Not here anymore…

When it came to chicken rice, this was my favourite in town…

…located among the shops behind Delta Mall here, directly opposite the huge Methodist church in the area. I loved how the rice was oily and so very fragrant and tasty but when we went that day, it turned out to be most disappointing…

Not only did it fail to please as far as the taste was concerned but it seemed like it was not completely cooked too…or maybe it was not the texture that I am more used to when cooking our own rice at home. They certainly were very generous though – each of us was served that huge amount on our plates.

There used to be a different owner and then, one fine day, I saw some new faces running the place. The previous owner said that they were his partners and he was letting them take over. That wasn’t a problem at all as all this while, they had maintained the quality and the taste and I would keep going back for more – especially for their rice, actually.

Their roast chicken, I would say, isn’t the best in town…

…and it’s the same where their roast duck…

…is concerned. Don’t get me wrong though – I’m not saying that they’re not good, just that there are others that would taste just as nice and some may be even better…while on the other hand, I’ve had some that are not really all that great at some places around here.

I love their char siew…

…and their roast pork…

…is as good as any that I’ve had but yes, there are pretty good ones elsewhere as well.

It was very cheap though. We had their stewed eggs, three of those, and theirs are very well done…and together with the drinks that we had, the total only came up to RM27.50…but now that the rice isn’t anything to shout about, when we feel like having chicken rice and all the roast stuff again, we probably would head some place for those…just that most likely, it would not be here anymore.

Do no harm…

Somebody was telling me that the nasi lemak at this stall…

…located at this coffee shop here was very nice. Of course, I had my doubts but I guess it would do no harm to just stop by and give it a try.

I’ve eaten here before, just that I cannot remember what I had but I do recall Philip, my friend in the US, telling me that his son loved the nasi goreng (fried rice). I certainly would not want to order that as I know for sure that mine would be nicer. Hehehehehehe!!!!

Well, as expected, the nasi (rice) was not lemak (full of richness of santan/coconut milk) enough for me…

…and I thought the sambal was not all that great either. I’ve had nicer ones elsewhere but then again, I’ve had worse as well.

I ordered the special (RM4.00)…

…which came with some fried chicken but that was about it. On the whole, it was all right – not something I would go out of my way to have but I would not mind having that should I happen to be around there at any time.

My missus ordered something from the stall opposite manned by this handsome young man…

She tried their kolo mee…

…which she said was all right – the noodles were firmer, not overcooked and soggy. As for me, I’ve long given up on having kolo mee here. Though they may  be nice, somehow, the taste is not the same as the good ones that I would go for in Kuching plus they’re usually more expensive and since they taste more or less like kampua mee with all the extras added, I might as well go for the latter.

For one thing, the iced black coffee (RM1.40) here was really very good…

…and it was cheaper than most places in town where the drink was tagged at RM1.50 a glass before…and if I’m not mistaken, it’s already RM1.70 or RM1.80 at some places here.

While I was at this shop that day, I was somewhat tickled by this sign on the wall…

Anybody interested in a Belanda (Dutchman),  a fresh one? They’ve got that here. LOL!!!

Hand me down…

My aunt, since deceased, was very active in the women’s association here and at one time, she and another lady from Kuching represented Sarawak at an international women’s conference held in Manila, Philippines. When she came back, at family gatherings, she started serving salads with her very awesome dressing and of course, everyone in the family got her to share the recipe and since then, we would make our own.

It is nothing difficult actually. First you beat an egg with some vinegar together…

Oops!!! I did not have any vinegar that day so desperate situations would call for desperate measures and I used calamansi lime juice instead. I think the acidity is needed to sort of “cook” the egg.

After that, pour in one bottle of salad cream…

– salad cream, mind you…not mayonnaise and a can of evaporated milk. Normally, I would use Heinz or Delmonte but that day, I could not find any at the shop near my house so I settled for a local brand instead.  Pulsate till smooth.

In the past, we would fry our own peanuts and remove the skin and pound. That, of course, would be a lot of work and some of us resorted to using the salted peanuts for this, removing the shell and skin, of course…and some even used peanut butter. My late aunt would definitely not settle for any such shortcuts and would stick loyally to the original recipe. Me? I use these…

We used to have very nice ones here but lately, nobody seems to be making them anymore…leaving me no choice but to use these. I would add more so as to have the peanut fragrance and because these are sweet, there is no need to add any sugar. In the past, we had to add that to balance the sour taste of the vinegar and the salad cream.

