I got you…

Not one to give up easily, I went back once again to this coffee shop and yes, the lady was around…but unfortunately, she did not seem to have anything ready. The first time I was there, they told me that she would come a bit later every day, past 9.00 a.m., as she would prepare most of the things at home to bring over to the shop. Well, it certainly did not look anything like it but I just asked, anyway, and was told that I would need to wait for around half an hour or so. Ok, I said, I would wait…

In the meantime, I decided to try the pan mee or 板麺, in Mandarin (RM4.00)…

I was wondering why it was thus called, seeing that it had got nothing to do with (frying) pans but according to Wikipedia, it is “a Hakka-style noodle, originating from Malaysia. Its Chinese name literally translates to ‘flat flour noodle’. It is part of Malaysian Chinese cuisine.” Hmmmm…interesting! I did hear before that it was hand-made and hand-torn but it seems that machine-made ones are available now, cut into strips like most regular noodles…

I was never a fan of the soup version so that was why I asked for it dry…

…and yes, it was very nice – definitely something I wouldn’t mind having again.

They gave quite a lot of the sayur manis/cangkuk manis so I took a bit of it and put it in the complimentary soup…

…and it turned out to be like the lakia chai therng (Dayak vegetable soup) that my mum used to cook when I was small. For some reason or other, this vegetable is also called lakia chai and we loved to drink the soup as it would be so very sweet because of the vegetable…but we would leave all the leaves behind, much to my mum’s distress. LOL!!!

While I was halfway through, the lady approached my table, all apologetic and sorry that what I wanted would not be ready but no, I was not leaving without it! Tsk! Tsk! I just told her to carry on and we would see about it later…and I went on enjoying my pan mee. I had just finished when this was served (RM2.50)…

…the popiah (spring roll) that I had been wanting to try!

The skin was not all that nice – in fact, it did not even look nice and I was wondering if it was one of those frozen ones available at the supermarkets, not something freshly-made locally. The filling was all right…

…and all in all, it was not too bad but unfortunately, it came nowhere near these awesome ones that I loved so much once. I heard that that lady is not based at any stall or shop anywhere now but anyone can call her to order and in fact, she does make them sometimes and goes around the shops and offices to sell, in packs of two. My missus met her at a bank once and she bought some home but I’m afraid they were no longer nice especially when she had packed them when still hot and by the time we ate them, it did not matter so much that they had gone cold but they had turned soggy in parts and were not all that palatable anymore.

On my way home, I spotted this in front of the mall near my house…

I did see the Christmas decor outside a hotel in town as well but I have not been around so I wouldn’t know whether everyone has all gone full swing in their decoration and preparation for the festive season. Come to think of it, by this day next week, we would only have a month to go and the following week, another year would have gone by. Sigh!!!