Frank…

Frank or frankfurter is what we call a sausage or hot dog, also known as bratwurst in German.

I am not into those mass-produced rubbery factory-made ones sold in abundance at every supermarket but there are a few brands and some flavours that my girl likes so she may buy those once in a long while. I do not mind the very nice and exclusive gourmet ones and my girl would buy those too sometimes but not all that often. For one thing, they sure do not come cheap!

Sometime ago, she bought these Thai ones…

…but they did not seem to be moving much, sitting there idle in the freezer day in and day out.

I took two to fry and try and when I ate them, I could jolly well understand why. They tasted like lap cheong (臘腸), our Chinese sausages, or those Taiwan sausages which she and the mum are not particularly fond of. I do enjoy them, depending on what they are cooked with – in my opinion, it is a must in claypot pork/chicken rice.

Well, there were two left so the other morning, I decided to finish them off. As in the case of when I am cooking lap cheong, I removed the casing first…

…and then I cut slits all along the sides, top and bottom, before frying them in a pan with a bit of oil added.

While I was at it, I decided to go all the way and prepare my own BIG breakfast to enjoy. I toasted two slices of bread, fried two eggs and a few slices of bacon and I heated up some leftover chicken nuggets and served them with whipped potato by the side…

The sausages were a little bit charred…

…but that did not matter one bit. Like in the case of char siew or bak kua, the charred edges would add to the fragrance and enhance the taste.

That sure put the so-called Big Breakfast at those (expensive) supposedly fine dining, classy cafés here to shame. Needless to say, I enjoyed it to the max.

Upgraded…

A friend/ex-student shared a photograph of the chai kueh he bought, pre-packed in a plastic container and I asked him where he bought that. He told me and the next morning, I made my way there in search of it.  I walked around the stalls selling kueh by the pavement but I did not see it at all. In the end, I went home empty-handed.

I got back to that aforementioned guy to ask him specifically where he got the chai kueh from and yes, he did tell me but he added that perhaps I should go to the Rejang Park stall instead. I guess he was implying that those were not as nice. That was sometime back and I never did go and buy until the other day when I was driving past and a car reversed out from a parking space right in front. Gee!!! That must be my lucky day. No, one can easily find a parking space at the back but I am too lazy to walk all the way to the stall.

It appeared to me that they now have a lot more things for sale – their table is now bigger and they have upgraded to pre-packing what they make for sale and sticking their sticker…

…on the pack as well even.

Their chai kueh comes in a pack of 5…

…selling for RM5.00 each so that means they are a ringgit each. Yes, they were still as good as before but the ones I stumbled upon recently with the hint of hay bee (udang kering/dried prawns) in the filling were much nicer even though they did not look as good and besides, they were only RM4.50 for a pack of 5, cheaper by 10 sen each.

Their angku kuih are similarly packed in packs of 5…

…and are also selling for RM5.00 each, RM1.00 for 1 angku and yes, they are consistently nice, nicer, bigger and cheaper than the ones here. I am not sure how much these are now – those are nice too but if I am not wrong, they are smaller. Incidentally, the yellow ones (the skin is made from pumpkin) cost 50 sen more, RM5.50 a pack so of course, I did not want those. They all taste the same, anyway!

I remember I loved the bak chang (meat dumplings) here…

…so I bought half a dozen to store in the fridge. I can steam them for breakfast in the morning instead of stopping by some place outside to eat. Now that Sibu has been declared a yellow zone, it is best to #staysafe #staywell #stayhome.

No, that wasn’t all that I bought from the stall that day. I also bought tofu fa for the ladies – I did not get any for myself as I had a cough and was staying away from anything cooling.

I also bought these chai peah (vegetable fritters)…

…that my girl likes a lot, 5 for RM2.00 now – it used to be 3 for a ringgit before and I wonder why they call it chai peah when there is no chai (vegetable) in it at all. At best, you may see some chopped spring onion…

…that’s all! I think there might be a strand or two of taugeh (bean sprout) a long long time ago but don’t count on finding any in the chai peah anymore these days.

My girl quite enjoyed them but she says she prefers the ones at the ban chien kuih (apam balik) stall around the shops near my house in the afternoon.

