We’re here…

We were here…

…for lunch that day – my girl had not been here before and as we happened to be going past that way, I thought we would stop by but unfortunately, my friend, Philip, was not around. Nonetheless, with our sprinkling of Mandarin, we managed to order this plate of cangkuk manis, fried with egg…

…that my girl said was particularly nicely done and she also liked the pork…

…that we had the first time we were here and their own-made tofu…

…that I did get to try that time when we had dinner here.

Yes, we did have a good lunch. The servings were big, enough for 5-6 people, I think but there were just the three of us and the best part was that it was so very cheap – RM31.00 only for 3 persons, inclusive of rice.

We sure wouldn’t mind dropping by again sometime.

DRAGON DOOR (2.279520, 111.839882) is located along Jalan Aman, among the (new) shops on your left if you are coming in from Jalan Wong King Huo or on your right if you are coming from Lanang Road.

Better than I thought it’d be…

I bought these packs of instant noodles…

…at a supermarket the other day for the simple reason that it was selling at RM3.90 for a pack of 5 packets and the cheapest available (a different brand) was RM2.90 but I saw that one would get a spoon with this one. I did not think much of it; I thought it would be one of those cheap spoons that would bend when you try to use it to eat some meat that is a little too tough but I felt RM1.00 extra for that is quite all right.

I took two packs, thinking that I would have a pair, and went to pay for them at the cashier’s counter and asked for the free gifts…only to be told that they were inside. Gee!!! I really must learn to read everything more carefully.

When I got home, I saw on the pack that one would get either a spoon or a fork and by some stroke of good luck, I got a pair…

…and they were really very nice. I liked the design with the gold pattern on them. I must say that RM1.00 for each of them is very cheap!

I was in for another pleasant surprise when I cooked the noodles…

…and had it with a fried egg, sunny side up, and some leftover roast chicken, garnished with some finely chopped Chinese celery/parsley (daun sup) from my garden. They were very nice with a hint of the udang kering/hay bee (dried prawns) in the ingredients provided inside each packet.

I wouldn’t mind buying more…

…should I feel the urge to stock up again but I guess I would just have to be happy with a set of the lovely fork and spoon. I sure would not go and buy 10 more packs so that I would have a nice set of 6. It would probably take forever for me to finish 50 packs of the instant noodles, never mind how nice they are.

Two places…

This first place is one where we’ve been dropping by regularly all this while and we made our way there again that day as I heard that the guy now had wat tan hor, the Cantonese-style yin yong or fried kway teow or hor fun with thick egg sauce, on his menu. He treated us to that on the house a few months ago but it was not on his menu at the time.

Yes, it was very nice (RM12.00)…

…but it was such a huge plate with a whole lot of gravy/sauce and there was so much of it! I was thinking that perhaps I could tapao (have it packed for take away) it home and then I could add my own kway teow or bihun and maybe, some extra ingredients too.

As it was, I would say the noodles would be enough for two persons and the ingredients included a whole lot of fish fillet, some prawns…

…and very thin slices of bitter gourd. I was wishing he had some sotong (squid) and thinly-shredded Chinese cabbage in it too – they usually have those, the ones I had in KL and elsewhere in the peninsula. Unfortunately, this would not be available in smaller servings so unless you can find someone who is willing to eat the same thing as you, you probably will have to eat something else or go elsewhere.

Then, on another day, more recently, we dropped by here…

So far, our favourites here would be their smoked chicken rice and also their ayam penyet. My missus said that she had their nasi lemak once but it was a disappointment, the sambal especially. I tried looking for it on their menu but could not find it – maybe they decided to remove it in the end.

That morning, she had their mee mamak with an egg (RM7.00)…

The noodles were very good, with lots of ingredients, mostly chicken, and were spicy too. Of course, I was not impressed by the egg – I am not a fan of eggs fried using the ring and it was way overcooked, no runny yolk at all.

I ordered their mutton curry with rice (RM7.50)…

…and yes, the curry…

…was very nice with lots of meat though I was wishing they would add some potatoes in it as well…or at least, some cucumber and tomato slices by the side of the plate with the rice. For some reason or other, I had to wait a mighty long time for it to be served so if that is how it is going to me all the time, I think I would not want to order it again.

