On their first night in Sibu, I picked up my friend from Singapore and his friends from the hotel and took them to walk around the pasar malam (night market) in Sibu…
They wanted to buy a lot of the things on sale to eat but I kept reminding them to save some tummy space for dinner…
Nonetheless, they did buy a bit of this and that including some very nice satay – they were 50 sen each here and 60 cents in Singapore which means that even without converting, it would still be more expensive there. I got them to try this Foochow delicacy…
…from my childhood – the yew chang koi (fried shallot cake) which is actually something like chee cheong fan but not made in flat thin sheets served with fried shallots and light soy sauce. They liked it so much that when they went back there the following night, they had that again!
After walking around the place and sampling some of the stuff here, I took them to this restaurant for dinner. We had their butter scotch prawns…
…and the pandan chicken…
…both of which they enjoyed a lot as they had not had anything like these before. Even the pandan chicken was different, they said, in that they marinated it differently and it came across to them a bit like satay and they thought that made it extra special and very very nice.
Needless to say, they simply must have the midin (wild jungle fern)…
My friend said that they could get these at selected places in Singapore but they would be very expensive. They also loved the cangkuk manis/mani chai fried with egg but I did not take a photograph of that – you’ve seen it in my earlier posts already…many times. They also enjoyed the sea cucumber shop that we also had and they kept saying that it tasted like sharks’ fins soup…without the fins.
I ordered the fried mee sua…
…but they were not too thrilled by it – they all thought our Foochow fried noodles…
…were very much better (despite the fact that I would not say the one here is the best in town). My friend said that he had had the same at Yong Peng but this one would beat that one hands down.
When my friend asked the rest to guess the total on the bill for the food, one said RM200!!! Oh boy!!! In fact, it added up to only RM70.00 (slightly over SGD25.00) for the 7 dishes for 5, 4 adults and a child. I guess we had prawns and we requested for the bigger ones or it could have been a little less. Never mind! At least, for them, it was dirt cheap and they all enjoyed the dinner very much, their first on their visit to our good ol’ little Sibu town…(to be continued)
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
RM70 for all that? Really worth the price. Can hardly get like that here I guess.
Relatively cheap…but what matters most would be the taste – nice and nothing like it elsewhere. Many things are available all over, give and take a little, stuff like sweet and sour pork.fish, roast chicken. You can find butter scotch chicken here only…and their pandan chicken is definitely different from the rest… Here, curi my Penang friend’s photo from his Facebook page:
Dunno the taste…but sure looks different, sure will taste different too.
Oooo I like goreng goreng stuffs like fried fish balls, sausages.. Wow the butterscotch prawns look so rice and creamy.. Like the fried meesua too.. So much food! Eat eat eat only, life’s good 😉
Indeed…and what better way to spend it than with great friends! I enjoyed myself very much too during their visit.
Yew chang koi looks like taufu fa to me, so it has the exact texture like chee cheong fun or slightly softer?
More or less…also something like chwee kueh but a lot softer, not as firm or springy. Foochow food tends to be softer than most of the rest.
LOL! Still measuring using S$ yardstick. RM200 is like, S$70 or 80, that’s quite tally with RM70 😀
Probably they were converting in their heads and that was how they came up with that figure. I wonder if you can get a simple dinner like that in Singapore for SGD70 though – a breakfast of nothing much – just noodles and a drink for my missus, my girl and I cost some SGD20-30…but that was at a food court along Orchard Road and that was many many years ago when my girl was still in school. That is why we’ve stopped going. One night in some small hotel there, I would be able to stay at a nice 4 or 5-star one in KL or Penang…with that kind of money, after conversion. Might as well bask in luxury here…and enjoy eating to the max.
Actually, the currency conversion is for the benefit of friends of my friends who may click the link on my friend’s Facebook page to come and look see (the number of views zoomed like nobody business yesterday, the first post on their visit). Hopefully, when they see everything is so cheap (and nice) here, that may change their pre-conceived ideas, more often than not from hearsay and general presumptions, about this little town and induce them to come over on a visit.
I always love a good walk in a night market, any night market will do. 🙂
We have entered 2015, what is your new year resolution Arthur? Or was there a post on this that I missed 🙂
Nope, at my age, no more resolutions. Just live one day at a time and give praise and thanks to God for whatever Blessing he may shower upon me. Hmmm…I guess that in itself is a resolution?
My Singapore friends loved the night market here – went every night all the three nights they were here, said it was different from night markets elsewhere…I dunno how or why. See!!! People from Singapore also came, friends from New Zealand also came and others too…you, so sombong, got class one – never bother to come. 😦
one glance , i thought the yew chang koi is tau fu fa in gula melaka. The koi so smooth looking
Here, tofu fua is sold in plastic bags or cups…and no gula Melaka, just sugar syrup – not so nice. 😦
RM70 only for all those awesome dishes, that’s indeed a good deal. All l super like. I don’t think I have ever eaten/seen yew chang koi sold at our kuih stall. The white kuih looks like tau fu hua.
It’s a Foochow delicacy. In my younger days, there was someone selling outside the cinema but in smaller bowls, thicker – only 10 sen (now RM1.00) and ooooo….it was so so so nice. I think this is the sole survivor, nobody making it anymore…and if there is, it’s not so nice.
