Bad weather…

It was hot and sunny that morning and we were out and about doing this and that when suddenly, the sky turned dark and a raging storm broke out. There was no way we could run to the car, parked quite a distance away, without getting soaking wet so we decided to wait for the pouring rain to abate before attempting to do so.

There was only this place (2.291635, 111.827010)…

…in that block of shops, the non-air conditioned side of this café along Kampung Nyabor Road so we decided to seek refuge there.

I can’t say I was all that overwhelmed by their decor…

…with all the cooking utensils and what not hanging on the wall…

…and the fairy or Christmas lights dangling all over. I cannot imagine what that would look like at night when they switch them all on.

I saw roti paratha on their menu and that got me wondering – I think I read somewhere that what we call roti canai here, they call roti paratha or prata in Singapore but they already had roti canai…

*Archive photo*

…as a separate item. That was why I decided to order one (RM2.00)…

…to try and see what it was. It sure was different and there I was, wishing that they had given a bit more of the nice sambal…

…and though the dhal dip was thick, not diluted like some elsewhere…

…it did not taste as nice as the one here. Well, somebody pointed out that this is actually chapati and I have no idea whatsoever as to why they have named it thus on their menu, as roti paratha.

The ladies wanted one roti tisu (RM9.90) to share and I had the opportunity to watch the guy making…

…and cooking it on a big circular hot plate…

Of course, the batter used was a different one from either the roti canai or the roti paratha. He kept pressing it down probably to get the air out from underneath…

…and to make it as thin as possible…

…and he also cut away the thicker edges as well.

When it was done, he rolled it up…

…in the shape of a cone…

…and placed it on a plate before pouring sweetened creamer all over it…

…and serving it…

Yes, it was very nice, paper thin…though he could have been a bit more generous with the sweetened creamer or they could have given that in a saucer for us to dip as towards the end, we were actually eating the roti minus the creamer especially the part that had been folded inside.

The rain was not all that heavy by the time we had finished so we had no problem getting back to the car and was finally able to make our way home.

Late in the night…

That day when we went here for lunch, my girl went to see a movie in the evening and it was quite late when she got home, around 7.30 p.m. Well, that was late by our standard as usually, we would have our dinner at around 6.00 p.m. but it was perfectly all right as that was during the school holidays so we were quite flexible where everything was concerned. Most importantly, that was the time for her to relax and enjoy herself, a welcome break from the dreary days she has to spend at her school in the jungle.

We headed to this place…

…here where we had a pleasant and delightful dinner once.

My girl had their Australian strip loin steak (RM19.90, special promotional price)…

…which she enjoyed a lot and she loved the mashed potatoes too.

I did try a bit of the meat…

…and yes, it was very nice – nicer than any beef steaks I have had elsewhere before this. Of course, she had it well done – we do not get fresh beef here and I am quite wary about the imported frozen ones that we have around here, never mind that some may claim that it is air-flown or what. You certainly would not catch me having it red and oozing with all the blood and juices though people insist that beef is tastier and more tender that way. This one was nice and tender – even for ol’ toothless me – and was very tasty.

I was torn between the baked saltcrust white tilapia and the chicken cordon bleu and in the end, I decided to go for the later. Unfortunately, the waitress came back to inform me that it was not available. Tsk! Tsk! I was rather put off by that so I just decided to order their nasi lemak (RM12.90)…

…to see if it was any good. The moment it was served, I was put off by those bland, not-all-that-crispy mini-keropok (prawn crackers). I just cannot understand why many cafés here love to serve those by the side of their dishes…and another thing that would put me off would be the ones where everything would be buried under all the squiggles of mayonnaise. So NCAA (no class at all)! I wouldn’t mind it one bit if they had given a couple of those cheap salted fish, RM2.00 for a whole bag of those at the supermarkets here. At least, those would be one of the standard condiments that usually go with a plate of nasi lemak and would not stick out like a sore thumb!