LIM TIONG KHAY Chinese kueh stall (2.306707, 111.836471) is located beside the Chinese medical store among the shops at Rejang Park in the block facing Jalan Teruntum to the left of what was formerly the Zenith Mint Cinema.

Not nice…

Well, I would not say it was not nice but in my opinion, I feel that there are others that I prefer.

I took my ex-student, Raphael, here for this…

…in January this year and I actually encouraged him to order from this stall…

…as it was featured in a Youtube video. As it turned out, to be frank, I thought he looked like he was not enjoying it so much. There was no WOWWW!!! moment, not at all and when I asked him, he said that he had not had any other than that one so he was in no position to make a comparison.

I was feeling like having some Foochow fried noodles that day so I drove over to the hawker centre with this particular stall in mind since I had never tried it first hand before. I ordered the Foochow fried noodles special (RM6.00)…

…and it sure took quite a while before it was served. For one thing, everyone around that part of the hawker centre was having noodles from that same stall and they had to cook each order one by one so it took them a bit of time.

When it was served, one look at  its colour…

…told me that it wasn’t quite what I would expect and as it turned out, I was right.

I had this one there and it was good and on another occasion, I had this one from another stall and it was good too. Besides, I was given bottled chili sauce to go with it – that was so wrong! I would expect freshly-cut chili in dark soy sauce for Foochow fried noodles, wet (with sauce/gravy). PERIOD! I guess I could have asked for it but no, I did not bother.

There are a few places where the Foochow fried noodles is really good like this one near my house and this one though I have not been there for a long time now…or this one…and this one and I did get to enjoy one that my missus bought from a stall on the 1st Floor of the Sibu Central Market but when I asked her, she could not tell me exactly where exactly it was.

For one thing, this hawker centre was VERY crowded. I did drive there a few times but there was no parking space all around it and the mere sight of all the people there made me change my mind instantly about going there. That morning, I went at around 11, past the 10 o’ clock tea break and not yet time for lunch. There were a lot of people but there were some vacant tables and a car was just leaving so I did manage to get a parking space.

They had the QR code (they were using the official one belonging to the town’s municipal council) everywhere, even on the tables but I do not have a smartphone and there was no way I could sign in and check my temperature. I must say I was quite uncomfortable with that and I don’t think I would be all that keen to go back there again…especially when there have been TWO cases reported in Sibu and the town has been declared yellow all over again.

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.

At least we’ve tried…

Ever since we had the chicken rice lunch downstairs, we kept saying that we would want to go and try their hotpot place on the 1st Floor…

…but we never got down to doing it until that day, the day of the Mid-Autumn/Mooncake Festival.

We went early, before 6.00 p.m., in the hope that there would not be a crowd and we would be able to get a table as we did bother to make a reservation. I was thinking that since there are so many hotpot places in town sprouting out here, there and everywhere like mushrooms after the rain, if the place was too crowded, we could always try another one.

Luckily, there were tables available and believe it or not, there were others there already before us. If I am not wrong, the place was full by the time we were leaving – I don’t know whether that was because of the festival or they actually do enjoy brisk business like this every night.

My missus helped herself to three types of chili dip…

…which I did try but none was to my liking. None of them came near to what my missus makes herself at home.

For the hotpot, we picked the classic pork bone soup on one side and the tom yam on the other (RM15.00 for a pick of 2)…

…and for the meat, we had pork (RM10.00) and beef (RM12.00)…

…and premium lamb slices (RM20.00)…

My girl said that she could not tell the difference between the beef and the lamb and both did not stand out in any way so in future, we might as well just order the pork which we felt was the nicest of the three.

The so-called “fresh prawns” were expensive, RM28.00 for a set of 4…

…and I asked for two sets because I was expecting to get freshwater prawns (udang galah). To be frank, I felt these were way overpriced – I can easily get them at the shop near my house, roundabout 20 of them, this size or bigger, for around RM40 (usually RM45.00 a kilo). Had I known better, I would have given them a miss.

The Spanish mackerel fishballs (RM8.00)…

…were great and so were the shrimp and pork dumplings (RM8.00)…

I should have asked for two sets each of these two instead of the prawns.

