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.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Lemon chicken. Like the colour. Have not have that for a while.
Tofu with canned oysters. Is it Sibu specialty dish? Found that some people like the canned oysters but not me. Lol. Never try that type of soup before.
Your hubby does not crave for it? It’s a Foochow favourite. Very easy to cook – just fry ginger in a bit of oil, add minced meat and the canned oysters, water…and simmer and add the tofu and salt and msg according to taste. Some people add a bit of diluted cornflour to thicken the soup. Unfortunately, you can’t surprise your hubby – they say those canned oysters are not sold around Kuching.
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/back-in-time/
Thats what I thought. I dont remember seeing canned oysters in supermarkets over here. Canned clams, yes.
Haha. Ok then. Wait till I find this canned oysters, and I shall try your recipe. But I dont remember my hubby said anything about such soup before. His mum never cooked too.
They call it “tau hu tee-ear” or something like that in the Foochow sing-song intonation. You can order it in all the restaurants in town here though I would not say all of them are really authentic old-school.
I truly appreciate places that will adjust recipes to make customers happy.
Yes. At times, I do feel bad because of the inconvenience we are causing them but we do not have a choice. I don’t mind paying a bit more actually, so thankful that they are willing to oblige to our requests.
The lemon chicken is very tempting…
They do it really well here, fresh lemons. Not always good elsewhere.
My kind of comfort food, very homely feel. Lemon chicken and Sweet potoatoes leaves are my favourite dishes.
My girl’s favourites too – that was why I made it a point to take her here before she goes back to her school in the jungle. 😦
back in the old days, i remember lemon chicken was a dish we’d only get at fancier chinese restaurants in kl, something to look forward to at wedding dinners perhaps. but one generation later, we can get all these dishes on an any-day basis!
Yes, they even have that at the cheap chap fan places but the yellow colour is a giveaway, lemon essence instead of fresh lemon. Not my favourite, the smell puts me off.
Foochow-style tofu soup, my favorite!
Freshwater Tapah…. I think I have not eaten before ehh…
You had the soup before, eh? Nice, isn’t it?
I read somewhere that tapah is a kind of catfish found in the rivers over at your side, not in Borneo. Maybe the article is out-dated, no longer true so we do get it here now as well. You can google and see – a lot of Malay recipes for the fish – assam, curry, tempoyak. As for the Chinese, it is usually steamed but I do know some like it cooked as a soup dish with chao chai too, the sourish preserved vegetables, another Foochow favourite – either tapah or patin.
The lemon chicken looks good. It’s one of my favorite dishes. I also get put off by artificial lemon flavor and it really spoils my dining experience.
Yes, that is why we like the one here and it is always served with those slices of fresh lemon. Nice touch.