I heard from my friend/ex-classmate, Robert, that the Indian/mamak guy here (2.292183, 111.825947) has opened a new outlet with his son at the helm…so of course, I just had to go and check the place out. I used to drop by that guy’s place, right next to a bookstore, across the road from this hotel, for his very nice nasi bryani (and there are people who would insist that the roti canai there is very good too) but I have not been there for a long time now for one obvious reason in particular – parking in that area can be such a pain, what with at least six or seven banks very close by plus the place is way too crowded, so very hot and stuffy especially if you choose to sit inside.
Well, this one is located at the hawker centre at what was the Sibu Exhibition Centre (2.287281, 111.825644) right beside/behind the pagoda…
…at the Chinese temple in the town centre, a stone’s throw away from the building where the Inland Revenue office is located…
I am not sure if there is still space for an exhibition as it looks like a big part of the place is now occupied by the 1Malaysia shop and a sports shop which I understand rents out their indoor badminton courts at that same location to those thus inclined.
You can imagine my excitement and delight when I saw the sign…
Banana leaf (daun pisang, and hari hari means every day in Malay)!!! That exclusively Indian dining experience that I enjoy very much, and my girl too! All this while, I have been wishing and hoping that we would be able to have that here but my happiness was short-lived for when I went in to ask, I was duly informed that no, they do not have those Indian banana leaf meal sets but they would line every plate of anything they serve with a piece of banana leaf. Tsk! Tsk!
I must say that the place looks kind of shabby. They are occupying three stalls, one where this sweet young thing would be making the roti canai and the tosai and what not and dishing out the nasi lemak…
…and you can help yourself to the nasi campur at the one next to it…
…and they make the drinks at the third one. I would say that the whole hawker centre, that had seen better days and was enjoying brisk business at one time, is so very run down. None of the other stalls there have been rented out and because of the uninviting appearance, I sure would think twice about bringing friends here to eat, especially visitors from out of town. They will have to do something about it and do it soon.
Then, I saw this!…
…Their nasi bryani is available on only one day in a week, Friday and we were there on a Tuesday. We got there at around 10 something and I guess that was a little too early for their nasi campur – only the curries were available…
…and one vegetable dish but by the time we finished eating, there were two vegetable dishes already…
…and some fish…
I saw an Indian man, not a very young one, doing the cooking and taking them out one by one for display in the cabinet and yes, it is covered with sliding doors of frames of mosquito netting to make sure that the flies keep their distance.
My missus had their nasi lemak special (RM5.00)…
…and no, the rice was not lemak but what pissed us off was how stingy they were with the sambal – just a spoonful, no more, no less.
I had the regular, the nasi lemak biasa (RM3.00)…
…and it looked like the only difference was that I did not get the chicken wing and instead of one big salted fish, I got three small ones.
I also ordered the tosey [SIC] telur (RM3.00)…
…tosai with egg, that is and it came with four different sauces, the curry gravy and the dhal dip…
…and the specially-for-tosai dip and one more that was very very nice…
…just that I did not know what it was, not the nasi lemak sambal – this much I can say.
Well, I sure enjoyed that…
…a lot and I wouldn’t mind having it again.
I did speak to one of the girls who was kind of evasive in her responses but from what I vaguely gathered from her, this place is not in any way related to the one I mentioned at the beginning of this post and no, the Indian man is not the owner either, just an employee engaged to do the cooking. Ah well! Never mind who or whose – I am not too sure I would want to drop by again for it certainly is not the most attractive of places to go and eat. The only saving grace is to just go and eat there, parking, though it may not be that easily available, is free – you will have to pay if you leave your car there and walk out of the place to go to the shops or wherever within walking distance…or if you park your car at the parking spaces outside, on the other side of the fence.
STOP PRESS:
Word has it that this place is not connected to the one I mentioned in the post but is actually the people here before, right beside the old Sibu mosque..and the guy is only free to cook the nasi bryani on Fridays owing to commitments elsewhere. I loved the nasi bryani there, the best or one of the best in town at the time and the tosai was good too. Too bad they closed down the place for some reason or other…and I sure am glad they are back in action, never mind the somewhat uninviting appearance of the place.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
The stall holder of the daun pisang hari hari has try to maintain the ‘tradition’ by covering a dish with a banana leaf. Bless them! 😜 I wonder if this is in line with the Trading Standards? 👀
It appears that skinny nasi lemak is in and the fatty nasi lemak is out. I would be tempted to avoid nasi lemak with a long barge pole.
From the picture, this eatery lacks the energy and the vibrancy.
It sure looks uninviting, so very dull.
It’s sad that it’s supposedly the national dish and they cannot do it well – might as well rename it nasi tak lemak. In fact, it would taste pretty much the same with just plain white rice – what makes it taste good would be all the added condiments by the side. So far, the nicest one in town – one that is QUITE lemak and very generous with the sambal is cooked by a Chinese guy, former hotel chef and later at a classy cafe and he was with a local franchise for a long time before he opened his own place.
The sign banana leaf is very misleading. I can feel how your happiness was short-lived when they told you. Not only is the sambal so little, so is the peanuts.
Your missus nasi lemak has only 13 peanuts, eh.
Indeed!
Wowwww!!!! You counted? I do not mind fewer peanuts and ikan bilis. The nasi has to be lemak, otherwise why call it nasi lemak? And they should give more sambal…like the ones at that Chinese guy’s shop that I QUITE enjoy, quite lemak and a lot of sambal.
Tosai to the rescue it sounds like, after high expectations and then disappointment. Your photo of the nasi lemak does make it look lovely though. 🙂
I guess that was one good thing about the banana leaf – it did the dish look nicer with all that green. Not too sure how it would affect the taste since the rice is not cooked in the leaf. Would probably be good to wrap the rice in it and steam prior to serving – the added fragrance would help make up for the lack of santan…and pandan fragrance as well.
Me not into tosey , still prefer to eat roti prata…
You can have that here, except that we call it roti canai.
Oh. Not a pleasant dining experience here. Hmm. Hmm. The special and your normal nasi lemak no much difference but sure RM2 difference!
RM2 extra for one chicken wing…and a big salted fish.
Evasive ?! Of course! A weird uncle questioning her nasi lemak!
She must think I was such a busybody. Must get the details for my post mah, get more customers to come. Did not look like they were getting quite a lot at this point in time.
At least you tried, now you know… If the nasi lemak has more sambal to it, the RM5 is almost reasonable. Over here in a cafe with air con, it cost around RM9.90 with a free soya bean milk drink. 🙂
It’s RM5.90 here and you get a free drink too. I think it’s RM4, the regular at my favourite place…and you can be sure you will get a whole lot of sambal. I may go back for the tosai or to try the bryani…but as far as the nasi lemak goes, it is a definite no, thank you.
Ooo I guess if you do go back, you can make it on a Friday for biryani — hey, today is Friday!!! 😀
See my reply to Phong Hong below. Would be good if on Saturdays instead.
Ah, too bad it turned out not to be the Indian banana leaf rice. But still, the nasi biryani on Fridays sound promising.
But usually, my Fridays are no-meat days…plus my girl will only be home by afternoon. 😦