The fresh red squid (RM12.00)…

…wasn’t all that cheap either, nothing to get excited about and something we would surely leave out, should we happen to come back here again next time.

The  Hakka yong tao foo (RM15.00)…

…was all right and my girl loved their fresh tofu (RM4.00)…

– she said it was extra smooth and silky, nicer than the ones sold at the wet market in town. You may have noticed how they seem to qualify most items on their menu as being “fresh“, even the tofu. LOL!!!

The mushroom platter (RM8.00)…

…took quite  a long time coming and that got me wondering why. I thought it would not need much preparation, just dump everything in a plate and serve…and we also had these Q-Q (curly) vegetables (RM5.00) and tang hoon/glass noodles (RM4.00)…

…too.

We just threw everything in, equally divided between the two types of broth and when it started boiling…

…it was time to dig in!

The tom yam soup was nice but way too spicy and too sour for me to handle – I guess the rest did not fancy it much either as by the time we had finished everything, there was still half left. The classic pork bone soup was really good, so “sweet” and bursting with flavours, so much so that it prompted my girl to remark, next time we shall just have the pork bone soup on both sides.

The total came up to RM183.00 (inclusive of drinks) for the four of us – we invited my sister to join us that night. That sure wasn’t cheap and we could have had our own at home for much less but at least, we did not have to do all the preparation and all the washing and cleaning once we were done. We certainly wouldn’t mind coming here again but I guess we shall just reserve it for special occasions.

HOTPOT CAFÉ is on the 1st Floor, right above TING KEE CHICKEN RICE (2.292362, 111.825681) which is located at No. 85, Jalan Kampung Nyabor, to the extreme left of the block of shops directly across the road from RH Hotel.

Good, not great…

We dropped by here for lunch…

…that afternoon, the day of the Mooncake Festival, mainly because I wanted to give it a try to see if it was any good.

Unfortunately, the siew yoke was sold out and even though a few of their roast ducks were still hanging there in the display cabinet, they were all booked by some people, most probably for their dinner at home to celebrate the festival  that night.

In the end, we had no choice but to order what they had left…

The stewed egg was somewhat under-stewed, looking rather pale while the roast chicken was all right, just like roast chicken anywhere else, nothing to make it stand out above the rest.

I thought the char siew…

…looked good but at best, I would say that it was nicer than most, if not all, that we have in town which, in fact, is not saying much as we do not have nice char siew here, not that I know of, even though there are places where the siew yoke is really nice. So far, all these years, the best char siew we had was from the Cantonese guy here, originally from KL, if I am not mistaken – we were there in 2014 but eventually, he closed shop and moved to the UK to join his brother in the food business there.

The chicken rice was so very white, not the best but nicer than many around here and the complimentary soup would rank among the top – at most places, what they give is not worth a second sip.

What we had was only RM21.50 altogether and yes, it did not look like much simply because there was not very much. I wouldn’t mind paying more for a bit more actually. I asked the guy and he said they were all locals but the chef/cook was working in Singapore for many years and had just come back.

Personally, if I were to pick my favourites in town, I would pick, not in any particular order, this one – the meat, in particular and this one too plus this one as well, their rice especially. The steamed chicken and rice here are immensely popular – you may not be able to get a table if you do not go early or make a reservation but I feel they need better quality control as at times, they would be so so good and at other times, they turn out somewhat disappointing.  We quite liked this one but we went there once only so I would reserve my opinion till we have gone back there a few more times. As for this one, I would say it was not bad, not among the ones that I like a lot in town but there are others that aren’t as good.

This yet-to-be-named coffee shop is located where Kampung Grandma used to be, to the right of  23 FOOD COURT (2.297349, 111.824644), among the shops along Lorong Tun Abg Hj Openg 1, opposite Kin Orient Plaza (where the “old’ Sing Kwong Supermarket is).

Hot cakes

This place…

…sure needs no introduction as it appears that everyone seems to know about it.

It is located right beside a budget hotel…

…with all the big hotels all around in that same area and visitors to Sibu would always stop there to buy the lung ngor/kay nerng kor (egg cake) and declare that theirs are the best in town.

