Arrival…

We’re coming to the end of November and the December school holidays will be here soon. Some of my cousins, niece and nephews and their children (Gosh! My grand-niece and grand-nephew…and they will call me “Kong Kong“, grandpa!!! *faints*), a few of them home from Australia and one from Kota Kinabalu at the time, will be driving all the way from Kuching to Sibu. Of course, I am looking forward to seeing them all again!

I hear that the Pan-Borneo Highway is taking shape pretty well now and is very good in most parts unlike those days when my girl was teaching in Selangau and I had to drive up and down, there and back a few times every week.

They probably would have stopped at Sg. Tenggang first for the awesome duck kolo mee. Hopefully, they will go to the right coffee shop and not choose the nice clean one like me. I thought it was nice there too but they say the other one is better.

I am not sure whether they have finished working on the highway around Jakar – some friends said it was still very bad there but one can easily avoid that bad patch by taking the bypass into Sarikei and enjoy the giant freshwater prawn noodles at the Glory Cafe there and out the other way around Bintangor side. They did tell me that the quality of the celebrated Bintangor rojak had dropped so there is no point turning into Bintangor to eat that.

By the time they reach Sibu, they will be very full already since they will be stopping here and there to eat this and that all along the way. I am not planning anything to welcome them to Sibu that night – I am quite sure they will not be able to eat a lot. Nonetheless, we will go out some place for a light dinner and in my opinion, this is a very good place to start.

They MUST have the Sibu kompia, fried till nice and crusty and stuffed with the very delicious stewed pork belly…

…or minced meat. There are other varieties as well but we would not want to stray from the well-trodden path.

Their kampua mee and pian sip (wanton) are at best, just decent, not a must-eat here. Perhaps they should wait a bit and go to one of the “better places” around town to enjoy those two but if they can’t wait that long, I am not really a fan of the original here but I do love the kampua mee daging masak hitam combo…

That is very nice, take my word for it! I did hear a lot of people singing praises of the one with sizzling spicy sambal seafood…

…and I did try that but I was not impressed.

The mee sua in the traditional Foochow red wine and ginger soup…

…is very nice – just ask for more red wine for that extra kick…and their kway chap special…

…is one of my personal favourites here. I will always ask for their special chili dip to eat that with.

Their stewed pork belly rice is very good too – I guess that is the same as the ones in the stuffed kompia so if one does not want more of that, perhaps he or she can go for the nasi lemak…

No, the last time I ate that, the rice was not lemak but with all the things in that platter, I sure enjoyed it. That was why I had had it a few times already.

This is not to be missed – their sizzling roasted honey spare ribs…

…if one has a voracious appetite or perhaps they can order that and share.

One of my cousins loved the chocolate lava cake…

…here – theirs will never fail to ooze! I bet she would want to order that. They used to enjoy the mille crepes…

…and the macarons…

…here but perhaps they have grown tired of those since they are available at a lot of places in Kuching and elsewhere. They probably will be too full for dessert by then but if they must, they can always go to the sister restaurants here or here for the gelato ice cream!

This is just their first night here. You can be sure that is what all of them will be doing while they are in town – eat, eat and eat and yes, I do have a few of the best places in town to take them to, you can count on that!

NOODLE HOUSE (2.291406,111.829162)…

…is located somewhere in the area immediately behind the Sibu Central Police Station at No. 2B, Ground Floor, Lorong Laichee 1, accessible either from Hua Kiew Road or Laichee Lane.

Unplanned…

Actually, we did not plan on dropping by here that day. There is a new Indian restaurant in town – well, it is fairly new, that much I would say, but so far, we have not bothered to go and check it out because it is located in that area in the town where the sinking swampy land problem is really very bad and it would be a problem for me to get onto the pavement from the road even PLUS the restaurant is on the 1st floor! I’ve seen photos of stuff that they serve there on Facebook and my ex-student went not too long ago. He said it was good, worth a try so we decided we would make our way there…slowly but surely.

Well, we did manage to get up there…somehow but the place was full!!! There were three sections, one with the traditional tandoori oven and it looked like they would not be having any customers in there. In another section, there was a huge table for a big group of people and in the main section, there were a few huge dining tables, around 6 to 8 of them, 8-seaters, at least all of them. I thought that was such a waste of space – there was a couple and a kid sitting at one and they could easily have occupied one end of the table and some other customers could have sat on the other end.

