Dragon…

No, this place isn’t new – the Dragon Restaurant & Cafe (2.28502,111.831491) at Jalan Maju here…

…in Sibu. You may not see the shop sign from the road as it is blocked by some other sign up in front but it is somewhere in the block of shops across the road from the Ark, two doors away from this restaurant.

I had people telling me at least a couple of years ago that the food here was very nice and very cheap. Somehow or other, I had never got down to dropping by. For one thing, parking here can be such a pain…but this being the “Las Vegas” of Sibu – there is a whole row of those betting shops in the next block, if you come on a day when there is a draw, never mind that there is no parking space. Just wait a little while and you can be sure that there will be a punter or two vacating their spots and leaving, having bought their tickets for the day. That night at the dinner with my ex-classmates, one of them strongly recommended that I should drop by and try…and I did!

Well, it’s just a coffee shop kind of place – no frills and no thrills but the people are very nice and they will suggest what is good if you can’t read everything on the wall, all in Mandarin. We decided to go there for brunch and as we were early, a little before noon, there was no problem getting a table and we promptly ordered what we wanted and sat there waiting. In the meantime, quite a lot of other people came but I do not think it would be that full till you would need to stand around and wait for a table. Perhaps there would be more people at night, I wouldn’t know.

The drinks came pretty fast and the coffee…

…sure looked good but no, it was just o.k. – not the best I have had in town.

The sea cucumber soup (RM8.00)…

…was great and we all liked it very much. I did add a little bit of black vinegar to it later but no, I thought it was nicer on its own.

The sweet potato leaves (RM6.00)…

…ching chao (fried plain…I think) were good but we have had the same elsewhere and theirs were good as well but I think it is much cheaper here by at least RM2.00…or did I get the prices of the soup and this vegetable dish mixed up? Sigh!!! At my age, my memory sure isn’t what it used to be anymore. Sobssss!!!!!!!

This braised pork belly with preserved vegetables (mui chai)…

…would send shudders down the spine of the die-hard health fanatics despite the fact that one can google to read up on the more recent articles on pork fat and lard and find out that it is not so bad after all. Still, never mind that at the other end of the spectrum, there would be some who would go weak in the knees and drool profusely at the sight of such beauty, I really don’t think that one should go all out and feast on it like there is no tomorrow. Fat is fat, never mind what fat it may be and even with anything that is good, I do believe that moderation is the key, no need to go overboard over it.

I did ask for a cut that had more lean and less fat and that was what we got (RM15.00) and though it did not look like there was all that much, the slices were thick and big so I would think this was enough for some 6-8 people, half a slice each would be good…or 4, at least. There were only three of us so it was quite a struggle to finish everything especially when that was not all that we ordered.

We just had to try their signature dish – their pork satay, RM9.00 for 3 sticks…

…so that worked out to RM3.00 each and there was so much of those huge chunks of meat on each stick. Both my girl and the mum said they were very full so they just shared a stick and no prize for guessing who had to finish it all. Tsk! Tsk! It was very nice, the peanut sauce was great…but if you’re small eaters, that serving of 3 sticks would be good for 6 people, at least.

Obviously, from all that I have said, the servings here are huge and it is indeed, very cheap. The total for all the above plus rice for three came up to only RM41.00. These days, one would be hard pressed to find a place where one can have just one meat dish and a vegetable dish plus a soup and rice for three for anything less than RM50.00…and considering that everything tasted very good, no overdose of msg, I certainly would not mind coming back here again…and again.

It might be you…

Well, it did not take long for me to find out who it was, my friend home from Australia, that the guys here mentioned the other day. I guessed it might be him, home from Perth, and I was right! It’s been over a year – the last time he came back was sometime in August last year and this year, he made another trip home as there was a wedding in his brother’s family here so he was kind of busy over the weekend. When it was all over and done, he got in touch and asked me and the ladies in the house out to dinner with a few of our ex-classmates.

He asked me to suggest a nice place so I opted to come here…

*Archive photo*

…that I have been to a number of times and I did enjoy what they served each time.