I’ve tried them before but no, I was not all that impressed – personally, I do prefer the ones…

…here. Some people did say that I would have to eat them piping hot from the oven – only then would I be able to taste how nice theirs are.

I had the impression that they started off as a small shop (with a different name)…

…right beside the celebrated dianpianngu place in town and then they opened this branch here but some insist they are not the same people, I wouldn’t know. Not too long ago, I noticed that they had rented a small place beside the TOTO shop a stone’s throw away and there were some Muslim ladies there doing the baking and I did see them transporting the fruits of their labour to the shop on the other side.

Well, it so happened that somebody treated my sister to one of their paos (steamed buns) and she loved it so much that she rushed there to buy but unfortunately, they were all sold out. Yes, they have gone into making paos now, chicken ones as this is a pork-free place and many of their employees are Muslims – this way, they would be able to sell their stuff to everyone regardless of race or religion.

Finally, the other day, my sister stopped by at around 7.00 a.m. in the morning and managed to buy some from them – the char siew pao (RM2.00 each)…

…and the bak pao (RM2.00 each)…

The latter had egg inside, one-eighth of it unlike others where they give one-sixteenth or sometimes, you only realise there is egg in the bun when you see traces of the yolk in the filling.

Yes, both were very nice and I liked how they had chunks of meat inside – I hate those made with minced meat and whatever else that they press into a ball or a patty and wrap that inside the pao. My missus, for one, would not eat those. The skin was very nice too so all things considered, I sure wouldn’t mind going there to buy sometimes…but of course, I would have to go real early. Word has it that they sell like hot cakes and will all be sold out in a couple of hours!

Huong Hiong Confectionary 芳香（詩巫）餅家 is located off Jalan Bengkel, beside Victoria Inn on one side and the circular building (the SEDC Medan Niaga Tanahmas) that houses all the Malay stalls on the other, to the right of the New Capital Restaurant.

Anchorman…

All the way there, I was telling myself that I would want to try the kampua mee from the lady at this stall…

…at the food court but when I got to my destination, I had a change of heart.

I decided to go for her own-made fish ball soup (RM6.00)…

…with tang hoon (glass noodles)…

…instead.

Yes, I was glad I did as the clear and refreshing soup was so very nice with just a very light hint of the fragrance of vinegar. I enjoyed it and sure wouldn’t mind going for it again next time…and yes, I loved that poached egg with the runny yolk!

I did not quite like the own-made fish ball though. I don’t know what ingredients she added but it tasted like those frozen meatballs that I do not fancy one bit. Thankfully, there was only one or at least, that was what it looked like, cut into small bits. Next time, I shall request for it to be left out and perhaps, she can give me a bit more minced meat instead.

Incidentally, there is now a nicely-laminated photograph of the mee dawai…

…at the stall concerned, placed alongside all the snapshots of the dishes available there. Previously, it was just a colour printer-printed photograph on A4 paper, wrapped in plastic and stuck anyhow to the front of the glass cabinet.

However, there were very few customers in the food court which is something that I like – I wouldn’t want to go to any place with a lot of people like the coffee shop right next door. It still doesn’t have a name but obviously, the whole town has heard about it! The guy was here before and the last time I saw him, he was here and not too long ago, I was told that he had moved here. I suppose all his faithful followers had followed him here so it was quite full. That is why I always say that for a coffee shop or food court to succeed, it must have a really good and popular anchor tenant who will lure in the crowd.

Well, I am in no hurry to try his dishes – I had them before so there is no need to fight tooth and claw with everybody for a table there to eat anything from him and furthermore, the last time I spoke to him at his former place, he told me that his char kway teow no longer has cockles…

I would want to go and try the roast meat stall in front though – the char siew and siew yoke looked very good and I was impressed by the number of roast duck on display in the cabinet. It must be really good if he can sell all of them in just one morning right through lunchtime. I would definitely drop by for that one of these days.