There was one table with only four customers and it looked like they had finished eating but they were showing no sign of leaving the place, not that they were enjoying themselves there, eating the food and engaging in one another’s company. All the rest at the other tables were all sitting there in stone cold silence, waiting to be served. Nobody came to talk to us, not even to apologise and say that they were full so we just left! Never mind how nice the food is there – I already have a bad impression of the place! Period!!!

Well, since we had our minds set on having something Indian for our lunch that day, in the end, we headed to our usual haunt and my girl wanted the tandoori chicken paratha (RM15.00)…

…that I had the other day. She did try a bit of mine and yes, it was very much to her liking. It was served with this bowl of potato curry and some brown sauce/gravy in another bowl…

I liked eating the paratha dipped in the latter a lot more than with the potato curry that day. My girl said it was some mutton/lamb sauce, probably curry and yes, when I tried, it did taste like it!

She also ordered the mixed vegetable curry (RM13.00)…

…to enjoy with the paratha.

I had the biryani rice with chicken korma (RM21.00)…

…myself that day. Since I’m off red meat, I can’t have the mutton/lamb masala so I decided to go for the chicken instead but in the end, I picked their korma to give it a try and I got one chicken drumstick…

…plus two huge chunks of meat, probably from the thigh and yes, it was very nice and of course, so was the biryani rice…

I sure enjoyed eating that and yes, the lovely gravy went so well with the rice. By the time I was done, there wasn’t any trace of it left!

My missus, as always, chose something from their Indonesian menu and had their ayam bakar berempah (RM16.00)…

I had that before and yes, I thought it was very nice.

My missus loves the urap (Indonesian kerabu, the blanched vegetables with spicy grated coconut)…

…that they serve here, never mind what dish it comes with and yes, the grilled brinjal with peanut sauce…

…is something to look forward to as well and of course, she was delighted to see how generous they were with the freshly-cut cili padi in soy sauce that they gave with the dish.

That certainly was a delightful lunch though all the time, I was wishing that they would move some of the tables onto the shaded pavement outside, not that I am so into al fresco dining but in the broad daylight outside, I would be able to take very much flattering snapshots of what we eat there everytime we drop by – this place is way too dim to give the nice food that they serve any justice!

THE CAFE IND (2.290813, 111.829294)…

…is located along Laichee Lane, right behind one block of shops facing the main road (Jalan Kampung Nyabor) where the Bank Simpanan Nasional, Sibu branch is.

Ten years ago…

I first tried it TEN YEARS ago, one whole decade, believe it or not, not in KK, Sabah but right here in Sibu, the ngiu chap (beef noodles) from Kedai Kopi Nyuk Pau Menggatal…

…but I never had the chance to try it there everytime I went over.

I always went for the Kah Hiong one, the one that I prefer a whole lot more. It was so so so good – the instant I got out of the car in the car park, I could detect the wonderful smell of the beef soup from the shop so far away. They say they use buffalo meat there though – maybe that is why the one at their franchise outlet here does not have that awesome fragrance…like how wild boar tastes and smells so so good!! LOL!!!

I heard the news the other day that they will open a shop here in Sibu but I did not get my hopes up too high. I was so excited when they opened Kah Hiong here but it did not live up to my expectations. My sister, on the other hand, could not wait for it to open and was there real early that very morning – she said that the place was full but luckily, she managed to grab a table but yes, she liked what she had…very much! She was grumbling that she was served something cold the last time she went to Kah Hiong here so she never went back again! I must say that I was not in the least surprised – that is the problem with these local franchises – very poor quality control!

We went over after 11.00 a.m. that morning, just before lunchtime – it is round the corner from my house so going there is not a problem. Much to our surprise, there were a whole lot of parking spaces and the coffee shop was quite empty. Nonetheless, we just went in and took our seats at one table by the side.

There was one ethnic lady from Sabah, probably Kadazan, assisted by a few Malay girls – according to her, they were all locals. Later, two Chinese guys appeared…

…but I did not bother to go and ask who they were.

We had to write what we wanted in the order slip…

…but we were duly informed that they had run out of yellow noodles and kway teow so we only had a choice between kampua mee and bihun. No wonder there were so few customers around – the crowd had come and left and they had yet to wash all the bowls that they had used…

My girl wanted the ngiu chap (medium), RM14.00…

…with the kampua mee in the soup while I asked for the large, RM17.00 with only the tendon and the tripe…

…and my missus had the special, RM20.00 with kampua mee kosong (no meat/served plain).