Of course, I had to order their signature dish…

…the prawns with young coconut flesh in the very nice and rich gravy, slightly spicy but not really noticeable, served in a coconut and another signature dish of theirs, the pork served with cincaluk (fermented shrimps) dip…

The meat was much nicer this time around…

…but I thought the dip could do with a bit more cincaluk. It was extra spicy though, obviously the result of the use of cili padi and of course, some of us loved that very much.

We had the cangkuk manis fried with egg…

…and also the midin (wild jungle fern) but I was too lazy to snap a photo of that as the place was not all that bright plus the yellow lighting would not do much justice to the dishes served.

I did not take a photograph of the very nice steamed fish that we had either. It was an ikan lajung, a freshwater fish that I felt was a lot nicer than the more popular but cheaper ikan tapah. I did ask if they had the ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret) which would be nice too, deep fried and served with sweet and sour sauce…but the guy said that they only had the frozen ones, probably something like the one we had here but perhaps, a lot bigger, implying that it would not be all that nice and for those of us that would not settle for anything less than the fresh ones that we would buy from the wet market, we probably would not enjoy it very much.

When my friend ordered the fish, I knew it was going to be a somewhat expensive dinner…and true enough, together with the Foochow-style tofu soup…

*Archive photo*

.,..which was good but I thought it was better the last time we had it here…plus the rice and the drinks and the ngor bee th’ng, my favourite in town, that some of us had…

*Archive photo*

…the bill came up to around RM200.00 for the eight of us altogether. I guess that came as no surprise but according to my friend, it was quite all right as it would work out to around AUD70 altogether only and there were so many of us whereas, where he came from, one would be hard-pressed to get a nice full-course western meal for one person for that kind of money.

Of course, what mattered most was the chance to get together once again and catch up with one another’s lives and talk about the good ol’ days. Thank you so much for the dinner, Michael – and till we meet again, God bless!

Win…

*This is not a paid post*

Earlier this month, I stumbled across this post in my Auckland-based Pinoy blogger-friend’s blog and of course, I wasted no time in posting a comment in the hope that I would win. It was a simple one that went like this: Ooooo…sushi!!! My girl loves those and she makes them sometimes, simple ones, of course. I bet she would love this “Complete Book of Sushi”…and imagine my delight when I received an email informing me that I had won and there was also an announcement in the blog to this effect…

It did not take long for the publishing firm, http://www.tuttlepublishing.com…

…to send me the coveted book prize and it got to me in just around three weeks later, all the way from the USA…

…in a rather big box. I thought that was really fast!

It’s in itself a very big book with lots of interesting and informative stuff inside…

…not just recipes and more recipes with all the lovely glossy photographs…

…and there are even some step-by-step pictorial guides…

I always feel that the predominant feature in Japanese cuisine that makes it stand out among the rest would be the beauty in its presentation, other than it being always very neat and clean-looking. That is why I would agree wholeheartedly with this remark in the foreword of the book…

My girl was delighted upon receiving the book and needless to say, so was I!

It was stated in the blogpost that there will be one winner of the following recipe book The Complete Book of Sushi plus your choice of a book from Tuttle Publishing worth US$25.00 and below and I did add to my aforementioned comment that…owing to the influence of the Korean dramas she (my  girl) watches faithfully and K-pop, she is so into anything Korean as well, including the food. She hopes to visit the country soon and I am sure she would love a copy of “A Geek in Korea”. .. and yes!!! It seems that they have sent this 2nd book separately and I have just collected it minutes ago from our national courier (poslaju) office as I was not at home when they delivered it to the house – I shall be blogging about it separately in another post.

I am indeed so delighted to receive the two books and I really appreciate the fact that they went through all that trouble to send it all the way from the US…and thank you so much, Raymund. Ummmm…any more contests coming up? LOL!!!

Footnote:
It seems that you can order the books online, so do feel free to click the link above to hop over to the publisher’s website to see what books they have in the many categories but unfortunately, there is free shipping when you spend more than $35 or more (on orders delivered within the United States) only.

Tell me a story…

…a potato story!

LOL!!!

