My brother-in-law and his family in Bintulu did not drive home for Christmas as the weather had not been very good and the road conditions were absolutely horrendous as they were taking their sweet time in upgrading and resurfacing a long stretch along the way between Sibu and Selangau – I heard that my blogger-friend was caught in a crawl for around half an hour along that stretch when she drove to Mukah recently.
Then he, my brother-in-law, appeared at our gate one evening with, among other things, a bag of freshwater prawns for us. I would say that was timely indeed as it is virtually impossible to get any at the market nowadays owing to the current bad weather so I think we will stuff those in the freezer and save them for Chinese New Year. What a relief it was when he told us that the road works had been completed so we would not need to go through that slow and bumpy ride when we sent Melissa to her school at the end of the holidays.
Anyway, my other brother-in-law, the one in town who was at our Christmas dinner a few nights before that, called and asked us to join them all for dinner here the following night…and we had the usual – their pandan chicken…
…and their butterscotch prawns…
…both of which were as nice as always.
The sweet and sour fish…
…was good too though we wondered why they had cut the fillet into such small bits – something that they did not use to do before.
Their own-made tofu was good as usual…
…and this was very nicely done – the claypot pork belly fried with salted fish and dried chili…
My brother-in-law had this somewhere else and loved it so much that he wanted it again so he requested specially for it – the fried omelette with Chinese sausage (lap cheong)…
…but personally, I think I would be able to do a much better job at this. It was all right, nice enough…just nothing to shout about.
There was also the not-to-be-missed sea cucumber soup and for some reason or other, this came last – the cangkuk manis fried with egg…
…by which time everyone was already too full to eat much else so they had to tapao (takeaway) most of it home.
All in all, even though the things on the menu were the usual that we have been having over and over again every time we drop by this place, it was nonetheless a delightful meal especially when it was with one’s own family members…and the best part was I did not go home feeling like I had had an overdose of monosodium glutamate. For that, I would give them the double thumbs up!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
ruby! red table cloth… and the pink and white serviettes…
Miss the food? Come, come! Ruby’s waiting for you… 😉
Butterscotch prawns???? definitely something new for me!
Many things here will be new for you. Their own original secret recipe, can’t get anything like it anywhere else. I’ve brought many to try, even friends from abroad and blogger-friends from your side- they all loved it. Some even went back on their own for more!
What a relief that the roads are fixed. I’m sure a lot of people are happy since they hopefully won’t be delayed. The food looks delicious. I’m really loving the greeness of the cangkuk manis, yummy! 🙂
Indeed! I’ve used that road twice now, return – not great but was all right. They still need to put the finishing touches.
Ya, the food’s here good but the menu never changes. That’s why I do not go very often now – been eating the same for years. Would only go to bring friends from elsewhere to try the nice items they serve.
love lap cheongs to bits. but sometimes i prefer the taiwan sausage too, the red red one.
claypot pork belly fried with salted fish and dried chili <– had these the other day in one of the restaurant in KL, and loved it, i think they're really good.
I’ve tried the Taiwan ones – I find they’re more or less the same. At home, I use the wine-infused ones I got from Annie-Q. Can’t beat those! But Chinese sausages, I prefer those own-stuffed ones at the char siew/roast meat stalls though. Yummmmm!!!!
Ya, the salted fish would bring the dish to a whole new level…and they use the “long kiam hu” here, not the hard dried type that most places use the fry taugeh and it is so much more fragrant and nicer.
Wine infused sausages? whoa, i’ve got to check that out, any link to it? Fyi, my future brother in law aka the guy that is currently dating my wife’s sister has this sausage making family business in Ipoh, might suggest some new flavours to him. I did help him write a couple of months back, the Lum Sek Lee sausages. 😀
Have to ask Annie-Q, she gave them to me. Made by somebody in the hubby’s family, I think.
wow, what a festive chinese dishes you’ve got my friend!!
i can only imagine how fragrant is the pandan chicken!
Yes, and theirs is their own recipe – different from any that I’ve had elsewhere. It’s marinated with all kinds of fragrant stuff – I could detect serai – and deep-fried, I think. Remove the (oily) leaf…and the meat inside is so flavourful and juicy, not oily. Come on over, I can take you to try these and more, lots more.
