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! 
It’s unsual even for Sabah to have konlo beef noodles. Usually we go for the soupy ones and it cost around rm10+. Yeah, food especially in KK is damn expensive yet the salary is so low. RM4 is still a good deal!
Sabah, Kota Kinabalu’s Kah Hiong beef noodles at Hilltop there – absolutely the best in the world. None here or anywhere else can come near even though I hear people saying it is buffalo meat. Could smell the fragrance of the soup from a mile away!!! Even at RM10 or more, it is worth every sen!
Last time I had it was when my cousin bought me a few packs and brought all the way, 2012:
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/gimme-some-more/
…and the last time I had it there was in 2008:
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/the-second-time-around/
Hope to hop over one of these days so I can get to enjoy that again!!!
People in the past love to name their kids with funny nicknames. Some say it is beacuse when they are babies they are hard to look after, cranky, fussy, etc. don’t know how true it is. I notice some of the bak chang wrapped using nylon string and some with kiam chao. I prefer those wrapped with kiam chao or No.8 string.
Yes, I was wondering why they had two – maybe one of them could not tie with kiam chao – I hear it breaks easily…or they ran out of it. We have very nice Malay-made ang tao chang here at the stall that I used to frequent but they use those nylon strings. My mum used to love them but I would only buy them for her once in a long while…or buy or get people to buy the string-tied kee chang from Padungan in Kuching. She enjoyed those too.
Yellow noodle for the beef noodle. Hmm. Not much a sight over here.
Ah Mui uses the kolo mee noodles, eh? Not a fan, anymore as it has been disappointing, the ones I had more recently. They say the only good one is the outlet at Satok but I never had the chance to go there to try.
I like to eat chang, but seem those chang selling out there, not much ingredients…
Same here but I did find some pretty good ones recently, quite a lot of meat inside…but I can’t remember where now. I prefer the nyonya ones, anyway but we can’t get those here – you can get very good ones over there at Katong.
It’s very funny that the older generations actually name their children- dog, cat, goat… anything except human LOL
So what’s your pet name at home?
haha, “kow kia” was such a common nickname in those days!
Yes. Nice name, puppy! LOL!!!
Yeah, meat is getting expensive too… for that price, I guess they could only afford to give a few small slices…
Not really. Despite the high prices of beef here, that sure is a lot of meat for that kind of prices. I am sure you will have to pay a lot more elsewhere.
It’s the beef tendons that are not affordable these days – have you bought any lately? The last time I bought for our steamboat sometime ago, sea cucumber was way over RM100 a kg, beef tendon was not much cheaper either, around half the price. I was shocked to say the least! I sure would not want to buy that again, cannot afford.
I haven’t had a chance to visit any restaurants from my childhood but I do wonder if they have changed or if my perception of them might.
Those from my time would most likely be dead and gone and more often than not, the young ones taking over would pale in comparison. Rather disappointing that this is always the case.
Guess I’m not the only one who loves tendon.
Oh? No wonder you can stay looking exactly the same after all these years. Muahahahaha!!!
I cannot imagine what the beef noodles would taste like with so much chili sauce poured over it. That would spoil the taste I think. I love tendon too!
All chili sauce taste, I guess. My missus would be one of those who would do that – she loves chili.