Lastly…

On our first morning in Kuching, Philip and I went in search of the celebrated kolo mee, since moved from Carpenter Street to Padungan, but it was nowhere to be seen. We asked a man at the kolo mee stall in the first shop in the block and he was so nice as to give us the directions even though we were not going to eat anything from him. It seemed that it was somewhere in the middle of Padungan around that junction where one would turn left to Longhouse Hotel…so in the end, we decided to abort our plan to go and eat there.

But since we were in the vicinity, I insisted that Philip should stop by here…

…to try what everyone would cart home in boxes and boxes even though I am definitely not a fan of anything from this place myself – I can never understand why since time immemorial, people think everything here is so so so nice.

We had the sio bee (meat dumplings)…

…and the har kao (prawn dumplings)…

Honestly, I do not have to make any comments or anything. The mere appearances of those would say it all.

I wanted their most popular big bak pao (steamed meat bun) but Philip wanted the char siew pao so we ordered both…

…and he tried a bit of each and left the rest on the plate. He did not like the filling…

…and the skin was not quite like the old-school one that he loves so much – the kind he grew up eating way back in those long gone days when we were a lot younger. To be fair, I actually thought it was not all that bad (I did not say good, do take note!) eating these things there on the spot unlike when some people gave me some and I re-steamed them to eat at home…but no, I definitely would not buy any to take home myself, thank you very much.

Later that same morning, when we went for our stroll down India Street, I took him into this lane…

This used to be called “kua cha hang” (coffin alley) as all along the lane…

…most of the shops would be those making the traditional handcrafted Chinese coffins – the ones with the curved-up ends at the sides. Truth be told, I always avoided walking down this lane then as it made me feel somewhat eerie…with all those coffins here, there and everywhere. I think there may be one or two or more of those shops there still, if I am not mistaken.

My intention that morning was to drop by this place…

…for Philip to try their sio pao (baked meat pastry)…

…but unfortunately, there was none available. A guy came out and spoke to us. He was not a young man…but I thought he was good looking and very pleasant. Probably, that was the son or the son-in-law. I remember the couple who used to make the paos on a table (which doubled as a mahjong table once they were through making the paos for the day) right there in the middle of the shop and though they were not unfriendly, I thought they looked kind of sad and never seemed to smile.

Anyway, this guy told us that the paos would be available around noon and that is one thing about this place. If you want anything from here, it is best to call them and book first. You may see a lot on display sometimes but they’ve all been booked by some people and you would have to go away empty-handed.

I was not craving for any as my cousin sent me a whole lot just the other day through her brother when he came to Sibu on a day trip. In fact, on the day I arrived in Kuching, she booked some of those century egg ones for me…but because she went to collect them late, they had sold them off to somebody else already. Tsk! Tsk! So what she did was she made a fresh booking for me to take home…

– all wrapped up and packed nicely for storage in the freezer to be re-heated in the oven and enjoyed slowly…one by one as and when the need arises.

They may look different…

…but actually, it is the same pastry, except for the sprinkling of sesame seeds on top and the filling is exactly the same except that one has bits of century egg and traces of or nee (sweet yam paste) inside. My guess is that somewhere along the line, they tried it out and since it was so very well-received, they have been making them since.

My cousin also made this hummus herself…

…for me to take home to give to Melissa who enjoys this kind of stuff. She met us while we were having the kolo mee at the Green Road shop that morning just before we left Kuching to pass me everything. Thank you so much, cousin, for going through all that trouble and everything – much obliged and very much appreciated.

This is the last post on my brief Kuching trip and I would, at this juncture, like to extend my thanks also to Philip for the sio bee from the Open Air Market and the big pao for me to try and though totally out of context, to my friend Peter – one-time blogger but no longer active, as well for sending me these…

…all the way from KL and again to Philip, this time for giving me these…

– he went on a drive to Kanowit two days after we returned from Kuching and he tapao-ed my favourite red kampua noodles from there for me. My sincere thanks to the both of you too.