They came soon enough, all looking the same – all in those huge bowls with generous servings of the ingredients drowned in a whole lot of their rich, super-delicious soup. That was why I did not bother to take any photographs – except for my daughter’s, probably because of the kampua mee in hers, as nothing was visible above the surface.

They did not ask how we would like our kampua mee and we got ours, black…

– tossed in dark soy sauce, that is…and yes, it was not bad.

One thing that stood out particularly and impressed us immensely was the amount of ingredients in each bowl. There were some beef slices but there were also some HUGE chunks of beef…other than the beef balls and the tripe and the tendon. Of course, my girl did not want the last two while I had no choice but to pick those only so as to refrain from eating red meat.

The beef soup was VERY thick and rich, very very strong in its beef flavour but we seemed to detect a slight sweetness in it, not something that we are particularly used to. Well, I did think it was different in its own way 10 years ago, not quite like our regular beef noodles.

The chili dip…

…was a killer! So very very hot and spicy but no, my missus did not like it because of the offensive smell. If I am not wrong, they used habanero chilies, reputed to be the hottest in the world but we are never fond of those as we don’t quite like the smell. Kah Hiong also makes their own very hot and spicy chili dip using cili padi and that has the “green” smell. We still think the one at our own local beef noodles place here with its lovely hint of belacan (dried prawn paste) is the best!

So there you have it! We went and we tried – opening hours are from 6.30 a.m. until 3.00 p.m. and yes, we enjoyed it a lot but of course, the prices would push it up to the category of things we shall not have very often, anything over RM10.00. Personally, it is cheaper and to us, much nicer than those Taiwanese-style beef noodles here but still, I do find it kind of indulgent – they can easily reduce the amount of the added ingredients and charge less like our local beef noodle places. I’d much sooner stick to the ones here!

KK INANAM NGIU CHAP is located at what was formerly the Hua Kwong Corner (2.322037,111.837046)…

…in the block on the left in the above photograph from Google Maps, along Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg, right beside the J&T Express courier service office, opposite what was formerly the Sibu Poslaju Main Office – Sg. Merah is straight ahead, round the corner.

Right price…

I went back to this coffee shop to try the roti canai there. I had the Foochow fried noodles from another stall when I was there that day so I could not possibly have anything else.

When I got there, I saw that they also had nasi lemak, the biasa (regular) at only RM3.50 a plate, not as expensive as the one I had at another place the other day and there was also the nasi lemak ayam…

…that is the same price as the aforementioned, only RM6.50 a plate.

Of course, I simply had to order that to try and I would say it did not look too bad when it was served. I would certainly give them due credit for cutting the edge of the brown paper for the floral pattern in their effort to make the presentation look nicer…

Of course, the test of the pudding is in the eating and I’m afraid to say that the rice was not lemak at all. I could not detect any hint of the santan (coconut milk) in it but it had a taste of its own. It wasn’t exactly like chicken rice but it was quite nice and yes, it was not hard and dry and like most of the nasi lemak around here, I quite enjoyed it with the super pedas (hot & spicy) sambal…

…and all the add-ons that came with it…

This is probably the only place in town where they took the trouble to remove the heads and insides of the ikan bilis (dried anchovies) unlike all the lazy people at all the other nasi lemak places around here – I certainly would give them the double thumbs up for that.

Initially, I thought that piece of chicken looked kind of small…

…and unimpressive but when I tried it, it sure swept me off my feet. It was crusty and crispy on the outside – I loved the skin so much…and yes, it was sweet and tender, cooked to perfection on the inside.

Yes, I did order the roti canai kosong (plain)…

…and it was very nicely done too. The dhal dip was great but it was RM2.00 a piece, a bit more expensive than the one that I had here that day.

It turned out that the pretty, sweet young thing running the stall was Indonesian and they also served nasi ayam geprek, whatever that is, but it was not available that day. I saw in the photo that the rice was yellow in colour and there was the very nice fried chicken as well. I sure would want to go back there and try that one of these days.

The roti canai/nasi lemak stall…

…is located at the DELTA SEAFOOD & CAFE (2.307832, 111.825125) along Lorong Delta 10, in the blocks of shops somewhere right behind the public swimming pool there.

