I taught the younger brother English, those years before I retired. He has since graduated from the university and is currently teaching in a school around an hour from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah so no prize for guessing where he spends his weekends. However, every opportunity he has, he will fly home to Sibu to help his mum at the coffee shop…
She does all the frying and cooking at the back.
His elder brother is the one who runs the place…
…located right across the road from Sacred Heart Secondary School and he makes and sells the drinks there. I did not teach him when he was in school but I knew him well as he was very good at singing and would perform time and time again at school functions and from what I gathered then, he did that outside too like at singing contests and so on.
I did drop by this shop once a long time ago – I think it was because it was too early and the one that I used to frequent a lot a few doors away was closed. I don’t think I knew then who ran the place but I had the kampua noodles and I thought it was all right, nothing that made it stand out above the rest…and that was what my friend, Annie, home from KL said about the bowl she had that day…
She loved the ang chao chicken…
…very much though. That was available as one of the options at this stall in front…
…if you choose to go for the chap fan (mixed rice). She did say, however, that she would prefer pork or pork belly to be exact. I did try a bit of it and yes, it was very nice – they serve this at many places here but most do not do it well. I find a lot of them rather diluted, not as fragrant and tasty so generally, they’re not as nice.
I was glad to note that they were doing very well – the place was so very crowded and we did have a problem initially trying to get a table or two for so many of us. My ex-student, the older one, is very active on Facebook and he would post photographs of what is available at the coffee shop and I did see the ones of the frothy kopi-o-peng (iced coffee)…
…that my missus and I had. It was nice but no, it did not sweep me off my first and I felt the same way about the ang tao cendol (plus sian chao)…
…that I ordered for my girl – it was very much nicer than the ones here but I prefer the ones here even though that one too would pale in comparison to what I had in Kuching. According to Annie’s brother who was with us that day, the ones with green beans instead of the red would be nicer so I guess I would have to go back there one of these days to try.
Annie said that her mum loved the fried pek koi (rice cakes) here and according to her, they make their own and do not use those imported in packs from China. My girl loves pek koi so she had that…
…and the mum as well. They said it was very nice and enjoyed it a lot…but Annie’s mum said that the dry version, not this moist one that the two had, would be nicer. It sure looks like we will have to try that too as well when we go back to this coffee shop.
I had the Foochow fried noodles…
…and yes, if you want it done like the ones I had all those years when I was growing up, this would be the place to go to. I sure would want to have that again the next time around but then they were telling me that the fried rice is really good and I should have a go at it. Oh dear!!!
One thing’s for sure, whatever I would decide to have when the time comes, we would be back!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I am getting hungry looking at your photos! 🙂
Great stuff, unbelievably cheap in your currency too – around MYR4 here…only around $1 in your money, if I am not wrong.
As a noodle lover, I would go for the Foochow fried noodles & pek koi looks like sliced fish cake. I have seen pek koi sold in supermarket but never buy to try (see not adventurous again). If I am not wrong, it has to be soaked day/night & overnight before one can fried it. Looks good too. Holidays has ended, back to your routine and next week is another long weekend. Cheerssssss!!!!!
Yes, the supermarket ones, made in China, have to be soaked for a long long time and even then, it may be too hard. Texture and taste, not so great – like China bihun, I will never buy those from there. We do have fresh pek koi being sold at the market these days, much nicer – can just slice and fry like fried kway teow. Not bad.
Do you know what makes the ang chao chicken that bright colour? Do they actually add colouring or is it just naturally vibrant from the spices I wonder?
The colour turned out a little too bright, the red, after I edited the photo – indoors, so had to adjust the lighting…but yes, it is red, a darker shade of red and no, it is not the result of the use of any colouring. They use the red yeast rice to ferment and make the traditional red wine and this ang chao is the residue or what they call red wine lees. Lots of health benefits, so now people are looking for it. Not so revered in the past – just another Foochow dish then.
I’ve never had ang chao chicken. Long ago, I had a hobby of making fruit wines, so am very familiar with wine lees. I used to just throw the lees away, never knew it had health benefits. Then I stopped drinking wine and so had no incentive to continue the hobby.
I don’t drink either – used to – brandy, whiskey, vodka, wine, beer…and then I came down with gout attacks after a glass of beer…twice. So I stopped – all!!! People keep telling me it is the beer, I would be all right drinking all the rest but no, thank you. I can live without them.
But I still go for the traditional wines in our cooking though, not a problem. You get red lees from making our Foochow traditional red wine – the wine is for cooking chicken soup for mee sua and other dishes…and the lees is kept for cooking too. I read it’s not available in Singapore – not many Foochows there, I guess.
Now I am thinking of ang chow chicken. Hehe.
Never been here.But the food looks good.
Yes, the fried stuff from the mum’s stall at the back. Sure will go back again, try what else they have. You have ang chao there? Can buy in Kuching, I think. Cheap. Dunno why many stalls so stingy, dilute it so much – not so nice.
The weather is so hot today, the ang tao cendol will be nice…
This place had become my mum’s favourite place for the quick fix. You have to try the dry version, my mum said a lot nicer.
I bought some ang chau back, now maybe I should Google to see how to cook it with pork.
You didn’t ask your mum? I dunno how to cook it well – my missus cooks it all the time, hers the best! Maybe next time I will watch and blog about it. Hehehehehe!!!!
Parking is easy at this place but have to pay parking fee but not when going around 11.30 a.m. to 2 something. Here, no charge to park during lunch break.
Well, it sure warrants another visit if the food is good!
Yes, what we had were very nice, some more that we’ve yet to try.