99 luftballons…

We dropped by here…

…the other day and I was wondering why 99 in the name.

It turned out that an ex-student of mine was running the kampua mee stall…

…and also the drinks business at that coffee shop that sure looked sparkling new and very clean but no, he couldn’t possibly be born in 1999 – he probably was still in school at the time and no, I don’t think they started the shop in that year either and for sure, it was not named after that 1980’s hit by Nena, a one-time favourite of mine, the English version, that is…and no, I did not bother to ask.

His brother is a very popular and successful gynaecologist in Bintulu whereas he was not as academically inclined and was a representative for a West Malaysian book publishing firm before he ventured into this business, following in his father’s footsteps. Yes, his dad was in the kampua mee business before but he has retired now – I did not see him around that day but the mum was there helping the son out.

My missus ordered the kolo mee (RM3.70)…

I certainly would not want to order that because 9 out of 10 here, or maybe 10 out of 10 even, it would not be anything like the ones in Kuching, the good ones, that is, even though with the toppings at all, they do look similar…

That is why I always wonder about the ones over in the peninsula or in Singapore and elsewhere – exactly how close are they to the real thing or are they, like the ones here, nice to eat but are, in fact, not quite there? Ah well, to be fair, there are a lot in Kuching even that are not all that great like what I had here or here, for instance – it all depends on knowing exactly where to go; my favourites would be the one here or here.

True enough, she did not think it was great but at least, the kampua mee (RM2.70)…

…that I had was quite good. No, there was nothing that would make it stand a head above the rest…

– it was just good enough, not anything that would make me go out of my way to eat.

Well, I did ask the mum what was good and she replied without any hesitation that I should try the pian sip, our local version of the wanton or meat dumplings (RM2.70)…

…and true enough, it was really very good. It was big, the skin was thin and smooth and there was a lot of meat…

…in the filling plus it tasted a little different from the usual elsewhere and was very nice as well.

I sure wouldn’t mind having another round of it…

…should I happen to be in the vicinity again and maybe, the next time around, I would ask why they had that 99 in the name of their shop.

99 KOPITIAM (2.304827, 111.886167) is located along Lorong Permai Jaya 1A, off Jalan Permai Jaya, a short distance from the Sibu Lake Garden & Taman Awam Sibu, on the same side of the main road if you are coming from Permai side or on your right if you turn into the bypass from Ulu Oya Road right before you reach those scenic parks.