Blue…

My cousin and her hubby from the UK were out with another cousin of ours here in Sibu the second day they were in town so I did not get to see them again until the 3rd day by which time she had unpacked her suitcase so she was able to pass the gifts she had brought all the way from the UK…

…specially for me, thank you so much, Eleanor and Phil.

Long before she came, she had seen my photographs in my blog or on Facebook of the nasi kerabu here and she was very keen on giving it a try. According to her, there is a craze for this bunga telang or blue butterfly pea flower tea over in the UK as word went round that it has some health benefits and it was sold out in no time at all.

They all had the nasi kerabu ayam percik, drumstick (RM6.50)…

…and yes, they loved it a lot – the exotic flavours and fragrances and its mild spiciness!

That was on a Friday so I had the fish (RM6.00)…

…and yes, I enjoyed that very much too.

After that delightful lunch, I took them to see my mum and an aunt of ours and her family, after which, we stopped by the Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum…

They found many things of interest there, all the information, the history and what not and they spent a long time there. It was hot and sunny when we got there…

…but by the time they were done, it suddenly started pouring cats and dogs so I did not have much choice but to send them back to their hotel and to pick them up later for dinner…but that would be in the next post. Stay tuned!

WARONG CAFE (2.318841, 111.831732), formerly Sri Tanjung Cafe, is located among the shops in between Jalan Tapang and Jalan Tapang Timur towards the end of Jalan Kampung Nangka – RTM Sibu is located right across the road on the right.

 

Nice and quiet…

On the  first night my cousin was in town with her hubby, all the way from the UK, she wanted to go here…

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…for dinner as our Sydney cousin was there when he was here and he was praising the food to the skies. Unfortunately, there were so very many people and my missus went in to ask only to be told that we could go in if we would not mind waiting for at least one hour for the food. Thank you very much! Having to wait is one thing but with the crowd, it would be so noisy, I’m sure, that my head would be spinning in all directions in no time at all. I said we’d better go some place else, nice and quiet, instead and both of them were in favour of that.

I suggested going for some Indonesian here…

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…and Phil, my cousin’s hubby, wholeheartedly agreed. He said that he would love the change as he had had quite a lot of Chinese over the past few days in Miri and that included not one but three pork legs! I did not suggest Indian even though they do have a very good North Indian chef here as I am pretty sure they have some very nice Indian restaurants in London and here, there and everywhere in the UK.

It was night time and this place is somewhat dim – even in the daytime when we go there for lunch, we would sit outside so I would be able to take more flattering photographs. That is why I did not bother taking any photographs that night and I am using snapshots from some of my earlier posts instead.

I asked for the rice in the sets to be served separately, meaning that there would be the main dish and all the sides but no rice but I think something was lost in translation and in the end, we got the kalio ayam…

…without the rice and without the mixed vegetables that we would usually get by the side…

…as well. In the end, I asked for the dish to be cooked and served separately so that it would not be an all-meat affair.

The opor ayam…

…was fine as the potatoes and the hard-boiled egg were in the white curry and besides those two, I also asked for the seafood curry…

…and that had some vegetables like brinjal and pineapple in it. We also had the beef rendang…

…that I had once and loved a lot and I did notice Phil enjoying that very much.

I ordered two servings of their lovely briyani rice…

…to share and my missus wanted some plain steamed rice to go with the awesome curries and we shared that as well.

The bill for all that we had, inclusive of drinks, came up to RM103.00 but as always, the nice and generous boss gave us a discount and collected RM90.00 only from me. He said that he was taking the mixed vegetables off the bill as it was supposed to be in the kalio ayam set.

They certainly enjoyed the dinner to the max, Eleanor and Phil, a lot more than they would have had we gone to the aforementioned place, I’m sure and needless to say, my missus and I loved everything here – we always do…and we had a great time chatting and enjoying one another’s company and catching up with one another’s lives.

CAFE IND (2.290813, 111.829294) is located along Laichee Lane, right behind one block of shops facing the main road (Jalan Kampung Nyabor) where the Bank Simpanan Nasional, Sibu branch (2.290561, 111.829071), is located.