The fried egg…

…was not done the way I would like it.  Obviously, they used a pan to fry it and they flipped the egg so that was why it looked like that. Thankfully, they removed it from the fire sooner so the yolk was still a little soft and a little bit runny, not horribly hard and overcooked.

The sambal was so-so, not quite like the regular nasi lemak sambal but it was all right and the fried chicken…

…was…like fried chicken. Period.

Of course, when it comes to nasi lemak, my prime concern would be the rice and for reasons known only to them, they were using basmati rice…with a hint of some spices used in the cooking but no, there was hardly any fragrance of the santan (coconut milk) nor the pandan (screwpine leaves). Why call it nasi lemak when it is far from being lemak, I wonder? I guess it is pretty obvious whether or not I would order this should I ever drop by here again.

As for my missus, she stuck loyally to her chicken chop (RM8.90, special promotional price)…

…with mushroom sauce and yes, like the previous time when she had it, it was good.

The total, inclusive of drinks, came up to RM50.60 and even though that was substantially less than what I had paid for our lunch that day (RM76.00), we certainly derived a lot more satisfaction from the latter…especially with that very disappointing nasi lemak that I had.

Don’t miss it…

This is one place not be be missed if ever you come to Sibu. For one thing, where else can you get to see this…

…or this…

…or this…

…all around? These beautiful natural beauties along with all the herbs and green leafy plants plus the unique decor of the place would not fail to make the place stand out above all the rest, that’s for sure…and then, of course, there is the food!

My friend from Singapore who was here that day over one weekend was singing praises of everything that they had and enjoyed so much and was so delighted at being able to come here for dinner the night before they left town.

Well, we dropped by again that day during the school holidays last week and my girl wanted the herbs salad (RM8.00)…

I quite like it too though I would not say it is my favourite. Those into healthy stuff would definitely love it, all the raw herbs and vegetables tossed with some very nice sourish dressing.

She also wanted their Bangladeshi lamb curry (RM19.00, with rice)…

– one of her favourites here and as their green chicken curry was sold out and they had not had the chance to cook some more, we settled for the lamb masala (RM19.00, with rice)…

…instead, something that was not really on our favoured list, but she loved it a lot! The flavours are not as strong as the former and if I am not wrong, there is yogurt in it and it is not spicy…

…and she seemed to eat a lot more of this dish than the other one that day.

I also ordered the Payung fish (RM15, with rice)…

…which is catfish (ikan keli) cooked with a whole lot of ginger and lemon grass and chili and soy sauce…

…and my girl kept saying it was so very good, probably dropping broad hints to the mum who can cook this dish very very well too but hardly ever does so as for some reason, she would not eat keli.

For dessert, we shared the durian ice cream (RM10.00)…

…with a special request for extra fresh durian cream…

…and never mind that lunch was not all that cheap, it certainly was value for money…compared to our dinner that same day but that would be in the next post.

There was a group at the next table, Mandarin-speaking and obviously from out of town, here for the international dance festival, and they kept saying, “好吃! 好吃!” (delicious/tasty) the whole time they were enjoying what was served to them. I don’t know about you but many who came and ate…would always leave, looking forward to the next time they could come back for more!

In a different way…

This is our own made-in-Sibu Daddy Mee…

…instant noodles. There has been a slight improvement, I noticed – the packaging is now some kind of thin aluminium foil not the flimsy plastic that they had in the past but other than that, it is still the same.

In case you’re wondering, the 3-in-1 does not mean there are three things you can get in one packet though there are the noodles and a sachet of seasoning plus a little pack of shallot oil inside. What it actually means is that you can have it in three different ways – in soup, dry or just eat it like that as a snack.

I rather like the soup version – it brings to mind the ching th’ng mee (noodles in clear soup)…

*Archive photo*

…available at all the kampua noodle stalls in town, minus the meat, of course, unless you add your own.

