Remember the times…

They call themselves DYRians and they are all members of a Facebook group, “Do you remember“…

They were on a road trip stopping here and there all along the way from Kuching to Mukah and while in Sibu for one night only, they gathered at this restaurant here for some old-school Sibu (Foochow) delights.

One of them is an old friend of mine, going way back to our a-go-go dancing days and I do remember when I used to write radio plays for RTM Kuching, she would be roped in on more than one occasion to read the part of one of the characters. Well, she contacted me before they came and asked me to join them…and it turned out that one in the group that came was an old schoolmate of mine and I had not seen nor heard of her since I left high school in 1971! Another one was a familiar name during my requesting days in the late 60’s and early 70’s but I did not get to meet her personally then.

Anyway, so there we all were at the place and they had this ang chao duck…

…a truly authentic Foochow dish. Ang chao is the residue obtained from making the traditional Foochow red wine.

Of course, they had the only-in-Sibu Foochow sio bee…

…which is different from the usual dim sum/yam cha siew mai or those in Kuching. The ones here have fish added so its taste or flavour may be a bit different from the others in town.  You can see in the background that when the Foochow-style fried noodles…

…were served, there was only one sio bee left and even that one was snapped up very quickly. No prize for guessing who took it…but I assure you that it sure wasn’t me! LOL!!!

There was also this braised pork leg…

…to be eaten sandwiched in one of those mantaos (steamed buns) on the plate in the background and this is another Foochow delight – the tauhu tear…

…or bean curd soup cooked with canned oysters.

They also had the manicai/cangkuk manis fried with egg but the photograph came out blur and the one of this sweet and sour pork dish…

…didn’t turn out very clear either and neither did this one of the peanut dessert…

In fact, I had never had this before and I thought it was really very nice.

It was pretty obvious that they enjoyed everything to the max, most of which they would not be able to get in Kuching and even if they can, it may not be as nice. The whole thing came up to RM18.00 per head inclusive of rice and drinks which I thought was all right, pretty reasonable…but they were pleasantly surprised as according to them, it would be hard to come by such nice food at such prices in the state capital these days.

I had a great time that evening catching up with my old friends and meeting new ones…

*one of the DYRians’ photographs shared on Facebook*

…and I do think it is really so wonderful to be able to enjoy one’s golden years in such delightful fun-filled company.

All the best always to one and all, cheers!!!