Little sister…

I met Helen, my ex-student in Kanowit a long long time ago, twice before, here during our reunion gathering and another time when she came to town with her mum but I had not met her younger sister, Rose, not since she left school and that was some 40 years ago!

Helen sent me word saying that they would be in town to perform their filial duties for Ching Ming and asked if my family and I could join them for dinner as Rose would be coming and she would love to see me again. Of course, I told her it would be my pleasure and she asked me to help book a table at this ever-popular old school restaurant in town that goes back a very long way till the 50’s, I think, and it was a good thing I did for that night, it was full!…

I guess that was because there were a lot of people home the last weekend of the school break and the weekend before Ching Ming and we…

…sure were lucky to be able to get a table that night.

We had their celebrated Foochow sio bee/siew mai (meat dumplings) in their dessert platter…

…with the very nice or nee (yam paste) in the centre. The yam paste was really nice, soft and smooth and what I liked best about it was that it was not sweet, just a little bit and so very slightly so.

We also had their Foochow fried noodles…

…and one of the dishes we used to enjoy during my growing up years, the braised Chinese cabbage…

…except that I thought it was a whole lot nicer before.

The Foochow-style tofu soup with canned oysters…

…was all right – I’ve had others a lot nicer elsewhere and the chequerboard duck…

…was very different from the one here – yes, it was good but we did feel that in comparison, the latter would win hands down…by a mile.

The fried cangkuk manis with egg…

…was all right and I thought the fried bitter gourd with the three types of egg…

…could do with a lot less egg and more vegetable.

I had this liver with kai lan (Chinese broccoli)…

…before and I loved it and yes, this time around too, I really enjoyed the liver especially.

I don’t know how much the dinner was altogether as Rose was so kind and generous as to pick up the tab. I would not say that what we had swept me off my feet – at best, it was all right but the company was absolutely great and we really had such a great time catching up with one another’s lives.

Thank you so much, Rose, for the dinner, and to Helen as well. It sure was great to meet you two again and I was glad for the chance to meet your hubby, Rose and your handsome son. We certainly had the most delightful evening and I sure look forward to getting together like this again. God bless, all…till we meet again.

HOCK CHU LEU RESTAURANT (2.288654, 111.826974) is located at No. 30, Jalan Tukang Besi, formerly Blacksmith Road, opposite the LehDo Hotel, formerly the Lido Cinema which is right beside the Standard Chartered Bank, Sibu branch.