New location…

In my blogpost yesterday, I mentioned that I walked over to this coffee shop in the next block to the left and I was appalled to see that there were so very few customers, maybe two tables only to the most, unlike that previous time when I dropped by when they were enjoying brisk business despite the pandemic.

I guess the problem started when the beef noodles…

…stall moved to their own shop here and their crowd of loyal followers made their way there as well.

Eventually, the lady selling the very nice Penang har mee (prawn noodles)…

…that I ate that day also moved to a coffee shop across the road from here…

…along Jalan Sena. My ex-student sent me a photograph of the coffee shop but I have not gone over to have a look yet.

A Malay lady has taken her place but it did not look like she had any business at all – I wonder how long she would last at this rate and for reasons unknown, the kampua mee stall was closed, not something usual on a Thursday – they usually take the day off on Monday or Tuesday every week.

In the meantime, this coffee shop…

…that used to be in the next lane from my house has moved here…

…to what was formerly the Football Cafe along Jalan Cherry, Lorong 10. A long time ago, my ex-student used to run his Art tuition class at the unit on the extreme left on the 1st floor and I used to send my girl there. Now he is a very successful gynaecologist in Bintulu, making tonnes of money.

I don’t know what happened at the old place – probably there were some rental issues but even though this new place is quite near my house, I am in no hurry to go over, not at all. The kampua mee…

…and the pian sip…

…were good but there are others elsewhere just as good or perhaps even nicer.

I loved the Foochow fried mee special, the moon version…

…and the tomato kway teow…

…and my girl loved the fried pek koi…

…from the chu-char (cook and fry) people but I am not fond of the guy’s peculiar sense of humour. I don’t know if he was being hurtful or what but the things he said were far from being funny – I saw the expressions on the customers’ faces change as he hurled his insults at them and I did hear people saying that they would never go back there again!

Word has it that business at the new place is as brisk as before so I guess the loss of some of his customers has not affected them that much, if at all.

Maybe it’s time…

This coffee shop used to be so popular and was always filled to the brim. Yes, I used to drop by for the very nice kampua mee…

…from the stall in front and yes, it is still there. I certainly would rank it among the best in town.

Another thing that I loved a lot from this stall was the meat porridge…

…and needless to say, I would always ask for the special so there would be some pieces of liver and bits of intestines in the so very delicious gruel. As a matter of fact, I like it so much that I dare say it is my favourite in town!

I cannot remember having anything from the chu-char (cook and fry) place at the back – my missus would order from them time and time again and I did notice a lot of people going there around lunchtime every day for the chap fan (mixed rice). However, when I was there the other morning, it looked very clean, like it had closed shop but don’t take my word for it. I did not walk to the back to check so I am not really sure.

I decided to go there once again after all this time that morning because I was thinking of the Muslim Melanau ladies’ roti canai and roti telur…

…that they usually served, unlike elsewhere, with a bowl of curry gravy and I sure enjoyed that a lot.

Unfortunately, when I got there, the ladies told me that they no longer sell roti canai and all the rest at their stall…

They said the stall was too small for them to do everything so they would just stick to their priorities every day – fried noodles and what not in the morning and nasi campur (mixed rice) for lunch.

Yes, the ladies caused quite a stir when my West Malaysian blogger friends came to town in 2012 because their stall was sandwiched between the kampua mee and the fried kway teow stalls, something they would not be able to see over in the peninsula. In fact, unlike here where this Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian family) spirit is so very common, an everyday thing, over there, one would be hard-pressed to see a Muslim/Malay stall in a Chinese coffee shop. Another thing was, according to one of them, they would never get to see a lady making roti canai over there – all of them would be men. I don’t know to what extent this is/was true – I never bothered to take note of it.

Anyway, moving on to what I ordered in the end, I could remember that I used to enjoy their char kway teow (fried flat rice noodles) that was a whole lot nicer than the one from the Chinese chu-char place at the back so I asked for a plate of the special (RM6.00)…

It used to be RM5.00 before in 2017 which means that it has gone up by just one ringgit when the prices of everything else are shooting up sky high!

