Until you try…

One of the guys here shared a photograph on Facebook of a bowl of beef noodles that looked so good with all the beef and tripe and preserved/salted vegetables by the side…and of course, I made up my mind that I should drop by to try even though somebody did say in his comment that at first, he thought it  was a bowl of worms. Ah well, Melissa used to call those strips of tripe caterpillars and she would never touch those, no way.

I did know that they’re serving beef noodles here for breakfast in the morning till 10.30 a.m. and it is also available for dinner and as they always say, we will never know unless we try…so there we were that morning, my friend, Philip, and I. He has been home for a while now and other than the special Payung dinner treat that we went to, I had not had the chance to take him out some place to enjoy some of the best that we have around here…so I texted him to see if he would be free and indeed, he was.

We ordered the beef noodles (RM7.00)…

…without any second thoughts but when it was served, I was disappointed that it was not anything like what was in the photograph that I had seen. Later, Peter, the proprietor, happened to drop by and he did mention that that member of the staff took the photo some place else…probably not in this country and I just jumped into the conclusion that it was theirs.

It definitely was not the kind served in clear soup and it did not look like one of those spicy Taiwan-style ones either and as a matter of fact, when we both tried it, we found that it wasn’t like anything we had had elsewhere before…but both of us thought it was really very good. According to Peter, the noodles are obtained by special order from somebody who makes them at home…

…and as you can see in the photograph, it is not that yellow as in the case of the usual yellow noodles that many are more familiar with. Yes, yes…the egg was not what I would like usually and from its appearance, it was pretty obvious that it was not fried the way I would do it, probably oil-free on a non-stick pan.For one thing, they are into more healthy stuff at this place and put more emphasis on natural flavours instead of resorting to the use of salt and msg unlike at most other places…and since it is like no other elsewhere, let’s just say that this is beef noodles, Payung-style and both Philip and I liked it…plus at RM7.00 for a huge bowl and all that beef, it certainly is cheaper (and nicer too) than what we had here.

We also ordered these dumplings (RM5.00)…

…to try but no, I did not think they were something to die for – personally, I am not into these and maybe my girl would like them since she enjoys such stuff.

Peter served us this bowl of what he calls Japanese tomato noodles…

…and insisted that we gave it a try. In fact, I’ve tried it before when he first started introducing it but no, it did not tickle my fancy. I thought its very light taste was kind of mild and I would prefer something a lot stronger. He said that he did not use santan (coconut milk) or milk though it did taste like the latter so this would probably be something more for the health-conscious. Ok, count me out! LOL!!! Anyway, we were already so full from our individual bowls of beef noodles so we just tasted a bit and left the rest behind – it was all right, I guess – perhaps those who are more into Japanese cuisine would like it, I wouldn’t know.

Philip and I sat there for almost two hours, enjoying our orders and chit-chatted away in the quiet and comfortable surroundings. I do think that this really is a nice place to get together with friends and while the time away, a lot nicer than at a coffee shop or any other place in town.

When I got home later that morning, my good friend, Lim, contacted me to see if I was home and he dropped by to pass me these…

– my favourite red kampua noodles all the way from Kanowit that I had grown to love so much when I was there from 1978 till 1982. He was there on official business and he was so kind and thoughtful as to remember how much I love them and went through the trouble of tapao-ing me some and sending them to my house.

Gosh!!! There was so much in one packet…

…that I could not eat anything else for lunch that day.

That really was so very nice and sweet of you, Lim – thank you so very very much.