Well, he’s not old, just that we go back a long way to the days when we were very active on the radio and I had a few posts from way back in 2008 when we got to meet a number of times. Lately, with his family commitments and his work in Indonesia, we do not get to meet all that often but he did make it a point to drop by every year round Chinese New Year, except this year as I was not celebrating.
It so happened that he was in town and I saw the photograph on Facebook of the kampua mee he had…
*Friend’s photo on Facebook*
…here. That is exactly what every true blue local born and bred would do the instant they come back home, go and eat kampua mee. Of course, I got in touch with him right away and we agreed to meet for lunch the following day here…
I have not had their claypot rice…
*Archive photo*
…for a very long time – we can’t order it when we drop by there now because it is not gluten-free – there is soy sauce in it and what we had had elsewhere may look nice, more or less the same but no, the taste just wasn’t there. It so happened that my friend went and googled to check out the place and he too saw the photo of their claypot rice and was looking forward to having that as well as he too was looking for THE right one.
Unfortunately, we were informed that it was not available and we would have to call a day earlier to place an order should we want to have that. WHAT? But all the times we had it, we never had to pre-order? I was quite put off by it but what to do? They were adamant that we could not have it so we had no choice but to order something else on their menu.
My friend’s wife had their pork chop with orange sauce rice…
…that my missus had once and loved it a lot but we do not order that anymore as the meat would be coated with bread crumbs…
…and would not be gluten-free as well. It was RM12.90 in 2016 – I dunno how much it is now.
My friend went for one of the lunch sets (RM9.90 each), the tomato pork chop with rice…
…and when it was served, I thought I could detect the bolognese smell but he said it was lighter, not as strong and yes, it was good.
I went for what they call the Mexican pancake lunch set…
…and it sure looked a lot more substantial in the blurry photograph in their menu – I was positive I saw a slab of chicken chop and a sausage and something else, probably coleslaw, other than the fries but the lady did ask me if I wanted the big or the small and I chose the latter.
I can’t say I am all that crazy about the name especially with all those modern-day connotations and I did read somewhere that Mexicans call their pancakes honcakes and this one that I had looked like a chicken quesadilla, probably using those tortilla wraps available at the supermarkets – I did not ask if they made their own but yes, it was very nice – I loved the very tasty chicken filling…
…inside and I would say that I did enjoy it a lot.
All in all, we did have a pretty nice lunch and it was great getting to meet an old friend and his missus and catching up with one another’s lives but it could have been better if we had had the elusive claypot rice.
LE CAFE (2.299452,111.830832) is located along Brooke Drive, on your left if you are driving from town, in a block of shops after you have gone past the building where the Sheraton Restaurant is…before you get to the traffic lights where you turn right to get to the Sibu Medical Centre.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
The claypot chicken rice looks good, a pity that it is not available, I like how that pork chop is done in your friend’s wife’s set and the chicken filling in your mexican pancake set looks tasty and juicy
I would say they do have some nice items on their menu, not all…but there have been a few that we thought were very good and would not mind having again like their claypot chicken rice, for instance.
I am sure I will order their claypot chcken rice too if it is available. It looks so divine and I hope the pix is not for illustrations purposes only. Hope to get the real thing. What you had also looks pretty nice. Best is still the great company of old friends.
It was really good like just the very nice ones we had before in the peninsula and loved so well. None like it anywhere here. I would have ordered a day ahead if I had known we would need to do that – we never had to do it before, just dropped by and ordered.
Claypot chicken rice! Still thinking about it haha! Sorry Arthur, the lunch next day tak jadi, got to run some errands at home instead. See you another time! Thanks for having us.
Ruby will have to wait till the next time you’re in town…and the claypot chicken rice too, will call in advance to book. Just let me know when you’re coming this way – I’m very free, no more commitments except for that of Ahmad, playing chauffeur on weekends.
Claypot rice looks so good, but to have to order a day in advance is too much to ask!
Yes, it is so inconvenient. I wonder if anyone bothers to do that – might as well go some place else and eat something nicer…and cheaper too!
The Mexican pancake was very nicely and neatly done… impressive! I wouldn’t mind trying that too… low carbs 🙂
Very small serving, good for people watching their figure. Price is so-so, RM9.90 and you get a free drink.
i like mexican recipes, so am always happy to see more places try to incorporate mexican inspirations 🙂
I did enjoy this one here and at RM9.90, inclusive of one free drink (iced tea), I thought it was not expensive.
Lovely post! I have been reading your entries for years now:). It sucks to be living in a gluten free diet. I’m on gluten free diet for years on doctor’s advice. Asian’s cuisines mostly contained a lot of gluten in the sauces and marinates. Not to mention, being gluten free in Asia is way too costly as most gluten free products are imported. Being a bread and noodles lover myself, I have to take these two lovelies off from my food list. The gluten free breads and noodles don’t seem to be able to replicate the textures from the real thing.
Have a wonderful day and thank you for your wonderful posts in your blog.;)
Mikki
Thank you for dropping by and for commenting, glad you’ve been following my posts for sometime now. Do stick around, glad to have you for company!
Yes, it sure is inconvenient eating out when one has to be careful not to unknowingly eat anything with gluten…and yes, we have had many failed attempts at making bread, cookies, noodles – even those that came out all right do not taste anything like the real thing and we had to throw away quite a lot…and yes, gluten-free stuff can be so very expensive and the worst part is a lot if not even nice!
We’re coping quite well now and my girl is getting on fine, no more of those symptoms associated with gluten intolerance.