It was on that same night when my friend published a post on some dishes that she cooked and coincidentally, I had the same when I went out for dinner with my friend, Philip, who has since gone back to the US.
They do have a lot of dishes that one can order at this restaurant here in Sibu but the problem is whenever I drop by, I will order the same things that I have liked for a long long time now. One of them would be their fish maw soup…
…which I particularly love as the soup is always so clear and so very nice and inside, other than the fish maw, you will find some sweet corn kernels, Chinese cabbage, strips of chicken, bean curd sticks…
…and usually, there would be a few shrimps/prawns but I think there wasn’t any that night and of course, there would be the sprinkling of fried shallots and chopped spring onions.
Probably they ran out of prawns that night and had not replenished their stock or it was one of those days when prawns would be rare and difficult to get at the market and even if there were any available, they would not be so fresh and would be mighty expensive…and that might be the reason why that night, they did not have any of their very nice prawn fritters that we would not fail to order every time.
Another thing that I would order would be these mini-ngor hiang/lor bak (meat rolls)…
…which I used to buy home together with the prawn fritters for Melissa as we always enjoyed them as well. However, Philip did not seem to think too much of them as he was hoping for something like the old-school ngor hiang, either the commercially-made and sold ones or those we would make at home. These do not taste quite like those – I think they have a stronger taste and fragrance and more meat…and as for the authentic ngor hiang, I have yet to find any sold in town that is to my liking so I would never bother to buy and will only get to eat them whenever my missus makes some – and that would be around Chinese New Year each year.
I also ordered the stewed pork leg served on a bed of cangkuk manis fried with egg…
*Archive photo*
…for Philip to try. Unfortunately, the photographs all came out blur so I have to use this old one instead. I think they outshone themselves that night as there wasn’t so much gravy from the stewed pork leg – it was literally, fried cangkuk manis with egg with stewed pork leg PLUS one stewed egg, halved on top. That way, the milder taste and sweetness of the cangkuk manis was not overshadowed or drowned out and the pork with just a little bit of the gravy actually complemented it. I requested for lean meat, none of the trotters, and they complied so what we had did not have all that fat – except for one chunk that had a bit and Philip cut it away and left by the side and no prize for guessing who had it in the end. Nom…nom…nom!!! Yum! Yummmmm!!!!! LOL!!!
We also had this dish of long beans…
…fried with sambal hay bee (dried prawns) and it was all right, just that I would prefer it fried a little longer so that it would be a little softer and not so crunchy.
The bill came up to RM38.60, inclusive of rice and drinks which I thought was not cheap but I guess fish maw is mighty expensive plus the plate of stewed pork with cangkuk manis was rather big. All in all, there would be enough for 3 so if there had been three of us and we had ordered for two, we would get more or less the same and charged around that same amount in which case, it would be very much more reasonable.
If anyone is keen on dropping by, this restaurant is in one of two blocks of shops behind those (where Fair Price Supermarket is) facing Kampung Datu Road, on the right just after the traffic lights. Long long ago, it was the very popular one on the ground floor of the Sibu Recreation Club building beside the King George VI Grounds (then already renamed Padang Sukan Tun Tuanku Haji Bujang) where there was somebody selling the best satay in town at the time as well…and then, they moved to the block of shops right behind AmBank in the Tunku Osman area…before they moved to this present location.
Well, by the time this post gets published, Philip would be back in the US already as he left Sibu a couple of days later. I wouldn’t know if he would be coming back in December but I guess he would definitely be home again around this same time next year. I certainly look forward to seeing you again, Philip, and thank you so much for everything. In the meantime, do take good care and God bless, you and all in your family.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 