My ex-student, Raphael, sent me word way ahead of time that he would be back in Sibu – it appeared that he would come back to this part of the world to spend Christmas with his mum and the brothers. He told me the dates when he would be here and asked whether I would be free to meet up and of course, I replied that it would be my pleasure!
I think he was in KL, Singapore and Kuching before he came home to Sibu and we went out on one of the mornings he was around. He said he would not mind some Foochow fried noodles so I took him here for the celebrated one featured in a video clip on youtube from Stall No. 3 (RM4.00)…
I tried the ones at some of the other stalls before but I had not had the chance to try this one yet so I asked him how it was. He said it was good but he had not had any so far so he was in no position to make a comparison. Gosh!!! That place was crowded and judging from the number of people ordering from this stall, it was pretty obvious that this one was the most popular of them all.
I did not feel like having that so I went walking around the place trying to find something that I would fancy. I spotted these (50 sen each)…
…at Stall No. 4, the chicken rice stall, and was thrilled to bits! These days, you may find them at the Malay kueh stalls but they are all wrapped in plastic and that would put me off right away.
It was very nice…
…but it was so very small, maybe half of the size long ago and I would prefer the spicy and savoury version with sambal coconut on top instead of this sweet one.
I decided to go for the soy sauce pork belly from that same stall but the guy said that the rice was not ready yet and asked if I would mind having his chicken rice rice instead (RM5.00)…
Of course I did not mind but my happiness was short-lived as the rice was dry and hard, not anything I would want to have again.
The soy sauce pork belly…
…was all right and of course, as always, I simply couldn’t resist one of those stewed eggs that I absolutely love!
After our brunch, I took him here…
*Eric’s photograph on Facebook*
…to look around and of course, he wanted a pack of the internationally-famous Sibu instant kampua to bring back to the States and upon my persuasion, he decided to grab a pack of their very nice ramen laksa as well.
I decided to buy a pack of the Ba’Kelalan highland rice…
…to try and Raphael insisted on paying for it, that very nice and sweet boy!
In the meantime, Eric’s mum passed me a pack of the famous Jakar coffee – she said that Eric would want me to have that. Thank you so much, Eric and like what I said to your mum, please don’t give me anything anymore. So shy lah!
And speaking about giving, Raphael brought these…
…all the way back from the US to give to me. Thank you so much, Raphael – it sure was a pleasure getting to see you once again. Till the next time, take care and God bless always. Cheers!
THE SUNGAI ANTU MARKET & HAWKER CENTRE/FOOD COURT (2.320030, 111.830741) is located along Jalan Sg Antu 2, on your right off Jalan Industri as you drive in from Jalan Kpg Nangka and THE KITCHEN FOOD shop (2.304994, 111.847404), home of the original, the one & only Sibu instant kampua, is located in the Sibu Bus Terminal area at Lorong 7A, Jalan Pahlawan, right next to the UOB Bank there.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 