My trip to Kuching (and Serian) stretched over 24 hours – in fact, I took the same flight I took to fly over to Kuching on Monday evening back to Sibu the following day.
On Tuesday morning, I had breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant – The Eatery…
It was just the usual stuff one would expect to see at any buffet breakfast at any hotel of this class. The fried rice wasn’t anything to shout about – I think mine would be nicer…and their nasi lemak could use a little bit more santan to add to the richness of the rice and the fried noodles were extremely salty. I must say that this was most disappointing as considering that this place has swept quite a number of awards, if I’m not mistaken, I certainly would expect a lot better.
Another bone that I would have to pick where this place was concerned would be their coffee. It was so weak that it was quite tasteless, almost like plain water. I posted a comment on this on their Facebook page when they proudly showed off their colourful mugs – what is the point if they look nice and pretty when the coffee sucks big time? The beef rendang that morning was really very very nice though, so well done – very tender and absolutely delicious…but I only took a bit of it.
Soon after I had had my fill, my cousin came and drove me to Serian and we came back at around noon. Initially, she wanted to take me to some places in the city for lunch but we were caught in some very heavy traffic along the way and if I did not check out of the hotel by 2.00 p.m. – they extended it for me, thankfully, I would be charged for extended stay. In the end, not wanting to be caught in some horrendous jam, we just dropped by the Expert Food Court @ RH Plaza for convenience sake – it is right across the road from the hotel and that was where I had the beef noodles the night before.
I had the Kuching kolo mee…
…from this stall…
…and I would say it was very nice, nicer than the one that I had before at another food court in that same area.
I also ordered the seafood soup…
…which was nice too but then again, I always have this weakness for clear soups.
My cousin had these claypot noodles from another stall…
…but I would not know whether it was any good as I did not get to try.
After that quick lunch, I went back to the hotel, bathed and packed and checked out…and waited for another cousin to pick me up and take me to the airport. It so happened that she was coming to Sibu that very evening and I had promised to meet her upon arrival and go for dinner…but suddenly, I had to fly over to Kuching and for this reason, staying on for a day or two was totally out of the question. I booked myself on that same flight she was taking…and by evening, Tuesday, I was back in Sibu already.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Just swinging by to catch up on your blog! I always enjoy hearing about your travels and your foods! Very neat! One of the best of its kind!
Thanks for your kind words. I would love to travel more, if I could.
it’ll be interesting to compile a comprehensive list of all the kolo mee stalls you’ve tried and evaluate which ones are recommended 😀
Not that many – I don’t go to Kuching all that often – as often as I’ve been to KL so I wouldn’t say it will be a long list… If it’s Sibu kampua noodles, maybe that list would be longer.
The seafood soup looks good! Quite generous for the amount of seafood but did i see some pork livers inside too?
Yes, I didn’t realise eating that – too busy talking. I only saw it when I looked at the photo. 😀
I wonder why the hotel food has no quality but pricey…
…and they’re all the same – you’ve tried one, you’ve tried them all, more or less the same. Stayed at a lot on my working trips before I retired. Some may have something nice sometimes but no matter how nice, by the third day, I would be hitting the stalls at the coffee shops in the vicinity already. So sick of even the smell from the restaurant.
Hawker stall are doing brisk business especially at night compared to day time. Seldom venture to that side as parking is a headache. All looks good and yummy. Droolinggggg!!!!!…..
Parking seemed all right, daytime you’ll have to pay, of course. We did not have any problem…both night and day. Can’t say it’s the best but it was pretty good, saves the trouble of going all the way and getting caught in the terrible Kuching jam.
The Expert food stall. The kolo mee is alright.
The hotel is not famous for its buffet. As matter of fact their food standard sucks for such hotel. Disappointing.
The first time I stayed there, it was very good (the wedding banquet not really so though). Maybe they’ve changed their chefs…so the second and third times were disappointing. Still, they swept all the awards – the others must be really the pits!!!