Briefly…

In my previous post, I mentioned that I went to the airport to pick my paternal cousin and her hubby from the UK…and by the time we were on the way to the hotel, it was already around 4.00 p.m. and that was a little too early for dinner so we stopped by here along the way for a little something in the meantime.

Peter, the very nice and generous boss, had these miniature dabai (our local black olives)…

…for lunch and there were some left over so he let me try. My cousin was delighted that she got to try the dabai, small though they were, as the season was over and it would be difficult to come by any at this point in time.

They were very nice, rich and creamy, just very small…and guess what! Peter gave me what was left of those he bought that morning, half a kilo, at least, to take home. When I shared the photograph on Facebook, my maternal cousin in Kuching said that our grandma used to call these dabai seluang, seluang being those small freshwater herrings that we used to get in abundance in the river that flows by our town.

My cousin and her hubby was first here in 2009 and then, she came again in 2014 and again in 2016. They did not come last year and this year, they were back. Usually, she would go to Miri every year for Chinese New Year – her mum lives there with her brother and her sister would be there too…and when she came that day, she brought along for me…

…this delightful fruit cake…

…that her sister-in-law made. My! My! Even before I removed the layers of wrappers, I could smell the liquor from within. Yum yummm!!!

Anyway, back to the brief stop we made, Phil, the hubby had their coconut shake…

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…that I like a lot and yes, he loved it too – very rich and creamy, he said.

We also shared the durian ice cream…

…and yes, theirs is not those artificially durian-flavoured ice cream but ice cream with fresh durian cream. While we were there, Eleanor, my cousin, also grabbed hold of one tub of the kuih bangkit – there were still a few left.

We just had their pomelo salad…

– they had those pink ones that day – as we were saving our tummy space for dinner that night and talking about dinner, that will have to wait till the next post. Stick around!

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.

In case you didn’t know…

I read in the papers not too long ago the report on the local assemblywoman making some noise about the new parking rates at the Sibu Airport after it had been taken over by the Malaysian airport authorities…

*Sdn. Bhd? I wonder who owns it?*

…and it has increased from RM1.50 to RM2.00. Well, it sure did not get me pulling all my hair out – after all, what has not increased in price? Besides, I do not go to the airport all that often.

Well, it so happened that I had to do just that the other day as my cousin and her hubby from the UK were dropping by Sibu for a couple of days and to drive into the parking zone, I had to press a button and get a card. I did not have a problem with that.

There were lots of parking spaces, obviously due to the price hike – that is quite typical of the people here and pretty soon, they will forget and the place would be quite full and one would have to park one’s car far far away from the terminal building.

A friend of mine happened to be there, about to leave, and he stopped his car beside mine and told me that they were using the auto pay system now and one would have to pay at the counter beside the Sugar Bun outlet there…

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…before one could get out of the place. When I shared about this matter on Facebook, another friend told me that she was stuck there for half an hour the day before because many people did not know this.

Again, I was fine with it, thanks to my friend for letting me know. As I was walking to the counter, I saw a few auto pay machines but there were signs on them stating that they were “under maintenance”. What? I thought they just started not too long ago. I wonder how much they paid for those machines and if they did work at all when they first started this whole thing.

Silly me!!! I went and paid…

…straight away thinking that I would have an hour since the time of entry and I waited for my cousin and her hubby to arrive. We were lucky that day as the flight was neither delayed nor cancelled. It was pouring cats and dogs when they landed and I told them to wait for me outside while I went to get the car to drive over and pick them up.

So there I went in the heavy rain and when I put the card into the machine, I saw the digital thing on it saying that my “grace period had expired”. I tried again and there was a voice on the intercom telling me to go to the counter beside Sugar Bun and pay. There was a car behind me and he honked at me impatiently. @#$%^&*!!!!! Blardy road bully, kurang ajar!I quickly reversed and re-parked my car and went back to the counter and paid an additional RM1.00…

…to get out of the place. The guy manning the booth said, “Lain kali, uncle, mahu jalan baru bayar!” (Next time, uncle, pay before you leave). Tsk! Tsk! I thought I could pay first and relax after that, no need to worry about it as I would have an hour at my disposal.

