In my post the other day, I mentioned that Peter and his boys came to my house to help me do all the work to revive my ailing rambutan tree and he only accepted a token payment of RM50.00 for all that work. As they say, one good turn deserves another so when my cousin from Brisbane, Australia came over with her brother and wife from Miri for the Ching Ming Festival, I had no second thoughts as to where I would take them for dinner – here, of course!
This was last Friday, and it is the season of Lent, so I ordered the belimbing prawns, with rice (RM17.00)…
I asked for two servings as there were six of us altogether but Peter said no, just order one…and obviously, he went out of his way to cook us a lot more than what would be in their usual single portion.
We had two of their otak-otak, with rice (RM13.00 each)…
…and their Payung fish, with rice (RM15.00)…
– the lovely ikan keli ( cat fish) cooked in soy sauce with lots of ginger and everything else. My guests loved it so much and they started talking about how the late mum/mum-in-law used to cook this the same way and how she would add brandy to it. Yes, we do that when we cook our own at home for that extra kick. My girl used to enjoy this very much too but of course, being on a gluten-free diet and soy sauce is used in the cooking, she had to give it a miss.
The poor girl could not eat the mushroom roll (RM8.00)…
…either as wheat is an ingredient in the making of the skin.
The Payung rojak (RM12.00)…
…was all right, she could eat that, and so was the pomelo salad (RM8.00)…
We got this papaya salad…
…on the house and it sure took everyone’s breath away – it was really very good.
The paku (wild jungle fern) fried with hay bee/udang kering (dried prawns) and santan (coconut milk)…
…was beautifully done as well, a whole lot nicer than the previous times when we had this same dish here and yes, that was on the house too and also this herb salad…
…and the mixed vegetable salad…
We shared two of their durian ice cream (RM10.00 each)…
*Cousin’s photo on Facebook*
…for dessert and all in all, the bill came up to RM106.00 for the six of us. Needless to say, everyone enjoyed everything to the max and thank you so much, Peter, for the special treats! For one thing, you may get something similar or quite different elsewhere but for these, you can only get it here in Sibu, only at Payung!
PAYUNG CAFE (2.284049, 111.833014) is located at No.20F, Lanang Road, Sibu, Malaysia, back to back with the multi-storey car park of the Kingwood Hotel which faces the majestic Rejang River.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 