My missus had their cendol while I had their ais kacang/iced red bean (RM3.00 each)…

She did not seem to enjoy hers all that much and I did see a lot of things in it – the sago pearls, jelly of different colours and maybe some cincao as well, not just the cendol and the ang tao. On the other hand, I loved mine to the max especially when they were so generous with the gula Melaka (palm sugar) and the santan (coconut milk). I sure wouldn’t mind going back there for that again.

I bought one smoked organic chicken home – it is now RM26.00 each, up from RM23.00 before but it is still very much cheaper than the ones at the chicken rice stalls – I think theirs go up to RM30 and above and the ones from here are very nice and supposedly healthier so I don’t think I really mind the slight increase.

COLOURFUL CAFE (2.316673, 111.837539) is located in the Renew4U building at the junction of Brooke Drive and Lorong Kwong Ann 8, across the road from the Church of Jesus  Christ of the Latter Day Saints and WARUNG BM (2.293317, 111.841781) is located right beside Medan Mall, among the shops to the right at No. 2, Ground Floor, Lorong Wong King Huo 1D. 

Been around a long time…

This place…

…not to be mistaken with this one in another part of town that goes by the same name, more or less, has been around a long time and I would walk past ever so often but somehow or other, I never stopped by.

An ex-student of mine is a regular here and almost every morning, he would share on Facebook a photograph of what he eats here but it was not until I heard people saying that the roti canai from the stall in front…

…was very nice that I made my mind I would check it out some day.

Yes, it (RM1.30)…

…was really very good and I loved the crispy and fragrant flaky layers on the outside plus the dhal dip was thick and creamy, just the way I like it.

The roti telur (RM2.00)…

…was good too but between the two, I felt the canai had an edge over it.

I also saw a friend sharing on Facebook/Instagram a photograph of the Sarawak laksa here and he seemed to like it very much so I also ordered that (RM6.00)…

It was nice, that much I would say, very lemak (rich with santan/coconut milk) and a whole lot nicer after I had squeezed the calamansi lime over it and mixed it well.

There were six prawns and the usual thin strips of omelette but there was no shredded chicken, and no taugeh (bean sprouts) either. For reasons unknown, they saw it fitting to add some strips of imitation crab sticks and shredded Chinese cabbage! And they probably forgot or ran out of Chinese celery (daun sup) and spring onions so I did not get a sprinkling of those on top as garnishing.

The sambal was more like chili sauce with a very very slight hint of belacan (dried prawn paste)…

…but I was wondering the whole time whether I had imagined it or not.

Obviously, if it is something authentic that you’re looking for, like the nice ones in Kuching, this is not the place you should check out but if you’re here and wouldn’t mind the difference and are just looking for something nice to eat, you may consider this or perhaps you would like to try something else – they do seem to have a lot of options here that you can order from people in the kitchen at the back.

The chap fan (mixed rice) is mighty popular…

…especially with the people working in offices and shops around here – we saw so many of them bringing their own containers to have their lunch packed to take away.

My missus decided to go for that and this was what she had (RM5.00)…

…a meat and fish and two vegetables and I really must give them due credit for using glass instead of those colourful plastic or melamine plates that they have elsewhere, not a very good idea for serving hot food, and yes, she did enjoy her picks from that stall.

JING CAFE (2.292823, 111.826829) is located along Jalan Kai Peng in the middle of the block of shops right behind Ta Kiong Emporium.

They’re here…

There used to be a coffee shop a long long time ago at the end of the block to the left of this mini-supermarket…

…round the corner from where I stay. However, the supermarket expanded and the people took over that shop lot to occupy the whole block. As a result of that, the occupants had to move and subsequently, I found out that they are here now.

I guess presently, the economy is not so good so the supermarket has been downsized and the shop lot at the end was left vacant for a while. Not long after, I saw some renovation works going on and now, there is a coffee shop…

…there occupying just half of the lot and every morning, when we drove past, it was packed with people literally spilling onto the road so we never bothered to stop by to check it out until the other day, past 11.00 a.m. when it was not that busy but still, there were quite a lot of people eating there.

There is a kampua mee stall in front…

…and a lot of people were eating that. I did have a look and it did look good but we were attracted by the nice fragrance of the things being cooked at the stall at the back so we went and placed our orders for what we wanted from there.

