Back to school…

There was a shabu-shabu/steamboat place here originally but it has closed down and now, they’ve opened up this one…

…with a back-to-school concept so one would be able to see a lot of blackboards and school tables everywhere…

…and even an old bicycle…

*Oh? They’ve ashtrays in schools?*

You will have to go to the counter and order…

…and pay but they will serve you the food, once done.

The cold drinks are served with a straw…

…in their own customised bottles…

…like those days when I was in school.

I remember when pupils could buy those made-in-Sibu Ngor Kian or Chuo Kian aerated water/drinks in bottles at the school canteen and they would just open it up and give it to you with a straw like this. They were very cheap, 20 cents, I think…or to the most, 30 cents but even then, most of the time, we could not afford them which could be a blessing in disguise actually as it was mostly colouring and artificial flavours. Try the cherry, for instance…and you’ll end up with red teeth for the rest of the day. Usually, we would have to wait till festivals such as Christmas or Chinese New Year when my father would buy one crate home but even then, access was restricted. They were meant for the guests…and we had to make do with whatever “crumbs that fell from the table”, so to speak.

Well, that day, my missus ordered the beef noodles…

…while Melissa had the mutton soup hor fun (flat rice noodles)…

They liked what they had ordered and I did try both but I did not think I was all that impressed. Both tasted similar, like Bovril soup, I thought – nothing to shout about.

I had the chicken chop rice…

…and opted for the other sauce (couldn’t understand the girl at the counter very well when it came to the more “technical terms”) instead of the mayo and it was good. The chicken was…like chicken and the sauce was nice, something like Thai chili sauce.

They served the chicken rice in balls…

…like what they do in Malacca and I would say they were all right, not great…but not bad.

I also ordered the or chian or oyster omelette to try and it turned out to be like the ones in Kuching or what some would call our very own Sarawak pizza…

…not like those in the peninsula. Melissa said she would prefer it like this and liked this more than what she had here and personally, I thought it was nicer than what we had in Kuching not too long ago.

Now, what happened was it took quite a while to appear and once it was served, we all started eating. Then, the waitress came, all apologetic, saying that the chef had missed out some ingredients and so she had to take it back…and served us a brand new piece…

…which seemed to have some bits of shitake mushroom, chopped spring onions and chili that we could not see in the first one. Both tasted great and since I was not asked to pay extra, we were absolutely fine with that little mess-up they made.

I cannot remember the price of each item that I ordered but the total came up to RM49.20…which I would not say is cheap, not at all. For that kind of money, I think I would rather go to some place less impressive and enjoy the food a lot more…and still have change but of course, you may choose to differ. To each his own!