Every once in a while…

We were so deprived when we were young that going for kampua mee after the church service on Sunday was an extra special treat we would look forward all week for. I guess everyone my time would know of Ah Kow’s kampua mee at Kiaw Siong Coffee Shop opposite the Sibu Fire Station. Eventually, another guy came along – I think they called him Lao Eyo (old goat) – to set up a beef noodles stall in that same coffee shop. I love his kind of beef noodles, not so much the obviously very popular and super expensive Taiwanese-style ones these days, and we would go for that sometimes.

Unfortunately, I am supposed to abstain from red meat these days and I cannot eat beef anytime I like. I did go for the Vietnamese beef pho over a month ago and the other Sunday, we dropped by here…

…where we used to go quite frequently for our favourite beef soup special and kampua mee. It used to be a one-unit shop and then it took over the unit next door…and now, they have closed down the original unit which I did not fancy that much as it was right next to a car wash and tyre shop and it could get rather noisy sometimes. As one can see in the above photograph, it is just as popular as ever, very crowded and on working days, it is virtually impossible to find a vacant space to park the car.

So far, we never had any problem after the church service on Sunday mornings at 8 something, before 9.00 a.m. We did not go to the sunset service last Saturday night because we went out for dinner with my old friends and since we had not been here for a while now, I drove straight there once we were done.

My girl had the regular beef noodles soup…

…the one with the yellow noodles served in the delightful beef soup. She never was a fan of those yellow noodles so she used to have just the beef soup and nothing else. I guess a person’s taste may change in time and yes, she said it was very nice and added she would order that from now on. Of course our Sibu yellow noodles are alkaline-free, unlike those elsewhere, so there is none of that kee smell that a lot of people find offensive.

My missus and I stuck steadfastly to our kampua mee kosong (no meat)…

Hers was reddish in colour as she asked for it to be tossed in chili sauce. She had that with the delightful beef soup…

…while I asked for the tendon instead of the meat…

Well, actually, I do enjoy the tendon and I guess it is all collagen, not meat, so it is better for me to have that. Normally, I would ask for the special that would include the meat, the tripe and the tendon, all in one!

The chili dip that they provide here…

…is a star attraction as well. It is very nice, so nice that once I even asked them to sell me a bottle to take home and it is getting to be real super spicy these days, it seems. Perhaps it is the right time to buy chilies at the market – some days, they are really hot while on other days, they are good only for the colour!

I did not ask for the breakdown of the prices for what we all had but if I am not wrong (looking at their menu on the wall), we had the regular which would be RM9.00 a set. We sure enjoyed our breakfast that morning and needless to say, we certainly would be back for more…though not that often since I need to stay away from red meat.

Incidentally, if anyone is looking for the noodles from my childhood days, the ones I mentioned in the first paragraph, Ah Kow’s son is now here while Lao Eyo‘s son, Ah Soon, is here…or you may want to go for Ah Kow’s employee’s – the celebrated Ang Kau kampua here.

AH SIAN BEEF NOODLE CAFE (2.293063, 111.826106) is located along Jalan Tuanku Osman in the block of shops right in front of the Public Bank, Tuanku Osman branch, right before the tyre shop at the other end to its left.