Once in a long long while…

As they say, variety is the spice of life and so it is when it comes to food. I would not want to eat the same things over and over again but of course, I may go back for what I think is nice time and time again, not necessarily just once in a long, long while.

Last Friday, I had to go to my girl’s school in the jungle to pick her again and bring her home as her colleague had something on here in Sibu and left a day earlier. The last time I had to do that, I bought some chicken rice from here for her and those sharing the same unit with her in the teachers’ quarters so this time around, I did not want to go and buy that again.

I went and bought the wat tan hor kway teow from here (RM12.00)…

*Archive photo*

…instead and I brought my own tiffin carrier with specific instructions to separate the kway teow and the egg sauce/gravy. At my girl’s quarters, we heated them up for her and two of her colleagues/friends to enjoy. They had their fill and still, there was still a little bit left so one can jolly well guess how big the serving/portion was.

My missus and I decided to eat first ourselves before going on our way so we would not need to worry about our own lunch later and she asked for their fried kway teow (RM4.50)…

We first had it some years ago when this guy was the chef here and we kept going back for more and now, he has his own place, conveniently located very near my house and we were here just two or three days earlier for lunch and she had that exact same thing – the fried kway teow. She does seem to like it a lot.

On that previous visit, I had the nasi lemak with chicken drumstick curry (RM7.50)…

Normally, I would ask for the daging masak hitam (black-cooked beef) but this time around, I thought I would have the chicken instead for a change.

The rice was not really lemak enough for me but with the chicken curry and its gravy…

…and also the very nice and spicy sambal ikan bilis…

…it did not really matter. At some of those Malay stalls and shops, they would give you so little, maybe around a teaspoon only, and some that I had did not even taste nice. Even at my favourite nasi lemak stall here, I would always tell the guy nicely, “Sambal tambah sikit, ya?” and he would happily oblige and give me more.

Fast forward to that day when we had to drive to my girl’s school, of course, I did not want to order the nasi lemak again. For a change, I had their fried mee (RM4.50)…

It was good but I would prefer some of those at the Malay shops and stalls, their mee mamak or whatever. This Chinese-style one is a bit too mild for me…

– I do think the kway teow has an edge over it – and I asked if one could order that with a special request for fresh chili, sliced or pounded, to be added for it to be spicy but I was told that I could choose to have the one with sambal. Now that, of course, would mean there would be an extra charge – RM1.00 perhaps for the sambal. Smart, eh, these business people?

After my missus and I had finished our quick brunch that morning, we were on our way.

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.