Do like that…

I happened to see this Australian-Vietnamese chef, Luke Nguyen, on one of his food travel shows on TV the other day. He went round all the places in Vietnam enjoying all the gorgeous local culinary delights. I do love Vietnamese cuisine and the best that I have had the pleasure of enjoying would be this one in Kuching that I enjoyed a lot more than this one in Miri.

I saw on the aforementioned TV show how they eat those Vietnamese mint or daun kesum leaves…

…with whatever they were eating just like that. I do have those growing in my garden and we do use them in our cooking like when my missus cooks chicken in the ethnic ayam pansoh (chicken cooked in bamboo) style or when I cook ikan buris wrapped in daun kunyit (turmeric leaves)…

…but no, I would not want to eat them raw because of the extra-strong pungent smell which blends in rather nicely with whatever one is cooking when cooked.

The ones in my garden do not seem to be doing too well right now, growing but not flourishing. Hopefully, they will recover and look a whole lot better soon. The same goes to my Thai basil…

…which is another one of those leaves that they eat a lot in Vietnam, raw. We do use it quite a lot in our cooking…

…but just like the daun kesum, we do not eat it raw. At best, I would just take the leaves, throw them into the piping hot soup and take it from there.

We have acquired the taste of this sawtooth coriander…

…the “cousin” of the daun ketumbar (coriander leaves) that is a must in Kuching popiah or as a topping in Kuching laksa. The uninitiated would quickly pick them up and get rid of them, grumbling that they smell of bed bugs! LOL!!!

We got ours from our friends at Payung and talking about them, they also gave us these Holy Basil…

…seeds. Brew the leaves with ginger and mint…

…for instant relief from cough! It certainly worked quite well for me.

I must say that I rather enjoy watching those food and travel shows that feature our neighbouring countries and seeing how similar we all are in what we do and eat.

Choose one…

This movie…

…premiered in Malaysia on the 28th of November and since we were in Miri at the time, flying back the very next day, I made it a point to go and watch it there instead of coming back to Sibu and catching it at our not-so-nice trioplex here.

We had to choose between this cineplex here and this one…

…in the new wing here and according to my cousin’s wife, the latter is newer and nicer. I sure enjoyed the movie, light-hearted entertainment and I love the music of George Michael that sounded so nice with the super-duper sound system of the cineplex and yes, the place was super-impressive too.

We came out past 9.00 p.m. and we wanted to go some place for dinner/supper. I had this very nice soya bean milk (RM2.80) and equally nice tofu fa (RM2.80) earlier…

…at the food court on the ground floor and the selections for their nasi campur looked really good but it was already closed by then. We went to one place there serving Malay cuisine and I spoke to the fat snooty lady sitting beside the cash register to find out what time they would close and she just replied harshly, “Last order at 9.40!” We walked out of the place instantly, stunned by that kind of unbecoming attitude.

We took a cab back to the hotel and crossed the road to this place that we went to a few days earlier. My missus had their mee mamak (RM5.00)…

…and she enjoyed it but unfortunately, my girl’s meatball pasta (RM15.00)…

…was so very disappointing. Obviously they did not drain it well – you can see the water all around the pasta in the plate and when I saw her struggling with it, I told her to just eat the meatballs and leave everything else behind.

I also ordered their pumpkin soup (RM9.00)…

…which was a let-down too. It was not rich and creamy and nice like what my missus would sometimes cook at home but to be fair, it tasted quite all right and came across like they had their own original recipe for that. Too bad it was not what we were expecting and did not quite tickle our fancy!

My pork burger (RM10.00)…

…was all right…

…but it was getting late and they had turned up the music and dimmed the lights (hence the not-very-nice snapshots), all ready to get the party started so we quickly finished eating and left the place as soon as we were through.

MING CAFE, MIRI (4.397216, 113.988902)is located at one corner of the traffic lights junction of Jalan North Yu Seng and Jalan Merbau.

Big one, small one…

On our final day in Miri, my cousin was persistent in asking us out and in the end, we relented and agreed to go out for tea with him here…

…at 3.00 in the afternoon. He said that the original one at Jalan Permaisuri in the city centre was nicer but it was not so comfortable especially when customers would have to sit on small, flimsy stools, definitely not something for someone big, my shape and size.

I guess “sau” (烧) in the name means “baked”, and not “small” (小) and it completely slipped my mind at that point in time but actually, a friend of mine did buy me a box of their sio pao (baked buns) once 10 years ago…and we also had that…

…when we were there that day. I would say it was good, nicer than the Seremban ones and I liked the whole chunks of meat in the char siew filling as opposed to those paste-like ones elsewhere.

