I forgive…

Well, my cousins from Kuching came to town over the weekend and one of them and a friend, an ex-colleague of mine, brought me these…

…and another cousin gave me these…

I sure have a lot of goodies to enjoy for my breakfast and tea over the next few days, obviously…and thank you so much, everybody, for everything!

They wanted to come to this Italian fusion restaurant here…

…for dinner as it was very convenient – they were staying at the hotel around a hundred metres away.

I was overcharged by RM10.00 the first and the last time I was here and when I saw the actual price on their menu that they posted on Facebook, I asked why I had to pay so much and the curt reply they gave was, “Repricing!” That really put me off and because of that, I have not bothered going back there again all this while. What they could have done was to apologise and promise that they would deduct the RM10.00 from my next bill – that way, they would have one happy customer who will come back again and spend more there…but I guess it did not matter to them one bit as looking at the crowd there all the time, they obviously enjoy such bustlingly brisk business to bother about a small fry like me.

That was when they first commenced business over a year ago and this time around, it seemed that they have done away with the authentic wood-fired stone pizza oven…

…and they have put up a glass panel separating the kitchen from the dining area so it would not be so very hot like the previous time I was there. The chefs did not look familiar, all of them very young boys who did not seem all that appropriately dressed for an upscale place like this which made me wonder what their credentials were, but never mind! Looking at the crowd that was there that night, I would assume that they must be doing something right and I was correct.

This chicken combo (RM68.00)…

…that we had was very very nice. Everyone was singing praises of everything that was in the platter. My cousin’s daughter, who was currently home from Perth, Australia and came with them to Sibu, said that they have something like this there too…

…and it would cost at least AUD50.00. This one that we had that night was just as nice and it was only around AUD23, more than half the price if we convert into their currency.

I enjoyed that very much too but personally, I prefer the pork platter (RM98.00)…

The sticky ribs were absolutely awesome, so very nice and I loved the sausages more than the chicken ones – these had the minced meat texture and I could taste all the fragrant herbs used in the making.

Special mention must be given to the potato salad that everybody enjoyed a lot too.

They did not have lasagna even though it was in the menu but a look at the right hand bottom corner would tell you that it is only available at their sister restaurant, not here…and my girl still prefers the spinach and egg pizza we usually have over at the other side instead of this Pizza Rustica (RM32.00)…

…that we had here that night, a so-called “white pizza”, but it was nice too, pretty good. They should be more careful in slicing it though – I spy with my little eye that little chipped off bit, bottom left.

We had the chocolate fondant at the other place that day and it was very nice except that the “lava” did not flow out so I ordered the one here (RM10.00)…

…to share for dessert…and yes, it was very nice too…

*SK Hii’s photo on Facebook*

…and yes, the “lava” oozed out the instant the cake was cut. Bravo!!!

My girl insisted on picking up the tab that night – she said that all these years, whenever we went over to Kuching, my cousins would take us out to eat here, there and everywhere so now that she is working and earning her own money, she would like to reciprocate, a little gesture on her part for all that she had enjoyed in the past.

We were served a free flow of iced water by the jug, on the house, and service was very good though they did seem a lot more comfortable conversing in Mandarin but I did not have a problem with that…and considering how the food was really great, all is forgiven…and yes, I would be back again to see what else is nice on their menu.