I don’t know if they were way too new at it or just plain slow for it took a very long time. I saw a man at another table going to ask and when he came back, he spoke to his friends in the Foochow dialect, “Ngui pha long mai siak lou wor!” (I intend not to eat already). Finally, what my missus ordered arrived – the Foochow fried noodles (RM4.00)…

…and yes, it was good and had the much-coveted wok hei fragrance…

My plate of fried kway teow/flat rice noodles (RM4.00)…

…came a little later and yes, it was good too…

In the meantime, I had gone and ordered this plate of innards – intestines and stomach (RM10.00)…

…from the kampua mee stall so we did have something to chew while waiting. Yes, it was nice and we sure enjoyed it. I guess normally, one would order that and a plate of kampua mee kosong (no meat) to go with it but probably, that is not going to be all that cheap.

I may go back again but no, if it is going to take that long, I will think twice about ordering anything from the stall at the back and will just give the kampua mee a try instead.

AH KAU CAFE (2.316346, 111.839861) is located along Jalan Ruby, off Jalan Lim Han Swee, in the same block as Kim Tak Mini Supermarket, to the extreme left.

You can have it all…

My friend/ex-student told me about this place…

…which was once occupied by an outlet of this Singapore franchise but that eventually called it a day, including their other outlet in another part of town.

No, it did not get me all excited as this is one part of the town centre where parking can be a pain so I wasn’t in a hurry to go and check it out. However, it so happened that I spotted a vacant parking lot close by that day and I wasted no time at all in grabbing it and walking there. Besides, everytime I drove past, the place looked quite deserted and I was amazed that it managed to stay open this long.

They open at 8.00 a.m. and you can order what they have in their menu including these rice sets…

…and at night, opening hours from around 6.00 p.m. till 9.00 p.m., you can order dishes…

…like at any of those not-very-big chu char (cook & fry) restaurants.

Right now, probably in an effort to push their business a bit, they have this chap fan (mixed rice) promotion, Mondays to Fridays from 10.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. but it seemed that they do not stick rigidly to those hours. We were there past 11.00 a.m. and they only had these dishes…

…and these vegetables…

…in the food cabinet right beside the entrance…

…and two more came out after a while. What I was told was that for RM5.00, one would be able to have all 10 options available daily but these two came out…

…after we had started eating so we only had 8 to choose from, together with the complimentary chicken seaweed soup…

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to help ourselves – there was a lady there and we just had to tell her what we wanted and she would put them in our plates of rice. I must say that she was not very generous, far from it and the plate was rather small. I did not bother to ask whether we could have double servings or not as the lady did not seem very keen on chatting.

This was what I had…

…and my missus had this…

…and we both thought the food was all right, not over oily and no msg overdose unlike many of these Chinese chap fan places around town but we probably would not be dropping by again as I wouldn’t say it was anything that would get us rushing back for more and besides, my missus caught a glimpse of some guy in the kitchen with a cigarette in his mouth but she could not see if he was involved in the cooking or not. I guess there would be others elsewhere doing that same thing as well but as the saying goes, what one does not know/see would not hurt him or her.

MY HOME TOWN CAFE (2.292374, 111.826991) is located at No. 22, Jalan Bindang beside the SCR chicken rice outlet in the Tunku Osman area of shops, right behind the Hong Kong Bank building.

This one…

All too soon, it was Saturday, the end of the week-long break and the very next day, Sunday, we would have to send my girl back to her school in the jungle.

For our lunch that day, I chose this one, my late dad’s favourite and for one thing, the people there are very accommodating and will be willing to tweak their recipes/ways of cooking according to our whims and fancies and another reason why I wanted to drop by there was we liked the very nice fish so much the last time and I was hoping we could have that again.

Much to our disappointment, they did not have it that day. According to the boss’ wife who came and took our orders, there was a shortage of fish around here and I certainly was not surprised, looking at the storms we had had lately. Even Bubu, our Visit Sibu Year 2017 icon and the lanterns in our town square were not spared.

In the end, upon her advice, we settled for the freshwater tapah, “cooked white”…

…meaning that there will not be any dark soy sauce used. Of course, this is not a very cheap fish, the favourite of many in town when it comes to having steamed fish at a restaurant, though not mine, but I thought it was all right to go for it just this time for a change.

We had not had the Foochow-style tofu soup with canned oysters…

…for quite sometime so we ordered that and it was really good. The taste may vary between places and I feel that the one here would be among those that are really authentic, the way my mum used to cook it.