Selfless…

All of us in the family loved the chai pao (steamed vegetable buns) from the old lady at the Sibu Central Market, selling for 70 sen each in 2019, dunno now. There are no parking spaces around the market so one can either park in the multi-story car park adjoining the market (which is often full or you may end up sky high and are forced to take one of the cranky lifts down) or park far far away and walk all the way there. Both do not appeal to me, thank you very much.

So the last time I had a very nice chai pao was this one…

…here. I went back the following weekend to buy some for myself and some for my sister as well. Unfortunately, the filling was black/dark in colour looking like it was not fresh at all and it tasted horrible – I threw it all away and never went back again. My sister said that the markings on the buns looked different so probably, they came from some different people.

So far, I’ve tried the ones here and here and they were all pretty decent and the other day, when I went to pick up my girl after school, I decided to buy the ones from here…

…to give them a try! These are made by a group of selfless ladies who volunteer to come together to make them for sale at ONLY RM1.00 each – others elsewhere are selling for RM1.50 each, if I am not wrong. The thing is they come and do it for free and all proceeds will go to the church, may God bless them all!

The skin is not the best around here but it is good enough and I wouldn’t mind more of the filling…

…but for RM1.oo, I really do not see any cause for complaint.

It is not the usual Sibu chai pao filling that is not very colourful with just the long beans and cabbage mostly – this one has a lot of carrot…

…and a lot more colour.

Since I am in the vicinity most every day, sending my girl to work and going to pick her when she’s done to bring her home, I certainly would buy these buns time and time again in appreciation of the ladies’ effort and to support the church. I think they also make those with coconut filling and yes, they have the meat ones too, sourced from some place else, not made themselves.

Actually, all those helping out at this canteen are volunteers, all the cooks, the servers, the cashiers…everybody! They go and help out there for free and since profit is not a priority, the things on their menu are all pretty decent and very cheap compared to elsewhere and for your information, this place is closed on Sundays.

Well, it so happened that the other day, my missus said she wanted to go out to buy some food for our meals as she was too lazy to cook that day. I told her she did not have to do that – I could just go here to buy when I went to pick up my girl after work. Incidentally, this is an environment friendly place so you have to bring your own food containers and Tupperware and (plastic) bags. They will not give you any when you buy anything here. That is not a problem for me as I always keep my tiffin carrier ready in the boot of my car.

When I walked into the place, I was shocked!!! The place was packed with students from the private Chinese school (Catholic High School) next door. There would be some there every day but not that many at any one time. They probably had something on so they all did not go home for lunch.

There wasn’t much food left in the display cabinet – most of the trays were empty. I asked for what was left of the lemon chicken…

…and a bit of the long beans fried with egg…

…and their pumpkin cooked with ikan bilis…

…for 3 persons. The Iban women helping at the counter scooped the food for me and put everything nicely in my tiffin carrier. They jotted something on a slip of paper and I took that to pay the cashier for my purchases. I was shocked when told that the total was only RM9.30!!! That was dirt cheap and yes, the food was nice – there was enough for our lunch AND dinner that day.

Frankly, with the rising prices of virtually everything these days, it sure makes a lot of sense to just come here and have one’s lunch instead of going some place else and burning a hole in one’s pocket for stuff that may not even be all that nice.

LAUDATO SI’ CANTEEN… 

…is located in what was previously known as the Catholic Centre in the compound of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Jalan Lanang and St Rita’s Primary School, Jalan Bukit Assek.

No harm in trying…

The other day, I said I would go back here to try the fried kampua mee even though I did not get my hopes up too high. I saw quite a lot of people ordering it from the stall but still, I was quite skeptical about it – I did not think it would be anything spectacular but I guess there would be no harm in going back there to give it a try.

When it (RM5.00)…

…was served, it did not get me all excited. It did not look like anything that would be a feast to one’s eyes nor something that would make one drool.

The egg came with the noodles – I did not ask for it and the kampua mee was fried with minced meat, egg and taugeh and of course, soy sauce…

It had a pleasant wok hei fragrance but as far as the taste went, I thought it was quite ordinary and did not get me sitting on the edge of my seat!

I don’t know if this is the same as all those at the other fried kampua mee stalls in town but it certainly was different from the only one that I had tried before…

…at this old school restaurant in the town centre. The first time I had it was in 2008 but truth be told, I was not that impressed with it then. I thought it was nice with its very nice fragrance of the lard used in the frying but because of the air-conditioning, it got cold very quickly and was not so palatable after that. We have had it a few times since and everytime, I would tell everyone to help themselves and eat quickly before it got cold.