Actually, I dropped by this megamall here as I was expecting to see some really elaborate Christmas decorations like what they had last year or the year before and they did have something very nice for the Gawai Dayak Festival earlier this year too and also for Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything much other than this…

…and a little bit here and there – nothing grand, nothing impressive…and nothing worth making one’s way there to see. Perhaps times are really hard with our rather depressing economy the way it is at this point in time and they have decided not to put up anything much this year or maybe it is not December yet so they have not got round to it yet.

Ah well!!! Since we were there, I thought we would just check out this place…

*Wish they would put away the mop and broom and whatever stuff some place else*

…as a few days earlier, an ex-colleague of mine shared a photo of what he had on Facebook and was praising it to the skies. Now the problem was I did not take note of what flavour he had that he enjoyed so much so we just settled for the seaweed cheese (RM4.90, inclusive of GST)…

…which was quite nice.

We saw that they had these cone pizzas as well…

…but we did not order any to try as it looked like something wrapped in a slice of bread but it turned out that there was a little bit more than that…

I saw them torching the thing before they served it to a customer who wanted one of those.

Then I spotted the mash potato [SIC]…

…and I asked for the cheesy mayo (RM5.90, inclusive of GST)…

…which we thought was pretty o.k. as well but I do not like mashed potatoes this fine…

…and I would very much prefer what I would make myself at home.

All in all, I would say what we had were quite o.k. To me, this place looks like a franchise – all the flavourings and everything seems to come in sealed packs and containers and I guess this would appeal more to the younger and trendier set. Old fogies like me would much sooner go for things very much cheaper…and to people like us, a whole lot nicer like a simple plate of kampua noodles and a glass of kopi-o-peng at some NCAA (no class at all) coffee shop and still have enough money left for another round some other day.

Try again…

My girl had not tried the food here yet…

…as that time when her mum and I went, it was a weekday and not a holiday so she was in her school, and was not around. Now that the school holidays are finally here, I wasted no time in taking her to sample some of the stuff on their menu…

Hmmmm…this franchise is the brainchild, the baby of some Indonesian lady named “Ibu Ruth”, it seems.

They did not have this…

…the last time around but the guy did say they were waiting for the tray or something. I was expecting something very special but it looked like one of those plastic ones with a cover that you can open and close to help yourself to what is inside, something like the ones they use here. True to what the guy said that last time when we said that they could be more generous with the sambal, now they have it ready by the side and one can just go and help oneself to as much as one wants. That day when we were there, there were two bowls and one was extra spicy – needless to say, my missus had a field day enjoying herself and going back for more. She sure likes it hot!

No, I did not order the chicken as on that previous occasion, I thought it was rather overly-soft and not nice and firm so I did not quite enjoy the texture of the meat and I did not think I would want to have that again. Instead, I ordered the fish (RM13.50, with rice)…

…which I certainly liked better than the chicken but being used to buying it fresh from the market and cooking our own at home, it certainly did not get me jumping with delight. Besides, I do think that I liked the one here a lot more but theirs was a little bit more expensive and what we had here sometime ago was very good too…but we have not had the latter for sometime now so I would not know how much it is now at this point in time.

Of course, I ordered the gado-gado (RM6.50) that I thought was very good but instead of the sup tulang (RM7.50), I decided to give their sayur asam (RM7.00)…

…a try. It was not exactly sour – I thought there was a hint of sweetness in it and comparing the two, I would rather stick to what I had before.

My girl wanted the tempeh (RM3.80)…

– something that she does seem to enjoy so we had that as well.

For one thing, although they did not have a really very extensive menu, there were stickers all over that stated in no uncertain terms that a few of the items were currently not available, like the lumpia, for instance but at least, they had stickers so one would know and not get quite pissed off when ordering only to be told that this and that are all not available.

All in all, it was an o.k. brunch and at least, now, my girl has been here and tried some of what they have in store.

Sincerely…

Last Sunday morning, after the service, we wanted to drop by here for breakfast but it was full even though it was still early, only around 9.00 a.m. We did not want to wait for a table so we just went to this place (2.293842,111.827209) instead, right down that same street in the next block of shops.

The Christmas decorations are up…

…and they even have snowflakes in their washroom….