For our vegetable dish, we had the sweet potato leaves…

…again and another reason, other than the fish, why I wanted to come here was this…

…their lemon chicken, another of my girl’s favourites at this restaurant and they certainly did it very well that day. I liked the darker colour, not bright egg or lemon yellow…

…and I liked the fact that no artificial flavourings were used in the cooking. I got quite put off by the strong lemon essence at some places where I had this before.

As expected, it did not come cheap, our lunch that day – the total for the food came up to RM51.00 and I was pretty sure it was all because of the fish.

Y2K CAFE (2.294220, 111.825753) is located in the Tunku Osman area, round the corner from that block of shops where the branches of AmBank & RHB Bank are located. with its back entrance facing the side (right, not the main one) entrance/exit of Methodist Secondary School.

Once is never enough…

If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s my favourite Thai snack, the miang kham (RM19.90)…

…which literally means a one-bite wrap. I really enjoy it a lot and for the uninitiated, you take one of those leaves, the daun kaduk, a different variety of the daun sireh (betel leaves) and fill it with a bit of everything in the platter…

…and then you add the very nice sauce…

…that I do think makes all the difference – it is the main thing than makes the miang kham so very delicious. Having done that, you wrap it up…

…and pop it into your mouth and enjoy. Everyone that I’ve seen trying this never stopped at one…and would go for another and another. Indeed, when it comes to this awesome Thai delight, once is never enough.

Well, my girl was home the whole of last week as the school was taking a break in conjunction with Deepavali so of course, I grabbed the chance and took her round to eat all the nice things before she went back to her school in the jungle…and of course, when it is Thai food that we want, this is the place to go.

I once had the miang kham here and it was such a disappointment. The leaves were so small that I could not use them to wrap and had to place everything on a spoon and eat and personally, I do not think they’re really good and the things are quite expensive there so I will never bother going back there again.

We did  have my favourite Thai dessert, the mango sticky rice, there once though and yes, it was all right. I would say we quite liked it unlike the one we had here – the mango was way too ripe and was on the verge of becoming rotten. The place has since been relocated elsewhere but after something like that, we would never want to go there again. In this case, once is definitely more than enough!

Well, talking about the dessert, we got this…

…on the house after our dinner than night. The most gracious and very generous host, Mary, insisted that we had that even though we were already so very full by then. I so loved the use of the fresh orchid in its presentation – it is so very Thai, really authentic.

I wanted a vegetable dish but Mary said she would ask her true-blue Thai chef, Jos, to do his bitter gourd salad…

…for us and that too was on the house. Yes, it was very nice – we all enjoyed it to the max and to me, it tasted something like the buah emplam sambal that I would make whenever the fruit is in season.

We also had their very nice pad thai (RM16.90)…

…that my girl enjoys a lot. Sometimes I would buy it home for her to eat but needless to say, nothing beats eating it there, served piping hot from the kitchen.

Other than all the above, I also ordered another dish that my girl likes so much here, the seafood tom yam (RM45.50)…

…with all the prawns, sotong (squid), fish and oyster mushroom in the most delightful red and creamy tom yam soup. I asked for a bowl of rice so I could enjoy the soup with it.

We sure enjoyed our dinner that night, my girl especially and seeing how she loves the dishes here, we sure would want to come back for more.

FLAVOURS THAI KITCHEN is located on the ground floor of the ORCHID HOTEL, along Brooke Drive at its junction with Jalan Tunku Osman. You can use its main entrance at the back of the hotel building (facing Brooke Drive) or go through the lobby past the reception desk if you are using its hotel entrance.

Reasons…

We have not been here…

…for a while now for no particular reason but this is one of our favourite places in town when it comes to Indian/Malay kind of cuisine and my girl loves their thosai but they only have that till 11.00 a.m. so we can’t order that for lunch. Their other outlet in the town centre has closed down now but they have another one in the Permai area and according to the Indian guy that day, that one opens till late, up till 11.00 p.m. at night.

One reason why I like this place is how they keep their food in this cabinet…

Looking at the knobs, I think this doubles as a food warmer to keep everything warm though maybe, not those dishes on the upper racks…

…and it is good that they take the trouble to keep it covered all the time. When there are customers, they will remove the sliding doors with mosquito netting for them to look around…

…and pick what they fancy…

…and as soon as they are done, they will put the doors back right away unlike some places here where the food is left there exposed the whole time.

