It’s getting better…

I guess everybody went through a bad patch during the pandemic, some worse than others and there were some who had to call it a day eventually.

Yes, business was very poor all this while for my friends here…

…too when they were depending on takeaways and food deliveries but thankfully, they did manage to pull through. Things sure seem to be getting a whole lot better now with only a few cases each day and with the state election just around the corner, business has started to pick up a bit.

The schools have closed for the end-of-year holidays so last Saturday, I managed to persuade my girl to go out for lunch. All this while, she did not want to go anywhere #stayingsafe #stayingwell and #stayinghome but I managed to convince her – usually, there are not many customers around and the tables are all well-spread out so if there are others around, physical distancing is definitely not a problem…plus the place is not air-conditioned (they say this is bad – all schools are advised not to switch them on and to open all the doors and windows) and you can enjoy the fresh air that comes in with the breeze from the river.

Christmas…

…is just a few weeks away but I guess due to the pandemic, nobody is in the mood so the decoration this year is very minimal…

Yes, they were playing those Christmas songs that day but somehow, the mood just wasn’t there!

The ladies had a glass of buah kedondong (ambarella) juice (RM7.00)…

…each but I did not want that just in case there was sugar in it so I just had a glass of warm water.

We shared this plate of nasi kerabu (RM12.00)…

The serving was so big that there was more than enough to go round.

Yes, we enjoyed that and to go with it, I ordered this lamb curry (RM25.00)…

…and their belimbing prawns (RM17.00)…

I must say that I was very impressed by the size of the prawns…

…in the latter – they were so much bigger than the ones I always buy from my favourite fish & seafood stall near my house and those sure do not come cheap! These must have cost a bomb!!!

My girl wanted their very popular mushroom roll (RM8.00)…

…so I ordered that as well and since they were out of their pomelo salad and their papaya salad, we had their Payung rojak (RM12.00)…

…for our vegetable dish to go with all our orders.

Yes, this was like in the good ol’ days before the pandemic – it has been so long since we dropped by here for lunch or for dinner and it sure felt good to be able to do that again.

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.