No second time…

This bakery has been around for a long long time. I think they opened their first outlet among the shops right across the road from the school where I was teaching and even way back then, they already had a sandwich counter where one could choose the fillings to go into one’s sandwich, something like those at that seemingly quite popular franchise sandwich place that one can find here, there and everywhere. I don’t think they sell sandwiches like that anymore these days but that does not mean in any way that they are not doing well. In fact, I would say the opposite is true and they now have so many outlets all over this little town – four, at least or maybe more.

Anyway, the other day, I happened to drop by the one facing the Sibu Bus Terminal and I saw these lor mai kai (RM3.00 each)…

…and I had not had any for quite a while now so I bought two of them. I would say they were not too bad, not the best that I have had but they were good enough with the few generous chunks  of chicken and a thick slice of dried shitake and I would not mind having them again though I would not go out of my way to buy them – they’re definitely not THAT good.

Actually, I went there as I happened to be in the vicinity and I wanted to buy some kaya (coconut custard jam) for my pulut panggang…

Pulut is glutinous or sticky rice and panggang is to cook over a bed of hot charcoal so pulut panggang is the rice soaked in santan (coconut milk), I think, with a bit of salt added, wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked to perfection in the aforementioned method…and usually, it is eaten just like that or dipped in sugar or condensed milk/sweetened creamer or with kaya.

I thought that their special own-made kaya would be better than the factory produced ones that one can buy at the supermarkets and shops but unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with what I got (RM3.50). As you can see, it was so thick and firm that even when lying on the side…

…or when I turned it upside down…

…the kaya did not budge, not even a bit. The consistency was all wrong – it should be thick but with the fluidity of say, egg yolk and should be able to flow very slowly and gracefully when tilted unless it has just been taken out of the fridge, in which case, the santan would have hardened but if you leave it outside for a while at room temperature, it would soon go back to normal but not this one, I’m afraid. Other than its texture, it was way too sweet for me and it lacked the richness of the egg custard and the santan which, in fact, would separate the men from the boys, so to speak – the good and the not-so-good kaya, that is.

I’ve tried some of the things they sell at their outlets and at best, I would say there were a few that were all right, nothing really great but it certainly seems that there are many around here who do not share my same opinion for as far as I can see, they do enjoy rather brisk business most of the time. Well, as they say, one man’s meat is another man’s poison…and one thing’s for sure, there will be no second time and I would never ever buy kaya from them ever again, thank you very much.

Keep tryin’…

I don’t have any problem cooking poached eggs with my instant noodles. Once everything is done, I would just crack an egg and drop it into the soup and cover the pot for a while to let the egg cook and that’s it! Somehow, however, I can’t seem to be able to come out with a poached egg, one that is nicely done, to be served on toast like in an Egg Benedict but nonetheless, I kept trying and trying.

This was what I did. I cracked the egg into a bowl first…

…and then, I boiled some water in a saucepan…

…and once it had started boiling, I stirred it vigorously and dropped the egg into the “whirlpool”…

Then I covered the pot for a while to let the egg cook…and once ready, I took it out…

That morning, I had some Italian Milano bread from a local bakery and I toasted that and placed a slice of cheddar cheese on it and the egg on top…

I tried making some Hollandaise sauce to pour over it but nope, I did not check the recipe and left out a few crucial ingredients. Never mind, I’ll get it right next time!

Unfortunately, we did not have any lettuce or tomato or whatever in the fridge that I could serve with what I had but at least, the egg was nicely done. One poke and the yolk oozed out ever so slowly and gracefully. Beautiful!…

I’m afraid the whole thing did not look as good as those we get at the fancy cafes and restaurants, that I must admit. Well, I do know of some plastic pods available commercially for cooking poached eggs and in the absence of those, I saw on a video clip how they trimmed the edges with kitchen shears to get it nice and even. I wouldn’t want to bother doing that as it would be such a waste of the egg white – after all, it’s for my own home consumption so never mind the appearance. As they say, the test of the pudding is in the eating.

A couple of days later, I tried it again…

…with the whole works this time, a slice of SPAM and the melted cheddar cheese on top of my cousin’s own home-baked muffin all the way from Kuching plus all the greens and tomato and I even managed to get hold of some fresh button mushrooms but unfortunately, my second attempt at making some Hollandaise sauce did not turn out too well – in fact, I thought it tasted nicer the previous time when I “forgot” the lemon juice and it wasn’t so sour and that watery.

Anybody wants to give this a try? As for me, I think it is way too much work…and I’d just wait till I’ll hop over to KL or some place where I can just order this at some café and enjoy myself, minus all that hassle, thank you very much.

