This one did not last very long – I did hear of people going to try the exquisite exotic ethnic Iban delights but they did not really like what they had. “Bay hak na lang ciak,” they said, literally translated as not suitable for us to eat. In other words, they were not quite accustomed to this kind of cuisine. Another one wrapped up its business for reasons unknown even though from what I could see, they were doing really well. I don’t know of any others in town, except this one and it sure looks like it is still going strong, the only one left out of the three or the sole survivor, so to speak.
I was in the vicinity…
…that day because sometime ago, I saw a stall selling Teochew porridge. As far as I know, they only have meat porridge, pork usually, at all the other places here but this one had all those condiments – stewed pork, preserved/salted vegetables, salted egg that I sure would enjoy with a bowl of plain porridge. Unfortunately, the coffee shop was closed, probably because it was their day off in the week.
In the end, I decided to go back to the aforementioned Iban food stall at the coffee shop with the blue sign right below the inn…
Yes, the lady is still there but they have shifted her stall inside, somewhere in the middle of the coffee shop so it is no longer in front, right beside the pavement/five foot way.
This was what I had that day…
– the pansoh babi hutan…
…or wild boar cooked in bamboo tubes and the bandong/ubi (tapioca) leaves plus a bit of cincaluk (fermented shrimps)…
…and I also had the buah kepayang or buah keluak…
I did not think very much of the latter though – when I had it on my previous visit, they cooked it with kasam ensabi, preserved/fermented vegetables, and its fragrance and taste sure brought the dish a few notches higher than those seeds on their own.
My missus did not have the cincaluk but instead, she had the kasam babi (preserved/fermented pork, but it looks like that was wild boar too)…
It was very nice but it paled in comparison to the pansoh. In fact, I loved it so much that I simply had to buy some…
…home to enjoy.
What we had at the coffee shop that day totalled RM14.00 only, RM7.00 each and the kopi-o-peng (iced coffee, black) that I had was very good, definitely among the nicer ones in town.
RUAI AKU is located at the coffee shop below Eden Inn (2.285223, 111.831256) along Jalan Maju to the right of Hai Bing Coffee Shop/Seafood Restaurant, right across the road from the Rejang Esplanade.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
RM14 for what you had is really cheap. No wonder others closed down. Could it be their profit margin is too low?
Not really – these jungle produce ingredients aren’t that expensive. The problem is the local Chinese (Foochows) are not used to this kind of cuisine and the town being predominantly Chinese, that would cut down the number of customers by quite a lot.
This lady is smart – I saw Foochow ang chao chicken plus there were others like fried and curry chicken, fried fish, salted egg so those not inclined towards our local native cuisine could go for those.
Seldom have ethnic food although few has mushroom and close down around the town. Some may be due to location, price and demand. Kasam babi, my mum ‘s favourite. Used to ask me to get her some whenever we went back to Kapit but we don’t do that often nowadays.
I prefer the fresh meat to the kasam ones though I do not mind eating that as well. Love kasam ensabi, the preserved veg.
Don’t think I tried wild boar before…
I’m not surprised.
I am not really not into this kind of cuisine but sometimes for a change I do go for it. I like the pangsuh ayam/babi & cincaluk. Patz Dayak cusine behind Giant has a nice choice of this kind of food.
Yes, I went there once before. VERY nice…
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/shes-right-here/
…but have to go a bit early to beat the lunchtime crowd, so so so many people. Seems that there are a lot more people in Kuching who are into this kind of cuisine, not here. 😦
Looks like food is still cheap over there
Depends on where one goes. Some may be pricey as well, best avoided.
I am rather curious what the food taste like. Perhaps too exotic for some tastebuds.
Not really, Sibu is predominantly Foochow. They are never that adventurous in their eating…and for that matter, their cooking as well plus this place, parking can be a pain and the other one as well and as for the very nice one that I used to go to again and again, business was always very good – I dunno what happened, reasons unknown as to why they closed shop.
I do know of one place in Kuching where this is so very popular, full house come lunchtime and there are places in Bintulu and Miri as well.