Little bit…

I mentioned, in an earlier post, how the made-in-Sarikei Foochow pek guek tong chiew pia or the 8th Month Autumn Festival biscuits…

…are more expensive this year with a jump in prices from RM3.50 or RM4.00 in 2009 and in 2010 to RM5.00.

I’ve had these made-in-Sibu ones before…

…sold at one of the stalls at the Sibu Central Market. For one thing, they’re only RM4.00 a packet, RM1.00 or 20% less than the Sarikei ones…and if you’re buying 4, you would have saved enough to buy another packet already. I understand that if you’re  a regular customer or if you’re buying a lot, you may even get a special discount.

This year, I also got to try these…

…that were also made in Sibu and selling at RM4.00 a packet, also cheaper than the Sarikei ones. This one does not state outright that there is any lard content but frankly, I feel that all of them taste more or less the same.

Between the two, I think I prefer the latter as it is not as hard and the texture is like one of those that would crumble at first bite the moment you put it in your mouth. Seeing that the prices are the same and the taste, more or less, likewise, if you prefer it a little bit harder…

…then you can go for the former instead but if you think you would like to give the latter a try, you can get those at a kompia shop in the vicinity of the Dewan Suarah (Civic Centre) here – not the one beside the wet market but the one in the same block of shops as the bakery (Aroma) that sells the most awesome chicken pies and if I remember correctly, there is a chicken rice and roast meats shop next door now.

That day, I also bought the chu-nu-miang, the sweet version of the kompia…

… at 4 pieces for RM1.00 to try. These aren’t exactly sweet, just that they’re not salty like kompia (and softer/more cushiony too) but with a very slight hint of sweetness unlike plain bread. Even the texture is supposed to be different than bread…and usually, it would be a little bit more dense than what you can see in the above photograph. The ones here aren’t all that different from bread as far as the texture goes and if that is what I want, I might as well go and grab a sandwich loaf from the bakery or one of the grocery stores or the cake stalls scattered all over in that commercial area.

As for the real mooncakes per se, I’ve yet to try the ones I received from my friend, Annie-Q in KL…and I have not dropped by the shop here in Sibu that sells comparatively pretty good ones yet. Maybe I will…but maybe, I won’t. We’ll see…