My cousins, who were in town over the weekend, had never been here before, not me. In fact, I’ve been here many times but it had been quite a while since I last dropped by, probably sometime in June, I think.
Of course I insisted that they should try the ngor bee th’ng…
*Archive photo*
– something that we enjoyed a lot at one stall here during our growing up years but it, and all the nice food stalls along the stream that flowed through the town centre, eventually gave way to the Sibu Central Market. I do think the one here is nicer though but then again, back in those days, life was so pure and simple and we found immense delight in all the simplest of things that the young ones today would scoff at and frown upon with a disgusted look of disdain.
I ordered our two favourite dishes here, the prawns with young coconut flesh served in a coconut…
…and the pork that came with a special cincaluk (fermented shrimps) dip…
…both of which everyone gave the nod of approval.
The fried midin (wild jungle fern), ching chao (fried plain)…
…was well received too but I think the Four Heavenly Kings…
…won the day – they sure liked it a lot!
The steamed fish…
…was such a disappointment though. I really enjoyed the lajong here the first and the second time but when we dropped by here again soon after, they were out of that type of fish and replaced it with the tapah – which, though a popular fish for steaming around here, is not as smooth and as fine and it has a stronger smell and I am not particularly fond of that. I also had the lajong here and also here and on both occasions, we enjoyed it so much.
When I dropped by a day earlier to make the reservation and place the orders, I insisted that I would only want the lajong and the guy told me that he was expecting a delivery that evening and he would reserve it for me. Unfortunately, the skin which under normal circumstances I would enjoy a lot, was as hard as leather, impossible to bite and chew. Thankfully, the flesh of the fish was all right but no, it certainly was not as smooth and nice as all the lajong I had had before. I was kind of mood spoilt by this and you can be sure that if I ever come and have dinner here again, that would be one dish that I would not order.
The three-cup wine chicken…
…was something most of them had not had before and they thought it was very nice.
My KK cousin picked up the tab for our dinner that night and the total came up to a whooping RM276.00 for eight persons, inclusive of rice and drinks for everybody. I thought that was on the high side…and not really worth it especially when the fish was not to our satisfaction.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I think the price is reasonable for 8 pax. Maybe I’m used to KL standard where a meal out with the family can easily be over RM100++
I would not mind as much if the fish had been really good, like we were cheated, served something of such poor quality.
Three cup wine chicken….yum. The vegetables look great, too!
The chicken was fine, the vegetables too…just the fish.
Life did feel simpler 30, even 20 years ago, and the love for food was simpler too! I miss my malacca oh chien and popiah 🙂
…and a lot cheaper too.
Food looks good. 6 dishes for 8 pax (inclusive of rice & drinks), the price is quite reasonable. Yeah, agree that life back then was simple & easily satisfied with everything we had.
*faints* I did expect over RM100 or even near RM200…but that was a bit too much especially when the fish was far from nice.
I’d have to order prawns with young coconut flesh served in a coconut for sure! Coconut – yummy.
Now, THAT was very nice, like a mild version of asam prawns with a little bit of coconut milk. So pissed off by the fish. 😦
I am never fond of tapah. Too oily and strong fishy smell.
3 cups chicken. I cooked this dish before but looked like they deep fried the chicken. I just toss the meat with the sauces together.
Me neither. That was why I insisted I would not want tapah, if no lajong, we will decide what to order instead – it probably would have been a little better if we had tapah instead.
The guy said they just fry the chicken lightly in oil, no flour used – otherwise, my girl would not be able to eat, gluten. 😦
The ngor bee th’ng looks very good, and I would love to have the pork with cincaluk!
Both were all right, just the fish.
The prawns with young coconut flesh served in a coconut looks really very tempting…
It was good, and especially for first-timers – something different from the usual butter prawns or drunken prawns and what not. If only the fish had been good too! 😦
Such a pity that the most expensive item on the menu was a let down. But the rest look pretty good to me especially the pork with cincaluk 🙂
Yes, all ok except for the fish…and even so, I thought that was very expensive for a place like this, nothing really special, even if the fish had been really nice. 😦
Price still okay la..got prawn , meat and fish
Only a few prawns in the coconut, not that many. 😦
The food looks good as usual but you know better, of course. Pricing is reasonable as usual, got prawns and fish.. the other day when I posted up that restaurant food, the bill came to RM433, not cheap at all considering there is no fish involved… Nothing is cheap nowadays…
Over RM400??? *faints* I would have run amok!!! This is one of those (cheaper) small Chinese restaurants, nothing grand – I did not except it to go beyond RM200 even if the fish had been good…and not that there is anything so good I just have to go back there for it again and again. You can bet that after this, they will not see me again for a long long long time.