Stars…

Sometime last week, my missus and I went around looking for some new places in town to eat and we ended up in the vicinity of Ulu Sungai Merah, past the Giant Hypermart if you’re coming from the town centre, to this coffee shop…

…opposite the Wonderful  Supermarket and Departmental Store.

It certainly seemed as if there wasn’t much life around there at that time of the day but we managed to find a stall that was open and my missus had the ayam penyet (RM6.50)…

She was thrilled to see the chili dip as the colour gave her the impression that they made it using cili padi but unfortunately, it was not hot at all…or at least, not to her. What she ordered was all right – I would not say it was all that great compared to the rest that we had had before at some other places in town. They certainly were very generous with the meat though – one whole drumstick, thigh and all.

I decided to give their sour duck rice (RM4.50) a try…

…as I love duck and it sounded like something I would enjoy.

Well, it was nice – the duck cooked with a lot of ginger and I guess it got the slight sourish taste from the preserved vegetables in it…

…but I would prefer the meat in bigger chunks or slices as it was quite a hassle going through all those little bits and wondering whether it was meat or ginger.

It turned out that the young man running the stall as an ex-student of the school where I was teaching before I retired. He said that he could recognise me even though I never taught him way back then. Hmmm….unfortunately, there wasn’t any special discount nor a special lunch treat seeing that it was my first time patronising his food stall. Sigh!!!!

All in all, I thought what we had that day was not too bad but I sure would not want to go all the way to eat that. Perhaps, the next time, I would venture there at night as I think there would be a lot more life then with most of the shops in the area going full swing till late and there are also some hawker stalls around that look quite interesting.

Moving away from the post proper, the postman dropped by sometime last week and passed me this…

…and inside, there were these…

– my favourite meatballs gravy from IKEA!

Thank you so much, Melissa – you shouldn’t have troubled yourself getting me those and sending them…but it is certainly most appreciated, of course.

Friend…

Kawan in Malay means friend…

…and when my friend, Philip, in the US was home earlier this year, he kept telling me how nice the coffee at this place in Rejang Park here was…

…and indeed, it was really great.

An ex-student of mine was home from Kuching and he shared a photograph of the kampua noodles that he was having here…

…and he said it was good. I mentioned that I heard the coffee was good and he said that his father was drinking that and loving it.

Prior to this, I loved the noodles at this coffee shop directly opposite but I can’t remember much about the coffee at that one. I would say that the ones that I had here was good, though not exactly the same and the pian sip…

…soup wasn’t too bad either. I could detect a hint of either Foochow red wine or vinegar and I quite liked that – I wouldn’t have enjoyed it if it had been stronger though as I would not want anything to drown out the original taste of the clear soup.

So, if you’re looking for really good coffee, this is one place that you can check out…and while you’re there, you can have the kampua noodles and the pian sip too – I’m sure you’d enjoy them as well.

Fe fie fo fum…

Around a week ago, we dropped by this place…

…for dinner. I’m not too sure whether it should be pronounced as /fi-fi/ or /fay-fay/ and I did not even know what zakka was so I googled to check it out. It seems that it is a Japanese thing and according to wikipedia, “zakka has also been described as ‘the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane’.” Hmmmm…interesting! I did ask the girl there and she said that they had not got down to setting up that part of their business yet but it seems like once it is ready, one can expect to see a lot more of stuff like this…

…or these…

…and I’m sure Annie-Q would love to grab hold of these to add to her owl collection…

Other than these and a whole lot of antiques on display, it is actually quite a simple place…

…nice and cosy, nothing fancy with very pleasantly soft music at just the right volume, not loud as at some places that I’ve been to around here and elsewhere. I understand that they’ve recently renovated the place to include the shop lot next door so it is now twice the size of what it was when they first started. I also heard that they only serve western cuisine in the evenings so if you drop by for lunch, you will have to make do with the usual local delights.

As for the food, the pork cordon bleu (RM13.90)…

…that my missus had, was very nicely done with the cheese and ham wrapped inside…

…and all of us were of the general consensus that it was pretty good. I sure would like to have that should I happen to drop by again or perhaps, I would go for the chicken instead.

Melissa’s steak with mushroom sauce (RM14.90)…

…was a bit too tough and there was a part that was not really well-done and she does not like her beef rare or medium-rare. She loved the sauce though and being a fan of mushrooms, she finished every bit of whatever she could find in it. I tried a bit and personally, I feel that if it is steak that you want, you’d probably find better ones elsewhere…but this one is really cheap though so one will have to choose between cheap but not as nice or nice but not so cheap.