For the special, I got one perfectly fried egg and half a chicken wing…

…with the kway teow…

…and though I would say it was pretty good, somehow I felt that it was nicer before…

I may drop by again to eat it sometime but no, you would not find me going out of my way to come here for this.

There were still a lot of customers that morning but no, it was not as busy as before. Maybe it had gone past its time and not many would make their way there anymore, unlike before, especially when traffic in that area is a nightmare every morning. Surprisingly, it was rather light that morning and this coffee shop in the next block that used to be packed, so very busy all the time, was almost empty except for maybe just a couple of tables.

CHOON SENG COFFEE SHOP /春陞茶室 (2.324218, 111.838197)…

…is located along Lorong Wong Ting Hock 1, off Jalan Wong Ting Hock, off Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg at the Sungai Merah Bazaar here.

A little bit sweet…

That day, I went browsing around the freezers at one of the shops in the vicinity of the Delta Mall commercial area here, looking at the varieties and different brands of ice cream available and I saw these…

…little packets of mochi ice cream from Walls, selling for only RM2.00 each.

I do recall the matcha durian flavoured ones…

…from that same ice cream company that my sister brought for dessert at our Chap Goh Mei dinner early in the year and yes, we thought they were very nice, all of us except my girl – she is no fan of durian nor mochi so of course, she was not too thrilled by it.

I was thinking that perhaps, she might enjoy these chocolate and vanilla ones…

…that come singly instead of in a tray of four so I opened one and cut it into two…

…to try. I had half and gave her the other half.

Yes, it was very nice – we loved the chocolate ice cream in the mochi. Generally, it was just a little bit sweet (maybe it was because we just had a small bite each) and the mochi skin was not that chewy. That was probably because it was frozen so it was not rubbery and difficult to bite and swallow like some that I had had before. The mum enjoyed it very much as she loves mochi – the rest of us would prefer to stick to good ol’ ice cream as we’ve always enjoyed it.

Fridays…

I guess everyone knows by now that I abstain from meat on Fridays and come that day every week, there are very few meatless dishes around here that I can eat.

Yes, we have some stalls selling porridge but they are all meat (minced pork) porridge and for the special, you may get some liver and other innards. That was why I was delighted to see that they have fish porridge here. I went there to give it a try one morning but they had run out so I had to go back again another day.

When it was served, I was kind of disappointed because it looked so plain (RM7.00)…

…like there was nothing in it other that that little bit of fried shallots on top.

Thankfully, there was more to it than what I could see and buried under the porridge were slices of fish fillet…

I guess they did not stand out as they were the same colour, the fish and the porridge.

I also found an egg…

…in the porridge but the next time I order this, I shall have to ask them to put in the egg last and not to overcook the yolk so that it will still be nice and runny, the way I would like it!

They gave some freshly ground Sarawak white pepper and a bit of chio cheng (light soy sauce or perhaps, it was fish sauce) for those who would prefer the porridge a little bit saltier. To me, it was good enough the way it was, whatever stock they used to cook the porridge. It was sweet and flavourful and whatever fish they used, that was good too – nice fish texture, no unpleasant fishy smell. I certainly would give it my nod of approval.

It seems that the regular crowd here has started to come back…

I was there at around 8.00 a.m., so very early but all the tables on the pavement outside were occupied and inside, there were quite a lot of people as well. This used to be the favourite meeting place of some old retirees (my ex-colleagues) who would gather here to catch up with one another’s lives once a week and it looked like they had resumed their weekly routine as well. I guess this place is ideal because parking is free and there are ample parking spaces all around plus it is not in the busy town centre so there are no traffic jams.

I went to the stall next to the one selling the porridge and tapao-ed this fried udon (RM6.00)…

…back for my missus to eat for her brunch and yes, she loved it! I asked if they could make it extra hot and they said they would add freshly-sliced red chili to it. Perhaps that was one reason why my missus enjoyed it – she likes it hot!!!

Probably I shall give it a try myself one of these days but the people at the next table were having the Sarawak laksa from the porridge stall and the fragrance was absolutely intoxicating, to say the least. I think I shall try that next time.