Well, in case you didn’t know all this, now you do! I wonder how long the “grace period” is because honestly, it is not near at all, the counter from the parking zone and imagine the not-so-agile warga emas (senior citizens) like me having to walk all the way there to pay and back again to the car to drive out of there! I hear at the UTC (Urban Transformation Centre), they have this autopay system too and it is printed in the payment chit that you have 30 minutes to get out of there – I did not see anything in the two that I got here that day.

Yes, by all means, increase the parking rates but they should, at least, make sure that the change is for the better and that their system is user-friendly, easier or more convenient for the people concerned…not worse!

 

Knowing me, knowing you…

I guess that’s her name, Azzuna, the lady from Batu Pahat, Johore, at this recently-opened place…

…at the Bandong shops here. She asked if I was a blogger – it seemed that she knew me from my posts on this place which used to be here in that same block of shops to the extreme right, nearer to the main road.

We dropped by the other day for lunch to see if there was anything worth going there…

…for but I did not see this initially…

…as I did not venture into the shop till it was time to leave and I went to the counter to pay my bill.

My missus had the rice set with the ayam berempah and sambal tumis (RM6.00)…

…which she said was good…

…but nowhere near the very nice one with nasi kuning from this lady but that would only be available in the evenings.

I asked the guy who came to take our orders which would be their best and he suggested the mee racun Azzuna, kambing (RM12.00)…

I wish they had picked a much nicer name than that – Azzuna’s poisonous noodles with lamb but nonetheless, I went ahead and gave it a try.

It sure did not disappoint me at all as I thought it was very nice but I thought I would have loved it with rice instead of noodles…

…and when I mentioned it to the people there, they said I could request for that and they could substitute it accordingly, not a problem at all.

I did not tell them this but though I enjoyed it very much, I did feel it was a bit too pricey. Yes, the lamb was so very nice – it was something like lamb stew, the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and the gravy was like what one would find in a stew except that it was spicy so they probably had lots of chilies and dunno-what-else in it. However, considering that that was quite a lot of meat, what they could have done was to give just one slab of it instead of two…

…with the noodles or rice with slices of cucumber or tomato or lettuce by the side and charge a more affordable RM6.50 or RM7.00 for that – this way, they could have two instead of one servings and make a little bit more, RM13.00 or RM14.00 in total instead of just RM12.00.

At this point in time, they did not seem to have a lot on their menu but I sure would not mind dropping by again sometime to check out what else they have to offer.

AZZUNA KITCHEN (2.314098, 111.825996) is located at the block of shops to the right of those at Jalan Bandong/Bandong Walk where the 1Malaysia Clinic is, to the extreme left (inside) right below the Bandong Gym.

Look who’s back…

Raphael, my ex-student residing in the US, was back in town for a few days after celebrating Chinese New Year with his mum and brothers in Kuching.

As always, that thoughtful and generous boy brought back some stuff all the way to give to me. I’m sure my girl would love these gluten-free cheese snacks…

…and I sure can’t wait to try these salad toppers…

I’ve seen sprinklings such as these on top of salads in blogs or elsewhere but I’ve never done that myself. Well, as they say, there’s always the first time!

We managed to go out for breakfast the other morning when he was here and we agreed on this place…

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…as another ex-student of mine, Eddie, Raphael’s classmate, said that he would love to join us if we were going some place in the vicinity of his office and this coffee shop is in the block of shops right next door.

Both of them tried the kampua mee (RM3.00)…

…that I had before and I thought it was pretty good. As far as I know, it has its following – people who think it is among the best in town but Raphael felt it could do with a little bit more of the lard fragrance in the shallot oil used to toss the noodles. Personally, I thought it looked very much nicer when I had it in October, 2016 – perhaps they were so busy trying to cope with the crowd that morning so the quality went out the window. Raphael also wanted their pian sip soup but it was not available – post-Chinese New Year blues, I guess.

