The right combination…

The other day, early in the morning at around 8.00 a.m., I dropped by here again as I had to go next door to see to some business regarding my house insurance.

We loved his fried kway teow…

…when he was at that Sarawak franchise place, going all the way back to 2013 and when he opened his own place here in 2015, we had been dropping by regularly for that or some other nice stuff on his menu.

For no reason in particular, we have not been coming here for quite sometime but of course, all this while, it was never short of customers and had been doing very well. Unfortunately, that morning, the situation was a far cry from the usual – maybe it was still too early but there wasn’t a single living soul around.

I decided to tapao (take away) his fried kway teow…

…for everybody for breakfast for old times’ sake so I went and took my tiffin carrier from the boot of my car and placed my order for three.

Yes, it was still as nice as ever and we sure enjoyed it very much. However, I don’t know whether it was because of the current situation with the business being somewhat slow but there seemed to be a lot in one serving, so much so that I was still feeling so very full come lunchtime and I decided to skip the meal that day. I could have ordered two plates only and shared that among the three of us.

The last time I was there, the guy asked me to buy his spicy crispy prawn chili sambal (RM20 for one plastic tub, full)…

…but I was not all that keen at the time. This time around, I was intrigued by the sight of all the packs all over the tables in the shop, ready for sale. Gee!!! It certainly looked like it must be really good, I thought, and there was a big demand for it so I bought one and took it home.

I had it for tea…

…that afternoon with these made-in-the-Philippines Sky Flakes crackers…

…their newer onion & chives flavour…

…and it was truly the right combination, I must say.

That was so very nice that I simply couldn’t stop until I had had quite a lot even though I knew jolly well that at this point in time, I shouldn’t be feasting on such things like there was no tomorrow.

This is something like the sambal hay bee/udang kering (dried prawns) that I would make myself sometimes but of course, he does not use the worth-its-weight-in-gold Rajang hay bee but the cheaper ones are not that cheap these days, anyway and everyone has been telling me to use that, insisting that the sambal will be just as nice (and they also tell me to use a blender, no need to kill myself pounding away using a mortar and pestle).

His is not exactly like mine – I think his recipe is not exactly the same as the one in my family – but I could detect some similarities. I certainly would want to buy some more once I’ve finished the pack that I bought that morning.

COLOURFUL CAFE (2.316673, 111.837539) is located in the Renew4U building at the junction of Brooke Drive and Lorong Kwong Ann 8, across the road from the Church of Jesus  Christ of the Latter Day Saints.