GRAND WONDERFUL FOOD COURT (2.309601, 111.845163)…

…is located along Jalan Pipit, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai, on your right. You can also go in via Jalan Pipit from Jalan Pahlawan – go straight ahead till you get to it on your left.

End up here…

We went out for lunch on Sunday and my girl wanted to go here to try more of what they had in their impressive menu.

Unfortunately, they were out of tilapia, the ONLY fish dish that they had and the giant sotong (squid) that my girl wanted was NEW on the menu and was not available. It seemed that a lot of things in the menu were not available…YET! Honestly, how on earth do they do business like this? We decided to try some place else and walked out indignantly, feeling quite disgusted!

We went and checked this place out but it was full so we had to try some place else!!! Subsequently, we ended up here and had this delightful dish of venison…

…fried with thin strips of ginger and soy sauce.

Because my girl was thinking of having that once, we did ask for the meat at a number of places including this one but unfortunately, they all did not have it. Finally, here’s one place that had it but now, I am on a no red meat diet so I had to refrain from feasting on it. I did take one small slice though to buang gian (appease the craving) – I guess that wouldn’t do too much harm.

I also ordered their very nice fried fish fillet coated with bread crumbs served with mayonnaise…

– another one of my girl’s favourites at this restaurant.

We had their own-made tofu…

…as well. That never failed to please everybody who had it and I dare say that their fried cangkok manis with egg…

…is the best in town.

The total came up to only RM51.00 for the four dishes for the three of us – that may be considered relatively cheap compared to what I had to pay lately at the other restaurants in town and the best part, of course, was we enjoyed all the dishes to the max.

Another thing that impressed me was how they had switched to using ceramic plates completely – the last few times we were here, I did see them using some of their old plastic plates and I was somewhat put off by that. I do hope they would do away with those altogether from now on.

RUBY RESTAURANT…

…is located at No. 71, Jalan Kampung Nyabor right next to HOME COOK CORNER  (2.292756, 111.825335) with the AmBank Tunku Osman branch in the very next block.

Stop on the way…

Last Saturday, we did not go out for lunch because the ladies had those lovely brioche bun and pork patty burgers from my friend, Yan, for brunch and they said they were feeling full. In the end, I just had a couple of the scones she gave us and that was it.

We did not have any dinner either because we planned to go some place for a late dinner/supper at around 8.00 p.m. after our Sunset Mass Service at our regular church here. I picked this place because of the convenience – it is on the way back to my house from the church and we would not have to head into the town centre. It was raining that night and there were massive jams because of the Sarawak Day long weekend and the closing ceremony of the Borneo Food & Cultural Festival that night. Here, there is ample parking space, no jam and just go round the traffic lights round the corner and we would be home already!

I had this sweet and sour fish fillet with rice and a generous serving of salad by the side (RM10.90)…

…and I sure enjoyed it a lot, the fish especially. I loved the very nice sauce that, unlike at a lot of places, did not taste like ketchup straight from the bottle! I was delighted that they gave some fried rice, instead of plain steamed rice – that certainly brought the dish up to a whole new level!

My missus had their fried sambal noodles (RM6.50)…

…and the instant it was served we knew it was going to be good. We could detect the whiff of wok hei fragrance in the air and the lovely smell of the noodles was a force to be reckoned with.

The fried sambal bihun (RM6.50)…

…that my girl had paled in comparison but it was good too – she did manage to finish all of it even though I told her to leave it behind if the serving was too big for her to handle.

I also ordered this plate of honey chicken wings (RM12.00)…

…to share even though RM12 for 3 isn’t exactly cheap, RM4.00 per chicken wing. I guess the shortage of chicken in the country and the removal of the ceiling prices sure did not help one bit but they’re very nice, value for money. However, if it keeps shooting up from those days when they were RM9 something a plate, I certainly would draw the line somewhere. At the end of the day, they are what they are – chicken wings!!!

Incidentally, I noticed that they use those plates that we see a lot at those “classier” cafes and restaurants here and the best part is that not a single one is chipped!!! THAT is class as class should be, and this is just a coffee shop, not like those pretentious high class fine dining wannabes with the prices to match and their unsightly chipped crockery. I would get put off the instant I see any like here…or here. A pat on the back, folks! Keep up the good work!!!

