See what you get…

What you see in the menu here may not be what you can get, I’m afraid.

I saw they had sup kambing (mutton soup), something that I have not had for a long time as we can’t get that here…or at least, not that I know of. Of course, I asked for it but I was told that it was not available. I did not want the sup tulang (bone soup) in case I will get some rather diluted, watered-down soup with a lot of bones and hardly any meat like what I had here or here so the girl suggested their beef soup (RM5.00) and yes, I decided I would give it a try.

They certainly took a very very long time cooking the soup – I would expect that they would have it ready in big pots or cauldrons, just waiting to be served. Usually, I would simmer the soup with the meat and bones for as long as I can to bring out the sweetness and flavours of the meat. Obviously, they don’t do anything of the sort here so when you order, you will get something cooked on the spot, fresh from the wok.

It looked something like the beef soup noodles (RM6.00)…

…that my missus had – with very little meat (and not much noodles too in my missus’ bowl) and a whole lot of taugeh (bean sprouts). Now, where is the daun sup (Chinese celery)? I would want that in beef soup/noodles…and I wish they would not use those factory-produced fried shallots sold in big packs in the supermarkets. They have a smell that I am not particularly fond of, not fragrant at all, and nothing like own-fried hand-peeled and sliced shallots.

Surprisingly though, the soup actually tasted very nice or let’s say it was a whole lot nicer than what I had expected it to be and my missus did like her noodles but no, I don’t think we would want to order those again the next time we drop by here.

I had yet to try their bryani rice so I wanted that but no, they did not have the kambing (mutton) so I asked for the sapi (beef) and no, they did not have that either and that left me with the Hobson’s choice, ayam (chicken), RM9.00…

I was quite put off already by then seeing how they did not have this nor that – how on earth can people run a business like that, I was wondering! But thankfully, the bryani rice was very nice – I thought it was really flavourful, nicer than what I had here or here and at a number of places elsewhere and I liked how they served the curry gravy separately in a bowl…

…instead of drowning the rice with it and yes, they did use the nicer, more expensive long-grained rice…

By now, I’ve had my fair share of what is available at this shop and I must say that among all that I’ve tried, this one is the nicest of the lot.

SARA CAFE (2.307544, 111.820744) is located among the shops at Simpang Tiga, Sibu, where the Bisonte Grocer & Deli is, one of the two facing Jalan Bunga Normah 4.