Wow, all looks awesome. Even looking at the pix makes me saliavating. Portion looks big. Nom!!!…Nom!!!…
Don’t want to come to Sibu, what to do? Go on, salivate kao-kao! 😀
I also don’t like food with too much msg. Whole night i would keep drinking water!!
Haha. That blogger friend that gone to Mukah is me har? Lol!!
Yalor…so upset to hear that they had not finished resurfacing the road after such a long time! It’s ok now…ok, not good…needs some finsihing touches as the heavy downpour seemed to have spoilt it in parts again. 😦
The places I go to here know me well – they will not add a lot of msg unlike when I go to the same places but somebody else made the booking. That night, my BIL phoned to book…and he told the boss I would be going. Hehehehe!!!!
That’s interesting….next time I also want to book under your BIG name! 😉
Yes, you can tell the boss or the missus my name – no problem.
oh yummy yummy!! i would like those pandan chicken and also the omelette!! ah, maybe can have two big bowls of rice to go with them~~ :p
My BILs had a second bowl of rice, not me. 😉
Ruby, Ruby…. I love all the food above.. including pork belly though I will just take the sauce… yummmsss… led me salivating a moment ago… now I must go for my breakie!!
Nahhh!!! Don’t bluff. You have all the nice food there and even as far as till Penang or KL – that is why not interested in coming here ever again. Not worth the trouble. 😦
Have not tried eggcellent sweet cangkuk only in eggcellent soup
Not a fan of it in soup as all the sweetness gone into the soup rendering the veg quite tasteless. Much nicer, fried.
See that the foods there are so tempting…
Nice…and if in SIN$, dirt cheap some more. 😉
Pandan chicken…love the aroma from the pandan leaves. Yummmmm
I think you had the ones here at Ruby, right?
Eh … I truly love this cangkuk manis vegetables. I always order it when having foo chow food.
Nice and sweet, even on its own, plain.
Tak sangka….one year already….last round we had similar dishes. Still remember that taste very good
What one year? May, 2012…already one and a half years!!! Soooooo long ago! 😦
Making me drool ~~
So when will you be coming? 😉
Pandan chicken? Never try before, but wish to try it someday!!! =]
You can get at any Thai restaurant but the taste may vary from place to place – not all the same and not all are good. You will need to know where the good ones are.
Cruz love pandan chicken, whenever we eat thai food, we will order that.
All the foods above, look yum yum!!! Especially that cangkuk manis fried with egg!!
Fried egg with lap cheong, yes i like too. Last night, we just had some steam lap cheong to go with rice, very nice.
Never had it steamed. I guess that would make it soft, not as hard as when fried, right? Melissa likes fried rice with it – I prefer kampung style but she doesn’t…so guess who wins whenever she’s home. Hehehehehehe!!!!
Oh yeah, Ruby is good! They even have your special STP iced coffee blend!
I remember drinking that when we had dinner here. 🙂
Yes, they still have that there – the menu never changes. 😦
wah, i’m also staring with lust at those butterscotch prawns … pass the entire plate over to me! 😀
😀 Gotta try to cook that myself one of these days, hopefully I may replicate something similar that is just as nice. 😉
Pandan chicken looks delightful!
Personally, I feel theirs is the best I’ve had anywhere.
Tofu! I need to try and do a breaded type Tofu soon! I would like to do another BBQ flavored one as well!
We now have very fine and smooth ones from Japan at the supermarts but they’re expensive. I would opt for the same, made in our own country – just as nice and cheap…and nicer than our local made ones sold at our wet markets.
The pandan chicken look so yummy, so nicely done. Would like to try the butterscotch prawns, doesn’t look yummy but sounds delicious. 😀
And yes, good idea to keep those prawns for cny. They are going to cost a lot more nearer to cny!
Bad news! My missus said there are three HUGE ones only with legs/claws. Oh dear!!! Looks like there will be just enough to cook for the three of us – nothing left for our annual open house… 😦
My grandma and my mum love lap cheong but I am not really a fan. I used to get upset when they put lap cheong into the omelette or fried rice. But now I am OK with it, but only with claypot rice.
I’m just so-so with lap cheong. My girl’s the one who loves them.