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.

At night…

Except for Saturday evenings when we go for the sunset service in church, we hardly do anything at night these days. In other words, we just stay home and never go out at all.

We sit down for dinner at 6.00 p.m., more or less and we should be done by 6.30 or so. Then I would adjourn upstairs and have a shower before retiring for the night. No, I don’t go to sleep that early, around 7.00 p.m. but I would not want to go downstairs again – going down is easy, it is the coming up that is the uphill task! Truth be told, I am certainly no longer as agile and as mobile as before any longer.

In the meantime, I just laze around in our master bedroom and watch reruns of “The Nanny“, “The Jeffersons” and “Mr. Belvedere” on my smartphone or “Mrs. Brown’s Boys” (not screened in Malaysia) from the BBC. Funny how I used to watch those shows on TV but I cannot remember ever seeing those episodes before!

I would usually call it a day at around 9.00 p.m., earlier on some days, a bit later on others but that night, at 8 something, my dumbphone (as opposed to my smartphone, my antique NOKIA 3310, also called a brickphone) rang. It was Yan of Yan on second thoughts. She said she had just touched down, after flying in from Kuching for the long weekend (it was a public holiday here on Friday, 22nd July – Sarawak Day) and she would stop by my house on her way home to pass me a few things.

Oh dear! I was already upstairs, ready to hit the sack so I asked my girl and the mum to go out and meet her and get the things she brought. Wowwwww!!!! She brought a whole lot of goodies that she made herself! There were these delightful scones…

– she did give me some before and they were so so so good!

Other than those, there were these brioche buns…

…and pork patties…

…too.

Of course, that was red meat, not for me but I did sample a bit and yes, it was so very good. The ladies in the house sure enjoyed the burgers…

…to the max while I could only watch them eat…

Poor me!

Nonetheless, a big thank you so so so much to Yan, my kind and generous friend and thanks especially for going through all that trouble to make all those things yourself…and sending them over to my house. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for more!

Yes! I could not resist having a scone for breakfast the next morning and that sure appeased my constant craving for my favourite English traditional breakfast even though I had it without the clotted cream and fruit jam -the buttery fragrance was enough to sweep me off my feet!

Up down…

There is word going round that the price of cooking oil in the country is going to come down as a result of the dropping prices of palm oil in the world market. Of course, that piece of news did not get me all excited knowing how when the prices of things shoot up, there is no way they are going to come down!

That was why I was very surprised the other day at my neighbourhood fruit & vegetable sundry shop in the next lane when I saw them selling these packs of nasi lemak…

…at only RM1.50 each!!! I was so very sure that they were RM2.00 a pack before this and yes, I was right!!!

However, my happiness was short-lived because when I had one good look at the one in that previous post of mine, there were a lot more kacang (peanut), not just ONE, alongside a few strips of fried ikan bilis (dried anchovies). The cucumber had remained the same – one miserable slice, that was all and no, there was no sign of any egg, never mind hardboiled, fried or strips of omelette.

I must say though that the Malay lady was more generous with the sambal this time around and I really enjoyed it – very spicy and very nice! The rice was the same as usual, very mildly lemak (rich with santan) but thankfully, it was not hard and dry.

There were only two packs left so I grabbed both of them and my missus and I had them for our lunch that day (my girl had co-curricular activities and would not be home till evening…for dinner).

We still had some durian flower left from the day before so I had that with the nasi lemak and my missus did make something with ikan bilis (dried anchovies)…

– it was very nice but I could only eat a bit of that since I am on a low salt diet.

She also fried one of the small and cheap fish that I bought…

…for me to enjoy with the nasi lemak.

I would say that though simple, nothing really fancy, it sure was a delightful lunch and I enjoyed it to the max!

SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441) is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end…and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket.

They try…

It looks really simple, like there is nothing much to it but many have tried to come out with it and many have failed.

