This place is a favourite of many – it has become so very popular that it is always packed and best avoided during lunch hour as you may not be able to find a table plus it tends to get rather noisy.
No, it was not in the list of nominations but after lunch, I took the Kuching guys to the hotel to check in and after that, we drove around a bit before we stopped by here for tea. They wanted to try the mee sua…
…and I insisted that they tried their kompia – with pork belly filling…
…or minced meat…
They thought they had had better mee sua elsewhere and as for the kompia, they did say right at the start that they would prefer eating the fresh ones just like that – no deep frying, no toasting, no filling. They did finish all of it so I guess on the whole, it was all right.
Back to the mee sua, I personally quite like the one here though there may be some elsewhere that may have a little edge over it but I would not think there is all that much difference. For one thing, one can enjoy it here in air-conditioned comfort instead of sweating it out in some hot and stuffy coffee shop and for another, like I told the guys, this would be an ideal stop for people dropping by Sibu for just one or two nights only as they would be able to enjoy all the Sibu (Foochow) delights at one go. They have the kampua noodles and the pian sip here as well, not the best in town but they do have those, and I love their kueh chap too. That sure beats going from one coffee shop to another to eat one thing at each stop and if in a group, there is always the problem that not everybody wants to eat the same thing and there is just that one thing that is nice at that shop. Surely, nobody wants to sit there and eat while all the rest sit around and stare. LOL!!!
It sure was a different story with the other things that I ordered for them to try though. Gerald was not all that keen when he heard that I was ordering the macarons – my favourite flavours, the salted caramel and the mint…
…that I feel are nicer and not as sweet as the rest, as he had that at one five-star hotel in Kuching but he did not think it was anything great and he just could not understand why people seem to like it so much. Just one bite into the ones here and he was singing a different tune. He said they were so very nice, totally different from what he had tried before that was so very hard and sweet. There! I wouldn’t order anything that is not nice, would I? Hehehehehe!!!
They also enjoyed the mille crepe, rum and raisin…
…and they really loved the chocolate lava cake…
…with ice cream – they thought the slightly warm cake and the cold ice cream and the sweet chocolate oozing out from inside and the mildly sweet ice cream together made a perfect combination and it literally swept them off their feet.
This is fairly new – their coffee choux semifreddo (RM5.90)…
…and I ordered that as I had never tried it before. It was not all that great though – ice cream in some dough that was on the hard, crusty side with a lot of coffee powder all over it. One of the guys who probably was not into coffee said it made it taste bitter. Ah well!!! At least we know now…and we would not know unless we try, right?
Then a waiter brought this – their passion cheese cake…
…to our table, much to our surprise and we all said that we did not order that but he said that it was a special treat for me from the boss. That certainly was a really sweet gesture on the part of the guy but I guess everybody knows by now that I am not all that into cheese cakes having had an overdose of it at one time and other than that, fat people are generally not into things that are sour either…and the fresh passion fruit that was used in the making of the cake was on the sour side. It did not matter much though as probably, the guys quite liked it and they finished it all off. Other than that, they also enjoyed the Dinosaur, Godzilla and Monster drinks that they all had (while I stayed faithful to my glass of iced cold water) that they thought were really cheap compared to the same elsewhere. One Horlicks Godzilla here (a Dinosaur with one scoop of ice cream added, that is) is very much cheaper than the Dinosaur (no ice cream) in KL, for instance.
Then one of the guys turned to Gerald (who’s actually the chairman of the committee involved in this whole award thing) and asked why this place was not in the list of nominations considering that they had such awesome stuff here and from the tourism point of view, like what I said, it would be an ideal one-stop centre for visitors from out of town on very short visits to enjoy all the local delights at one go. They certainly were impressed by the place as well and they were surprised that even at around 3 in the afternoon, the place was packed, almost full – don’t all these people have to work, they asked. Well, the answer to that was simple – nobody nominated it. Unfortunately, nominations were already closed but they did say they would bring it up at the next committee meeting to see if they could slip this place in to compete with the rest…but if that was not possible, they certainly would make sure it would be in line for consideration for the award next year.
Incidentally, the boss did mention to me that they will open a new outlet, a new branch, here (2.302749,111.843028), right next to this fairly new restaurant in one of the blocks of shops there. I am not sure if it is already open now or not as I seemed to see something going on there everytime I drove past but he said that it would be open in December – I did not clarify whether what he meant was that the official opening would be in December or what. I must say that location would be a lot better than their present rather tight and congested surroundings in a not-all-that-nice neighbourhood and often, parking can be such a pain. I certainly look forward to their new place, that’s for sure.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I just swooned at the cheesecake! 🙂
You like? I had my fair share of those at one time, wouldn’t mind if I do not get to eat it ever again. 😦
Ooh. Business is getting good huh? Good. Hope they get chance to be nominated if not this round, next round.
Now I am kind of missing its food. Haha. The braised pork belly rice, its ribs, mille crepe.
They do have quite a choice of both Western and local food in one outlet. As long as they maintain the quality and keep up the service.
Hahhhhh!!!! So you DO miss Sibu, eh? Hehehehehe!!!!
This is a must-go place for all my cousins from Kuching – they also love it very much and may even drop by more than once on their brief visits on long weekends.
After so many years of reading your blog, till today i have not tried any fresh kompia yet *epic fail* and dropping by here always remind me of the yummy local delicacies
Hi! Have not seen you around for a while. You can always hop over – cheap air fare, cheaper than taxi from KL to KLIA. A whole lot of good stuff waiting here, not just the kompia…and no, they’re not the same as those in Sitiawan, much much nicer. Those who came and have tried will vouch for that. I hear they have nice similar ones in Yong Peng though, dunno…never tried and have not seen people blogging about it.