I went and ordered what they call their nyonya laksa (RM5.50)…

…from the other stall in the shop…

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…and no, it was, at best, just all right. It seemed a little sweet, not quite like our Sarawak/Kuching laksa and I was wondering if it was meant to be their version of the Singapore-style curry laksa even though it was not quite like it either. I did try that version at the outlets of the Katong 328 laksa franchise laksa here before but they have since closed down and personally, between the two, I think I would prefer this one as it was not overly lemak (rich with santan/coconut milk).

I saw that they also had fried kway teow with cockles (kerang) so I ordered that as well, only to be served this (RM6.00)…

The guy said that they had run out of fresh cockles so they substituted those with the canned ones.  Of course, I was not too happy with that. They should at least have the decency to ask first if I would mind the switch.

To give credit where credit is due, I thought it tasted quite nice except that it was way too salty. I was very sure that it was due to the use of the canned cockles alongside the soy sauce – they would need to adjust the amount of the latter as the clams would be salty already but obviously, they did not.

It sure was nice seeing you again, Raphael and thanks for the things you brought. That was a great get-together, though a brief one, and it was good that Eddie was able to join us too that morning…and thank you both for picking up the tabs for our orders. Qong Xi Fa Cai to the two of you and your loved ones, God bless always in the Year of the Dog. Cheers!!!

KING CAFE (2.291589, 111.826200) is located right next to the RH Hotel, at the corner of the Jalan Kampung Nyabor and Jalan Sanyan/Causeway junction, across the road from the HSBC Building.

Anything for you…

I do not drop by here all that often these days as by the time we venture out of the house at around 9 or 10.00 a.m., most of the things would have been sold out. I think they open very early to cater to those after their prayers at dawn at the surau a stone’s throw away and parents and children going to school before 7.00 a.m. and the office crowd before 8.00 a.m.

I did go over to have a look the other day though but I could not find anything that is gluten-free for my girl. She likes the laksa Penang…

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…there but it was not available that morning.

There was the putu mayam…

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…but she’s not into that and though she will eat those onde onde aka kueh Melaka…

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…I do not see her getting excited about those.

In the end, I did not manage to get anything for her but I did buy their roti jala (RM2.00)…

…to try and I thought at best, it was just all right, not anything I would be dying to have again…

…but the mee jawa (RM3.00)…

…that I also bought was very nice. The gravy was not the usual pinkish and sweet type and it was very rich and thick – I did enjoy it, I must say but at that price, for nothing much else other than that half a hard-boiled egg…

…I felt it was rather pricey though it was a lot cheaper than what one would have to fork out for the same at the shops, just that one would get a lot more toppings at the latter.

MAK MET’s BREAKFAST STATION (2.314192, 111.825581) is located at the shops along Jalan Bandong in Kpg Nangka here, facing Bandong Walk. It opens every day except Sundays but if you’re looking for those Malay kuehs and other delights, you’d only find those in the morning…while stocks last. 

Going home…

This was on the 3rd Day of Chinese New Year and after having had Malay and Indian food over the past few days, we agreed to go for some Chinese dishes and thankfully, some places were open that day – most were still closed, we noticed.

My girl wanted the own-made tofu…

\

…here and yes, it was open, gaily decorated…

…for the festive season…

Other than the tofu, we also had the usual sweet potato leaves, ching chao (plain fried)…

…and we had their tofu & salted vegetable soup…

…as well.

We asked for the deep fried black pomfret/ikan bawal hitam…

…and yes, the very nice boss did remember us and all the things that we could not eat so we did not have to tell him everything all over again – no soy sauce, no wheat flour, no tomato sauce.

Yes, we did enjoy all that we ordered but when I went to pay the bill, I was shocked that the total came up to RM62.00, inclusive of rice for 3 and drinks. I don’t know if those would be their regular prices these days – after all, everything is getting more and more expensive or whether this was because of Chinese New Year. The boss did say that presently, prawns and fish were had to come by and very expensive at this point in time – the one we had was RM28.00.

HOME COOK CORNER (2.292756, 111.825335) is located at No. 73, Jalan Kampung Nyabor right next to RUBY RESTAURANT with the AmBank Tunku Osman branch in the very next block.

