I went out for breakfast with my ex-student, Xavier, one morning last week and we thought of dropping by here for the very nice dim sum. Unfortunately, it was closed and no, it was not their off day. In fact, they had taken the whole week off to go on a holiday or something. It seems that this is the general practice these days – most of the restaurants would take sometime off to take their employees on a holiday some place and it is usually during the 7th Month in the Chinese Lunar calendar when business would be slower, this being the Hungry Ghost month and some people would avoid getting married around this time every year.
In the end, we settled for this place though I would not say I am all that fond of what they have in store but I love their sambals (dips) and anything would taste good when eaten with those. I ordered their mushroom fish ball noodles to try…
…and when it was served, I thought it looked something like the Seremban Hakka mee but no, it had its own taste, not the same at all. It was rather strong on the mushroom taste, Shitake, of which I am not really a fan so initially, I did not think it was all that great but like I said earlier, once I had added the sambal hay bee (dried prawn dip), it turned out to be pretty nice after all.
We also had the specialty of the house, the Foochow fish balls…
…which have meat filling inside…
…but I always feel they’re at best, just all right but they do seem to be mighty popular among the locals. Once you bite into it, the ginger soup inside will squirt out so in a way, this is a bit like the celebrated and much coveted xiao long pao (little dragon buns) which I am not too crazy about either.
We also tried these…
…and I quite enjoyed them. I thought they were pretty good with the glutinous rice exterior and the meat filling had a very nice, something like the texture of luncheon meat…
…and not the usual minced meat that one would find in most of what they have here. I always tell people not to order too many of those as once you’ve tried one, you’ve tried them all – they’re all pretty much the same.
I think I’ve tried these before…
…and anything with salted egg inside…
…I would love, no question about it.
The steamed pumpkin chicken buns…
…had a unique taste…
…which we thought was kind of peculiar and did not go down too well with the both of us but at least, we’ve given it a try and now, we know it would be something we would not want to order again.
All in all, it was a pretty good breakfast. The place was crowded and despite that, service was very good and really prompt…and I had a great time chatting and catching up with things going on in our lives. Thank you so much, Xavier, for the breakfast treat. Hopefully, we can do it again sometime and the next time around, it will be on me…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I love foochow fish balls but I always unprepared every time. The hot soup in the fish ball will always scald my tongue and I needed to get fish balls out immediately . lol
Eat slowly…and carefully. They have in Singapore – I saw in the frozen section at a supermarket here – Fuzhou fish balls, made in Singapore.
How nice!!! Great photos!
Thank you.
I like Xiao Loong Bao coz it squirt out yummy soup so I might like those fish balls too. I love anything squirting and oozing out yummy goodness 😀
…and you will suck all the juices out and swallow? 😉 😀 I am not a fan of these fish balls nor xiao long pao…but I love doing the same with kuih Melaka or onde onde or whatever you call it, those yummy little balls. Slurpssss!!!
ooo, imagine having dim sum with BOTH salted egg AND pumpkin stuffed inside! 😀
You like both? Just went to one place here for dinner the other night – love their deep fried pumpkin with salted egg batter, so very nice…but I forgot to order that. 😦
I havent try the dim sum there.
I like the look of that glutinous rice ball.
I thought you went there already? You only had the noodles? Didn’t think what I had was all that great. 😦
yes. went for the noodles. so-so only. havent try the dim sum.
Didn’t really enjoy the noodles – the dim sum, do not order all with minced meat, they’re all the same. Very nice sambal, they give – dry and wet, just help yourself. That’s what keeps bringing me back here.
First time I see fishballs stuffed with meat. Me too love salted egg yolks yum, yum!
See my reply to Christopher. You can get the Singapore-made ones at a supermarket here so you probably would be able to find them in KL too.
The photos look really nice. I’ve been wanting to try stuffing rice with some type of filling ever since I saw it on your site. I’ll have to check to see if a special type of rice is needed. It’s so nice that your former students still want to hang out with you. I know you were an awesome teacher. 🙂
I tried, and some would remember, I guess. They use glutinous rice – I guess the extra starchiness would make it all stick together.
I’ve never had Foochow fish balls that has all those juice. Some of the dimsum places in KL and Penang (as well as a few specialty hawker stalls) does offer this kind of fish ball, but so far, all of the fishball only has the minced meat inside without any soup. I like it but feel it is a bit too dry. I think I would like the ones in your photo.
A cousin back on holiday from the UK loved them so much, keep saying that they reminded her of the xiao long pao she ha din Shanghai or somewhere in China. Nice, though not my favourite – will eat when there’s any…but will not go out of my way just to have them.
Food looks good.. very authentic like but how they taste, cannot judge yet.. now I am so hungry… going for my breakie now.. hope can get something nice!
You had your share of dim sum with your sons. Still around? The eating spree continues? 😀
NO la.. all back to their respective places.. mama here is quietly sitting while listening to “All By Myself” 🙂
*enters Celine Dion* “….all by myself…..don’t wanna live…all by myself…anymore…” 😀
Ahh, another dimsum post.. Makes me hungry already la.. I’m drinking Milo now, and I’m already thinking of dimsum in my head.. Very torturing! Your noodles looks nice, with minced meat and fish balls.. But I couldn’t see the noodles though.. I love that spring rolls with salted egg, anything with salted egg, I like – salted egg fried rice, salted egg butter prawns, salted egg butter crabs, yummmzzz…
You’re like me then. Anything with salted eggs.
Nice to hear good service all around despite the crowd.
It all depends on who one employs, I guess…and the training given.
A pretty nice breakfast. So much varities. 1st time see Foochow fishballs and interesting that they stuffed with meat fillings. All your photos looks great too. Have a nice day.