The steamed char siew pao…

…was very good too and I enjoyed all the different types of pastries…

…available here…

…so many that one would be spoilt for choice. Unfortunately, it was kind of dim inside the cafe and that made it difficult for me to take nice photos of all that we had, nice enough to do them justice, that is.

After having enjoyed everything that we wanted to try to our hearts’ content, my cousin took us on a drive on a car tour all over Miri to places like the beautiful Luak Bay beach and we saw all the ultra-gigantic mansions that would put the one in Crazy Rich Asians to shame, Tanjong Lobang Beach, Coco Cabana at Marina Bay (if you are staying at the hotel where we stayed, they have a free shuttle service to take you here)…and so on and so forth.

After all that, he dropped us off at a mall to catch a movie. Yes, you read that right but that will be in the next post. Stick around!

NEW SAU PAU CAFE [新烧包] (4.416477, 114.010282) is located at Lot 2508, Ground Floor, Jalan Miri Pujut, Boulevard Commercial Centre.

How could you…

I found out about this Thai restaurant…

…while I was googling for places to eat prior to our trip to Miri and it was right behind the hotel where we stayed. Of course, we grabbed the opportunity to go there and give it a try and my friend/ex-student, Louis, who happened to be in Miri on a working trip that evening, joined us there for dinner.

When I paid for everything that we had, I asked for the bill and got this…

Gee!!! I couldn’t read that! It was all in Thai but that, of course, is testament to the authenticity of the place.

The pad Thai…

…was really good and we sure enjoyed it a lot. I wish I could say the same about the pineapple fried rice…

…which was basically just kunyit rice, not much else and I had that prawn on top and it was slightly off. Thankfully, that was the odd one out – the rest were all fine.

My girl wanted the tom kah gai…

…a spicy and sour hot soup with coconut milk and chicken,  instead of tom yam and she enjoyed that a lot. I felt it was too sour for me so I let her have my bowl as well.

The green curry…

…was quite disappointing, nowhere near the very nice one here and the pork…

…was kind of hard and dry so we did not think much of it.

They also had the celebrated boat noodles…

…on their menu and I simply had to order that to try. It didn’t bowl us over – and no, it did not taste anything like what I had at the franchise place the day before. My girl said that the soup tasted like instant noodles and I certainly would agree. It was something like the soup in that Tung-i instant chicken bihun.

The moment we arrived at the place, I noticed ALL the photographs of my favourite Thai dessert – the mango sticky rice – stuck all over the walls and that got me all excited! Of course, as soon as we were done, we asked for that and imagine my disappointment when they informed us that they were out of Thai mango and the dessert was not available! How could you!!! They said they had not had the imported mango for a few months now so the least they could do was to remove all those photos on the wall. Tsk! Tsk! I was quite disgusted, really!!!

Considering that this restaurant was nothing more than just a coffee shop, nothing fancy, nothing classy and not air-conditioned, I thought the total, over RM80, was a bit on the high side.

NOK AN NET Thai Food (4.396582, 113.987337) is located in the last block of shophouses on the left towards the end Jalan Maju that links Jalan South Yu Seng to Jalan Bendahara.

Her and her friend…

My girl was with her for five years, two years at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and the rest at the teacher training institute in Sungai Petani, Kedah. Her husband was also at the latter and that was where they met. They came over to Sibu in December, 2017 to attend another coursemate’s wedding and she was very much in the family way already at the time, expecting their first born.

When we were in Miri that day, she and her husband and their two sons and a nephew came to pick us up at the hotel and they took us for lunch here…

We had this…

…to munch while waiting for the dishes to be served.

The stewed pork belly…

…was not as nice as the one we have here in Sibu – the layer of fat on top was fine but the lean part at the bottom was quite a chore to chew. The mantao was not sliced so I did not bother to stuff it with the meat and fat and just ate it like that.

The sweet and sour prawns in the lovely yam basket…

…were very nice and there was also this vegetable dish…

…too.

They ordered this dish for their nephew, the butter milk chicken…

…as he was allergic to pork and it turned out to be very nice and we kept helping ourselves to it. Luckily, there was enough to go round so the poor boy did not have to go hungry. LOL!!!

Thank you so much, Myra & Jantum, for taking us out and treating us to this very delightful lunch. It sure was nice to see you all again.
Kalau ada sumur di ladang
Boleh kami menumpang mandi
Kalau ada umur yang panjang 
Boleh kita berjumpa lagi.