However, I did try serving it dry not too long ago and I thought it was nice. My missus was never a fan – she insisted the noodles tasted like some kind of plain biscuit but she did seem to enjoy it like this…

…tossed with half the sachet of seasoning (do not use the whole packet or it will be too salty), the shallot oil plus a bit of the ABC Extra Hot Chili Sauce and garnished with chopped spring onions and sliced cili padi.

For one thing, people keep saying that when eating instant noodles, one must boil the noodles first and drain before adding to the soup. This way, that is taken care of as you would have done that before tossing with the ingredients.

Moving on from there, this is a different way of cooking that some of you may not be familiar with. Like how the ethnic population here have their pansoh – meat or seafood cooked in bamboo tubes over a hot charcoal fire, we have our masak kuden, masak meaning cook and kuden, if I am not wrong, refers to the pot. I am not sure if it is Melanau but it has been in my maternal side of the family for as long as I can remember. This is a very simple kampung-style cooking method whereby you line the bottom of the pot with banana leaf, rub the fish with salt and place it on top, cover the pot and put it over a very very small fire to slow cook until the juices come out and the fish is cooked.

I did not have any banana leaf so I used kunyit (turmeric) leaves instead and I could not resist throwing in a bit of ginger and daun kesum…

It was raining that day, otherwise I would have gone out to set some serai (lemon grass) as well.

I’ve baked fish with these ingredients wrapped in aluminium foil before and it was very nice too but of course, in the old days, they did not have an electric oven so traditionally, this was how they did it. What would separate the men from the boys would be the type of fish used and how fresh it is.

Last but not least, I was going to fry some leftover rice that I spotted sitting in the fridge that morning but it turned out that there was tang hoon (glass noodles) in one of the plastic tubs, not rice and I went ahead and fried that instead…with belacan (dried prawn paste)…

…and it turned out really nice – I thought it was nicer than rice or bihun (rice vermicelli), a welcome change indeed.

I do think that sometimes, it is good to stray away from the well-trodden paths and do things in a different way instead of following the same ol’ boring recipes day in and day out. What do you think?

On Sunday…

…after the morning service in the church, I was thinking of having something light as I did not have anything for breakfast prior to leaving the house that morning. I was thinking of the roti canai here but the stall was closed probably because it was Hari Raya Haji the very next day and Janggut’s stall was not open either – well, I did notice that his was always closed on Sundays.

In the end, we adjourned here…

…as it is located a couple of minutes’ walk away. That nice and friendly Indian guy looks like he has put on a bit of weight and is much more handsome now. Hmmm…Sibu sure is a great place to live, eh? LOL!!!

My missus had their mee mamak (RM3.50)…

…which was way nicer than what she had here and so much cheaper too, a difference of RM2.00!!! Even if you have to fork out the parking fee of 40 sen for half an hour around here, it will not come up to that much.

My girl did not want to eat anything as she wanted to save her tummy space for my mum’s birthday lunch at my parents’ house later but when we got there, she saw that they had dosai or tosai and she could not resist ordering one (RM2.20)…

It came with this special dip…

…and yes, she liked it a lot and sure enjoyed herself. We do not get this a lot here, maybe just at one other place, if I am not wrong.

She also helped herself to the very nice curry dips…

…that I got for my orders.

I was a little slow in walking from that other shop and by the time I got there, she and the mum had already placed their orders and I was not aware that she had asked for the dosai. That was why I requested for one roti canai (RM1.20) and one roti telur (RM2.00)…

…and I had to finish both all by myself. Personally, I thought the roti canai was nicer – more fragrant, crispier and I enjoyed it a lot more than the other one with egg.

We had not been here for quite a while now, no particular reason, but looking at how we enjoyed our little breakfast, we certainly would be back again…soon.

FOOTNOTE:
It’s the 16th of September, the actual day in 1963 when all the states in the mainland peninsula, then-called Malaya, and Sarawak and Sabah across the South China Sea on the island of Borneo came together to form the Federation of Malaysia along with Singapore which left on August, 9th 1965.