It has its following though! Everyone is always talking about it, it seems, something that one must go and eat when in town including my long lost friends who came to see me the other day but we went some place else instead owing to the parking problems and also the difficulty of getting a table at that restaurant.

Back to my breakfast that morning, I also asked for their pian sip (meat dumplings) soup (RM3.50)…

The dumplings were not exactly thin and translucent but they were all right. I did not think the skin was kind of rubbery or chewy like some of those elsewhere. I did not like the soup though – it tasted more like chicken soup, not the usual rich bone stock soup and they were too generous with the pepper.

All things considered, I think I would just go back to the old Malay/Muslim lady’s mee goreng special that I like a lot should I happen to go back to this coffee shop again.

The kampua mee stall at FAST CAFE (2.319100, 111.832213)…

…is located among the shops opposite the RTM station in Sibu in the Sungai Antu area. At the end of Jalan Kpg Nangka, just before its roundabout with Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg, you turn left into Jalan Tapang Timur and go straight ahead – it is the first shop in the last block on the left.

Grab something…

On certain days in the week, my girl will not be able to come home for lunch as they will be having a meeting or in-service course or some co-curricular activities and on some days, they have extra classes for the pupils. On those days, they will have to order something for lunch to be sent to school via food delivery.

The other day, however, she said she would like to stop by the bakery on our way home so she could grab something for her lunch the next day. That is not a problem as we have many bakeries in the commercial area around the mall round the corner from our house. I just waited in the car while she hopped into one of them and that day, she was delighted to come across these bomboloni…

She did make some herself a long time ago around the beginning of last year, 2021 but she said they were something new at this bakery – they never made them before. Well, for the uninitiated, a bombolone is an Italian filled doughnut and is eaten as a snack food and dessert. Bomboloni is the plural form of bombolone, pronounced bom-bo-lo-nay with the stress/emphasis on the 3rd syllable. 

My girl bought herself the one with the strawberry filling (RM2.60) and for me and her mum, she got us the ones with pandan kaya filling (RM2.50)…

…which turned out to be very nice. I loved their own-made kaya (coconut jam) and I also liked how they had a bit of egg custard in the filling…

…as well.

However, even though I enjoyed it a lot, it was VERY sweet and the generous coating of sugar all over it sure did not help one bit. I don’t think I would want to buy it again, not when I am on a low/no sugar diet.

They are also making these ma ngee (horse’s ears/hooves)…

…these days, a local Foochow teatime delight going for RM1.80 each. they are very small though, a lot smaller than those humongous ones at the bakery across the road…

…but I feel the ones here are more authentic – the texture is more like the real thing! Those there are very nice too (and cheaper, if I am not wrong) but they are more like doughnuts which should not be the case.

In the end, my girl just grabbed two tuna puffs for her lunch the next day. Gosh!!! I would probably starve to death if that is all I have to eat for a meal in a day.

C & C GALLERY…

…is located at Lot 62 at the extreme end of the block of shops to the right of Delta Mall, back entrance.

Closed on Sunday…

Last Saturday was Election Day and the weather here was good all day long but come evening time, it started to rain so we decided to go for the church service on Sunday morning instead of our usual sunset one that day.

After the service, we went to a few places that we wanted to try but they were all very crowded and I could not find a parking space close by. These days, I can’t park my car anywhere I like and walk all the way. As we were driving past, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this Malay/Muslim restaurant was open and though there were quite a lot of customers too, there were a few vacant tables still available so we decided to stop by there for our brunch.

My girl had their mee rebus…

…which looked very good (except for the not-so-nicely-peeled egg), almost like what they had on the cover of their menu…

More often than not, what you see in the photographs is not what you will get in the end.

I did try a bit of the broth and yes, it was VERY good. I was reminded of the mee rebus I would have quite frequently when I was in Singapore in 1973 and enjoyed tremendously. It was bursting with flavours and I could detect the spices used in the cooking but no, it was not sweet, nor was it orange in colour like in our mee jawa. It seems that most, if not all of the Malay stalls and shops all over town are selling mee jawa – as far as I can remember, I have not seen mee rebus anywhere.

I did not find out how much that was but my girl said it was over RM20.00. Yes, I would agree that the things here are not that cheap but looking at all that meat in the bowl, I guess that is more or less comparable to the prices these days at all the beef noodle places, maybe a lot more even at the Taiwan-style ones.