Just remove the wrappers and dump it all into the blender…

…and blend till smooth…

There you have it! Easy, isn’t it?

I remember way back in 1986, I went to Port Dickson with some college mates and we stayed at one of the government chalets there. We had to do our own cooking and I made this salad dressing for the salad. Of course, everyone loved it and they all asked for the recipe.

You just assemble whatever you want in your salad…

…and pour the dressing on top…

…and mix it all together and eat.

Go on, give it a try and let me know what you think of it. For one thing, I can assure you that it is heaps better than just plain mayonnaise.

Aloha Oe…

If you are as old as I am, you would probably know this song from the movie “Blue Hawaii”, starring the late King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley but when I was younger, this song was more popular than the rest from the original movie soundtrack. These days, however, my favourite would be this one…

…which I still sing time and again at karaoke sessions and it’s a great song for weddings, I would say – very appropriate.

Well, for reasons known only to the proprietors, they decided to call their shop by this name…

…and I think I would be quite right to say that it is one of the most popular coffee shops in town – always crowded all the time and very difficult to get a table despite the fact that parking can be a real pain where it is located…

The main attractions here, I guess, would be the Sarawak laksa and the Sibu-style egg-wrapped fried kway teow but when my missus and I dropped by for lunch the other day, she had the kampua noodles (RM2.70)…

…and it was pretty good. I could detect the fragrance of the lard used in the tossing of the noodles the moment it was served.

Actually, I wanted to go there for the sole purpose of giving their ayam penyet a try…

I had had people telling me that the one here was much nicer than the one I had here, not as dry and so on and so forth.

Let’s start with the rice. For one thing, it was not wrapped in banana leaf so it did not have that squeezed texture similar to what one would find in nasi impit or ketupat and of course, it did not have the nice banana leaf fragrance either. It wasn’t plain white rice though – in fact, it was their nasi lemak. Unfortunately, there was so very little “lemak-ness” that one could barely detect the presence of its very very slight hint of it…and  that was why I thought they might as well not bother as one would hardly be able to tell the difference.

I don’t know if this is the sambal…

…that you would get if you order their nasi lemak but if it is, then I would say that it is not all that great. I’ve had nasi lemak sambal at many places elsewhere that is a whole lot nicer than this.

The complimentary soup was very good though – chicken and definitely not the usual plain water with salt and msg added that you would get at many Chinese shops and food stalls.

As for the chicken, it was HUGE – one whole thigh…

…but to me, it was just fried chicken…with traces of the oil used in the frying though not all that much. I could not see how it was any different as it was neither flattened not clobbered, and thus, not penyet. The only consolation was the fact that it was a bigger piece that the other place that I would frequent…plus it was cheaper by 50 sen.

All things considered, I wouldn’t think I would bother dropping by here for this again. In fact, I do feel that even the one that we had here would be much nicer…

The wrong side…

Well, in a way, it is in the wrong side of town for me as it is very far from where I live but that, of course, is by our local Sibu standard. The town is not very big, you see…so relatively, what I feel is far would be pretty near to many of you.

Anyway, this bakery is located in the vicinity of Farley in the Salim area and goes by that same name and since I do not venture there all that often, I do not get to buy their very nice curry puffs…

…regularly. These are very nice – I love the buttery fragrance of the flaky and crumbly pastry and the delightful slightly-spicy curry taste of the filling which is made up of meat (chicken though, not beef) and potatoes unlike the rest where you would only find curry-flavoured mashed sweet potatoes. Besides, these are baked, not deep fried like those smaller ones at the stalls where you can get 3 for RM1.00.

That day, I happened to be in the area so I thought I would buy some for my godson/ex-student, Andrew, to try as I am pretty sure that even if he can get any in New Zealand, it would definitely cost more than around NZ40 cents each. They’re RM1.20 each but if you buy 10, you will get an extra one free so that would make it less than RM1.10 each. There’s another place in town with the best chicken pies around – they have curry puffs there too and they’re quite nice as well though they do not look very good nor do they taste as nice as these. If I remember correctly, they were 80 sen each but they went up to 90 sen and I think they’re RM1.00 each by now. I would much sooner fork out a little bit more to buy these Farley ones instead as they are a lot nicer…and in fact, they’re also nicer than a number that I have had here, there and everywhere, not just the ones in Sibu.