Happy Malaysia Day!

I love you this much…

We did not plan on dropping by here for lunch last Saturday because usually, it would be virtually impossible to find a parking space in the vicinity but it so happened that we were around that part of the town centre and luck was on our side so there we were at this same ol’ place having more or less the same ol’ dishes.

Well, it was the weekend of our annual Sibu International Dance Festival so all the dancers from all the different countries in the world were here and it so happened that they were at that same restaurant for lunch, groups and groups of them! Thankfully, their lunch was pre-ordered so as soon as one group was seated, the dishes came out really fast…and thankfully, we did not have to wait a long time for ours either.

The ones I saw included those from Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong…and a whole lot of other countries but I only spotted three Caucasians at a table quite near to ours, dunno which country they came from. Suddenly one of them, a guy, exclaimed out loud repeatedly, “I love this so much! I really love this! It is so nice!” Of course I was curious as to what got him so excited so I went and peeped. It was our local wild  fern, the midin…

Coincidentally, we also ordered it that day, fried with belacan (RM8.00)…

…and though I had never seen it cooked with Bombay onions before, it was really very very nice and the gravy went absolutely well with rice.

Yes, we had the sizzling beef on a hot plate (RM13.00)…

…again as well – one of my girl’s favourites at this restaurant and yes, it was as good as ever…

– the beef was so nice and tender and we certainly enjoyed that.

I remember the last time we were here, we did not quite enjoy their plum sauce chicken as it was kind of hard but we decided to take the chance and asked for it again (RM12.00)…

…as this is among their many nice dishes that we would love to have each time we drop by and yes, it was perfectly done this time around.

I noticed that the prices had gone up a bit – the beef was RM12.00 the first time we were here when they moved to their new location and the chicken was only RM10.00 then. That, of course, is to be expected as the prices of everything have been going up and up and up. Having said that, I am of the opinion that it is still very cheap – there were three of us and we ordered for two but the servings were huge enough for at least, four persons…and most importantly, the food was nice and we sure enjoyed our lunch that day. Without doubt, we will be back…if we can find a place to park, that is.

FOOTNOTE:
Well, it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) or the Zhōngqiū Jié, also known as the Mooncake Festival so here’s wishing everybody a Happy Mooncake Festival. Enjoy eating your mooncakes. Planning anything special for dinner tonight?

The same day…

9/11 is one day that everyone throughout the world will remember. It has been 15 years – those who were kids at the time would be teenagers now and they may not feel that same horror that everybody felt when it all happened.

9/11 is also my mum’s birthday and every year, we would all go out to some restaurant in town for dinner and that year was no different. We got home at around 9 in the night and that would be around 9 in the morning in the US. I switched on the tv and saw it on the news – a plane stuck in the burning tower and I called out to my girl and the mum thinking that it was the Millennium Bug gone awry and that was when the second plane came and crashed into the next tower and my blood ran cold. It certainly was something a lot more serious than I thought.

We no longer go out for dinner anymore, not since my mum became bedridden in 2007, 9 years ago so every year, we would go to my parents’ house to have a little celebration and that was what we did the other day.

My sister went and ordered a few dishes from this restaurant including the must-have longevity noodles, the mee sua, fried…

…and served with the lightly-fried golden eggs…and also my girl’s favourite – their deep fried bawal putih (white pomfret) fillet with the very nice sauce…

Other than the two, we also had these chicken…

…and sea cucumber…

…dishes and also one vegetable dish…

…as well.

I went to another restaurant in town – this one – and bought the fish maw clear soup…

*Archive photo*

…that I do enjoy a lot without fail everytime I get the chance to have that and I also bought their prawn fritters and ngor hiang (meat rolls)…

…that we have enjoyed for as long as I can remember and that sure has been a long long time now.

