On the spot…

If you remember, I did mention in some previous post that I would pack some meals/dishes for my girl to take to her school in her jungle to eat there but the other day, she mentioned in passing that most everything would be a whole lot nicer if eaten on the spot.

Well, that goes without saying, I guess. Anything that is reheated and eaten some days later would not be as nice as eating it freshly cooked and served piping hot. That was why when I suggested dropping by here…

…last Saturday evening after the sunset service at the cathedral down the road, she said yes, without any hesitation whatsoever.

I guess everyone would be able to tell which place we went to…

…for dinner that night.

The ladies had the “krongdong” juice (RM7.00 per glass)…

…or buah kedondong (ambarella) juice to be exact. The way they spelt it made me think of the very nice, soft and soothing keroncong music/songs playing softly in the background when you are dining here and it sure helps enhance the ambiance of the place.

They were out of their papaya salad and my girl asked for the herbs salad (RM8.00)…

…instead, not my favourite but I was ok with it.

They wanted the belimbing prawns (RM17.00, with rice)…

…and Peter, the boss, took it upon himself to cook that specially for us, with extra prawns, no extra charge and extra spicy – that was why it was reddish in colour.

Here, you can see Andy…

…one of Peter’s boys, cooking the same dish for the people at another table and it was the usual yellowish colour…

Of course, that would be nice too, just not (as) spicy.

Somebody ordered the green curry chicken…

…that night but no, we did not have that.

We did not have their butter chicken…

…either. I remember having that a long time ago and though it was nice, I would not say I was all that overwhelmed by it. It certainly looked a whole lot better and nicer now so perhaps, I would ask for it on our next visit.

The ladies also had the otak-otak (RM13.00, with rice)…

…which I must say is a whole lot spicier than before now and of course, that’s the way we like it!!!

So what did I have that night? Well, I saw some people at another table having their beef spaghetti (RM17.00)…

…and it looked really good. I had that before but the beef was sliced then and it was hard and tough so I did not really enjoy it. This time around, I noticed that they had cut the meat into little cubes, not chopped or minced, and yes, it was definitely more manageable and very much nicer this way.

My girl wanted to eat that so much but she could not as the spaghetti was not gluten-free but she tried the meat and the sauce and she loved it so very much! I asked Peter if I could buy the sauce and use it for the gluten-free pasta that we have in the house and he said he would cook it himself one of these days, specially for my girl. We certainly are looking forward to that!

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.