MING GARDEN RESTAURANT (4.421392, 114.004926) is located at Lot 1088, Jalan Jee Foh Utama, Krokop, Miri.

There are others…

I was grumbling about my futile search for the Vietnamese restaurant on Facebook and my friend/ex-student commented that it…

…was in the block of shops right behind the bank across the road from the hotel where we were staying.

Upon hearing that, I went to see where exactly it was when the hotel shuttle came to get us at 4.00 p.m. and take us back. Well, it wasn’t in the block right behind the bank nor in the next block. You would have to turn left after the latter into that road – it is among the shops on the left, not far away but not visible from the main road, Jalan North Yu Seng.

It was open so I stepped right in and had a quick glance at the menu and thereupon made a reservation for 3 for 7.00 p.m. – I was forewarned that it could be quite full. That night, we got there promptly before 7 and took our seats at our table and placed our orders.

Of course, we HAD to try their pho bo (RM18.00)…

…which was good and they gave us this plate of Thai basil leaves and taugeh (bean sprouts)…

…to add, should we feel like it and we were also told to add the special chili sauce and whatever sauce provided at every table for that extra kick and to bring the taste to a whole new level. Well, it was nice but no, it did not get me jumping with delight the way I saw some people responding when they had this at some Vietnamese restaurant in the country or in the country of origin and no, you would not catch me rushing back for more.

Another Vietnamese specialty that I often see people praising to the skies is the banh mi (RM17.00)…

…and that too was nice but no, it did not get us all excited – at the end of the day, it was what it was, a sandwich!

Actually, the two dishes were very filling especially with all the soup in the big bowl of noodles and the bread but we just had to order some other dishes – after all, we do not have a Vietnamese place in Sibu and not even a decently-good Thai place, so we would not want to miss the chance to try as much as possible. Just eat whatever we could, I told the ladies.

We did not want those Vietnamese rice paper rolls – we can make our own at home and went for the banh xeo pancake (RM16.00)…

…instead. We were supposed to break up that crusty pancake and wrap it with the filling using the vegetables by the side along with everything else but it was rather hard so no, we did not really enjoy it.

These mini banh khot cakes (RM17.00)…

…were much nicer but no, it did not sweep us off our feet and no, we did not think we would want to have that again.

The nice Vietnamese lady boss from Ho Chi Minh City, married to a local, persuaded us to try the goi du du thom thit or papaya salad (RM20.00)…

…which wasn’t the best we’ve had. I did not like the fried shallots that they sprinkled on top with the not-very-well-crushed crushed peanuts. Somehow, I found the taste rather distracting and was put off by it. The one here in Sibu would be a whole lot nicer…and we had good ones at our favourite now-closed-down Thai restaurant and also at the other place but some people told me that their Thai chefs too had left.

This may not look all that photogenic but actually, we thought that was the best dish we had all night, their ca nuong or grilled eggplant (RM12.00)…

I ordered the caramel custard minus the caramel and replaced with some Vietnamese coffee sauce instead (RM7.00)…

…for dessert but I would prefer caramel…or gula Melaka.

Yes, the place was crowded, almost full and being a rather small place, it got rather noisy especially when some people simply had to converse with their friends like they were giving a speech to everyone in the house. Tsk! Tsk!

I can’t remember if this was the one I was looking for and yes, I hear there are others in the city. The total that night came up to RM123.00, inclusive of drinks, and after that experience, no, I wasn’t all that keen on checking out the rest. You can go and have all the pho and the banh mi you want and you will not hear me bemoaning that we do not have a Vietnamese restaurant in Sibu ever again.

Lộc Phat Vietnam House (4.398125, 113.988722) is located at 635, Jalan Sim Cheng Kay, off Jalan North Yu Seng.

I can’t understand…

After our brief visit to the tamu (market), the hotel shuttle came to pick us up and send us to one of the malls in town, the very nice and impressive new wing. The ladies went off on their own in their shopping spree and left to my own devices, I went in search of the Vietnamese restaurant in the vicinity.

Before we went over the Miri, I spent some time googling for places to eat in the city and I found out that there was one right across the road. Unfortunately, I forgot which side of the mall it was and I did not manage to find it. In the end, I made my way back to seek refuge in the air-conditioned mall – it can get really hot in Miri, so hot that I would have to open my umbrella just to cross the road!

Inside the mall, I saw the outlet of this Thai franchise…

…though I am not sure if it is a local/Malaysian franchise or an authentic Thai one but I have seen people blogging about it and how there were a lot of people making a beeline there to stand and wait in very long queues to eat the boat noodles, stacking up the bowls like the Leaning Tower of Pisa…and I was quite pissed off to see that some of them were chipped!