It was quite simple, the lunch with my parents and sister and me and my missus and my girl, just the six of us but what mattered most was how happy it made my mum to see everybody gathered together on her special day – she certainly was smiling and talking a lot more and eating much more too. Nothing beats having one’s loved and dear ones around on such special occasions, that’s for sure.

Other side of town…

This (2.343258, 111.836678)…

…is on the other side of town, along Jalan Wawasan – you turn left at the roundabout where the university, private college and international school are located and the Sg Merah police station and also the Batang Igan Bridge are straight ahead and considering its somewhat distant location, I was rather surprised to see quite a lot of people eating there when I dropped by that morning.

The kopi-o-peng kao or the iced black coffee, extra strong (RM1.50)…

…was quite good and cheaper than a number of places here.

Well, if you are wondering what took me all the way there, it was because a friend shared a photograph of their fried laksa bihun on Facebook and it looked good. I did not order that though as I thought I would like to try the fried laksa mee mamak (RM4.00)…

…instead.

It was very nice – my missus said it was nicer than what she had here that day and in comparison, it was definitely a lot more substantial and very much cheaper. I thought it was good too but those of you who are familiar with cooking your own Sarawak laksa would know how you would need to sieve the broth to collect all the blended stuff in the sambal and throw away. It was not too bad but I could feel it in the noodles…

…so perhaps they could use those that would not need any sieving or work out some way to get the flavour of the sambal for use when frying the noodles. Otherwise, I would much sooner go for the soup version – the nice girl gave me a little bowl of the broth to try and it was quite nice, just a tad salty but I guess with the bihun and all, it would be o.k.

My missus had their Foochow fried noodles (RM3.50)…

…and she said it was all right and there was quite a lot of meat buried under the noodles just that it lacked that much-coveted wok hei fragrance.

I saw on their Facebook page what I thought was Kuching kolo mee but when I asked, the girl said it was their kampua special (RM5.50)…

…but nonetheless, I decided I would want to give it a try as well. It was quite good, not quite like kampua noodles and not like kolo mee either but tossed with the minced meat and all, I would say that I did enjoy it. There were a few of those frozen meat balls and fish balls in it…

…and thankfully, the brand that they used was not the same as those smelly ones that I had here but still, should I happen to drop by and have this again, I would request for those to be omitted and replaced with more of the pian sip (meat dumplings) instead.

Considering the distance, I would not say I would be back all that soon but should I happen to be around that part of town, I certainly would not mind stopping by here again for a bite.

Island girl…

She’s my friend on Facebook and she married an ex-student of mine and I saw some posts of hers about a family venture selling ethnic delights…

…here at this coffee shop (2.293072, 111.836789) right behind the Rejang Medical Centre…

…starting at around 5.30 p.m. every day. I did go one Sunday evening to check it out but the shop was closed and likewise, the stall and I never went back since until the other evening.

For the uninitiated, Anak means child and Borneo is the island where Sarawak, Malaysia is located so Anak Borneo means child of the island of Borneo. You can’t possibly miss their stall by the side of the coffee shop as they are all dressed in black, wearing black aprons with the name stitched on it.

Of course, if it is our local Sarawak ethnic cuisine, there has to be pansoh ayam or babi (RM15.00 each)…

…chicken or pork cooked in bamboo over hot burning charcoal. I did not feel like having chicken that day so I opted for the pork…

…and boy, it was so very very nice!!! For want of some vegetables to go with our orders, after we were through, I spotted my friend and the hubby at the stall and I asked why they did not serve the daun Bandong/ daun ubi (tapioca leaves) with the meat. After all, they would have lots of those since they use them to stuff the bamboo. According to the latter, they would serve the leaves should any customer request for it, otherwise, they would not. I certainly would do that the next time I drop by here as I do enjoy eating them.

