It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness…
Looking at the way things are in our country these days makes me think of the above quotation by Charles Dickens. The other day, we dropped by here for brunch and the nice kampua mee stall had closed down. There is a new one now to the left where the chicken rice stall was and that too had closed down. The chu char place at the back had closed down also and the dim sum stall as well. Other than the kampua mee stall, there was another one selling the currently very popular RM2.00 fried chicken sprouting out everywhere like mushrooms after the rain.
I felt kind of sad as the coffee shop had just opened around Chinese New Year earlier this year so those stalls had barely been around for half a year even, just a few months and they are not the only ones. With our flagging economy and the dwindling value of the ringgit, times are hard and it sure does not look like things are going to get any better.
Anyway, since we could not have what we wanted here, we adjourned to this place for my favourite kampua noodles in town. Here too, it was not like before when the crowd would spill onto the road from early morning right through till lunchtime. We got there at around 10 something and there were people, just a few tables – less than 5 – nothing like what it used to be.
These were what we had –
My girl and the mum wanted the kampua mee…
…while I had the mee pok…
I asked for the very nice beef soup that we had the last time we were here but they had run out of it so we had the pian sip soup…
…instead.
I don’t know how true this is but word has it that this old-school restaurant, one of the oldest in town dating back to my childhood days, is going to call it a day – according to some sources, the boss is saying that currently, it is getting too hard to make ends meet and honestly, looking at the pretty bad shape of things here, there and everywhere, I really wonder what the future holds…for all of us.
…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
– CHARLES DICKENS –
RASA SAYANG CAFE (2.304195, 111.848163) is located at Lorong Pahlawan 7B/3, on your left as you turn into the lane to go straight to the Sibu Bus Terminal.
Times are bad, I worry for our future generations, I feel that future generations will suffer
Over in your island republic too? I am sure it is not as bad as here.
I am so hungry now and salivating over these noodles at this moment!! I just took sandwiches, pea and ham soup for today…. now I am craving for noodles, too bad I did not buy any Korean noodles back today!
So many nice things to eat there…as long as one has the money. Pasta should be easy to come by. Gee!!! you’ve been there a long time, setting up permanent residence there?
The kampua mee looks like kolo mee with the minced meat on top. Makes me craving for it now.
Tastes like kolo mee too, a kind of fusion of the two. I tasted a bit of what tasted like fried garlic, something not usually found in kampua mee.
I wonder what they will work as once they have closed their stalls or shops. Are they able to find jobs or work on something else that will bring them more income?
I haven’t the slightest idea but if they are not making money, a loss even, there is no point going on. I guess the Indon guys can always go home – used to be so much better here, that is why they like to come over but these days, I guess it’s the same or maybe it is even better there.
The closures are sad, especially when it comes to places we love, but hopefully the owners will find a new beginning somewhere else and find a rewarding next chapter to their lives…
Yes, it ain’t so bad if they have relocated some place else but I do know, for a fact, that some are indeed struggling to survive. Sad.
For every place that closes, there’s another that has just started. Sometimes it is just the cycle of life, while things certainly isn’t as bright as before, hopefully we turn it around soon enough
Nobody is indispensable! Still, it’s sad especially when the really good ones, those that have been around for a long time, have to call it a day.