When I see meesua with egg, I think of the red wine one.. I’ve always wanted to try red wine mee sua, but til today, never get to try it, I don’t even know how red wine taste like.. I always make my own chicken herbal soup with meesua only.. I’m only interested in the rum & raisin crepe cake, give me 5 pieces !!
You haven’t tried the rest of the stuff they have here yet – see how there was not much excitement over the mille crepe though they did say they liked it very much? For one thing, it’s available at many places now, especially in KL…not sure if there is any in Kuching or not so I would not say it is the star attraction any longer.
Maybe you can scout around the kampua noodle stalls there – it they have mee sua and they’re Foochows from Sibu, Sarikei or around here, then the red wine would most probably be authentic, not the same as any other. Very nice!
Didn’t get to try kompia during my trip unfortunately… they are not that common in Kuching or Miri? Or just that i didn’t manage to see one…
They do have it, if I’m not mistaken…but whether they are any good, I wouldn’t know. You can always hop over to Sibu – lots of nice stuff here too!
Dear sir, I wish to point out that this place had been nominated for that award some years ago, but it did not get to be selected by the jury at that time which was when Cafe Cafe was the winner then (you could get the confirmation from the owner of Cafe Cafe, Mr Hii), the following year (couldn`t remember which year) this place was nominated again, but still failed to win when at that time it was 101 Cafe in Jalan Pahlawan, which was the winner then. Each time there were different group of jury, hence, each person has his or her preference or selection. Perhaps after the failure of two times been selected as winner or even a consolation prize (of course the competition gets stiff each year as there are many new food outlets coming up), the owner, i guess, may be disheartened to participate again.
I know about this cause i was one of the nominees then.
Yes, I did hear from those guys that CafeCafe and 101 won sometime ago – it seemed they did know about those. I feel there is a very thin and not quite clear line dividing the categories. Like everything else, I guess it is very subjective – what’s good for the goose may not be good for the gander and I would say there are many other very nice places, not sure if they were nominated or not before…but they are also not on the current list. I don’t know who were involved in the judging on those previous occasions though I do feel that since it is a tourism award, how it affects or promotes tourism should be a deciding factor, not just how nice the food or the place is or how popular it is among the locals…but do wait for one of my posts coming soon – I did point out to them that some/many may not be in the least interested in the award…and will not be happy to have them snooping around asking all kinds of questions and wanting to see this and that.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Is this Tom as in Tom’s? That’s another nice place, the one in Kuching.
This is still one of my fav place for food with its nice ambiance, but it gets to be so crowded most of the time and lack of parking, so another new outlet is most appreciated
My sentiments exactly. That is why I do not drop by that often anymore, especially around lunch hour – the noise is deafening in that small enclosed space…even when we were there that day at around 3! Same thing with CafeCafe, the town one. And yes, parking is such a pain as well, both places. Me too! Looking forward to checking out their new place, hopefully it will not be as noisy.
I still prefer the mee sua that you cooked… hehe…
Of course, but this one here comes pretty close, very nice too…which is more than what I can say about many in the coffee shops all around town.
Loves all the cakes, so tempting…
Just the tip of the iceberg, we could not possibly order all the nice stuff here…lots more, but we just had lunch…and there was dinner coming up soon too!!!
All looks so good. Oh boy, how I love the cheese cake. Anything with cheese I am game for it but be reminded not too cheesy. So kind of the boss for that special treat. Am drooling while looking at the pix.
Yes, I did not expect that, so very nice of him, and yes, it was not too strong on the cheese…but the passion fruit layer was a little on the sour side and fat people don’t like anything sour. 😉
Salted Caramel Macarons – I’d be very pleased with that order! 😉
I would say of my two personal favourites, I like this one more than the mint.
You know, I really should spend some money and taste some macarons 😀
Would be a good idea to spend a bit of it on a cheap air ticket to fly over, grab a zero-fare or other cheap promo…and you will get to try more than just macarons, lots lots more. 😉
looking at the kompia with the meaty filling, i suddenly realised it’s kinda the local version of a burger! our very own traditional big mac, heheh 😀
It is. I love making my own “burgers” using the bigger, softer and slightly sweet version instead of bread or a burger bun. Nice! I think they call the “Doraemon” – the deep fried bun (that looks like the dorayaki) stuffed with sambal ikan bilis, the Malaysian burger.
“fat people are generally not into things that are sour” LoL! I laughed so hard I think I woke Ayden up >_<
I love everything sour and I love cheese too so the passionfruit and cheese combination will be perfect!
As they say, we are what we eat. That is why you are so masam-masam…and why I am so sweet. Muahahahaha!!!!!
The mee sua, was that an egg inside there? I think I want to try this besides kampua noodles and kompia if I visit Sibu someday!
aiyo….you ate so much , macarons and desserts somemore … control ..control…
Only when I have visitors…and they’re paying. Gee!!! I shouldn’t be asking people to come to Sibu, if that is the case, hor? Bad for me!
I blogged about a Vegan Cheesecake I FINALLY found earlier this week 🙂 YAY!
That would be without cheese, I guess? Maybe I would like it – not all that fond of cheesecakes, too rich, will put me off after a bite or two.
Somehow, mee sua is a noodle I’ve neglected for a long time. Your blog has reminded me of it several times and it’s high time I get down to making a mee sua dish.
Try chicken and ginger soup plus seasonings, can add wolfberries for added sweetness and dried shitake (soaked) for a bit of extra flavour. No need for the traditional Foochow red wine – add a spoonful of brandy, better still XO, right before eating. Would be extra yummy!