I did not like the grilled pork with BBQ sauce (RM14.90)…

…that I had, I’m afraid. I had expected something dark brown with that special smoked fragrance but no, it came across like the Chinese sweet and sour sauce but very spicy with a whole lot of Tabasco or something. I wouldn’t want to have that again, that’s for sure. I thought the coleslaw was really very nice though.

Melissa wanted the crispy onion rings (RM5.00)…

– her favourite and needless to say, she enjoyed those and finished the whole lot in a jiffy.

I also ordered their Hawaiian salad (RM10.00)…

…and I had expected a whole lot of fruits served with whatever salad dressing but marshmallows!!! This certainly was a first as I had never seen those in salads before…but of course, I did not mind those chunks of ham one bit! I loved that…and yes, there were fruits – pineapple, watermelon and honey dew underneath.

All in all, it certainly did not get me jumping up and down with delight but I would think it would be a good place to go for a bite and to sit and chat with friends and while away the time – it is not as crowded (and noisy) as some other places around here and you would not have to wait or queue and there would be ample parking spaces up front and the things are definitely quite affordable. Go ahead, give it a try!

More and more…

Oh me oh my!!! When my daughter and I went over to Kuching that day, I brought along a few packets of my newly-discovered instant Sibu kampua noodles each for my cousins and my friend, Jimmy, for them to try…

…and the next thing I knew everyone was placing orders for more and more of the same…

…so I had to go back to the place to get it for them.

I met my paternal cousin there – he had read the post in my blog and had dropped by to try their fish head noodles that I said were good and he quite agreed with my opinion…and he promptly picked up the tab for what we had, thank you so much, coz!

This time around, I had their mee sua in the traditional Foochow red wine chicken soup…

…and I would say it was very good though I thought the serving was a little small, a bit smaller than those at the regular stalls in the coffee shops.

My missus had the tom yam hung ngang (the big mihun)…

…and she loved it. She said that it was very nice…

…but not as nice as the ones here or here – theirs, according to her, are very much nicer…

…and they had prawns, not fish…but of course, their price is about 2-3 times more so the choice is yours – cheap and nice but not as nice…or a lot nicer but very much more expensive.

Gosh!!! I saw on their Facebook page that they had an order for 200 packs to go to New Zealand…and over 300 packs  bound for Kuching, out of which 25 were my order and I heard that 5, plus 10 more on a separate order, would be going to somebody in China…and somebody in KL has managed to get hold of some and would be getting some more, a lot more as everybody there wants it too! Good grief! It certainly looks like our celebrated Sibu kampua noodles have gone global, believe it or not!!!

STOP PRESS:
A cousin of mine in Kuching sent 5 packets of the Sibu kampua noodles to her son in Liverpool in the UK and he received it in 4 days, the same as when I sent something to my friend in Seremban via our “POSLAMBAT” (Tsk! Tsk!)…and of course, he has starting feasting on his most coveted treasure.

Time to go home…

We were in Kuching for two nights only and there was hardly time to do much really…other than going around to eat and before we knew it, it was time to pack up and go home.

I don’t know what got into them but it so happened that so many of my cousins bought me packets and packets of bee pang (fragrant rice)…

…which are actually cakes made of rice bubbles with fried shallots added to give it its nice fragrance but these days, there are other flavours available, it seems. Another cousin gave me some of the bak koi (meat cake, which is actually steamed egg cake with meat and fried shallots added) that he made for our little gathering the first night Melissa and I were in Kuching…and somebody gave me the M&S shorties though I can’t exactly place my finger on who right now. Sigh!!! There can be no denying that I’m getting old and my memory is starting to fail me sometimes. Sobsssss!!!!!

Yet another cousin went some place for tea and he thought that I might love the scones…

…so he got me two to try. Ooooo….they were really very good even without the clotted cream and homemade fruit jam – I certainly would want more than two if ever I could lay my hands on more.

Remember Ma Baker? My cousin who’s into baking artisan breads? Well, she gave me some of her muffins…and also a bit of whatever bread that she had at hand.

At the time of writing, I’ve yet to try them but no worries, when I get round to doing that, I certainly would blog about it. Then there was this cousin of mine, home in Kuching for the weekend from KL and she gave me those M&S biscuits to take home. I certainly do not seem to ever run short of a regular supply, eh? Hehehehehehe!!!!

Wait a minute! That’s not all, no siree…for there was yet another cousin of mine who promised to go and buy the nyonya kuihs…

…early Monday morning so that they would be nice and fresh and I could take them all home to enjoy…and she managed to get some kee chang (plain dumplings) for my mum (She loves them!) as well.

Last but definitely not least, there were also those lovely cakes that my friend, Jimmy, gave me. We’ve finished all of them now and I was so engrossed in enjoying his carrot cake…

…that I almost forgot to snap a photo of it before it was all gone. Hehehehehe!!!!!! This was the last one we tried – his triple cheese butter cake…

– parmesan and cream cheese in the cake and cheddar on top and it goes without saying that it was just as rich and as nice as all the rest. Yum! Yum!!!