Now, since I was in that side of town, I thought I would also venture to the other side of the other side of town to another bakery that is famous for its mooncakes. Yes, it’s out of season – not the right time of the year for mooncakes but it seems that they make these yolk puffs…

…regularly now so you can still get these to enjoy any time of year even though it is not the Mooncake Festival yet.

I would usually toast them a bit in the oven so the skin would be flakier and nicer…and with the perfect balance between the sweet lotus paste and the salty salted egg, the overall taste is simply awesome! The only thing is they do not come cheap. It was RM13.00 for a pack of 6 before but now, it has gone up to RM13.80 which means that it is RM2.30 EACH!!! It certainly would make a lot more sense to go for a plate of kampua noodles instead of one of these golf ball-size puffs but then again, since they would not be readily available in New Zealand and when they are, as the festival comes around each year, they would surely burn a hole in one’s pocket, I decided to drop by and get these for Andrew as well before he and his family left town.

While I was driving back, I spotted some interesting new buildings along the way. I thought this one looks like a stack of shuttlecocks lying on one side…

…but if one looks at it from the other angle, it is actually a long building, curved in a semi-circle…and somebody said that it is supposed to be a caterpillar. From the sign, it probably is a showroom for those Japanese-made cars.

Then there is this tall one on the left…

…which looks a lot more impressive if you view it from the distance, say, from the centre of town around where the Chinese temple with the seven-storey pagoda is.

It comprises two tall towers linked on top…

…and of course, it comes nowhere near this one in KL or this one in Singapore but considering that this is a teeny-weeny town, nothing much to shout about, I would say, it is pretty awesome that we have structures such as these around here.

Gee!!! Some may feel that there isn’t much room to swing a cat in Sibu but if you do not venture to these other parts of town, you would not be aware of the existence of these…and they still say, it’s a small world…after all.

No angel…

Melissa wanted their angel hair pasta with smoked bacon and whatever that was on their menu when we dropped by here again for lunch on Saturday but, no it was not available so she ended having this instead…

…their spaghetti bolognese with homemade sausage (RM15.00).

Frankly, nothing puts me off than going to some place and ordering things from their menu and they tell you this is not available and that is not available. They can make some of those “NOT AVAILABLE” stickers to stick on the menu temporarily so diners would know what not to order and look for something else. Often, one would have made up one’s mind already and when being told thus by the waiter or waitress when placing the orders, one would need to just choose something else in a hurry and may pick something that one does not really want…and what made it worse was it wasn’t anything special that was not available. Ok, if they say that they’ve run out of smoked bacon, maybe it is not so easy to get hold of such things in this little ol’ town but angel hair!!! That is sold , ok not everywhere, but in a number of places in town and there should not be any problem stocking up on some…anytime. Tsk! Tsk!

So this was what she got in the end. It tasted great, we cannot deny them that little bit of credit though my girl did say that she would not mind a little bit more of the sauce but the presentation! What on earth were those tomato wedges all around? I would say that the dish would look a lot better without those…and for that amount of money, I was expecting perhaps, one WHOLE sausage at least by the side…not just those four thin slices on top. THAT is definitely something we would not order again as we can get something better or just as nice and probably cheaper too elsewhere or we can cook our own anytime…and with angel hair, if we so desire!

I did not feel I was up to their Heart Attack so I opted for the less challenging Classic Burger (RM13.80)…

…which I would say was very nice. I enjoyed it and Melissa tried a bit and agreed that it was pretty good too. Like their signature pork ribs, this too was served on a chopping board and I would give them the thumbs-up for the nice presentation…

My missus had their sizzling stewed pork belly noodles (RM9.80)…

…which was not sizzling when it was served and the egg was rather raw, we thought. Thankfully, it certainly made up for all that as far as the taste was concerned for it was, indeed, very good…and they were really generous with the meat – lots of huge chunks of that in the plate.

We did not order the drinks as we thought we would be getting that on the house with our orders but the waitress told us that we would be entitled to one complimentary drink only with my burger order and my missus and Melissa would have to order their own drinks as the promotion would be valid for lunch only on weekdays…or if we did not hear wrongly, that was what she said. Now, let’s look at the sign again…

*Archive photo*

Can anybody see any phrase or clause that states anything to that effect? Well, as a matter of fact, we were there previously on a Saturday and we got our free drinks. Really!!! The boss was not around (and from his Facebook page, I saw that he was away on vacation in Thailand), otherwise, I would certainly have given him a piece of my mind, no use wasting my time talking to these not-very-smart-nor-eloquent subordinates.

