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.