My girl wanted to drop by here for lunch that day because when we were here a fortnite earlier, it was on a Friday, our no-meat day, so she was not able to order her favourite here, their sizzling beef on a hot plate…
Of course, I did not have a problem with that and off we went!
Yes, it was very good, as nice as ever and to everyone’s liking and for our vegetable dish, we had the butter baby kai lan (Chinese broccoli)…
…which was good too.
There were a few other dishes that we used to order but I thought of trying something different for a change so I asked the young boy taking our orders (the lady boss’ son) if they had any “lok bak“. Unfortunately, he was monolingual and did not know what I was talking about – he did not know what “rusa” or “venison” is and unfortunately, I don’t know what it is in Mandarin so I asked him to call his mum who is conversant in Hokkien but unfortunately, they did not have the meat.
Eventually, I settled for “beef tendon in a claypot” on the menu and this…
…was what we got.
Well, it wasn’t in a claypot – the lady boss said it would be in one, a small one and no, the serving was definitely not small. It would not have mattered much if it had tasted great but no, I was not impressed, not at all. The sauce in the sizzling hot plate beef was heaps nicer!
Other than the taste, I was quite put off by what I could (or could not) find inside! There was hardly any beef tendon at all and just a few paper thin slices of beef. Instead, there were a whole lot of oyster mushroom and fried tofu, cut into thin long strips. Honestly, sometimes, it is better to stick to what’s familiar, things that we know are nice. This is one dish I would never order again.
The bill came up to RM63.00 for the three dishes, not cheap but of course, beef is not cheap and perhaps, that was a sign of the things to come, the rising prices. We just have to expect the pinch when we eat out these days.
After lunch, my missus wanted to go and buy some roast meats for dinner. There is a very popular stall at a coffee shop down the road – if I am not wrong, that is the older brother of the one in our neighbourhood that I frequent quite a lot so I suggested trying the ones here…for a change.
We were here once in 2020 but it did not sweep us off our feet so we never went back again. In the meantime, my good friend/ex-classmate, Robert, said their roast duck (sold out when we went that day) was the best in town so I told my good friend, Annie, when she came home for Ching Ming that day but she said it was salty and not to their liking. Ah well! I guess I would just have to try it myself.
My missus paid RM30.00 for this much…
…and yes, the roast duck was very good, not salty, tender and nice. The char siew was all right, nothing to make it stand out above the rest and the siew yoke (roast pork) would have been very nice but the crackling was so very salty that we had no choice but to give it our thumbs down! All things considered, I think I’d rather go to the stall here that I really liked a lot or I’d just stick to my regular stall – everything there is pretty good and being right round the corner from my house, it is a whole lot convenient to go there and buy.
NICE HOUSE RESTAURANT (2.29201,111.82739)…
…is located in the vicinity of the Tunku Osman shops, opposite Rejang Bookstore.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Being a person like me who is not adventurous about food, I will stick faithfully to what I have eaten before and to my liking. Wow, 2 beef dishes in this meal itself…😊😊.
I thought there would be all tendons in the dish. Mana tau, hardly any and they added beef instead. I wouldn’t have ordered if I had known that!
I guess everybody has the same thing in mind, just stick to their favourites – that is why I see all the same dishes at most tables all the time. It’s not about being adventurous – if there are other nice dishes, it would be good to have those instead…for a change sometimes. I wouldn’t want to eat the same old things over and over again.
Any beef dishes, I love especially sizzling beef on hot plate. I would be very upset too if a beef tendon dish hardly contained any tendon.
I was already pissed off when the young boy could not speak any other language other than Mandarin. I just snapped and ordered him to go and get his mother, no need to waste my time talking to him when he obviously did not know a thing!
For reasons unknown, probably because of the RM1,500 minimum pay, they got rid of all their Iban ladies – they were with them for years and years and they were able to take the orders, do the serving, the cleaning, everything, no problem at all!!!
Love beef dishes. So disappointing to find hardly any tendon when the dish is about beef tendon.
They should rename the dish in their menu if they are not going to put in a lot of tendon instead of all that rubbish! So pissed off!!!
I have to admit that cooking style in Sibu is very diverse.
Our way of baby kai lan stir fry is usually with oyster sauce only.
And we never have beef claypot in my little kampung.
Always chicken or catfish, I think.
I do eat beef though, but we do have quite a few Chinese folks in my little kampung, who do eat beef at all.
I guess, it’s another story in Sarawak?
I’m sure people cook all kinds of things in a claypot – you probably have been away too long, so out of touch with things around here.
They do fry baby kai lan in other ways other than with just oyster sauce, ching chao, fry with belacan and so on.
I love kai lan with liver and Chinese wine!
You mean there are people who do not eat beef? Buddhists don’t! Indians don’t either.
Not all that popular here as it is very expensive and difficult to get fresh beef – the Malay beef stall hardly ever opens.
That’s the way they do business, will just open when they feel like it and never mind that the queue is a mile long, they will go slow and steady! I’ve given up on that one stall in town, just buy the nice imported ones from Australia and New Zealand.
I can say that I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food, I like to try new food, but then again, I have to prepare for the outcome; it is good or not, we like or not. But of course, it is nice to stay put to our old preference but once a while, we do like to try new thing.
I just had roasted duck from Imperial Duck over the weekend. We didn’t patronised it since MCO.
I’ve never been to Imperial Duck. If I am not wrong, it is a spin-off from Lok Thian but it’s halal, no pork. Can’t remember if I ever had roast duck at Lok Thian but I love the Peking Duck at Li Garden, Hock Lee Centre. Best in the world!!!
That is the problem! We wouldn’t know unless we try and in the end, everytime we keep eating the same old things at the same old places, so boring!!!
I wouldn’t usually order beef, but that sizzling pan of it does look good.
It is. The house specialty, my girl’s favourite.