Well, they do not have to offer anything – that’s their prerogative. After all, a free drink or no free drink, it is really no big deal – once one chooses to eat at such joints, surely one is ready to fork out the money for whatever one orders but when they do not live up to their promises, I would say that it puts people off and leaves a not-so-favourable opinion of the people and the place, never mind how nice the food or the place may be. I do hope the boss has an absolutely valid explanation for this the next time I bump into him here or in one of his other sister restaurants.

Outside…

Nope, this isn’t exactly new – it’s only new on the outside. The wrapper…

…as you can see, is much nicer compared to what it was like before…

If I’m not mistaken, the makers of the now-celebrated Sibu instant kampua noodles went to Taiwan and went some place there to see how they packed their noodles and they came back with a machine of their own to do just that.

For one thing, I would say that it certainly looks more presentable, more like those established large-scale factory produced ones and probably, this would make it easier to go through customs if you are bringing any overseas. I was told once that they were very particular with noodles in plastic bags like this…

…if they were yellowish in colour as that would be indicative of its egg content but if they were white like in the case of mee sua, they would let you through. I also heard that they would be more lenient with factory-manufactured stuff so my guess is that they probably would not cast a second glance at the instant kampua in this new wrapper…

…thinking that it would be just another one of those that have flooded their own (Asian) stores and supermarkets all over their country.

However, this is only available for the original kampua noodles, the straighter ones with light soy sauce and not for the curly and flat (mee pok) versions nor the one with dark soy sauce and the vegetarian version (with onion oil, not lard). It is a bit more expensive though – by RM1.00 so a pack of 5 packets would cost RM7.50 instead of the usual RM6.50 (or RM6.90 for the mee pok).

I bought two packs for my godson/ex-student, Andrew, to try – I’m not too sure whether he brought any back with him to New Zealand or not and I got a pack for myself as well. Inside, you will get the noodles and sachets sealed in a plain plastic pack like in the old packaging so it is actually a two-layer package unlike what you will find in the case of the usual instant noodles.

As you can see, it does look good…

…but of course, you will need to add your own slices of meat, fried shallots and chopped spring onions for the complete works.

Many would agree that it is ALMOST like the real thing that one can get in the shops and if you divide RM7.50 by 5, it is only RM1.50 for a plate…or if you are buying this in the old packaging, it comes up to only RM1.30 which makes it a lot cheaper that when you eat at the shops and order the kosong (without meat). Other than that, you can enjoy this anytime of day in the comfort of your own home but of course, you will need to cook it yourself…

You’ve tried yours, Merryn? Nice or not?

What you had…

We went back to this coffee shop again last Sunday after the church service in the morning as Melissa wanted what I had on our previous visit – their meat dumpling noodles (RM5.00)…

It sure looked a lot nicer this time around – maybe they were getting a little better at it…or it was a good day. For one thing, she loves those sui jiao or gyoza or whatever they’re called especially those deep-fried or pan-fried ones so of course, she enjoyed this to the max and finished everything down to the last drop.

My missus had the zhao chai hung ngang (RM4.00)…

…from another stall at this shop and it looked pretty good. In case you’ve missed my earlier posts on this, this is actually the big version of the bihun in preserved vegetable soup normally cooked with chicken, fish or even prawns. I did not see any of those in this one though – just some very thinly sliced fish cake so I wouldn’t know exactly whether it was any good or not – my missus did not say anything…but she got herself one big saucer of freshly-cut chili in soy sauce to eat with that so I guess it went down pretty ok with her.

I had the mee goreng special (RM5.00)…

…and it was very nice plus there was that fried chicken drumstick as an added bonus. Actually, I had intended to go for the Sarawak laksa but again, the stall was not open – probably, it is closed on Sundays, I’m not too sure.

Well, since we were here again, I ordered the roti jala (RM2.00) one more time…

As far as I know, this is the only place in town selling this and this time around, the sambal (dip) was very good – we did not like it on that previous occasion when we had that. Melissa loves it and for sure, should we drop by again, I certainly would order the same again for her…and for me.