Wah, you took all in one plate? Fried rice, mee goreng and nasi lemak all in one.. I saw some daging too, or was it kerang? So you went for 2nd round to take bacon, sausages, beans & omelette boh? Eh the seafood soup looks good, I like this kinda soup. Normally if I have pork mee (chue yok fun), I would order another bowl of “liew” only (with soup, of course)..
There was beef rendang and some of the nasi lemak prawn sambal. I did try the croissant after this round but it was no good – loved what I had the first time I stayed there, so that was it. Not in the mood, no appetite to indulge…going to my friend’s funeral after that.
breakfast buffet?? hmmm, i always look forward to the breakfast buffet at hotels, but then not these local stuffs as i think probably we can have that outside, which are usually a lot nicer and a lot cheaper..
The western? You’d get some very hard sliced beef, pale-looking chicken sausages, hash browns and baked beans. Breads and pastries may not be all that nice. Might as well get one’s own from selected bakeries…plus one’s own ham & bacon – yummmmmm!!!! Not really crazy about hotel buffet breakfast – will go just because it is inclusive… Maybe I had too much of it on my working trips before.
Tempted by the seafood soup…
It was good.
When it comes to hotel breakfast, I always take a little bit test the taste first, take again if nice, if it’s not nice then I got to force myself to finish it, no choice!!! =[
Usually it is good enough, not really great but not inedible. Can’t expect too much from hotel buffet breakfast…usually.
Being a typical Asian, I always want to try out their nasi lemak in the hotel buffet.hahaha
I would try a bit, maybe on different days if on a longer stay…and after sometime, you’d find me just eating porridge – if there are no coffee shops around that I can escape to.
So it was just a one night stay…. may I know the hotel rate? Or have I miss it somewhere along the post? In Kuching it is kolo mee.. back to Sibu it is Kampua… both are equally nice…
It’s 180++, around 200. In Sibu, the best hotel, similar to this…you can get 150 nett without breakfast. Anyway, the breakfast at the hotels here, might as well give it a miss. Not so nice and lots of nice things to eat outside.
Oh almost same price with Penang then.. yes, I prefer them not to include breakfast, firstly… dont have to wake up in a rush to go for the buffet and secondly, I prefer to eat kampua noodles than anything else in the hotel. 🙂
This is the Sheraton wor!!! Dunno how much the one in Penang charges per room. Here, breakfast is inclusive….and I saw the sign – if you go and eat and pay, it’s RM35 per head. Sooooooo….expensive. Can feed one whole family outside.
I often wonder how restaurants are given awards… by who, what’s the criteria? They’re not always a sign that the food is superb.
If judging from what they served for breakfast, I really wonder too… 😦
Agree that the food at some hotels is disappointing. So I suppose you only had one helping 🙂
Yes but I did try the croissant as it was so very nice the first time I stayed here – best I’ve ever had…but no, the current one came nowhere near. 😦
Hello STP!!! I’m back from the very long “vacation” from blogging.
The coffee is weak? Maybe most of the patrons prefer weak coffee. Or they use all of their money to buy all those colourful mugs. ^_^
LOL!!! 😀 That’s a good one… Welcome back!
If I were you, I’ll end up eating only rendang as the rest are just a disappointment *and sneak one of those colourful mugs out* hahaha!
Colourful only, not really nice. If only they had lemang or ketupat – I’d just go for the rendang, nothing else.
Claypot noodles look inviting!
My cousin commented on Facebook – she said she had nicer ones elsewhere.
I’m surprised at the quality of their buffet breakfast!
I have seen them won a lot of awards so I was expecting it to be a lot better too!
Too bad about the coffee, I really hate that too coz then I’ll have to drink 2-3 cups and it makes me full and there’s nothing worse than weak and tepid coffee.
Yup, I was quite put off already the previous time I stayed there…and they have not improved, it seems. That’s why I was quite surprised to read about them winning awards – maybe it’s not for their breakfast…
Terrible when coffee is weak like water!
Yup! And for a hotel, that is absolutely disgraceful. Hotel coffee is usually quite good, not the best…but good!