Try, try, try…

Among those who will be coming to Sibu later this month is my cousin who was here not too long ago with the son and daughter-in-law. When she was here that day, she went around on her own a lot and ate all the things that she grew up eating and loved so well and of course, she was delighted that some of those are still available here in Sibu, unlike in Kuching.

However, she was so disgusted with the chai pao (steamed vegetable bun) that she bought somewhere in Sg. Merah that without a second thought, she simply threw it away. Nothing like what she used to enjoy in her younger days when she was living in Sibu, she said.

Of course, when the time comes, she can go to the Sibu Central Market to buy those from our growing up years. I have not been to the market for a long time but I am quite sure the old lady is still there. In the meantime, I’ve been going around looking for alternatives just in case she has called it a day but no, the ones I tried the other day (RM1.00) did not make the grade – they had carrots inside. It was the same with the ones I bought from my neighbourhood fruit and vegetable sundry shop (RM1.50) in the next lane.

Well, the other day, I stopped by this coffee shop. My sister loved the bak pao (steamed meat buns) from there and she did buy some for me to try once. She did not know who made them but I had a feeling that they came from this guy they call Ah Bui – his steamed buns are very popular! They will deliver fresh ones around noon every day…

…so if you are interested, you can drop by around that time to buy some to enjoy. I bought two that day and took them home to try – they are now RM1.20 each which sure is a huge jump from only 70 sen in 2019.

That afternoon, I steamed them to heat them up…

…before I sat down to eat.

Yes, it was what my cousin would like, no carrot…

…inside and I thought it tasted all right but I did try the ones from that pao shop round the corner and yes, they did not have carrots in theirs too plus I do recall those being a bit nicer than these. I did not blog about it then so I guess I shall have to go back there and grab a few so as to be able to do that.

The kampua mee stall is still there, still going strong but the other stall in front (on the right) was closed. I don’t know if it was their off day – I did not ask. In the meantime, I noticed two new stalls a little bit further in. One did not have anything that would tickle my fancy but this one…

…caught my attention.

The dishes they had for the nasi campur (mixed rice) were quite ordinary – fried chicken, asam fish, chicken liver rendang, fried paku (wild jungle fern), all of which can easily be found at all the Malay stalls around town. They did have the daun Bandong aka daun ubi or daun empasa too, the only dish that I would consider a bit more Iban than all the rest.

You can bet that you will not catch me rushing back here to give the food a try but I sure would want to come back one of these days to see if this…

…is any good or not. I never had that before but I’ve heard of a few places where they are promoting it and I have been waiting for the chance to try and when I do, I shall blog about it, of course. Stick around!!!

EMAS CORNER CAFE BARU (2.292229, 111.838162)…

…is located to the extreme right of the blocks of shops along Lorong Tong Sang 1B at the junction of Jalan Tong San and Lorong/Jalan Langsat.