Hmmm!!! LOL!!!

The place was very full too but we did manage to get a table so we promptly placed our orders and sat there waiting. In the meantime, an audibly and aurally-challenged man came along selling plushies. My girl was eager to buy one to help the poor guy out – she has been like this ever since she was small. Whenever we walked past a beggar or a visually-challenged busker on the street, she would insist upon giving a little something before we moved on – never mind what others may say about those people being exploited by some syndicate or something. She feels that it does not matter and what is important is that we have it in our hearts to lend a hand to the less fortunate and do so sincerely.

The guy had a card with him that stated that he was physically-impaired and when I gestured to ask him for the price, he turned it over to let us see – it was RM15.00 each and I chose this one…

…that I thought was quite nice, around the size of a football or a little smaller.

My girl had the meat porridge (RM3.50)…

…that was quite good and to her liking. The mum had the chao chai (preserved vegetables) hung ngang (big bihun), RM3.50…

…that did not look like any elsewhere but she said it was very nice too which, of course, meant that it was sour enough for her.

I tried what they called their xin hua bihun (RM3.30)…

…which was good too but I do think that what I dish out myself at home is nicer as I would be more generous with those canned clams in soy sauce.

I also ordered this bowl of liver soup (RM3.50)…

…which was so very nice, very strong on the fragrance and taste of the ginger and traditional Foochow red wine. My friend, Annie, ordered that once and she sure enjoyed it to the max. Everyone agreed that it was really very well done but I was kind of wary about eating that much liver – they certainly were quite generous with it…but thankfully, my missus helped me out and ate quite a bit but my girl would not have any of that even though she did drink the soup and liked it a lot as well.

So far, other than their liver soup and also their mee sua (string/thread noodles), I feel that generally all the things they have on their menu are all, at best, just pretty o.k. or at least, those that I’ve tried here before so if I make my way back there again, it would most probably be for one of those two or both…unless there are other things on their menu that I have not tried yet.

Winner…

Last Saturday evening, my girl said that she would like the Bangladeshi lamb curry (RM19.00, with rice)…

…for dinner and also the green curry chicken (RM16.00, with rice)…

…so no prize for guessing where we went.

We went early, before 6.00 p.m. as, if I was not wrong, that day was a good day for weddings and on such days, all the banquet rooms at the hotel right behind this cafe would be fully booked for the receptions and the area would be terribly congested. On such days, it would be best to either go early…or go later but if you opt for the latter, there would probably be the problem of finding a place to park.

The boss was not around when we got there but it was very obvious that the staff members were all very thrilled and proud that they had been presented the much-coveted award…

…which is now displayed quite prominently at the cafe along with the certificate…

…that came with it. That kind of spirit is indeed commendable for truly, it is only with the joint effort of all of them as a team that the place has become what it is today. This was not the only time that I had dropped when the boss was not there but those very trustworthy and independent guys would manage very well in his absence. In fact, it was Claire, all the way in Ipoh, Perak, who commented that day that she asked her friend to drop by and she did, with 11 others, and in her own words, “My friend just came back from Sibu. Before she went, I recommended Payung to her and she showed me what she ate there. Very satisfied with everything she ordered for 11 people, kind of special especially the herbs salad, she said… And the boss was not around cos he went to receive an award...”

For one thing, I was kind of disappointed that it was not given much publicity except for a mere mention in this newspaper and in the Sarawak tourism website. There were reports in the more widely circulated Sibu newspaper on the event but sadly, there was no mention at all of our very own homegrown pride and joy…

As  far as I know, I did blog about it and somebody else has done the same in Mandarin and that’s about it! I do feel that they do deserve some publicity as that would help attract more visitors to the town – after all, there isn’t much that Sibu as to offer other than food…food…and more food and of course, the best would be those things that are not all that easily available elsewhere, stuff that is quite different from the rest. Nonetheless, one of the guys did mention that within the week, there had been more people dropping by…including my friends, a family back from Australia. Hmmmm…I wonder who they were as nobody had told me they were back in town.