Well, to whom it may concern, thank you for the gifts and thanks so much also for the treats and everything. It certainly was a great weekend getaway…and we do hope to do that again sometime. Ok…ok…no need to run and hide now! Muahahahahaha!!!!!

A long long long time ago…

…around the mid-70’s, I was in the college nearby and I used to frequent the open air stalls here…

…at Batu Lintang in Kuching.

Melissa wanted Chinese and I, for one, would know that she would love the or-chian (oyster omelette), Kuching-style…

…so we had that for dinner that night with my aunties, cousins and nieces. Some call it the “Kuching pizza” and the TWO we had that night were very nice indeed.

I can’t remember which stall I used to frequent for their tomato crispy fried noodles or kway teow (flat rice noodles) way back then but that night, they ordered the food from this one…

…which seemed to be the most popular around now.

The drunken prawns were superb…

…very fresh and succulent and so very sweet…and I loved the fish too…

I think this was what they call “Soon Hock” so hopefully, I would have some hock (good luck) soon. LOL!!!

There were two plates of midin (wild jungle fern)…

– one with belacan (dried prawn paste) and the other with red wine or something, I’m not too sure…mainly for the benefit of my cousin and her daughter from KL as they do not have this there. Actually, I did not have any as I was too lazy to reach across the table to help myself and besides, we can get that anytime and have it so frequently back here in Sibu.

I tried the Nestum pork…

…but it wasn’t really nice so I just had that one piece, that was all.

The Foochow-style fried noodles…

…were pretty good and I had a lot of that though I could detect a difference in the texture of the noodles used – ours in Sibu would be softer, not so firm but these were very nicely done nonetheless.

The total came to over RM200.00 for 11 people, inclusive of rice, and everyone said that it was so very cheap. Well, with fish and prawns and oysters, I would think that was a steal too. Personally, I do feel that it makes a lot more sense to pay less to come and eat at places like this and enjoy the food a whole lot more. What do you think?

Sweet…

After having enjoyed our very scrumptious banana leaf lunch, we headed here for some sweet dessert…

…somewhere in a lane off Jalan Haji Taha in Kuching.

If I’m not mistaken, they had a stall once at the Open Air Market in Kuching but the place was closed down for a while for renovations and when it was completed, they never moved back. Instead, they set up a shop here, occupying two shop lots and they also have a stall at a house nearby, around a hundred metres away…

…which belongs to one of the brothers or something…and both venues were equally packed!

My niece had this with the sweet corn…

…while Melissa had the cendol…

…and I had the ang tao peng…

…which was very very nice. It had its own special taste, different from the one that I like a lot in Sibu and even the red beans used were not the same…but personally, I think it could do with either a little less (sugar) syrup or a lot more ice as it was a bit too sweet for me.

Another cousin, back all the way from KL, dropped by here for that special Swee Kang sweet treat and was leaving just when we got to the place and she said that the fried carrot cake/chai thow koi/koay kak…

…was very nice but we couldn’t possibly eat anything anymore. I guess that would just have to wait till the next time I’m in the city…

She said…

One of my cousins in Kuching went for a banana leaf lunch and she shared about it on Facebook and Melissa, being really fond of that, could not resist posting a comment on it…and my cousin said she would take her for the same when she came over to Kuching and she did…and needless to say, I had the pleasure of tagging along! LOL!!!

So there we were at this place…

…somewhere among the shops in the vicinity of Nanas Road & Rubber Road in Kuching.

I had their mango lassi…

…which was so very good and there were these deep-fried bitter gourd chips…

…which Melissa said were very nice but I did not try any myself.

The lamb curry was superb…

…and I loved the fish…

*Oops!!! Sorry for the blurry pic!*

…and the tandoori chicken as well…

It looked like they were deep-fried though, like the ones at this shop in Sibu…but it did not matter as it tasted great.

Some of us had plain rice but I chose to have the bryani…

…and the whole works on the banana leaf…

…and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed that delightful lunch and so did Melissa. I’ve always loved Indian!

Another cousin said that should we drop by this place, we must try their fried thosai…

…and we did. However, we did not think it was all that special, pretty much the same as thosai as we have always known it to be…or maybe we were all so full from the lunch that our taste buds were all kind of numb by then. Hehehehehehe!!!!!

But no, that wasn’t all! We still had not had dessert and for that, we headed to another place nearby and of course, that would be in another post…and in the meantime, thank you so much. C4STP,  from both of us for the very yummy lunch treat.