I am king…

I remember there used to be an outlet of a food court chain here…

…at the back of the Sibu Heritage Centre with the entrance facing the side of the SMC multi-storey carpark – they also have one at what used to be the Kok Cheng coffee shop across the road from what once was the Cathay Cinema and later, the Star Cineplex, now closed down already and there is one at the Star Mega Mall as well and other than those, there is a sparkling new one at the Selangau Bazaar.

I heard of a Pakistani guy opening up this place…

…here but I had not stopped by to give it a try owing to the horrendous traffic congestion and the rampant illegal parking in that area.

On the second day of Chinese New Year, Saturday, however, many shops were closed and things were quite quiet around town so we ventured there and as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do and I parked my car illegally right in front of the entrance…

…which happened to be the back entrance and you would have to walk through the kitchen to get to the food court proper.

I liked the use of mirrors in the cabinet…

…so one would be able to see from afar what they had in their selections for the day.

I saw their lamb shank curry…

…and it did look very good. Believe it or not, it was going for just RM8.00 each! No, you do not get a teeny-weeny chunk of it like at some other places at that same price – you get the whole lamb shank…

…but the rice…

…is RM6.50 per serving so the complete set would set you back by a total of RM14.50. Ouch!!!

The meat was nice and tender, the curry was slightly spicy, not all that spicy by our standard and the rice was bursting with all the exotic flavours and fragrances but I did feel it was kind of over-salty or maybe it was just me as we hardly have any salt and no msg in our own cooking at home. I noticed that they cooked the chicken thighs in the rice and they had those by the side but no, I did not want that – I already had my eyes on the lamb shank.

My missus had some minced meat thing…

…that she liked a lot with plain rice and cangkuk manis and some acar (pickles) by the side and that was only RM4.50 altogether.

My girl had their mutton curry with the bryani rice and a bit of brinjal (RM9.50)…

…and yes, she did enjoy it.

We liked what we had that day and sure would not mind dropping by again sometime but of course, that would depend on whether we can manage to get a parking space or not, something that is virtually impossible to do on normal days in that area.

BIRYANI KING (2.289696, 111.828366) is located at the back section of the Sibu Heritage Centre, ground floor, along Central Road – its back/side entrance is beside the entrance into Daesim Mart in that back lane to the right of the centre and is not visible if you are going along or coming from Jalan Wong Nai Siong.

We were here…

…a number of times before but it was the first time for my girl.

This was on Chinese New Year’s Eve. After spending the morning with my mum, we went home to rest a while and then, do all the preparations necessary and go over to my mum’s house that same evening, bringing the ingredients and everything else needed for our steamboat dinner together.

We decided to stop by here on the way for lunch so my girl could give it a try but the nasi campur (mixed rice) selections were running out so they decided to go à la carte and order from their menu instead.

My missus had their seafood kway teow…

…which was very good, very very spicy even though she did not ask for it, but I thought it could have been a bit more substantial. I did check the price but somehow or other, I can’t seem to remember it right now.

Well, I definitely can remember only too well how much this, that my girl had that day, cost – a whooping RM13.00…

I met some old friends of mine from the office, way back in those days before I retired, on one of our previous visits and the ladies were having their corned beef fried rice…

…which they praised to the skies and said that they kept coming back for more.

I did try a bit of the rice and thought it was all right, nothing sensational and the chicken, their ayam bakar, was good too but at that price, I would much sooner go for something else.

I saw they had liver…

…for their nasi campur and of course, I just could not resist it.

I also had their yam and yam shoots, masak lemak…

…that I had never tried before and yes, I loved it very much. I sure would have no second thought about going for it the next time I see it among the choices available.

Their daging masak hitam (black-cooked beef)…

…was nice but I would not say it is the best I’ve had in town.

I guess my servings were XXL, a whole lot more than the regular servings one would get…

…so I would consider the overall total of RM6.30 that I had to fork out for everything, inclusive of rice, quite reasonable actually…and I would give them a few bonus points for using those lovely old school plates, not the horrendously-colourful plastic ones elsewhere that I simply abhor.

LA’ZZATY CUISINE (2.307198, 111.828479) is located along Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg on the left if you are coming from town, right after the SHELL petrol station, at its junction with Jalan Nibong with the Sibu Buddhist Temple on your right on the other side of the road.