Among the things that they sell at the stall are these babi panggang (barbecued pork) slices…

…and this plateful is only RM10.00…

…for so much meat. Try buying RM10.00 worth at the char siew/siew yoke stall and see how much you will get…and yes, that was really very nice too!

There are also these clams, lokan we call them…

…also cooked over hot burning charcoal and then one of the guys will open them up and garnish with spring onions and chili…

…and serve (RM10.00)…

Yes, they were very fresh, so sweet and juicy and succulent…

…and we sure did enjoy them very much.

I saw some chicken wings as well but no, I would not be into those and just as we were leaving, I saw this…

…slab of barbecued pork ribs! No prize for guessing what I would be ordering the next time we drop by here. Slurpssss!!!!

From what I heard, they are going to start a fast food nasi campur/chap fan (mixed rice stall) serving all the lovely ethnic dishes for lunch as well as dinner. All this while, I have been grumbling that despite the Rejang River basin being the central Iban frontier in Sarawak, we do not have any stall selling their traditional delights. They have more than one in Kuching and I certainly enjoyed what I had here…and also in Bintulu. You can bet your bottom dollar that I would make my way there once they have started the stall. Care to join me there, anybody? Come! Come!

Yes, yes, yes…

…except that its name is in fact, not YES but YS…

…whatever the acronym stands for.

This coffee shop is located at the corner of a very nice block of shops at Wisma Hamimas, Kampung Nangka here (2.310715, 111.820735), right beside this cat café on the 1st floor…

It has been around for quite sometime now and I would drive past very often as my parents’ house is pretty close by and I would take this route home quite regularly after visiting them and spending some time with them every morning. We never bothered to stop by though as this place would always be packed with people, giving the impression that the food must be really great…but I am not all that fond of crowded places and long waits to be served.

The cat café is relatively new. I understand you can bring along your pets when you drop by to have dinner…but I’ve never been there to check it out. For one thing, I am not all that keen on going up staircases plus it only opens at 3, not for breakfast, brunch or lunch and besides, I don’t have a pussy. Hehehehehe!!!!

So what took us to this coffee shop that morning? Well, if you remember I went and tried the gula apong (nipah palm sugar) ice cream in Kuching that people seemed to be praising to the skies but I must say that I was quite disappointed – it wasn’t anything to shout about and definitely not anything I would want to have again. A friend who has tried it all told me that he likes the one here most of all and I did hear from some other people as well that it is very nice…and as the test of the pudding is in the eating, I took the trouble to stop by and ordered one (RM3.00)…

…to try and yes, it was indeed really very good!

The ice cream was so smooth, very rich and very creamy…

…and while the one here had vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of gula apong, in the case of this one, the ice cream itself was gula apong-flavoured and that certainly pushed it up a class above that other one that I went to try. I would say that I enjoyed it tremendously and I certainly would look forward to dropping by for more.

As for the food, I had their nasi lemak special (RM6.00)…

…and that, I must say, was very expensive for nothing more than the usual condiments and some rather badly-battered fried chicken…

…and a salted fish. The rice was not lemak (rich with santan/coconut milk) and they were somewhat stingy with the sambal…which wasn’t very nice, anyway. I’ve had others a lot nicer elsewhere and I am pretty sure I’ve had some that are cheaper as well.

My missus had the mee mamak (RM5.50)…

…with a special request for it to be extra pedas but it wasn’t. To be fair, it tasted all right but there was so little of it that it barely filled half the plate and RM5.50 is rather steep, I would think.

Based on what we had, I really could not fathom why this place would be packed every morning (except Mondays – that is their off day in the week), what it was that everyone seems to enjoy so much that it keeps them coming back for more. I looked around and saw a lot of them having kampua noodles with black soy sauce, the halal version, of course…but if I wanted that, I would go for one of my favourites in town – the real thing, non-halal.

Of course I would be back – not for the food and not at those prices but for the gula apong ice cream. It would be great on hot afternoons…and I probably would want more than just a serving – I wonder if they have a larger size.