I give to you…

My friend, Peter, the boss of Payung, said that he made some kaya…

…and added that if I wanted some, he could give it to me. Of course I did and I sure enjoyed it to the max with bread or pulut panggang…

I dropped by the other day with Jas, my old friend home from Adelaide, Australia and he asked me if I liked it. He certainly looked mighty pleased when I praised it to the skies – I particularly liked how it was extra lemak (rich in santan/coconut milk) and had a whole lot of egg in it – and he said he would make it again soon and he would give me some more. Yippeeeee!!!

Talking about Jas, that morning, we went for the kampua mee that she had loved for a long long time now, that time when she was still living in Sibu before she migrated abroad. After that, I took her here…

– how could she come to Sibu and not check this place out? I did ask her when she would be available for dinner but her schedule was real tight and she could not commit herself. That was why I gave up in the end and decided to treat her to dessert and something light here after she had feasted on the noodles.

She loved the jelly pisang…

…even though it was not served in a tall glass. Actually, it is much easier to eat it this way. This certainly brought back a whole lot of pleasant memories as it went back a long way to our teenage years when we would hang out at a certain coffee shop in town (Ban Chuan) and this was the in-drink at the time.

Jas loves durians and needless to say, she loved the durian ice cream…

…and also the pomelo salad…

…and the mushroom roll…

My good friend/ex-classmate, Robert and his wife, Angela, joined us later and he ordered the Payung rojak…

…and that too got Jasmine’s nod of approval. I must say, though, that it was kinda sad that she did not get to taste all those delightful dishes on the menu here.

It so happened that I managed to grab hold of some ikan buris, a river fish – it sure is getting scarce these days and is very expensive too – so I pa’is-ed (cooked in banana leaf except that I always use kunyit or turmeric leaves) two, smaller than this one…

*Archive photo*

…as I could not get any big ones and gave to Peter to reciprocate for the kaya.

Later that day, he sent me photographs of what was left, only the bones!!!…

He captioned them, “No need to ask nice or not!” I guess the snapshots said it all. LOL!!! Then he sent me a photograph of some fish cakes that he made and asked if I wanted any, his version of the tod mun pla (Thai fish cakes).

He also gave me two dishes that he cooked, one with petai (stink beans)…

…and the other with wild onions and bunga kantan (torch ginger flower)…

…and both tasted so good and yes, the Thai fish cakes…

…were as nice as they looked. Perhaps he could think about adding them to their menu or perhaps, have it once in a while as “Today’s special”.

Thank you so much, Peter – now let me see what else I can cook to give to you in return. LOL!!!

PAYUNG CAFÉ (2.284049, 111.833014) is located at No.20F, Lanang Road, Sibu, Malaysia, back to back with the multi-storey car park of the Kingwood Hotel which faces the majestic Rejang River.