23 FOOD COURT (2.297349, 111.824644) is located at No. 13/15, Lorong Tun Abg Hj Openg 1, among the shops opposite Kin Orient Plaza (where the “old’ Sing Kwong Supermarket is) in the vicinity of Gabriel’s Recipe – both The Coffee Code and Kampung Grandma there have closed down.

Things have changed…

The other day, my friend in KL, the hubby of one of the bloggers who came that day, shared some photographs on Facebook and tagged me. There was this kampua mee place…

…that he stumbled upon at some place called Bandar Sungai Long and he went and tried…

He wasn’t all that impressed, it seemed as a friend asked him for his verdict and he just said, “OK, can be better!“

Well, with the minced meat added, it sure did not look like Sibu kampua mee, more like Kuching kolo mee even though they insist in their shop sign that they’re “original Sibu“, with the Sarawak flag thrown in for good measure. Other than that, when they serve kampua mee here, they will give you bottled chili sauce in a small saucer. That looked like the sambal belacan for Sarawak laksa – maybe my friend got it all mixed up as he did have the laksa as well.

My friend, Annie, in KL went to this one…

…at its new location in PJ. The guy used to be somewhere in Sunway, much to the delight of the students from Sarawak at the college/university there. My nephew from Bintulu said they would always go there to eat so they did not miss home and kampua mee all that much.

Just like the previous one, this one too has minced meat, something you will not find in authentic kampua mee since time immemorial but things have changed and you will find minced meat in your bowl of noodles at some places here in Sibu…

Another thing you will not find a lot of in kampua mee here would be the fried shallots and chopped spring onion that they use to garnish the dish…

…except for this one, perhaps…

They was widely known for their generous sprinkling of their fried shallots that they kept tightly closed in a milk or Milo tin to keep it nice and crispy. Once, when my uncle and his family from Kuching were in town and we stopped by there for the noodles, my uncle went to ask why they did not give so much anymore and the old guy replied that shallots were way too expensive these days so they had to cut down on it.

In the 50’s, a plate of kampua mee cost 50 cents only, with meat and 30 cents, without meat and they would open their shops/stalls at the break of dawn and stay open till late at night. If you dropped by mid-afternoon, they would willingly turn up their fire to get the water boiling to cook you a plate. These days, even before noon, they would be cleaning up and closing for the day already and some will open around 6.00 p.m. in the evening till around 10.

In those good old days, a common sight at these kampua mee stalls in the afternoon would be their giant kuali/wok of pork fat. With a lot more time on their hands, they would grab the chance to render the lard for their use. After they had the oil they needed, they would use it to fry the peeled and thinly sliced shallots…and the fragrance would fill the air. I do not know if the ones today still do that – we certainly do not get to see them doing it in public like that. For one thing, when I asked at one place here, the guy told me that lard is too expensive these days so they would mix it with cooking oil…

Obviously, that is why a lot of kampua mee here these days lacks the fragrance of the shallot pork oil – I would not be surprised if some do not bother to use it at all!

I also know that at some places, they use a food processor to chop the shallots so after frying, there will be all the minute bits and when tossed with the noodles, it would be such a mess and not a pleasant sight to behold. Some places will do the tossing in a bowl and transfer the noodles onto a plate and serve – others do not bother and it looks kind of messy/dirty. Obviously, a lot of people do not mind about the “presentation” – they just eat.

Long ago, kampua mee was served with boiled meat, dyed red so what we got would be kind of pinkish orange…

Eventually, there was a ban on the colouring used. The practice stopped for a while but it seems that many are doing it again…

Perhaps, they are now using some kind of permitted dye, I wouldn’t know. Some places will use stewed pork instead – I sure would not mind that…

I cannot remember exactly what kampua mee was like in my younger days – no matter how authentic they insist theirs is today, it sure is not the same anymore. Long ago, they used locally-made (or at least, that was I thought they were) chio cheng (light soy sauce) in a jar and locally-made chili sauce, also in a jar. I remember my late cousin would always want to go to the washroom after eating the noodles tossed in the chili sauce…but once and once only. What they use today sure aren’t as nice so of course, what you get will be different from what we had before. They are all from West Malaysia or China, all in bottles…or when they buy in bulk, in big rectangular kerosene tins.