I think they have in Kuching. They even have the made in Singapore ones here. – in the supermarkets.
All the foods looks good…
Not bad.
All the dishes looks so delicious!
Ummmm…the ones here, not for you. I don’t think there’s any in Sibu for you. In Kuching, I think there are some around, like those in the hotels. Very nice too. Loved the ones at Tun Jugah at one time, no more there, I think.
The fish balls are quite big, here, only small ones and only 2 or 3 pieces per plate.
Cheap too. I think here, it’s more than RM10 but less than RM12 for 3 baskets of anything of your choice.
I know fish balls are popular, but still haven’t developed the taste for them.
I love the own homemade ones that are mostly fish – these do not quite fit the description but they are at least better than the commercially made frozen ones sold in the supermarts. Try boiling and those would expand to the size of tennis balls, evidence that it is mostly flour and artificial flavourings. Double thumbs down!
Uncle why you update so fast fast one? I cannot keep track… huhu. LOL and ur pictures always sooo nice and clear, i feel like i wanna eat my monitor screen! anyway… i also love anything with salted egg yolk inside, ah that reminds me, must buy the single egg yolk moon cake after this. Kbye!
Ooooppppssss!!!! Quick! Quick! Go and buy and eat. They say must eat or after the baby is born, it will salivate plus-plus, very smelly. 😀
I think I’ll stick to the Teochew fish balls. No idea why, but I seem to love that type more. Looking at your pictures and reading your post is making me feel like I’ll need to make a trip to the restaurant for a round of dim sum to savor the flavor before leaving the country for my studies.
Teochew? What’s the difference? I’m not really a fan of these Foochow ones myself – I would prefer our own homemade ones with best quality fish…and more fish, not so much flour…and NO meat filling. Oh? You’re going overseas? Thought you were studying before in NZ or some place. Anyway, good luck, all the best and take care.
I agree with your opinion, there are so many dishes comprise of glutinous rice as the main ingredient. I had tried their black sesame steamed bun as well as the pumpkin chicken bao. To be honest,they are very generous with the bao’s fillings (taste not bad) although I don’t like the outer skin which is not the usually fluffy texture. Oh,if you drop by again, remember to order the superb seaweed salad(I think it is the wakame variety,not sure though). I love that very very much…
My friend, Philip, who comes home from the US, would go out of his way to look for that kind of pao skin – the kind we grew up eating. He does not like the cotton-like dim sum ones nor any like that, using the processed so-called enriched extra-white flour. I’ve yet to taste one here that is nice though, including the filling, that is…so, so far, none that I would want to buy for him to enjoy when he comes back. Sure, will try the seaweed thingy but personally, I’m not into anything served with mayo, straight from the bottle. They do that everywhere! 😦
Hmm..I think that the pao at ung tung bakery has very nice skin and they are really heart-warming. Try their vege bao, has a very very nice fragrance of small chunks hams (They do it a different way from the typical vege steamed pao which you can find in the town).
Oh, the seaweed salad has not anything to do with mayo. It is a savoury dish (I guess the salad gravy comprises sesame oil,sesame seed and…..I’m running out of idea). I don’t really like mayo too. I mean, I would not want to fork out my money just to buy anything that is prepared from the ingredient that we can find easily in the market. I prefer ingredients that are made from scratch by the caterer.
Ok, will look out for that the next time I drop by. I’ve tried the pao at Ung Tong, not bad…but not the veg. Will go and grab some soonest – I live very close by, just round the corner.
the last time i was there, a waitress was pretty rude towards me and my brother, we asked for menu, and she pointed at the wall and said, “look up there and see what you want.” and strutted off, when they in fact do have printed menu that we can actually see up-close what we want to order. anyways, just one of those lousy days.
Oh? We were shown our seats (had to share – one of two tables joined together and there were two others occupying the other table. The place was packed!) and got our menus very promptly. No problem ordering our drinks and the noodles from the menu either and the guy at the dim sum counter could speak English!!!! (He switched to English when he saw me asking my ex-student what he said!) Previous visits, I had to struggle a bit to understand and at times, I would just resort to just pointing to indicate what I wanted. I’m learning…not too bad now, quite conversant already, no longer like a duck and a hen. 😀
I have never had pumpkin meat buns before!
It certainly sounds intriguing, the sweetness of the pumpkin and all that. Too bad this is only open for breakfast…
Catch up with you tomorrow (today) for dinner! It’ll be my treat this time – thanks for buying dinner and cake last time buddy! 🙂
If I’m not mistaken, it is open the whole day…and if I am not wrong, they make them for sale so there is a freezer inside the shop with everything all vacuum packed in sealed packets. I guess they would just steam those to replenish anything that gets sold out. They do have other cook-on-the-spot things too – I think I saw Foochow ang chow pork with rice on somebody’s Facebook page. Never tried theirs though. Most welcome, will see you tonight…and hopefully, Mother Nature does not decide to throw another one of her tantrums like over the last two afternoons/evenings.
Interesting and nice choice of dim sum dishes. Are dim sum in Sibu so creative like this? Very different from the normal boring ones I see over here. So, Foochow fish balls are like that – with fillings? And the glutinous rice dim sum looks good too!
Yup, nothing here like those usual ones at all dim sum places all over. Never heard of Foochow fish balls till very recently when they appeared at a local food festival and people queued up for miles to buy them. I wouldn’t say they’re something I would queue up and wait for though…if you catch the drift.
hmmm strange but the foochow fish balls here don’t have any soup or grace in it Just meat only.
I wouldn’t know that – never had it anywhere else before, only here. Maybe that is what people find so special about the ones here.