More than that…

I’ve been to this place in Kuching a few times before…

…but only for the cakes which many say are among the best, if not THE best, in town.

But according to one of my cousins, it is more than just cakes. When it comes to western cuisine, this place is her favourite and wins hands down. That was why when my missus and I were there for the weekend recently, on our first night in the state capital, we all communed there for dinner – my uncle, aunties,  cousins and a nephew as well, 12 of us altogether, I think.

I did not manage to take the photographs of everything that everybody had but somebody had their grilled prawns aglio olio…

…and another had the grilled fish version of the same…

A cousin had their beef ribs, I think that was what it was…

…while I had their lamb shank…

I loved the taste and thought it was really very nice, quite unlike what I had at their outlet in Sibu. I wouldn’t say it was better than this other place that I liked a lot – the best that I had had anywhere so far but this one was really very good too in its own way.

My missus had the grilled fish…

…and a number of the rest had their fish and chips among other things. I did try a bit of the fish and chips and I thought it was very nice too – despite the fact that I normally would prefer the fish to be coated with breadcrumbs instead of batter.

Of course, you can’t dine here without indulging in some of their cakes for dessert. Somebody had the Horlicks cheesecake…

…and their tiramisu…

…as well as their chocolate indulgence…

I tried their red velvet cupcake…

…and thought it was really very good even though one of my cousins said their cupcake version wasn’t that great compared to their cake per se.

Another cousin had their durian cheesecake while yet another one had their Napoleon coffee cake. We ordered the latter whole from their outlet in Sibu once and I did not like it at all. What I heard then was that they would send their cakes, frozen, to Sibu…and what I had was hard and the biscuit layer had gone all limp and difficult to bite. I sampled a bit of the one here and it certainly was a far cry from the one we had before – this was definitely a whole lot nicer.

It was some kind of a happy family get-together really and we certainly had a lot of fun, chatting and sharing jokes and everything. Normally, we would go dutch on such outings (or one of the many would give me a treat and pay my share) but this time around, when it was time to call it a day, they told me that they had settled the bill already. So, to whoever it was that picked up the tab, thank you so very much. What more could anyone ask for – a wonderful night-out with great food and fabulous desserts and with such delightful company. Thanks to one and all.

And I must say thank you so very much also to my uncle and aunt and their family for inviting me and my missus to their house for their home-cooked lunch that Sunday afternoon. Gosh!!! There was so much to eat that I was so engrossed in the feasting that I forgot completely to take photographs of anything that we had that afternoon – the most delightful chicken curry, cooked from scratch and it went absolutely well with some Kelabit/Lun Bawang-style rice, ground and wrapped in some kind of leaf and cooked, the ultra-expensive Kapit fish – the empurau , masak kuden (pot-cooked, Melanau style)…so many things that I cannot exactly remember them all!

Don’t bother asking me how many kilos I put on during that short trip to Kuching – I didn’t check and I wouldn’t want to know either! LOL!!!!