Even the noodles may be different these days – kampua mee is handmade, thicker and straight while kolo mee is machine made, thinner and more curly – but they are used interchangeably these days and some people may prefer one over the other which may not be what we used to enjoy long ago.

Well, say what you want. Time passes, things change. These days, there are so many coffee shops, so many kampua mee stalls. Don’t be surprised that the kampua mee at one place may be different from the one right next door. We just take each one as it is – no need to make a fuss and as long as it is nice (enough), we will go and enjoy it, no point hanging on to what’s past, knowing that things will never be the same again.

Stay inside…

Last Sunday, we went out for lunch. I asked my girl what she would like to have and she said she would want to go for the nasi biryani here…AGAIN! I said we were there just the other day but she insisted – she loves the nasi biryani from the North Indian chef so much, more authentic than elsewhere, she says and she doesn’t mind going for it again and again.

This round, she went for the butter tandoori chicken curry biryani…

…which, of course, took a while as the guy cooks the biryani rice from scratch upon order, not like most places where they cook one whole tub and scoop to serve to you when you ask for it. He also cooks the tandoori chicken fresh and uses it to cook the butter chicken curry – that is why you get the lovely fragrance of the tandoori-cooked meat in the dish. Needless to say, you will need to wait a bit but it is well worth it.

I saw that they had quite a lot of new dishes in their menu including some korma chicken or lamb and I requested for the latter with biryani rice…

…to try. It was very nice, completely different from our Malay kurma meat dish which, I feel, is something like their opor ayam…

…on their Indonesian menu. Of course, my missus had something from that, with a special request for it to be super extra spicy, their mee nyemek…

…and yes, it was good, something like our mee mamak.

We were served this seafood mixed vegetable dish…

…on the house to try and yes, it was great. It had a tomato-based gravy though – personally, I would prefer curry.

Yes, they have not put out the tables and chairs outside because of the SOP so once again, we had to sit inside. I am very sure you can tell the difference in the photographs, the current ones and those before, taken when we were outside where it was much brighter.

I forgot to ask for the cashier’s receipt so I do not have the itemised prices of what we had. Anyway, the bill came up to RM70.50, inclusive of drinks – I had their very nice Indian ginger tea and my girl had their iced lemon while the mum had sky juice. I did not have anything smaller so I paid using a RM100 note and the kind and generous boss gave me a discount on the bill and passed to me RM35.00 change. Ain’t that nice?

The CAFE IND (2.290813, 111.829294) is located along Laichee Lane, right behind one block of shops facing the main road (Jalan Kampung Nyabor) where the Bank Simpanan Nasional, Sibu branch (2.290561, 111.829071), is.

Just when…

A very Happy Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節), also known as The Lantern or The Mooncake Festival, to one and all.

As the day drew near, I saw a lot of my friends making and buying and selling and giving away and receiving all those lovely mooncakes and just when I was resigned to my fate – that I would not be getting any this year – my friend, Yan, sent word that she would be sending me something via her colleague here, also my friend.

Truly, I was stunned when I saw what she had sent me…

The box looked so elegant, so exclusive but then again, it was exclusive all right. I believe Yan made those mooncakes herself to give to family and friends and I sure was flattered and thankful that I was included in the list.

There were four mooncakes inside, all truly evident of the fine and delicate craftsmanship that went into the making…

They included two of these…

…the mixed nuts ones…

…that we never liked when we were small. I guess we were not so into nuts then and those at the time had bits of fat and whatever inside. These did not have any inside, generally all nuts…

…and yes, they tasted great! After all, we do enjoy nuts very much these days so we would buy them quite often to munch and boy, they sure do not come cheap, not at all.

The other two, I believe, were what they call Shanghai mooncakes…

…the red bean ones…

…that actually had one whole salted egg yolk inside…

Yum! Yum! That was so very nice too!

Thank you so so much, Yan, for these lovely mooncakes – it sure is so thoughtful and generous of you and thank you too for remembering this old friend of yours – just when I had given up all hope of getting any mooncakes from anybody this year. A very Happy Mooncake Festival and may God bless you and all your loved ones on this auspicious day and every day in the year ahead. Cheers!