Tomorrow is a public holiday here, Sarawak’s Independence Day, so my girl will be coming home earlier for the weekend. I guess many will be coming back as well seeing that tomorrow, the Borneo Cultural Festival 2016 will begin and some of the SUKMA 2016 events will be held here – Sarawak is the host this time around. I hear the hotels in the town centre are fully booked so I would expect massive jams over the next few days.
Well, if any of you are thinking of dropping by here…
…for the old lady’s kampua mee, I have not very good news for you. She has decided to call it a day once again and will not be selling the noodles at that coffee shop any longer.
As a matter of fact, that section of the coffee shop and restaurant has closed down…
What I heard was that the landlord wanted to raise the rent so everybody shifted to the opposite side…
That Sunday, we wanted to drop by here for the beef noodles but it was so very crowded, the people were literally spilling onto the road so we decided to come here instead. Unfortunately, the chu char place at the back of the shop was closed – I was told that they do not open on Sunday mornings so we had no choice but to order from the kampua stall…
…in front. Somebody told me that one of the ladies was working for the old lady formerly, helping her out at her stall and now that the latter has retired, she has taken over doing what she used to do and selling the same things, more or less.
I ordered one big bowl of the meatball soup (RM5.20)…
…to share…and that got me wondering about the price. They could have reduced the number of meatballs and charged RM5.00 instead and that might help a bit in giving the impression that it was not all that pricey.
No, it was not as thick and rich, the bone stock used for the soup, as the old lady’s. However, I would say it was nice and they did give us some of our traditional Foochow red wine to add to it. That sure helped enhance the taste…
…a lot and yes, we did enjoy it though my vote would go to what we had here before.
Yes, we had the kampua mee…
…too but no, it was not quite the same as the old lady’s.
It had the same stewed/braised meat topping instead of the boiled red-coloured char siew wannabe that one would find at a lot of places elsewhere around town and it had that very nice fragrance of lard and fried shallots. For one thing, it was lighter as far as the amount of msg used went and we liked that but I hear that it did not go down too well with many of the old lady’s loyal supporters. However, I did feel that the noodles were a little over-boiled/cooked and were softer, not as firm. All in all, I would say it was all right…
– just that to me, the old lady’s has a slight edge over it.
I wouldn’t mind dropping by again for these should I happen to be around the neighbourhood but that morning, I was quite put off by the fact that even though there wasn’t really a crowd, we had to wait for a mighty long time despite the fact that there were three ladies and one young boy helping out as well. Maybe she was a newbie at this thing so she was not all that good at it yet – hopefully, in time, she will be better and her customers would not need to wait…like forever, to be served!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I love the sign in your first photo. 🙂
Nice logo. Looking at it, my guess is it lights up at night.
Yes! Can sleep late tomorrow. Hubby is driving home this evening. No plan for the long weekend; maybe just relax and go with the flow. Haha. We always do spontaneous plan like going for hike, to beach etc. My girl asked me if we are going anywhere this Friday. Cham! Now the kids have been getting used of going someplace every weekend!!
Happy weekend to you and your family.
Same to you and yours.
Yes, make the most of the weekends together, means so much to the kid, I’m sure – a great break from school and all that. Quality family time, precious!
Sobs!!!….sobs!!!…my son is not coming back this weekend, on call. Wow, I love that bowl of meatballs soup & was wondering too about the price. They can easily charge round figure or like you say, reduce the meatballs instead of having to dig out a 20 cents coin. Enjoy your long weekends with your loved ones.
NOOOOOOO!!!! And it is a long weekend some more, so kesian!!! You’re not going over to spend time with him there?
Yes, very strange, the extra 20 sen…and so so many meatballs, no harm having a few less, nobody’s going to count, I’m sure.
I’ve heard great things about the cultural festival. I’d like to visit one day.
I would have gone a lot more had our weather here been kinder – it is always so hot and that would put me off going to go and check things out at the festival. I would say the Rainforest World Music Festival in Damai, Kuching is more of a tourist draw though.
If there’s not really a crowd and you have to wait long, if there’s a crowd and have to wait long, some customers might not be able to wait and this will result in loss of business…
Yes, they should have a proper devised system – who does what and when. When a customer has ordered and sits down, somebody must bring the chopsticks and spoon dipped in hot boiling water, and also the sauces…and as soon as the noodles are ready, they must serve quickly…or one can boil and cook, dump in the plate, another can toss and mix…and another can take and serve. They seemed to be doing anything and everything and the mouths, talk…talk…talk…non-stop.
Very nice that meatball soup. Not the springy type, eh?
No, just rolled minced meat.
Ooo that’s nice when the holiday falls on a Friday – you get a long weekend. I’m completely ignorant about this state holiday – I didn’t even realise that Sarawak celebrates its own separate Independence Day!
The first time this year, the day when the British granted independence to Sarawak. Long ago, August 31st was National Day and that was fine with everybody until they declared September 16th as Malaysia Day which is perfectly ok too and August 31st as Hari Merdeka but that date is of no historical significance to us over here.
Then there is the issue of Sarawak as one of the countries in the federation, not the same as one of the states in Malaya. Sighhhh!!! Much ado about nothing, if you ask me – lots of things of much more serious concern.
Yeah, perhaps they are still new in preparing of the noodles, given time and more practice, next time you do not have to wait long. So it is a holiday tomorrow… thinking of what and where to go for makan for the next three days? Happy Bonding!
My girl’s home and my cousins are flying over from Kuching tomorrow for a food marathon. It is going to be eat…eat…eat…and eat!!! 😀
I want that bowl of meatball soup!!
Oh so it’s a long weekend there ya? Enjoy it!!
You too, have a great weekend! It’s already Saturday tomorrow.