I keep my word…

The last time I was here in April this year, I told the old guy that I would be back for his kampua mee…

…with dong quai soup but everytime I dropped by, the coffee shop was packed so I ended up elsewhere instead.

In the meantime, my sister, who always complained about the crowd at this coffee shop, managed to go there for lunch and she had the too kha pui or pork leg rice (RM13.00)…

…and she loved it so much. After hearing all her praises for the dish, of course, I had to make my way there for it and thankfully, when we went for lunch that day, there were not many customers around so we did not have a problem finding a table.

Yes, the too kha was nice, that much I would say about it but no, it came nowhere near my missus’ phak lor too kha (five spice powder braised/stewed pork leg) …

Hers is so much nicer, exactly like her mum before and also like my mum’s as well! The only other place where I had too kha like that was in 1978/1979 at this coffee shop/restaurant in Kanowit…

The old lady there, may she rest in peace, cooked it in exactly that same way and everytime she had it, I would definitely go for it without a second thought.

I do go for the too kha (and the stewed eggs) at a few places in town and theirs are pretty good as well but no, they are all different, not the same recipe. I am not very sure but it seemed like I had it here before a long time ago in 2018…

…and it was served in a claypot at the time, not in one of those horrendous gaudily-coloured plastic bowls (Tsk! Tsk!!!) and it was only RM8.00 then, plus RM1.00 if you want an egg! My missus reminded me that the price of pork has skyrocketted recently but at RM13.00 a serving, I certainly would think twice before I would come back for this again. I’d much sooner so something else that is nice and under RM10.00 so I can enjoy it without feeling the pinch.

My missus had the Foochow fried noodles (RM5.50)…

…from the stall at the back, up from only RM5.00 the last time we were here and she was o.k. with it – I guess she did like it the first time or she wouldn’t have ordered it again.

My girl ordered the sup campur or mixed soup (RM7.00)…

…with bihun (they had run out of tang hoon/glass noodles) from the aforementioned kampua mee stall. The guy was not there – according to the lady manning the stall, he had gone to Johore on some private business. I don’t know if that was the reason but my girl did not enjoy the soup, nowhere near the one here that we like a lot…and to keep my word, I asked for a bowl of kampua mee with the complimentary dong quai soup to share. The ladies said they were o.k. but somehow or other, I could recall them being a whole lot nicer when I first had them at the original place a long, long time ago.

MOTHER CAFE (2.310920, 111.831572)…

…is the last shop in the block on your left along Jalan Dewan Suarah if you are entering from Jalan Melur, the shop right behind the Sibu Civic Centre (Dewan Suarah).