During my growing up years, our usual Sunday morning routine would be to go to church after which we would stop by this coffee shop, Kiaw Siong, which was at the corner across the road from the Sibu Fire Station, to the right, but later, it moved to the corner directly opposite on the same side as the fire station.
We looked forward to the very popular kampua mee there from this guy named Ah Kow and later, another guy opened a beef noodles stall there, right beside his, and they called him Lao Eyeo (old goat) and his son, Kow Kia (puppy), small and skinny then but not anymore. We enjoyed the beef noodles, both at the original place and the one later and eventually, I heard that the son, Kow Kia, opened his own stall here…
…at this coffee shop…
…right behind the petrol station, Esso at one time…
…opposite the HSBC Building – you can see the RH Hotel at the back and he is still there today.
I dropped by the other morning and I saw a lot of bak chang (meat dumplings), big ones…
…on sale but no, I was there for the beef noodles so I did not get to try that.
I ordered the special (RM6.00)…
– regular is RM4.00 and large is RM5.00 but I was somewhat disappointed as I was expecting some tendons and all I got were lots of beef and a few strips of tripe…
I think beef tendon is way too expensive these days – the price shot up after word went round that it is rich in collagen, good to eat that to stay looking young.
They certainly were very generous with the chili sauce…
– everyone was given almost half a bowl of it. I do recall many people ordering the noodles with a special request for the chili sauce poured all over it, one whole ladle of it! I wouldn’t want that, of course, as I would like to enjoy the original beef soup taste but yes, I do enjoy dipping the meat in the chili sauce and adding a bit to each spoonful of the noodles as I eat.
After all these years, I do think the beef noodles…
…tasted quite good but it used to have a very much stronger beef flavour before. I guess that is to be expected as beef is now very expensive and at those prices, one cannot afford to be too generous with it.
They open till 5 or 6 in the evening and while I was there, it was quite obvious that they do have their following. Even though I stopped by rather early in the morning, I noticed quite a lot of people there specially for the beef noodles.
SIN KIAW CAFE (2.291287, 111.826611) is located along Ramin Way, the first shop on your right as you turn in from Jalan Kampung Nyabor, right behind the petrol station located at the bend.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 