I remember the boy…

Yes, I remember that handsome boy helping out at his family’s tee peang (our Sibu Foochow version of the oyster cake) stall…

…at the pasar malam (night market) here in Sibu. As a matter of fact, all this while, I was wondering if their stall was still open or not.

The night market was asked to close because of the pandemic and when the authorities allowed it to operate, there were all kinds of rules and regulations – only a few stalls were allowed to open each night and even going in would be such a hassle – one would have to queue up and go through the hassle of observing the SOP’s before entering. Unfortunately, once inside, it was a free-for-all, no physical distancing, no lines on the ground as to where to walk or where to stand at a safe distance from the other customers. I, for one, would not want to go there, thank you very much…and one might end up going there only to find that the stall was not open! What a nuisance!

Actually, the people at this particular stall used to operate from a coffee shop in town in the morning and at the pasar malam at night. I used to go there to buy from them, never at the night market – the problem then was it was often sold out…and being in a congested part of town, parking was a pain. Eventually, they decided to run their business at night only, at the pasar malam.

It so happened that the other day, my sister dropped by my house to give us these…

…and she said they were from the people from that particular tee peang stall. They are now at this coffee shop – at one time, many would swear by the kampua mee there and insist that it was the best in town. Of course, that old guy is no longer there. I guess they have decided not to bother doing it at the night market and to set up their business here instead.

The tee peang seemed bigger…

…than before but they did not seem all that generous with the filling…

…despite the fact that it had gone up in price, RM2.00 now from only RM1.50 a piece before.

Having said that, I would say that it…

…was still very nice, as nice as I remember it to be.

I don’t know whether the handsome boy would be there to help out or not. From what I heard the last time, he was a therapist by profession with some TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) shop so he was free at night to go lend a hand at the pasar malam. Perhaps, one of these days, I shall drop by there and have a look but as far as the tee peang goes, we have reasonably good homemade ones at the neighbourhood shop in the next lane and also at the apam balik/mànjiānguǒ (曼煎粿- Chinese pancake) stall in that same vicinity in the afternoon…and according to a friend, they have very good ones here too. I’ve yet to go and check it out.

HOCK LOK HONG CAFE SHOP 福樂園茶室 (2.284690, 111.832669) is located at No. 1, Lorong Lanang 2 at the traffic lights where you turn in from Lanang Road heading toward the Sibu Rejang Esplanade and the Li Hua & Kingwood Hotels.