Look inside…

So what were inside those packets?

Anybody waiting eagerly to find out? Well, let me put you out of your misery and show what what was inside the little ones at the top. It looked like Kuching kolo mee…

…and it even had those pickled green chili…

…but no, it wasn’t Kuching kolo mee. My girl and the mum had a packet each that evening when I went for the wedding dinner and they praised it to the skies…saying that it was so nice, nicer than any of the kolo mee they had had in Kuching, the texture of the noodles was different and they loved it a lot bla…bla…bla!!!

Hearing that, I just had to heat up a packet the next morning and have it for breakfast. Yes, it was indeed very very nice though I did not seem to be able to detect the taste and fragrance of lard. Later, when my girl woke up, she wanted the last packet for breakfast and that was it!

I asked my friend, Alfred, and it turned out that it was not kolo mee. This was the Singapore version of wanton mee, different from the ones in the peninsula that I never really fancy, drowned in some dark, oily sauce…and theirs had shredded chicken, wanton and mushroom as well. He said it was SGD3.00 a packet which I would not say was expensive, considering all those added ingredients even though the portion was kind of small.

Right below all those little packets was this very big one…

…wrapped in opeh leaf, the traditional way from back in the 70’s when I was there. I remember how I enjoyed this so very much then and I had not had it all this time since then…or maybe I did but it wasn’t served in the leaf and was not all that authentic.

It was so nice of Alfred to go through all that trouble to get me this Singapore Hokkien mee…

…as it is not easy to find one wrapped in the special leaf these days in that island republic. As you can see, this is very different from the dark and thick ones in KL and nothing like what they call Hokkien mee in Penang.

I sure enjoyed it to the max and this was only SGD6.00. Without converting to our currency, I would say it was quite reasonable – there was enough in that packet for two plates at least and there were a few prawns and squid…

…which would be more than what I could say about our Foochow-style fried noodles here with the pathetic bits of pork and green vegetables.  Most importantly, this certainly helped appease my craving in no small measure and brought back some really fond memories that would go all the way back to 1973.

However, Alfred, when you come to Sibu again next time, please do not buy this for me anymore…considering the price and all that trouble you would have to go through. I would say that I am very happy enough that you bother to come all the way to our little town and I can get to take you around to feast on nothing but the best we have around here…together. I sure am looking forward to your next trip – do make it soon, okay?