Going back to the dinner that day, I noticed that the lamb curry with rice…

…had gone up in price by RM1.00 but that is perfectly all right. After all, we are getting quite used to the escalating prices of things – something that has been going on for quite sometime now in our frail economy and the weakening ringgit and word has it that the subsidies of items such as rice, cooking oil and so on would be removed, come 1st January, 2016. It sure does not look like it is going to be a very happy new year for us here, does it?

For a change, we ordered the pomelo salad (RM8.00)…

…and we sure enjoyed it. My girl said that it tasted very refreshing.

We also tried something new that they have on their menu – the Bangladeshi white chicken (RM16.00, with rice)…

…and yes, it was good, something on the lighter side compared to the other two meat dishes that we ordered. I am not sure how it was done but I was told that yogurt and a whole lot of onions went into the cooking.

For dessert, my girl wanted their banana cake with ice cream (RM8.00)…

…and I also ordered their Kahlua ice cream (10.00)…

…with a special request for extra liquor to be added to it.

It certainly was a delightful dinner and needless to say, we would be back again…and again…and again…

It could be better…

We had something we had to see to last Saturday morning on the other side of town so we drove all the way there and in the meantime, I heard that there was a stall here (2.265245,111.859945) selling claypot rice. There used to be a stall at the coffee shop at the back of this complex selling that a long time ago. It was really very nice, as good as any that I had had elsewhere but the problem was it was not open for business on a regular basis and I would not want to drive there only to find it closed. The lady at the stall next to it told me that the guy had a full-time job and did it only to pass the time whenever he felt like it so she did not know when he would be around and when he would not.

They have a whole lot of food stalls here at the front section of the complex now…

…and this is the one selling claypot rice and a whole lot of other claypot stuff…

I had the chicken with mushroom (RM6.00)…

…which was nice – like soy sauce chicken served in a claypot of rice and a bit of greens by the side.

My girl had the pork (RM7.00)…

…and I did try a bit of the meat. It had a stronger five-spice fragrance and did taste a little bit better than the chicken.

My missus had the chicken with salted fish (RM7.00)…

…and she said she could detect the presence of some bits of salted fish but there was very little of it.

Well, all in all, I would say they were all right – I would not mind having that sometimes for a change but definitely not when I have to drive so far out of my way. Sadly, I do not know of any other place in town that serves this so I guess if we want a really nice one, we would have no choice but to cook our own – with the lap cheang (Chinese sausage) and the long kiam hu (salted fish) and all. Perhaps I should give it a try one of these days…

This way…

I bought 1 kg of noodles for RM2.50 from my regular kueh stall at the kampung here the other day. I am not sure but it may be a little cheaper or the same elsewhere but anyway, with that amount, I would be able to cook a whole lot of noodles this way…or that, depending on how I would like it.

The first morning, I fried around half of it the lakia (Dayak/native) mee (noodles) style. It seems that they all call it mee mamak these days but I do feel that those would be very different with a whole lot of chili or tomato sauce used. Usually, outside, it would just be fried noodles, dry, with lots of fresh chili added while those at my school canteen before had bits of belacan (dried prawn paste) in theirs. I may have blogged about my own versions before but when I fried it that morning, these were the ingredients that I had…

– one shallot, peeled and sliced, three cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped, some chilies, seeds removed and sliced thinly, some chopped spring onion, two eggs and some fish balls. Prawns would be nice but there weren’t any in the fridge and I would have added some taugeh (bean sprouts) but there weren’t any either. My missus had some pounded sambal belacan in the fridge so I decided that I would add a bit of that too.

This Malay version of the noodles are a little bit different from the Chinese ones here. They are thinner and firmer but no, it is not because of those not-too-desirable additives as there is none of that alkaline smell of yellow noodles that puts off a lot of people. Probably they add a bit more egg, I wouldn’t know.

I tossed the noodles with a little bit of soy sauce, mainly for the colour and a teaspoon of sugar…

In the old days, I would hear people saying that the Malays used sugar in their cooking and never added any msg but these days, it seems that they have acquired the practice as well so sometimes I would get put off by what they cook especially when they add too much – just like at those Chinese eateries.

