This time last year…

My uncle and his family were here this time last year, around the time of his birthday and we had a dinner here to celebrate. They were here again this year, a little earlier this time around and they wanted to come here again…

*Cousin’s photo on Facebook/Instagram*

…for the checkerboard duck…

…and of course, the Sibu Foochow style sio bee…

I did not think that would be a problem at all but just to be safe, I went a week ahead of time to make the reservation for the seven of us.

I also ordered this fish, the white pomfret (ikan bawal putih)…

…that had been filleted and deep fried, served with its very nice sauce…and boy, we sure got a huge one! They did not get to try this the last time around.

I did ask when I was placing the orders for the dishes and when we arrived that night, the ladies at the counter promptly informed me that they had checked with the chef and confirmed that there was no wheat flour nor soy sauce used in the cooking of the dishes we had picked…which also included this plate of midin (wild jungle fern)…

…and sea cucumber soup.

I told everybody that dinner would be on me that night as my birthday had just gone past, a belated birthday treat so to speak, and was pleasantly surprised that the food came up to only RM130.00, less than RM150.00 inclusive of rice and drinks and appetisers but it went up to around RM158.00 because of the GST charges.  Still, we thought it was so very cheap – this place is not all that well known for that – especially with that big plate of fish. I had expected that alone to cost around RM100.00, at least…and it was pek chio some more – those sure do not come cheap especially the ones this big. I would much sooner come here than fork out RM276.00 for what we had here not too long ago especially when the fish there was such a let down!

They drove all the way from Kuching and stopped by this little bazaar along the way and they managed to buy some derian mantak (unripe durian) which I cooked in our simple masak rebus style…

…for my mum to enjoy…and they also made a stop at Jakar for the celebrated giant freshwater prawn noodles…

…and they even tapao-ed some for me so I had that for breakfast the following morning.

My aunt made me her very nice Christmas fruit pudding…

*Archive photo*

…for me and also her bak koi…

Now, THIS is what we call bak koi, with a whole lot of meat and fried shallots unlike the one we can buy here sometimes…and my cousin gave me  a box of German-made chocolate filled with brandy! *hiccups*

Thank you, all, for everything. It sure was nice to have you all here again and we certainly look forward to the next time – it is always such a pleasure having our loved ones in town, that’s for sure.