousin also sent me this – what he called Bruce Lee’s oxtail soup…

I was quite baffled by the name and I had to ask him if there really was a coffee shop in Kota Kinabalu named after that kung fu hero. I was so tickled when he said that when Lee performed one of his kung fu moves, he would always cry out, “Hyyyyyyy….att!!!” LOL!!! I got the message right away – it actually came from the Hyatt Regency Kinabalu…and it must be their specialty as if you click the link to look at the cafe page, you will see a much nicer photograph of the soup in their banner. Well, was it good? Oooooo….no doubt about that! It was so nicely done, the meat fall-off-the-bone-tender…so absolutely delicious that it had me licking the bowl clean…literally! Slurpsssssss!!!!!

On top of all that, my cousin also got me a round-neck shirt – XXXL…and it fitted me like a glove!

Thank you so much, coz! Thank you, thank you, thank you…but please, seriously, do not send me anything anymore. Just wait – one fine day I will hop over to Kota Kinabalu and you can have the pleasure of taking me around jalan-jalan cari makan then. Wouldn’t that be good?