Two times…

We go back a very long way – this restaurant and I, so long that I can’t find the first time I blogged about it but one thing’s for sure, that would be way back during the time when I was still using my handphone camera to take photographs for my blog and since then, so many – friends and family here in Sibu or those who came to town, have walked through its doors. This one in 2008 was when we went there for my brother-in-law’s birthday.

Well, last Saturday, I felt like going back there for lunch as I was thinking of having their very nice pandan (screwpine leaf) chicken…

Ruby Restaurant pandan chicken

They do it really well here. For one thing, they are very generous with that huge chunk of chicken wrapped in the leaf and for another, they marinate it very nicely and they cook it really well so it is very juicy and so flavourful unlike some that I have had elsewhere, so very small and hard and dry.

It had been quite a while since we went there to eat – why, I can’t even remember the last time! My girl and the mum were keen on the suggestion so that was it!

We also had the Thai sauce fish fillet…

Ruby Restaurant Thai sauce fish fillet

…because their Thai-style mango chicken was not available – they were out of mango.

For the vegetable dish, we had my girl’s favourite – their cangkuk manis fried with egg…

Ruby Restaurant cangkuk manis fried with egg

…and the bill for these three dishes came up to only RM23.00! I thought that was so very cheap.

I had their very nice kopi-o-peng (iced black coffee), blended…

Ruby Restaurant blended iced black coffee 1

…and if I am not wrong, it is only RM3.00 a glass…

Ruby Restaurant blended iced black coffee 2

…around a quarter of what one would need to fork out for the long black and all the rest at those very expensive coffee joints, branded or otherwise, and I remember the lady boss telling me that they use the coffee powder from Mui Hock no less.

Incidentally, if anyone is keen on dropping by for a quick lunch, they can call and book one of these sets or packages…

Ruby Restaurant lunch sets

…so when the time comes, they can just drop by and eat and leave. You can call the restaurant at 084-323964 or on their mobile phone contact, 016-8905833. I’m afraid I don’t know what’s on the menu as I can’t read Mandarin and if you can’t either, you can just call them – the boss and his wife are conversant in English, Foochow, Hokkien, Mandarin and Malay too, I’m sure. Old folks are more multi-lingual unlike the younger lot these days.

After lunch, we dropped by here for the nice “dessert” and that was when my brother-in-law called to invite us out to dinner. Where? That’s right! Coincidentally, they had picked the same restaurant to go to for dinner – it was my sister-in-law’s birthday!

The daughter, my niece in Singapore, had flown back that morning taking the direct flight from JB and she brought along this birthday cake…

White Spatula Earl Grey lavender 1
*Niece’s photo on Facebook*

…for her mum – the Earl Grey lavender…

White Spatulu Earl Grey lavender 2

…from this online home-based business…

White Spatula
*Niece’s photo on Facebook*

It was supposed to cost over SGD50.00 but my niece managed to get one of those Groupon deals and paid half that price only for it.

Of course, we had to have the fried mee sua

Ruby Restaurant fried mee sua

…for longevity and we also had this egg drop soup…

Ruby Restaurant egg drop soup

…with the lightly fried “golden” eggs though the one I got wasn’t that well done and was not so golden like the rest. Usually people would drop the eggs into the hot boiling soup so what they would get in the end would be poached eggs. My missus would fry the eggs and add them to the soup and of course, hers is nicer – lots of ginger fried in sesame oil and lots and lots of our Traditional Foochow red wine. This one here was nice too, not bad at all considering that it actually was not on the menu and they were nice enough to cook it for us by special request. I wonder why they did not ask for the mee sua to be served in it though and had that fried separately – we usually have mee sua with this egg drop soup, a welcome change from the usual – chicken.

We ordered this specially for my brother-in-law, the fried omelette with lap cheong (Chinese sausage)…

Ruby Restaurant omelette with lap cheong

…as he always complains that he does not get to eat that at home and when he does, it is not so nicely done.

This is one of the restaurant’s signature dishes…

Ruby Restaurant fried ownmade tofu

– their own-made tofu. They have two types, the plain ones and this one has dried prawns (udang kering) in it and I do think that brings the taste to a whole new level. Very nice!

For the vegetable dish, we had midin (wild jungle fern)…

Ruby Restaurant midin

…a change from what we had for lunch that afternoon and they decided not to order the pandan chicken since we already had it earlier in the day.

We also had their claypot pork with salted fish and dried chilies…

Ruby Restaurant claypot pork with salted fish & dried chilies

…and yet another one of their signature dishes, their butter scotch prawns…

Ruby Restaurant butter scotch prawns

– the favourite of many, something that is not available elsewhere here, there or anywhere.

That sure was a delightful dinner that night, 7 dishes for only around RM110.00, inclusive of rice and drinks. While other places are jacking up their prices and what they dish out here is consistently good, I believe that is the reason why people are  flocking back. There was quite a crowd that night and there were several tables as well when we were there for lunch, a far cry from one time not too long ago when things seemed rather quiet and a bit slow.