My missus had their mee mamak…

…and they actually loved it a lot more than my favourite, the old lady’s mee goreng special at the coffee shop in Sg. Antu. I did try a bit and I would agree that it was very nice…and very different from the one I like so much. I still think that one is nicer and pricewise, I would much sooner go for that one. For half the price, RM6.50 only, one would get the delightful noodles with a bit of daging masak hitam (beef) by the side, one fried chicken wing and a fried egg whereas this one was around RM13.00 and there was only ONE prawn. I wouldn’t complain if there had been more, three perhaps.

The roti jala (RM9.90)…

…was good too. I ordered that to share and it came with a bowl of chicken curry…

…but there was just one piece inside, breast and a small chunk of potato.

Of course, I had to ask for the nasi lemak (RM6.50)…

…to see if it was any good but unfortunately, it was very disappointing. I could not detect any santan in the rice – in other words, I did not think it was lemak at all and other than that, it was more to the hard and dry side.

Well, like all the rest here, there and everywhere, with the nice and spicy sambal plus the curry gravy from the roti jala, I did enjoy it in the end but for that same amount of money, RM6.50, at the old lady’s place, you get the complete works – the rice with the cucumber and so much more – the daging masak hitam and fried chicken wing…and one fried egg. That, for sure, is a much better deal.

Frankly, if they would just put in a bit of effort in the presentation, even if it is just lining the plate with banana leaf, it would not look so plain…and cheap (which it wasn’t!!!).

Most Malay places here in Sibu are closed on Sundays but not this one so if you are looking for a halal place for a bite to eat, this would be one of the few that are open. On the whole, I would say the food is nice. Even at the slightly higher than usual prices, I would not mind dropping by sometimes to see what else they have on their menu. I did look at what they were having at the other tables and everything looked pretty good and yes, the service was excellent. The boy was very prompt and fast in taking our orders and before we knew it, we were being served already which sure was a pleasant surprise, quite different from many around here.

SARAH ISLAMIC CORNER…

…the first shop in the block of shops (2.293355, 111.823653) to the left behind the block of shops along Jalan Kampung Datu where Fair Price Supermarket, now Fresh & Pay, is, near the traffic lights at its junction with Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg and Jalan Kampung Nyabor.

Bangla Desh

My West Malaysian friends teaching in Sibu dropped by here…

…quite frequently on Fridays for the biryani kambing (mutton biryani rice) – they sure seemed to enjoy it a lot. I wouldn’t know, of course, as I never went to give it a try myself, Friday being my no-meat day. Incidentally, they only have biryani rice, kambing and ayam (mutton and chicken) once a week on Fridays, it seems.

Well, it so happened that I was driving past that area the other morning and I decided to stop by and check the place out. There was this guy there, making the roti canai…

…and a few Malay ladies doing the serving and the cooking. I asked him where he came from and he said Bangladesh to which I responded, “No wonder you chose that name for your shop!” For the uninitiated, Dhaka is the capital city of that country. He said that he married a local and I was impressed by how he was able to converse fluently in Malay, unlike our YB’s and wannabes around here. I cringed with embarrassment when I heard them speak in Malay (or English, for that matter) during their campaigning for the recent general election and to think that they have lived here all their lives!!! What a disgrace!

I ordered one roti canai, kosong (RM1.80)…

…to try and it was all right. I must say that I loved the curry gravy…

…that came with it. If the mutton curry that comes with the biryani rice is anything like this, I dare say it must be very good.

I did have a look at the dishes for the nasi campur (mixed rice) though but I was not impressed. They had nasi lemak too so I asked one of the ladies if it was very lemak. Unfortunately, she said it wasn’t, just a bit. I did see the guy at the next table having it and it sure looked good but if it is not lemak, I think I would just give it a pass. The lady with him had their Sarawak laksa but I did not get to see what it looked like. There wasn’t any fragrance that I could detect so it did not get me all excited either.

The couple were Chinese and so were most of the other customers there that morning even though there are a lot of coffee shops in the area and they could have gone to any one of them. I guess this one has its following and they would come back again and again.

I also asked for their mee goreng special (RM10.00)…

…and this was what I got.