Of course, I asked for the boat noodles, beef in boat soup (RM1.90)…

…and to say that I was disappointed the moment it was served would be an understatement. What it lacked in looks was not compensated in taste – it was edible but no, it did not blow me away and no, I would not want another bowl, much less a whole lot more to stack up sky high once I was through. Frankly, I just can’t understand what all that hoo-ha was all about.

I did see a lot of other dishes in their menu but I was still full from breakfast at the hotel so I did not want anything else. Perhaps I should have ordered the pad Thai – I probably would enjoy it a lot more. For one thing, that tiny serving was just right to tide me over till dinner.

However, that was not all that I had. I simply did not want to miss the chance to try that very popular Thai dessert, the red rubies or tub tim krob (ทับทิมกรอบ) so I ordered that, RM3.90. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photograph of it (though I did snap one of it with my cheap handphone to share on Facebook) and anyway, I did not think it was anything to shout about either. There were some chestnuts, coloured red or left white swimming in a very diluted solution of coconut milk and no, there wasn’t any buah nangka (jackfruit) in it – I’m not a fan of that, anyway and if that is what it is like usually, I can’t understand why it has a following and some people seem to rave over it like it is something so out of this world.

I liked the Thai coconut milk custard (RM5.90 for 4)…

…a lot more but my favourite is still their mango sticky rice (RM11.90)…

Actually, I planned to drop by again before we left Miri to try some of the things they had in their menu but unfortunately, that was not meant to be – too many things to eat, too little time.

TUK TUK (MIRI) THAI BOAT NOODLE is located at GF3, Ground Floor, Permaisuri Imperial City Mall 4.401058, 113.990724) at Jalam Merpati in the city centre.

You won…

This place…

…in Miri won the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Award in a different category that same year when Payung Café won theirs. It is located diagonally across the traffic lights junction beside the hotel where we were staying so of course, I could not wait to walk over and check the place out.

I did ask my cousin about it and he said that it was a watering hole – people would go there for drinks…

…and he didn’t know if the food was good or otherwise. In fact, he did not even know they served food there but he said that it would only open by late afternoon or early evening around 4 – I am not sure how accurate his information was but it definitely was not open for lunch.

We went around 6 that day and there was quite a crowd already. A very young Filipino boy came and took our orders – there were a couple of hiccups but later, I found out that it was his first day on the job and since he was very pleasant and nice, all was forgiven.

My missus wanted the seafood noodles, wet (RM5.00)…

…so I ordered that to share. It sure was cheap, especially for an upscale, classier café and it was all right, nothing to shout about but good enough.

The lamb shank (RM20.00)…

…was kind of disappointing though as it was not fall-off-the-bone-tender and it was not served on a bed of mashed potatoes plus whatever gravy that was, it did not get me jumping with delight…but at that price, I really do not see any cause for complaint.

The pork meatballs (RM10.00)…

…were really good and we absolutely loved their herby sausage and mash (RM25.00)…

They have an air-conditioned section but we did not want to go and sit in there as the atmosphere was much nicer outside with music and those happy people all around.

MING CAFE, MIRI (4.397216, 113.988902)is located at one corner of the traffic lights junction of Jalan North Yu Seng and Jalan Merbau.

Escapade…

That day when we arrived, my cousin’s wife left specific instructions to call her the following day if we wanted to go anywhere but we did not do that as we did not have any place in mind, just that megamall up the street and we could jolly well walk there ourselves, no need to bother her.

The megamall has been around for a long long time now and I hear there is a new wing but it has been so well maintained that I could not tell the difference – the whole place looks really good with all the branded names and truth be told, what we have here in Sibu comes nowhere close.

When we got there, I called my cousin’s wife to tell her where we were and ask her not to trouble herself as we were fine and could get around by ourselves. In no time at all, there she was at the mall and she insisted on taking us here…

…for lunch…

…even though we were so very full from breakfast and had no plans whatsoever to eat anything till later. Incidentally, this Brunei franchise has another outlet in the vicinity of the Tanjong Lobang beach in Miri.

My girl had her favourite – the unagi don…

…and she said it was all right, same as what one would get anywhere else.

The mum ordered their tako meshi (mixed rice with octopus)…

…which looked like fried rice to me and she too said it was all right.

