I have a friend who is always sharing photographs on Facebook of everything he eats here, there and everywhere in town. I wish, however, that he would not forget to mention where and if possible, give the precise location as well considering that with the uncountable number of coffee shops in Sibu, searching for one can be like looking for a needle in a haystack…though it is usually not a problem for me as I am quite familiar with many places around here and at times, I can even tell by merely looking at the table top or the crockery…or the presentation!!! But still, if you give me the name of a road, I may not know exactly where it is….like when my Singapore friends and I went in search of the giant prawn tom yam noodles served in a coconut…even with the address and the photo of the shop in Huai Bin’s blog.
There was once when he shared a photograph of something he had here…
…and when somebody asked where he ate that, he told them the name of the shop. Being located in the back portion of the shops in the area facing the houses inside, many would not know where this shop is. The directions he gave would not help much, I think…so I told the guy to go into that road after the Shell Station opposite Sacred Heart School and go straight ahead past Bread Sense and he will see the coffee shop on his right. For one thing, I do know the place very well as I was teaching in that school across the road for 19 years and I would come over quite frequently for brunch so it was easy for me to tell him exactly where to go.
Actually, I have blogged about this place before in 2008 (when I was still using my ancient mobile phone camera) but usually, whenever I stopped by, I would go for the kampua noodles at the stall right in front…
The ones here are pretty good and yes, it is the same guy doing it still, he and his wife, I guess.
Well, my friend’s photographs (he featured it more than once) showed the Foochow fried noodles that he had here and yes, I have had some of the stuff from that stall – the one after this kampua noodle stall and yes, I would say that I did like them as well. But the one in his snapshot had liver, intestines and all…and I had never had anything of the sort before. That was why I made it a point to check it out when I was in the vicinity the other day.
Hmmm…the same guy is still running the coffee shop and after all this time, he does not look a day older – exactly the same. I ordered my usual – the iced black coffee…
…and yes, I would rank it among the best in town – if this is what it is like all the time…plus it is only RM1.50 a glass while other places have jacked up the prices to RM1.80 since quite sometime ago.
I had a problem ordering as the lady was conversant only in Foochow and though I am a Foochow myself, I grew up speaking Hokkien…but somehow or other, with a sprinkling of the little that I know, throw in some Mandarin plus a few Hokkien words here and there, I did manage to get my wishes understood…and after a while, this was served…
Wowwwww!!!! It was so so so good, truly like the ones I had growing up – the real thing! I dare say there are not many around even though you may find hawker stalls and shops or restaurants selling Foochow fried noodles all over town, the ones that can do it this well, that is.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of intestines…
…in the plate of noodles but no liver! Probably there was none available that morning…but never mind, I could jolly well do without that but I did wish they could give a little bit more of the green vegetables. It sure did not come cheap though – that plate of Foochow fried noodles special cost RM6.00 but it was perfectly all right considering that I did enjoy it so very much…and one thing’s for sure, I most certainly would be back…for more!
Moving away from the post proper, if you remember, sometime last year, my friends from Trengganu came to Sibu on a brief visit and they gave me these…
They told me that the tom yam paste (in the bottle) is the best, better than any other. Well, I sure took a very long time to get down to opening it and cooking something with it (it did not matter much though as it would only expire sometime in 2016)…and I finally did so that day.
I fried some garlic and shallots, peeled and sliced, till golden brown in a bit of oil before putting in the lemon grass, bruised and some chopped Thai basil leaves. The prawns went in next and then the bihun and two tablespoons of the tom yam paste. I mixed everything together well and after a while, I added two eggs. When I tried a bit, I found that it was so tasty already so I decided not to add anything else…and just dished it all out and served…
Yes, it was indeed so good – in the past, when I was using some of those pastes from the shops, I remember I had to add fish sauce, ikan bilis (dried anchovies) stock and what not but not this time around. I sure would want to fry some more of the same…or try cooking some other dishes using this very delightful tom yam paste, courtesy of my kind and generous friends in Trengganu.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 