We decided to go for the nasi campur (mixed rice) that day and my missus had this (RM6.00)…

…with a special request for only half the usual amount of rice they would give.

She had the sambal terung (brinjal)…

…our favourite in town by virtue of its very very nice sambal, different from all the rest elsewhere and a whole lot nicer.

She also had the sambal telur (egg)…

…which had the same sambal and of course, that made it very nice too and together with the two, she had their cangkuk manis.

Likewise, my girl had the sambal terung as well – she loves brinjal no matter how it is done and she asked for their nasi bryani that came with one piece of papadum (RM9.00)…

…and she had their fish curry with one piece of the brinjal and one of the ladies fingers in the dish.

I did not feel like having the bryani rice so I had the plain, just like my missus, and I also asked for half of the usual serving (RM8.00)…

Of course, like everyone else, I had the sambal terung and I also had the sambal telur…and as always, I just can’t resist salted egg when I see any and along with the three, I also had a slice of fish.

We certainly enjoyed our lunch that day and I must say what we had was much cheaper than what I had at another place here just a few days earlier. Needless to say, for all those aforementioned reasons, rest assured that we would definitely be coming back here again.

SRI PELITA CAFE (2.293579, 111.820700) is located along Lorong Kampung Datu 11, off Jalan Kampung Datu, the first shop in the block to the right of Paramount Hotel.

Something extra…

This was sometime ago – Peter, the very nice boss of Payung Café, made these lovely popiah (spring rolls)…

…for his mum and he made some extra and went through the trouble of sending them all the way to my house for me. Luckily, I had not cooked dinner yet so I could just enjoy those…

…that evening.

Then when we dropped by the café the other day, he let us try this…

– a dish cooked by one of his boys, a Bangladeshi. He and his team will go round on Sundays to do some people’s gardens and there was one where they had a lot of this vegetable and they were asked to help themselves and take all they wanted and the Bangladeshi said he knew how to cook it and he did.

I don’t know what vegetable that was – they call it sak chai in Hokkien, probably a variety of spinach, maybe Ceylon spinach. My missus said that it is easily available at the market but she has never bought it as according to her, it has a certain smell that she is not particularly fond of. However, there was no smell in what we had that day – the fish (ikan sultan/sotan) cooked with the vegetable and potatoes. We thought that was really very nice and we finished all of it! Peter said that he would consider adding it to his menu since at this point in time, they do not have many fish options for customers to choose.

And that wasn’t all! He also treated us to this special dessert…

…with a lovely name – Dreamy Nite. I used to enjoy it a lot but I have not ordered it for a while now as there is wheat in it and oats too, I think, so it is not gluten free. My girl could not eat that and my missus just ate a bit as she said she was way too full after our very lovely lunch so in the end, I got to finish it off all by myself.

Actually, we went there that day as my girl said that she liked their chicken dish (RM16.00, with rice)…

…with its thick rich yogurt-based gravy but personally, I was not so fond of it as it was very strong with the smell/taste of the green peppers in it. I was thinking that she would want to order that and enjoy it for lunch but when we got there, she said she would like one of her favourites here, the lamb masala (RM19.00, with rice)…

…and in the end, we had both!

The lamb was great, as always and we were delighted that the chicken was also very nice. I noticed that they seemed to have toned down the green peppers a bit – it was still there but it was not as strong and I did enjoy it very much.

I asked for the very popular and one-of-its-kind Payung rojak (RM12.00)…

…and Andy served us one very huge serving of that!

My missus stuck to one of her favourites here, the green curry chicken (RM16.00, with rice)…

…but she was not able to put in her usual request – for it to be extra spicy as we were sharing our orders and my girl, though she can handle some very hot stuff, is not into it as much as her mum. In the end, Andy gave my missus this…

– their own-made extra hot habanero chili dip, to add as it pleased her.

Yes, the green curry chicken…

…was really good too and we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch that day. My girl was absolutely delighted – she always is every time we come here as she enjoys the food a great deal and she likes the place, the ambiance and all, and the people are so very friendly that it makes her feel so at home.

We were so very full after all these, including the special treats from Peter, that we just had a light and simple dinner at home that evening.

PAYUNG CAFÉ (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.