The noodles were quite ordinary, not really nice and I wonder how they fried the egg to get it to look like that. Obviously, it was not done the traditional way with a lot of oil in a wok and it did not look like they used the ring either. The chicken was marinated with kunyit (turmeric) – I did not think it was great but this has got to be the worst, the calamansi lime…

…so withered and dry already. Luckily, it was still all right on the inside and I did manage to squeeze a bit of the juice out all over the noodles but no, I’m afraid it did not manage to save the day.

The only nice thing was the complimentary sup tulang (bone soup)…

…which was more or less like all the rest that they will give you at such Muslim-friendly eateries.

The final blow, of course, would be the price – RM10.00 for that is pushing it a bit too far. My favourite mee goreng special here is only RM6.50 a plate with one fried egg, done the way I love it and one very nice fried chicken wing plus a bit of the old lady’s very nice daging masak hitam. and her fried noodles are, without fail, so delicious everytime. Honestly, if I can get all those for so much less, I see no reason to make my way here for what they have to offer, not at all.

Dhaka Café & Catering (2.279303, 111.839490) is located along Jalan Aman, the first shop in the row of shops on your right if you are coming from Lanang Road or the last one if from Jalan Wong King Huo.

Six years ago…

I love the old Malay lady’s mee goreng special, that goes without saying. I would say it is my favourite in town and there is none that I have had elsewhere that comes anywhere close. I did try her kway teow goreng once and even though it was quite nice, it paled in comparison.

I remember her nasi lemak was not anything to shout about as far as the lemak-ness went. Yes, with everything that came with it in a plate, I did enjoy it but the rice was like most of the others around here, not that lemak at all. I do recall that the last time I had it six years ago, I was pissed off about something – looking at my blogpost now, it looked like I was kind of upset because I asked for the special and was not given one fried egg with it. She must have heard me wrongly or missed something that day because she collected RM5.00 from me only – the special should be around RM6.00 at that time, now it has gone up to RM6.50. That was why there was no fried egg.

Anyway, I dropped by again one morning last week and much as I wanted to order the fried noodles, I forced myself to go for the nasi lemak special…

…instead to see if it was any better now, the same more or less or worse than before.

Well, my worst fears were confirmed – it was not lemak! Maybe there was a very remote hint of the santan in it, so remote that one could hardly feel its presence, that was all. Thankfully, the rice was not dry and hard like some nasi lemak around here so with all the add-on’s, I did enjoy it to some extent.

There was the very nice masak hitam beef…

…and the delightful fried chicken wing…

…and no, she did not forget the egg this time, fried traditionally in a wok so there was this delightful golden fringe all around…

…with the yolk still runny, exactly the way I would like it.

The sambal was a different shade of red, more like orange, I would say…

…but it tasted more or less like the regular nasi lemak sambal, plus it was very spicy for which I would give my double thumbs up!

There were those few slices of cucumber as well but wait a minute!!! Where were the peanuts and the fried ikan bilis (dried anchovies)? Those are the very basic ingredients a nasi lemak should have so there is no excuse at all for her to omit them completely like that. Even the RM1.50 a packet nasi lemak that I buy from my neighbourhood shop has TWO peanuts and a few of those tiny anchovies!!!

Thankfully, the complimentary soup was VERY nice, very flavourful, very tasty…unlike what one would get at the Chinese stalls and shops so at the end of the day, give and take a little bit here and a little bit there, I would say that I did enjoy eating what I was served that morning but no, I don’t think I shall go for it again especially when I find that I do enjoy the old lady’s mee goreng special a lot more.

Perhaps the next time I come by this way, I would give the kampua mee from the stall next to the old lady’s in the shop…

…a try. I’ve seen a lot of customers going for it and yes, it looked quite good. They also have fried kampua mee on their menu, something I have never tried before. Perhaps it is time for me to do that.

Incidentally, do I see any raised eyebrows? Yes, make no mistake about it! We do have this all over town – a non-halal Chinese stall right beside a Muslim one in the same coffee shop. I was told by some West Malaysian (blogger) friends when they came to town that this is something quite unheard of in the peninsula. Thankfully, we are more liberal here, more understanding and we know our boundaries…so we will always respect one another and live together harmoniously, making sure at all times that we do not violate any of their beliefs and practices.

FAST CAFE (2.319100, 111.832213)…

…is located among the shops opposite the RTM station in Sibu in the Sungai Antu area. At the end of Jalan Kpg Nangka, just before its roundabout with Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg, you turn left into Jalan Tapang Timur and go straight ahead – it is the first shop in the last block on the left.