This place…
…has been around for quite sometime now and I did drive past a number of times. Each time, I would notice a lot of people eating there, especially in the morning and that made me wonder what was it that attracted the crowd. Some friends of mine had been there too and they did share some photographs on Facebook but I did not see anything out of the ordinary, pretty much the same things that one would be able to find elsewhere.
Well, if you’re wondering where this is, it is in that solitary building on the right of the road that leads to the Sungai Merah traffic lights…
…about 100 metres from the RHB Bank, Sungai Merah Branch in that area of shops with the big supermarket and also this place and this one and this one…and this one too, as well as this one that faces the workshop where I take my car to all the time as and when the need arises…and this Malay coffee shop is the one with the green pillars to the left in the above photograph.
Anyway, it so happened that the other day, I decided to drop by to check this place out and I had my usual kopi-o-peng (iced coffee, black)…
…and yes, it was good, as good as those at the better places in town and I ordered the pian sip mee (kampua noodles with wantons/meat dumplings)…
…from this stall there…
…and it was all right too, as good as most other places around town. I added the chili sauce that they gave…
…and I thought it sure helped enhance the taste and I did like it quite a lot more.
But what impressed me most of all was that they only charged RM2.50 a plate. I went back to this place, one of our favourites in town plus it is round the corner from my house, just a couple of days earlier and they asked for RM3.20. Good grief!!! I did drop by not too long ago and they had raised the price to RM3.00 and they have raised it again.
If you look at it this way, it does make quite a lot of difference. For a family of five, you and your wife and three children, you will have to order 5 plates altogether and eating here, you would have saved RM3.50, enough for another plate with RM1.00 change. I certainly would want to come here instead. As the Malay saying goes, “Sikit sikit jadi bukit!” A little bit can contribute towards quite a lot eventually.
There is a stall at the back dishing out all the fried stuff but I did not try anything from there. Perhaps I will drop by here again one of these days to see if there is anything good.
MARKET CAFE (2.327140, 111.839997) is located along Lorong Sg Merah 2 in the building on the right where Moh Hin Hardware is located.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Good coffee and pan mee (value for money, too) in a sitting. That sure put a smile on your face.
What was the texture of the noodles like? QQ or soft?
Nothing like pan mee.
Kampua mee with wanton for only RM2.50, that’s a good deal. Over here, hardly can find anything below RM3.00 these days. All RM4 & above. Taugeh kway teow without meat is RM4.00-4.50 & with meat add another ringgit.
Heard over the last couple of days that everybody here has jacked up the prices of everything by 50 sen, so kampua elsewhere would be at least RM3.50, Foochow fried mee RM4.50 and above. Dunno if they will increase the prices at this place or not, will drop by and see when I have the time.
Your second photo is lovely!
Evergreen, that’s the way it is here…all year round.
I like your shot of those beautiful old trees with a bit of blue sky peeping through in the background.
The brainchild of the late MP for Sibu when he was the mayor of the municipal council here – plant lots of trees, all along the roads. Too bad he died too soon and the trees are not very well-kept. Could have been really very nice.
The kampua stall operator is being philanthropic, maintaining the high standards of his fare while taking care of customers’ appetites at the same time.
That’s a business tactic. When you are located out of the way than most, lower the prices to get the customers flocking in. With the bigger turnover, you will make as much money or maybe even more but of course, you will have to work harder, twice as hard.
Another bonus here is parking is a breeze and it is free. If you eat at other places, you may have to fork out 40 sen extra for half an hour or 80 sen, if service is slow…or you eat at a snail’s pace and you may have a problem finding a space, in the first place!
Should come to Sibu these coming holidays.
Come, come. Lots of long weekends coming up!
Pian sip, i won’t get tired of eating it…
Not the same as your wantons…and I hear the ones there not so nice, skin too thick.
i wonder what’s the english-language equivalent of ‘sikit-sikit lama-lama jadi bukit’ – i can’t quite think of any proverb like that 🙂
Neither can I.
We can’t get anything for RM2.50 these days here. Even the morning mihun stall charges RM2 for a pack of fried mihun kosong 😦
There! It’s cheaper than the kampua! I just heard there is one place selling at RM2.20 here, maybe I would drop by to try one of these days.