And talking about Melissa, I was at a shop earlier this week and I spotted this nice-looking bag…

…and I just had to get one for her to put her books, worksheets, teaching aids and what not to bring to school or to class – a bag full of ideas. Neat, eh? It did not come cheap though – RM17.90 for something made of some kind of gunny-like canvas. Hopefully, it is more durable than those recyclable bags that one can get everywhere at most shops and supermarkets these days…and anyway, I don’t spend on much these days, other than on food…and this and that so this is just to pamper my little girl a bit once in a while. Now that she’s working and earning her own money, occasions like this are getting to be few and far between and let’s just say that I do miss doing that. As they say, old habits die hard…

I can’t afford it…

I love Singapore nyonya mee siam…and I was able to cook that myself once – exactly like the real thing using this…

…and this is readily available at the supermarket round the corner from my house but unfortunately, it is way too expensive and I just can’t afford it. Currently, it is selling at around RM16.00-18.00 a box and if you look closely, it serves 2-3 persons only…except that I stretched it a little bit and added a bit more water so there was enough for 5-6 servings and it was still very good.

Well, you may remember that we came across this…

…not too long ago and we used it to steam the tilapia that I got from Annie-Q’s mum and it was really very nice. It crossed my mind then that it would probably be good for the gravy for the Singapore nyonya mee siam so I went and got a few packets to give it a try. They’re only RM3.50 each here.

Firstly, I fried some bihun with chopped garlic and some chives and added one ikan bilis stock cube to it…

Melissa prefers tauhu pok (fried been curd) so I had that…

…cut into thin strips instead of tau kua (bean curd cake) which I would need to fry lightly and slice thinly.

She also likes omelette more than hard boiled eggs…

…so that was what I had, also cut into thin strips. Well, this way, I would not need so many eggs to have enough to go round.

Next I boiled some prawns and sotong (squid)…

…and used the stock to boil the gravy.

I put in one stalk of serai (lemon grass), bruised…and two spoons of tau cheo (fermented yellow beans) and added a packet of the Thai steamed fish sauce. Oopssss!!!! There was too much water and I had to add another packet of the sauce to get the right strength of the taste…and I brought that to boil…

…and let it simmer a bit.

To serve, I just put the amount of bihun that I wanted and a bit of everything else in a plate and poured the gravy over it all…

…and garnished that with chopped daun sup (Chinese celery). Everybody loved it and said it  was very nice…except that it did not taste like Singapore nyonya mee siam – it did not have the sweetness…

Actually, it was more like tom yam except that it was not so sour. I guess it was something in between the two – not exactly like one nor the other.

Despite the favourable reception, however, I wouldn’t want to cook it again though as it was simply too much work. Maybe I would just use the sauce to fry the bihun and see how it works out. Will surely let you know when I do, so stick around!

Impressed…

If you remember, I did mention in a previous post that my godson/ex-student, Andrew, and his wife, Michelle, and daughter, Ashley, were back from Christchurch, New Zealand and were in Sibu for a while. They wanted to drop by here one day for lunch but it was closed and then on another day, they asked me if it was open or not but when I asked them later, they said that they did not manage to drop by that evening either. That was why when we went out together for lunch the other day, I just HAD to bring them there.

Honestly, I do think that anyone coming to town simply MUST drop by here to enjoy all the nice stuff that they have on their menu and true enough, they loved everything that we had. Having lived overseas for a while, I was afraid that they might not be able to handle anything a bit too spicy so I ordered the kacangma chicken…

…and the mushroom roll…

…and of course, the uniquely different Payung rojak…

I also ordered the Payung chicken…

…which is cooked using yogurt, non-spicy and very nice and they loved everything…even the otak-otak…

…that I insisted that they must try even though that is a little bit spicy, just a little bit…and thankfully, they were all right with it.

They enjoyed EVERYTHING…and commented that everything here was different from anything served elsewhere and that made it extra special, a cut above the rest. Michelle was very full already after they had cleaned up the plates but Andrew insisted on ordering the durian ice cream…

…for her to try and it absolutely swept her off her feet. She loved it and enjoyed it so much that she finished most of it by herself.

Of course, things here are not really all that cheap (prices range from RM16.00, with rice, and below) and the servings are definitely not huge, unlike what one may get at some of the other places, but in Andrew’s own words, it really is worth it when one can derive such enjoyment from all the very delicious dishes, the very nice ambiance all around (he commented that it was like stepping into a different world here, not quite Sibu) and the superb service.

I bet they will go back to New Zealand with fond memories of this place and the really delightful lunch that they had there.