The process of cooking was pretty much the same as how I cooked most everything else – I fried the shallot and garlic in a bit of oil till golden brown before adding the fish balls and the chilies plus a teaspoon of the sambal belacan. Then the noodles went in and I mixed everything together thoroughly, adding a little bit of water periodically along the sides to let it sizzle and cook the noodles. Once done, I added the eggs and before dishing everything out, I threw in the chopped spring onion.

There you are! The noodles…

…garnished with a bit of the sliced chili and the chopped spring onion that I had saved for the purpose.

Yes, it was very nice…

…but I would love it a bit more spicy so I must add more chili next time. Other than that, I could not detect the sambal belacan so I would need a lot more of that as well.

I fried the remaining half of the noodles with the very nice lap cheong (Chinese sausage)…

…that my friend, Annie, gave me and yes, it was very nice too.

Yes, there was enough noodles in that 1 kg for at least, 8 to 10 plates of what one would get outside so that would work out to around 50 to 60 sen a plate. At the rate the prices of those fried noodles at the stalls are shooting up – generally around RM4.00 or more, it certainly would make a lot more sense to just buy a kg and keep in the fridge and fry one’s own this way…or that.

You can’t win them all…

I’ve blogged about this place many times already and I would say it is very popular now any time of day. Many say the char kway teow is the best in town and my missus would go for the fried noodles sometimes. I love the Sarawak laksa and the nasi lemak (RM4.00)…

…is my favourite in town with its relatively more lemak rice and the very spicy and tasty sambal and I would usually ask for the chicken or beef curry or the masak hitam beef to go with it. The guy does those very well too. I thought the kampua noodles were good but I did not care for the shredded chicken that came with it – this is a pork-free place, by the way. But I did hear that they now serve the noodles with masak hitam or the curry by the side though those would not get me all excited, I’m afraid. Perhaps the guy should think about using char siew chicken, breast meat instead – after all, it is the noodles that is the deciding factor as to whether it is nice or not and he does do it pretty well.

I wasn’t all that thrilled about their beef noodles either while the western dishes, available only in the evenings, are good and very much cheaper than at those more upscale cafes and restaurants in town. We liked the chicken chop in particular…and also the waffles. The bitter gourd bihun seems very popular but I somehow can’t get myself to order that to try as it is served with chicken and I am more accustomed to the pork version and I’ve never tried the fried rice either – I get more than my fair share of that at home. Hehehehehe!

I’ve tried the chicken rice (RM4.00)…

…before but was not all that thrilled by it but the other day, I ordered it again to see if it is any better now.

Well, the rice…

…is a far cry from the one here or here and yes, I have had a few others that do have a slight edge over the one here and the steamed chicken…

…comes nowhere near what I had here but of course, there, you probably would need to fork out a lot more than just RM4.00 for a plate of chicken rice. Perhaps some may not be as fussy as I am and would not mind having this but personally, with so many nice stuff here to choose from, I would much sooner pick one of the others.

In the meantime, I dropped by this bakery (2.304665,111.849229) opposite the Sibu Bus Terminal that day and I was delighted to see some very nice looking cream puffs (RM1.00 each)…

…on sale. Ever since the one here closed down, I have not had any nice cream puffs from anywhere else in town. I did try some but no, I never came across any that I would want to go back for more.

They had these chocolate ones (RM1.50 each)…

…too and I bought two to try.

They were very nice, especially if you love chocolate, but for one thing, it appeared that they cut the puff…

…to put the chocolate cream filling inside…

As far as I know, they would pump in the filling through the bottom…

…like what I saw the girl doing when I bought some cream puffs from her stall in Bintulu.

They certainly were a lot more generous with the filling…

…here and yes, it was pretty good – not the cake icing cream that they have in a lot of places but I did think it could be a little bit richer as far as the fragrance and taste of the egg custard were concerned but I guess for just RM1.00, I really have no cause for complaint. As for the shell or the puff, it was good too, some room for improvement but good enough for me to want to go back and buy some more, should I feel like having more of these…but no, I would give the chocolate ones a skip, thank you very much, and save 50 sen on each of them.