Back to front…

I was in the vicinity of the Butterfly Garden or Butterfly Park, whatever it is called – the permanent site of the pasar malam (night market) here in Sibu. Usually, it is virtually impossible to find a parking space here but I was early and even so, the spaces available were few and far between. If I am not wrong, many will park their cars here and walk to the Sibu Central Market as the chances of finding a space here is a lot higher than if one were to try at the areas closer to the market.

I was lucky and after I had parked my car, I saw a lot of people at this coffee shop…

…eating the kampua mee from this old lady’s stall…

…and I decided to go and give it a try. The plump little boy is the lady’s grandson and it always pleases me to see such good well-brought up little kids helping out in any way they can, instead of sitting there all engrossed in their gadgets . He helped with the collecting of the plates, bowls and everything after the customers had left and even did the washing up too. I did not see him doing the serving though – perhaps the lady did not want him to handle the hot stuff lest he got scalded or something.

It turned out that this was the back part of this coffee shop that we checked out once, three years ago. We had the fried stuff from one of the stalls there and we thought that what we had were really good, just that we never went back again…for one obvious reason – the parking problem.

I can’t say I approved of the use of those plastic plates and bowls but the liver soup (RM2.00, small)…

…was very nice even though I did not think there was any of our traditional Foochow red wine in it. It was not overpowering where the ginger was concerned and I could taste the flavour of the thinly-sliced liver, cooked to perfection and not hard and overcooked like some,  in the soup and the best part was there was hardly any hint of any msg in it. Those who are used to the white stuff and a lot of salt would probably think this was quite bland but I loved it – just like what we would cook ourselves at home.

The kampua mee (RM3.00)…

…was great too, quite typical of the original/authentic ones in town and the kopi-o-peng (iced coffee, black) that I had was RM1.80, same as most other places in town and was just as good as the good ones around.

That sure was very filling, enough to last through lunch and it was only around AUD/NZD2.35, altogether inclusive of the drink.

SION HIN CAFE is the first coffee shop in the last block of shops along Blacksmith Road (at its junction with Jalan Pulau/Island Road) and this back entrance of the same coffee shop (2.288018, 111.826740) faces the site of the Sibu Night Market (Pasar Malam) at the Butterfly Garden/Park along Market Street.