Aiyo….so cheap. S $25 can probably buy two meals here. Love the pandan chicken as well as the stuffs the pasar malam sold there especially the satays.
SGD25 for TW0 meals? Isn’t that cheap? Or do you mean for one person? That’s cheap too – when we went, I would spend that amount for a simple breakfast for 3, just noodles and a drink each…but that was in the Orchard Road area. They say that area extra expensive and not nice – PRC migrants cooking…and I would need to go far away from the city to the housing areas to get something as nice as what I used to love in 1973, but very hard to find now.
Satay…I used to feast on the very nice ones at The Satay Club, dunno still there or still as nice or not.
I must make plan liao, retire go stay in Sibu…
Wait! Wait! Not even 24 hours and you’re already planning to move here.
But actually, if you come bring SGD500K, you will be an instant millionaire here and can buy 2 semi-detached houses and a car! Sounds great, eh? Hehehehehehehe!!!!
i would have guessed RM100 for 7 dishes … so ya, this was a delicious bargain! 😀
For one thing, it was delicious and they all enjoyed the food – that’s the most important part.
At least they got to walk in the night market and enjoy good food.
That why my aunt always buy few bunch of midin back to Singapore. My cousins love it so much.
They went again the following night…AND the following night. But it rained earlier in the evening the third night so many stalls weer not open. They loved our midin!
With the strength of the Singapore dollar, your friends are at an advantage. Everything here is so cheap to them especially so in Sibu!
That is why Somewhere in Singapore goes to Johore all the time to eat and shop there.
haha… I don’t go there to shop leh, i go JB, main purpose is to find friend, and i have told my friend not to bring me go shop, haha….
I see. Things there would be very much cheaper…but I guess you do go and eat – must be really cheap compared to back where you come from…or is it more or less the same? I hear things are expensive in JB too – surely not a cheap as here.
Lots of items here.
Yes.
Very special ccf… I like to try that too.. Something very different.. I thought it was tau foo far at first… Your frens must be very thrilled.. All the food are so cheap!!
They most certainly were, so glad they came…and they’re planning to come again!
i guess night market is the best way to try out all the local delicacies!
BUT!!! i think i will save my stomach for that butterscotch prawn!! hahaha
you are right.. your friend can spend like a king with SGD especially now MYR weakens so much!
It’s still lingering at over RM2.60 plus…not too bad. Same against other currencies, I think (and AUD already down to RM2 something, at one time was over RM3)…except the US – now already over RM3.50 to a dollar but that’s good for my friend, Philip, who’s home from the US, Can get more ringgit for his greenbacks.
Ya…good for them to come here…but even better to go to Indonesia or Thailand and those countries, same thing for us but coming to Sibu, that’s another story lah! Everything’s so cheap AND SO NICE here, they just could not stop eating and kept wanting more and more. Bet they enjoyed Sibu more than Penang…Hehehehehe!!!!!
Yew chang koi, i think i have not eat before and how come i never heard of it also.I want to go pasar malam, i love pasar malam.
Was there Lido cinema during your younger days in Sibu? Closed down already…or burnt to the ground? I only knew of one person selling this at a corner of the cinema building, outside – must eat before going for a movie, so very nice!
Had not had this since…except once when I bought some at a stall at Rejang Park – not nice. Then when my friend, Philip, was home the previous time for the summer holidays, he bought me this one from the pasar malam. It was so good – just like the ones we used to have but last time 10 sen, now RM1.00. Ask your mum, she probably would know.
Hmmm…go pasar malam, don’t bring expensive designer branded handbag, ya! But I think it is not so bad here hor? Hehehehehehe!!!!
Thanks Arthur for bringing us there. The prawns are absolutely top draw! The rest didn’t lag too far behind. Very authentic foochow flavours. Every single night I was considering going there just for the prawns but didn’t…regret regret!! My next trip there..I would like to stay near by this place so I caan just walk over to eat the prawns 🙂
Most welcome, Alfred…and most warmly welcomed to fly over again anytime. You should have said so, just tell me and I would have taken you for the prawns again…and again. Lots of other nice special dishes there, just that we did not have time to let you try all. Looking forward to seeing you here again, can’t wait! Had such a great time myself.
Yes i did read in other blogs that they have some other very authentic stuffs which you did not order for us that night. I would be happy to have a 15 course degustation meal next time round(all in small portion). Bring it on 🙂 And also there is a coffee which you said I must try somewhere but how come I didn’t see it(or you forgot to order)?
Oh dear! Oh dear! I should have ordered a couple more of their specialties. What I had in mind were their best plus the local favourites – hence the two veg and the two noodles – one of each would have been enough. So sorry, was over-anxious in wanting to get you all to try the local delights.
The coffee is right here at this restaurant too! I do not order that night – so strong that I would not be able to sleep till morning. I would usually order that when I drop by for lunch. I did notice you were a tea person though so it did not cross my mind then that I should get you to go back for their special coffee.
No worries, all the more reason for you to come again and I sure would love to have you here for another round of feasting. Make it soon! 😉
All the above….midin is still my favorite ^_^
You haven’t got to try the butter scotch prawns and the pandan chicken here. Many have tried to look for the same elsewhere but they have failed…and have to come back here for more!