I have had ramen at Japanese restaurants a few times, very few and I did not think I had any that swept me off my feet and I fail to understand why a lot of people seem to rave over the ones they have here, there and everywhere. That was why that day, I asked for the beef ramen in miso soup…

…and at best, I would say that I quite enjoyed it but I liked the Taiwanese beef noodles I had the day before a lot more as I would very much prefer beef soup/broth to miso soup in a bowl of beef noodles. To each his own, I guess.

The onsen tamago…

…was a little overcooked – the yolk was moist but not quite runny. I sure can do a better job at cooking that.

My cousin’s wife ordered these…

…to share and they were all right too.

After that, we continued our tour of the megamall to see what we could buy and cart home.

This EXCAPADE outlet is located on the ground floor to the left of the main entrance of the Bintang Megamall (4.396911, 113.993408) in Miri.

Chatterbox…

Some of you may know the coffee house by this name at the Mandarin Singapore – it was around already when I was there in 1973. These days, it seems to be the place to be when one wants to eat chicken rice – in style at almost SGD30 a set. I know of people who went and tried and according to them, at the end of the day, it was what it was – chicken rice…with a touch of class.

Well, the coffee house at the hotel where we stayed in Miri has that same name and when I did the booking, I opted for their breakfast as my girl used to love that when she was small. I guess the novelty of going through the buffet spread, picking a bit of this and a bit of that was a novelty, something that she enjoyed. After all, it was only RM10 per head – I don’t know if that is what you will have to fork out if you are not a house guest though.

I remember once, I went to see a friend at a hotel here in Sibu and she insisted that I joined her and her sis for breakfast and  I had the shock of my life when she had to pay RM50.00 for mine (their hotel room rate was inclusive of breakfast for two). It wasn’t even anything that I would look forward to, not many selections to pick and choose and nothing really nice.

Well, our family room was inclusive of breakfast for two adults and two children. I told the nice receptionist when I checked in that I only had one child and she was no longer a child and he said that would not be a problem and he converted it to breakfast for three adults instead.  As for what we had for breakfast, it was more or less like any other breakfast that you would get at any hotel here, there and everywhere – you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

The first morning we were there, I had this…

…for my first round. The nasi in the nasi lemak was so-so, not as lemak as I would have liked it and the sambal was so very salty – I did not have it anymore on subsequent mornings but when my missus had it a day or two later, she said it was all right. The chicken curry was salty too and all in all, I only enjoyed the fried bihun.

I think I enjoyed what I had for my second round…

…more except for the potato wedges – that too was very salty! The omelette from the egg station was great and I liked the croissant stuffed generously with butter and the beef rashers. The waffle and pancake were fine and so were the sausage and the baked beans.

On another morning, I went for the waffle and pancake again and I asked for scrambled eggs by the side…

Unfortunately, the scrambled eggs were not done the way I like it, with lots of cheese and butter and milk, rich and creamy – it was like a badly-messed up omelette…

I had one of the Danish pastries that morning and I quite enjoyed it so on another morning, I had some more…

…alongside another croissant and a cupcake.

They had kolo mee at the noodles station that first morning but they had run out of noodles and I did not want the kway teow. I was thinking they would have it again over the next few days but no, they did not and I was kind of surprised that they did not have Sarawak laksa either. They had other soup noodles, a different one each morning and I tried the beef noodles…

…but no, I was not all that impressed.

I didn’t quite enjoy the porridge…

…either – the salted egg was not to my liking and adding one half-boiled/cooked egg in it did not save the day.

I did not think much of the fried 老鼠粉 ( lǎo shǔ fěn)…

…that I had on the second morning as well and the fried kway teow…

…on another morning did not sweep me off my feet either.

I remember on one of the previous times I was here, they had mashed potatoes with lots of cheese and the fragrance filled the whole place. I enjoyed that a lot and there has been no turning back since – everytime I cook mashed potatoes, I must add cheese to it. This time around, they no longer have the cheese in it and I did not quite fancy the black pepper on top – it would have been nicer without that.

As you can see, after a few days, we were back to the same things in the buffet spread but there was fried mee on one of the mornings and the nice and friendly chubby boy at the egg station who did not get my fried eggs quite right the first time…

…got them perfectly done that second time…

Actually, he did it very well but he flipped the eggs and the second time I got him to fry some more for me, I told him not to do that.

On the whole, I felt the food was decent, just that we would be so full and would not be able to have much for lunch even so we were not able to go round and enjoy the local delights at the coffee shops and hawker centres.

CHATTERBOX is on the ground floor of the Mega Hotel, Miri (4.396921, 113.987965), located right in the heart of Miri city centre at 907, Jalan Merbau.