Thursday was Day 5 of the Chinese New Year and school would reopen soon. We had been staying home almost all of the time so I suggested going out for lunch that day before my girl gets bogged down with all that schoolwork and everything all over again.
There is a sparkling new Japanese restaurant in town and we decided to go and check it out. Generally, it was quiet all over town, no jam, no crowd – I guess most everybody who was back for the festival had gone back home – until we reached the vicinity (Hanns Residence). There was a very long queue of cars going into the place but we were in no hurry so we just followed everybody else in the line patiently. We were in luck because a young girl was leaving and her car was close by and I was able to turn in the instant she vacated the space.
Unfortunately, when we got to the Japanese restaurant, we saw that it was packed and there was a whole lot of customers lining up at the door. We did join in for a while but it was not moving at all so I told the ladies that we might as well go to this place opposite…
…and have our lunch there.
My girl had their fish & chips (RM32.00)…
…and yes, it was very good. They use sea bass here and it came across to us like those very nice fish fillet that we bought not too long ago, the barramundi (ikan siakap) aka Asian sea bass. Unlike the battered ones at that place where we loved their version of this dish, here, they used bread crumbs and looking at the colour and the texture, it seemed like they made their own, not what came out of a box.
The mum had the sea bass fillet (RM32.00)…
…which did not look as good but yes, it was great! She said it was probably just grilled in butter in a pan but the fish was good – very fresh and sweet and there was no fishy smell.
Mine was disappointing – their classic pork chop (RM25.00)…
It was a bit hard and dry, probably because of the very lean cut that they used and though dipping it in their own-made black pepper sauce did help a bit, I don’t think it was anything I would want to order again the next time we drop by here.
My girl wanted to try the pork nuggets (RM23.00)…
…that she saw in one of the banners hanging outside – she has this soft spot for the chicken nuggets at McD or KFC. Unfortunately, they did not look that enticing, those huge chunks of what came across to us like their own-made luncheon meat. It was nice but no, it did not sweep us off our feet.
Our favourite here is still their babi bakar (RM25.00/200 gm)…
…which I also ordered to share and yes, we all loved it! No, we did not manage to finish the last two so I asked the girl to tapao (pack) them up for us to take home. It sure was a delightful lunch – the total, inclusive of drinks, came up to RM146.00. Service was great, very prompt and cordial and the sweet young things were conversant in English, no problem at all in communicating with them.
As we were walking back to the car, I noticed that the queue outside the Japanese restaurant was even longer than when we got there earlier. Looking through the window, I saw one empty table and one table where the customers had left but they had not cleared everything on it nor cleaned it yet – I guess the new brooms simply could not cope with the crowd and were not sweeping well. I sure would not bother to come back here, not so soon, that’s for sure!
OINKS Sibu (2.286075, 111.847044)…
…is located at Sublot 7-01, Ground Floor, Hann’s Commercial Centre, Jalan Wong King Huo.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
If you have not mentioned they are pork nuggets, I would have thought they are deep fried tofu. Among all, only the babi bakar looks enticing to me. With such prices, I don’t think I will make a come back anytime soon.
Yes, they do look like deep fried tofu.
Cafe prices, to be expected but servings are huge. I noticed other tables – they ordered one or two dishes only to be shared by three people.
We certainly ordered too much, would not be so if we had ordered one item each.
Now that we more or less know what the VERY nice dishes are, we will come back again on special occasions and stick to those,
definitely not dropping by like those on-a-daily-basis coffee shop kind of places.
Well, that day, we had the leftover babi bakar and pork nuggets for dinner, nothing else (still feeling too full)
so that total amount was actually for both lunch and dinner. Not too bad, don’t you think?
Eating out is not cheap these days. Some eateries in town is still packed with customers. Looks like some are still holidaying until Sunday. The babi bakar sure looks yummy.
Every place here is in full swing, all open, back to the grind.
I am not too concerned about places being expensive as long as what they serve is really very good, value for money.
What is cheap is of no use if it is not nice at all!
I cannot imagine a sandwich over RM20.00 or a bowl of noodles over RM30.00. Daylight robbery!
And what I find it hard to believe is there are so many people willing to go to such places
and pay for that kind of mediocre food!!! They must be very rich, too much money and they do not know where to throw!
Not many places serve their fish with breadcrumbs here….but equally yummy as the battered ones.
I like what your missus have. Fish anytime for me.
Oinks?? Same as Oinks Kuching??
The one and only! They opened a branch here in Sibu but this was the 3rd time I went. That location, Hanns Residence, is difficult to go to and hard to leave as well during peak hours – massive traffic jams.
Happened the first time we went, took us ages to get there – I did mention it the first and second blogposts about it, was o.k. the second time as we went mid-morning…and jammed again this third time.
The mere idea of having to go through all that puts me off…so you will not see me back there again to check out the sparkling new Sushi Zanmai there anytime soon,
Good decision not to wait, I would have gone for the alternative too and since most of the fare was good, no regrets. Oh ya, I dislike lean pork chops. So dry and not nice at all.
Great minds think alike! I thought a pork chop would have been clobbered with that spiky tenderiser…as in Hainanese pork chop, not sliced meat like what I had here. It’s the same with bak kua – not into the sliced pork ones, so hard, not the texture I enjoy, such a pain to chew. The babi bakar was the opposite and so very good. Will just stick to that next time!