I keep coming back…

Actually, my intention was to take my girl here for lunch on Saturday when she was home for the weekend – I was there the day before, Friday – so she could enjoy all the ethnic culinary delights that they would have in store. However, she was not free as she had to conduct a course for teachers in the same district from 9.00 a.m. till 1.00 a.m. and lunch would be provided so I did the next best thing – I decided to drop by and tapao (take away) their pansoh babi (pork cooked in bamboo) and kacang ma chicken for her for dinner.

I was very early – it was just 9 something, not 10.00 a.m. yet so I thought I would try the chap fan from the chu char place at the back. It looked like those people would get their dishes served very much earlier so I was very sure there would be quite a lot for me to choose by then. However, when I got there, I saw that a few of the dishes were already available so I changed my mind right away about going for the Chinese mixed rice and had their kacang ma chicken…

…again. They had the dry version that morning though. I know some people like it like that but I would love a little bit of sauce to mix with the rice.

This is the snapshot of the fish that I had the day before…

…but did not take a photograph of it and no, I did not have it again. I just had the chicken, one meat and two vegetables, this cangkuk manis with pumpkin…

…and this paku (wild jungle fern)…

…with bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots? Oh no!!! I did not notice they had that in it when I placed my order. In the end, I passed it all to my missus – she loves bamboo shoots…and she gave me a bit of her pork and pineapple curry…

*Archive photo*

…which was very nice though personally, I would prefer our giant udang galah (freshwater prawns) cooked this way but don’t dream of ever getting those at a nasi campur place – they are worth their weight in gold and even if they had it, you would probably have to pay through your nose just to get one to enjoy like at this place here, RM20.00 each in 2014, dunno how much they are charging now.

This came out later, after we had finished eating – the kangkong with pig’s blood and intestines…

…so I did not get to try that though I sure would love to. I guess that will have to wait till the next time I spot it being served here.

On Sunday, we were out of town, sending my girl back to her school in the jungle and what a relief it was to find that there was electricity! When we sent her on Wednesday (2nd November) after the long Deepavali weekend, the supply was down and for the three nights she was back there, it was not restored. My sister-in-law tagged along and she was visibly upset to see what her dear niece had to put up with. We did not know how long there had not been any electricity but everything in the fridge was spoilt and the stink was horrible – we had to clear everything and throw it all away.

Anyway, I got word from the Anak Borneo people that they were closed for the day. It seems that they have picked Sunday as their day of rest every week so you can go on any other day but never on Sunday. They added that they would have tempoyak (fermented durian) the following day, Monday so there I was once again to see what they would cook with it. They had this tempoyak pork…

…and yes, it was very nice indeed and a welcome change from the pansoh babi and the kacang ma chicken. I did not pick those this time around but I did ask for the tapioca leaves again and also this buah keluak with cincaluk (fermented shrimps)…

They did not seem to have rubber seeds in it that day…

– probably they had run out of those but nonetheless, it was very nice and I sure enjoyed it a lot.

Instead of the tapioca leaves that I had, my missus picked the cucumber leaves with salai ikan (smoked fish) and whatever else…

…instead and we had this on the house to try – the ikan patin kerabu…

…and yes, it was really nice too.

Of course, lunch was great, both times after the first time but no, I will have to stop coming back for more or else I would not have anything new to blog about. Having said that, rest assured that they certainly would see me there again…sooner of later. LOL!!!