I seldom get to see my good friends, Lim and his missus, and family these days. I remember vaguely that they did drop by to pay their last respects when my mum passed away earlier this year and before that, we did get together on my birthday…in 2016…and yes, they would drop by for Chinese New Year every year but we were not celebrating this year nor next year, for that matter.
Well, both of them are working and with three kids in tow now, school, tuition and what not, they hardly have much time left but the other day, they did manage to drop by my place…and that was after dropping the children off at the tuition centres and in the meantime, they had a little time to spare.
They brought us some fruits and these Sibu Foochow-style sio bee (meat dumplings)…
…thank you so much to them, and I could tell from the way they were packed that they were from here.
My missus did buy a few then and they were very good – if I remember correctly, they were RM1.10 each but I don’t know how much they are going for now. We went back there another time but the sio bee was all sold out…and once, we went on a Tuesday but their noodle business was put on hold and they were so very busy making the sio bee. They told us to come back at 3 that afternoon but we never did. From what I gathered, they would make the dumplings every Tuesday and those would be available as long as the stocks lasted.
I do know of many who would sing praises of the ones here…
…but personally, I feel theirs are overrated and there is a dire need for some quality control. My sister-in-law bought those in the above photograph one Chinese New Year and they were so very salty and not nice at all…and I did not always enjoy them when I had the chance to eat them at their restaurant, just sometimes.
Personally, I prefer the ones here…
…but there too, once or twice, I felt they were not all that great but generally, we did enjoy theirs and of course, both of them are a lot more expensive – RM1.60 each or is it RM1.80, I’m not so sure…that is if they have not jacked up the price again lately.
Well, the next morning, I took some from the ones my friends gave us…
…and steamed them, taking care not to over-steam – this is very important if you are not keen on wet, soggy and not very palatable sio bee skin and once they were done, I had a few…
…with the super hot chili sauce from Payung.
Yes, they were very nice, very meaty…
…and not overly so. Unlike the regular dim sum siew mai, they would have what-we-call mangkuang here, sengkuang (turnip) elsewhere and Bombay onions too in the filling so if you go for the cheaper ones, they would have more of these or worse, they would use very/mostly fat minced meat so theirs would not be nice at all.
I sure would not mind going back for more…
…sometimes but I guess that will not be all that often as the skin is made from wheat flour so it is not gluten-free.
YONG CHUAN FISH NOODLES HOUSE (2.308016, 111.848896) is located among the shops on the right (next to WikiTea) along Lorong Sena 8, off Jalan Sena, directly opposite SMK Deshon.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I love sio bee especially meat ones and can finish a lot in one sitting. They don’t come cheap . The dim sum place are selling a basket of 3 for RM5.
We never had those dim sum ones before, probably came from Hong Kong or China. Kuching originals, I like the Open Air ones – available here at the Hong Kong Puff shop and long ago in the 70’s and 80’s – when it was beside Pavilion, opposite the General Post Office, I loved the Fook Hai ones, not anymore – tough and hard, not nice at all.
RM5 now? It was RM3.50 before, depending on where. I think the most I had forked out for a basket here was RM4.50 but we have not gone for a long time. Those RM1.60 ones here were RM1.20 before, multiply by 3, we’ll get more or less those same prices.
I love sio bee. Warm and dip in nice chilli sauce. Yummy.
I used to love those in open air market but heard it no longer that nice. They sell to many coffee shops around here. The one in Foochow Big Pau in Padungan is my current like.
Yes, I did see people selling those Open Air ones at food courts all over Kuching, kind of overkill, too common now…and I thought they were not very friendly, the people at the original stall at Open Air – dunno where the Hong Kong Puff guy here gets his, he just says from Kuching but yes, the ones he sells are very nice.
I suppose these are similar to what is called siew mai over here and yes, I love those a lot. It’s great with sweet chili sauce.
Yes, in the same family – these are more inclined towards our old local style here while the dim sum ones are more chewy/rubbery like fish ball texture. I enjoy both.
Nice sio bee , it resembles Siew Mai dim sum.
Yes, but the texture of the filling is quite different…and the taste isn’t quite the same either.