I’m talking about our Foochow delight, the yew chang koi or fried shallot cake…

I bought a packet at my neighbourhood fruit & vegetable sundry shop in the next lane the other day for RM2.00 a pack but no, it was not quite there.

It was the koi…

…that was disappointing. It was supposed to be soft and smooth and wobbly, something like chee cheong fun…

…but this one came across to me like the rice in ketupat…

Well, it was edible and I loved their freshly fried sliced shallots, the yew chang…

When I opened the little airtight packet, the fragrance filled the whole house and it was so crispy, fried to perfection. I simply cannot stand those that make use of the factory-made ones…

…sold in the supermarkets in big plastic bags. It is bad enough that they do not look good – it is not fragrant at all! In fact, some may have some kind of repulsive plastic smell that will put me off instantly – they like to use these at the Malay shops and stalls and I would rather do without…if THAT is what they are going to use. Honestly, I cannot understand why they do not seem to realise it at all!

So far, the only really good yew chang koi that I’ve had would be the ones sold at this stall at the pasar malam (night market)…

It must be getting more and more popular because I saw a video clip on Youtube (6:30 “kuih bawang“) that day and at that stall in question, there was a table full of it, selling at only RM1.30 a bowl – I saw the sign in the video clip.

That time, when I took some Singapore friends to go and try it at the pasar malam, the lady only had a few bowls (RM1.00 each at the time)…and was selling other things as well. They loved it so much that they went back every night during their stay here to go and eat it, believe it or not!

The brother tried making his own once under his sister’s guidance and was selling his…

…at a coffee shop here. I thought his was quite good as well but he insisted that he still had a long way to go. I don’t think he is there anymore these days though – it probably died a natural death in the onslaught of the pandemic.

The ones that my missus bought from the Kanowit ladies here…

…wasn’t quite there either and there were a few others…

…elsewhere as well.

It sure looks like everyone thinks they can do it but most do not make the grade. Obviously, it is not as simple as it looks!

SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441) is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end…and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket.

Little bit less…

I did mention in my blogpost the other day that I would have to stock up on the fish in my freezer as I was slowly running out of those that I had at that point in time and that was exactly what I did.

There was no ikan kembong but I managed to buy a few of these…

I am not sure what they are called – perhaps somebody can tell me?

I’ve eaten them before though, maybe at some chap fan (mixed rice) or nasi campur place and they were not too bad. Well, they were selling them at RM10.00 a kilo, same as the bak chik, so in actual fact, they were not expensive. We had finished all the bak chik that we had and I did not buy more as there was none available that morning at the stall.

My friend, Irene, in Kuching, said that she bought an or chio/ikan bawal hitam, black pomfret…

…at RM32.00 a kilo. It looks like these cost a bit less here in Sibu. I remember I used to pay around the same price, RM30.00, before but I guess it all depends on the season and the availability. That day, the boy sold the ones I picked to me at only RM28.00 a kilo.

I wanted to buy the small ones, one per meal, but they only had these big ones – one would be enough for two meals/one day so I had no choice and just bought these instead.

On my way home, I stopped by my neighbourhood fruit & vegetable shop in the next lane to buy some pineapples. A car had just pulled up at around that same time and out came two ladies who started carting basins of these…

…into the shop! Durian flowers!!! Of course I was delighted to see those and wasted no time at all in grabbing some to take home.

I bought RM3.00 worth and there was enough for two days – they’re so very cheap!!! That evening, my missus fried some with sambal hay bee (dried prawns)…

…and we enjoyed that so much!

I hear bua’ terbelus/buah engkala…

…is in season too, selling at RM10.00 a plate, some RM15.00 but I have not gone to the central market in town so I have not bought any.

I sure would not buy any of the buah dabai…

…also available right now. They are selling them at such ridiculous prices, RM60.00 a kilo or more!!! Usually, they would be sold at around RM20.00 a kilo, a bit more…or a bit less.

THE FISH & SEAFOOD STALL is located to the right of CCL FRESH MINI MARKET against the wall at that end of the block to the right of the Grand Wonderful Hotel (2.309601, 111.845163) along Jalan Pipit, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai and SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441) is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end…and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket.