It’s that time again…

Another six months have gone past and it’s that time again, time to take my car for its regular servicing and time for the celebrated kolo mee special (RM9.00)…

…at the coffee shop right across the road…

…from the service centre.

I bought the car in 2018, 5 years ago and I hardly go anywhere. That is why I am far behind as far as the mileage goes. Presently, it stands at around 12,000 km. when it should have gone past 20,000 already. Nonetheless, I make it a point to take it for regular servicing every six months and so far, I have not had any problem whatsoever with it, touch wood!

The service centre (and the coffee shop) is on the other side of town so we hardly venture to those parts of the woods. This time around, I brought my missus along to familiarise her with everything so that she would know what she would have to do when the need arises.

Once we were through, I took her to try the aforementioned kolo mee special…

…as she had never had that before.

It was RM7.00 in November, 2021 and has gone up by RM2.00 which, considering the way things are going, is not a surprise at all. Personally, looking at the amount of added ingredients that went into that bowl of noodles, I would say it was worth it, value for money! Thankfully, it is still below RM10.00 so I will still go for it when I feel like it. I try not to go for anything above RM10.00.

I asked my missus for her verdict but she did not seem all that excited. All she said was that it was all right but she particularly loved the liver…

Yes, I would agree with her on that – it was done to perfection, cooked but still soft and nice. I wouldn’t like it hard and overcooked.

I guess I shall not be coming by this way again..till November, after another six months.

CHANG LOK CHIU CAFE (2.277376, 111.850765)…

…is located along Jalan Bukit Lima, just before the Bukit Lima roundabout, right across the road from the Proton Service Centre (NGU’S MOTOR SERVICE SDN BHD – PROTON 4S DEALER).

Givin’ up on you…

There wasn’t much left for dinner in the house that day and my missus did not feel like cooking so she went out to tapao our favourite Foochow fried noodles in town, RM20.00 for 3 – it was RM18.00 not too long ago, RM6.00 per plate, the lady boss said.

Perhaps he had a lot of takeaway orders that night (for Mother’s Day) and he was not all that keen on frying the noodles for us but he did it nonetheless. The noodles turned out to be really disappointing, nothing like the authentic ones we grew up eating and enjoyed so much. Come to think of it, there seemed to be a dire need for some quality control these days – some days, the noodles turned out good but on other days, it wasn’t as great…but not as bad as this time around. I certainly would think twice about going back there for the noodles ever again.

That is why I would have to go round trying the noodles that I used to enjoy so much to find one to our liking, one that would keep us going back for more. There was this one in the next lane from my house that we liked a lot but the guy had a peculiar sense of humour. I would have to order the same thing for the three of us, not a different dish for each person – he would not be “amused” and would not hesitate to show his displeasure. I found it funny how a person like that could run a successful business and I stopped going back for more.

Well, the other morning, I decided to give him another chance and dropped by his coffee shop and had this…

It sure looked so good, so much ingredients but it was cooked by his ethnic wife – he was not around (thankfully).

He had moved from his old place and is now at this location… formerly a pub or something…

…along Lorong Cherry 10 at the block of shops at its junction with Lorong Cherry 14. The kampua mee stall from the old place moved there too but it was not open that day – they take Tuesdays off.

Ah Kau’s chu char (cook & fry) place is at the back of the shop…

…and I saw from the sign that they are serving prawn noodles (soup) for RM28.00 a bowl. Well, with my current skin affliction, I don’t think I will go and give it a try. According to the helper, they serve meals in the evening these days, rice with a few dishes, that is, starting from 5.00 p.m. till 9.00 p.m.

Anyway, back to the noodles that I had that morning…

…it was ONLY RM5.00 a plate, the same as that overrated kampua mee round the corner. I would much sooner go for this than that plate of noodles with a few paper-thin slices of boiled pork (not even char siew).

No, I would not rate it a perfect 10. I had something a lot nicer from the wife before a few times but this wasn’t up to par. I’d probably give it a 7 out of 10…and I did feel that she should go slow on the msg. I had this unpleasant feeling in the mouth the whole time after I had finished the plate of noodles…

Thus, the search continues…for the best, most authentic Foochow fried noodles in town!

Better than the others…

I suppose a lot of people around here would know by now that this dianpianngu coffee shop…

…in the vicinity of the shops beside the Dewan Suarah here in Sibu has moved to where this old school restaurant…

…was in another corner of that commercial area of shops but it has since called it a day. I have not gone there myself but I hear it is very crowded, lots of people every morning, for one reason or other.

In the meantime, there are things going on at their former location too! I hear they have done up the place to make it look more like a food court with “individual” hawker stalls than a coffee shop and one of them is occupied by this so-called apam balik legend Sungai Merah Sibu. Word has it that they are still operating at their original place so my guess is they have people to man both stalls simultaneously at one go.

Other than that stall, there is one where my sister bought this packet of nasi lemak…

…for only RM2.50 each. I thought that is very cheap considering that the ones here is selling for RM1.50, no egg, no salted fish, three miserable ikan bilis and two peanuts and the last time I bought any, the rice, which is never really lemak, was hard and dry, so very disappointing!!!

This one…

…sure has a lot more and they even go through the trouble of placing a bit of banana leaf in the pack for the added flavour.

If they want (or anybody for that matter) would like to throw in a pandan leaf cutting for the fragrance, they can always come to my house and help themselves. Ever since I have been neglecting my garden, those leaves have been growing rampantly wild!!! I wish I could find somebody to come and get rid of all of it…and my lengkuas and everything else! These days, it’s a jungle out there!!!

Anyway, going back to the nasi lemak, I love it when they give this small salted fish…

…with the rice. I do think it does bring the enjoyment to a whole new level.

I did try the rice and yes, it was very lemak (rich with santan/coconut milk), a lot more than all the miserable ones all over town that I had had the displeasure of eating and are an insult to the name. I would enjoy eating it, I know…but I had to refrain from doing that owing to my skin affliction.

In the end, my missus ate it up and she said that the sambal…

…was good but she wished they had given a bit more.

Personally, I do think that is not impossible – give more sambal and sell for RM3.00 a packet. After all, they are selling this for at least RM3.50 a plate elsewhere and they are not in any way worth the calories, not at all.

Saturdays (again)…

After the somewhat disappointing one here that was a little watered down, my girl stopped by here with her mum for the one we like the best in town (RM4.50)…

It has been quite sometime since I was last here and my girl never asked for it either. For one thing, it gets very crowded and parking can be a problem unless I park my car far away and walk there. Other than that, I get quite grumpy when things don’t go that well at busy places and my girl is not fond of that. It’s quite all right here though – never mind how busy and noisy it may be, service is always very prompt and efficient.

They also had their sotong kangkong (RM10.00)…

…that would rank among the best in town unlike what we had at the aforementioned shop the other day.

Their salad sotong (RM9.00)/fried calamari…

…is my girl’s favourite and of course, she ordered that as well.

They did not order the Sarawak laksa though, at one time, our favourite in town but when I had it in August last year…

…I was so shocked to find that the taste was completely different – it was not nice at all, nothing like what it was before. I suspected that they had used a different brand of laksa sambal and it did not turn out great, not at all.

Well, my brother-in-law said that he did go and eat not too long ago and it was nice again – they probably came to their senses and switched back to the sambal they were using before. Of course, I cannot go and try at this point in time with my skin affliction, not with all the prawns and the prawn broth and the belacan (dried prawn paste). I’ll surely go when I get completely well.

SIBU THOMSON CORNER (2.296517, 111.840710)…

…is located at Pusat Tanahwang, opposite Sacred Heart Secondary School, Oya Road or you can go to their other outlet on the 1st floor of the Medan Mall, Jalan Wong King Huo.

What you wanted…

Of course I was thrilled to hear that the chef from our one-time favourite restaurant was operating the chu-char (cook & fry) stall at the back of a coffee shop here and I certainly did not waste anytime to go and check it out.

When we got there, I asked the ladies to go and place our orders – in the past, I would do that all the time and I was thinking that it was about time they tried doing it themselves – after all, I am not going to be around forever.

Yes, we had the dong po rou (RM40.00)…

…and yes, it was VERY VERY good, as good as I could remember it to be at the old place. The taste was exactly the same and yes, it was fall-off-the-bone tender and the fat melted in the mouth…

– it certainly put all the rest that we had here or here, for instance, to shame.

The problem was the serving was way too big and no, it was not the fault of those people there. The ladies asked for FIVE mantao (3 would be enough, one each…or 4, if we were not having any rice and other dishes)…

…and I guess they assumed that the order was for 5 persons when there were only the three of us. There was so much left over that we had to tapao back what was left and there was enough for one main dish for our dinner that night!!!

I used to order the creamy butter prawn balls…

…at the old place but the ladies did not know how to call it and ended up with their honey prawn balls (RM28.00)…

…instead. I would have ordered a serving that would be enough for two persons but my missus said it wasn’t all that big, the serving we got that day. Well, the thing is we were having other dishes as well, not just this one, so there would be enough to go round despite the serving being smaller. Not that we were having just this one dish! Tsk! Tsk!!!

They ordered the creamy corn soup but I guess they did not get the order right and we were served the clear sweet corn kernel soup (RM10.00)…

…instead. It was perfectly all right though as the soup was really good and I loved the addition of the black fungus, mushroom and green vegetables in it…and the fragrance of the Chinese celery present sure helped to complement the overall taste even more. I must say that it was a whole lot nicer than the ones we had here…or elsewhere.

The midin (wild jungle fern), ching chao (fried plain with garlic), RM12.00…

…was great. of course.

The overall total, inclusive of rice and drinks, came up to RM92.00 but of course, if the ladies had not ordered so much, it would be very much less. Ah well, never mind! I guess it was perfectly all right as we enjoyed all that we had and yes, we certainly would be going back there again…and again…and again.

We did get to speak to the ladies there and confirmed that the guy in charge in the kitchen was a former chef (not the boss – heard that he had passed away) at the former restaurant, assisted by his son and others. They open lunchtime till 2.00 p.m. and will reopen for dinner at 5.00 p.m. They also said that they do home catering for those hosting dinners in their own homes and yes, they will deliver the dishes to your doorstep – you will not have to go there and collect yourself.

LIFESTYLE CAFE (2.289728, 111.835320)…

…is located right below Lifestyle Gym, among the blocks of shops beside the Jalan Tong Sang/Lorong Langsat junction where you turn left to go towards the Rejang Medical Centre roundabout.

Spell it out…

We dropped by this sparkling new place the other afternoon for the nyonya cendol gula apong (RM4.50)…

It just opened its doors a few days ago but it sure looked like they meant business…

…seeing the non-stop posts that they shared on Facebook which, of course, caught my attention and I made up my mind to drop by and check it out.

For one thing, I am pretty sure they need to brush up on their spelling (NYONYA) and I would say that I was somewhat disappointed when I saw the place. It was so simple…

…very minimal and I was worried the whole time that those plastic stools would give way under my weight.

The nyonya cendol gula apong that my missus had…

…wasn’t the best in town – it was a little watered down, the same as the ais kacang merah gula apong (RM4.50)…

…that my girl and I had. They do need to be richer in the santan (coconut milk) added or the santan needed to be thicker and perhaps they have to be a bit more generous with the gula apong.

It was around tea time in the afternoon and I did not want to order any of the dishes available, not that there were that many to pick and choose. I asked for the sotong kangkong (RM12.00)…

…which looked kind of diluted. It was quite all right but I do know of two or three other places in town that can do it a lot better, here, here and here.

NOYA CENDOL is located at Lorong Chew Siik Hiong 1, across the road from STORY Cakery.

Pass by…

My girl and the mum drove past this coffee shop one day and they spotted this banner…

…and they knew there and then that I would be interested in going over to check it out.

Kuching authentic pork leg rice? Well, I am pretty sure I had this somewhere in the capital city and looking at the images available, it sure looks really popular there. I suppose I did enjoy what I had but I cannot remember one that swept me off my feet. Anyway, I wasted no time in going back to that aforementioned coffee shop to see what they had in store.

Actually, I was at that coffee shop sometime ago and I had the nice lady’s kway chap from the 2nd stall…

…but it looked like it had closed down for good. Everything on the display board had been removed. I also noticed that everybody running the stalls there was non-Chinese except for the guy serving the drinks.

I asked for the special (RM12.00)…

– they also had the BIG (RM15.00) but they said that would be for people coming to eat in big groups so I did not order that. I wonder how big that big was though.

Yes, I loved the mixed platter with all the goodies they gave but it was cold. I guess like chicken rice and all those roast meat stuff, you will not get anything piping hot. I don’t recall seeing any other place serving this here in Sibu but I do believe that if you go to the kway chap place at Chopsticks, you can ask for a combination of all that is available…

…and have them served with rice instead of the flat noodle sheets.

Here, you get a bowl of the soy sauce phak lor (5 spice) gravy and curry…

…together with some belacan (dried prawn paste)…

The former was very diluted but it was all right – nice to drown the plain white rice with and eat but the curry was exactly like the soup you get with your pack of instant noodles, curry flavour. I had a sip and that was it. The belacan looked really alluring but no, I did not touch it, not with my current skin affliction!

All in all, I would say that it was nice…

– I wouldn’t mind going for it if I happen to be around there and feel like having another go at it but no, you would not find me going out of my way to come and eat.

My girl had the kolo mee (RM5.00)…

…and one look at it would tell you all you need to know already. She did not even finish half of it! Enough said!!!

COFFEE & TEA (2.325932, 111.841566) is located at the junction of Jalan Teng Chin Hua and Jalan Ulu Sg Merah in the blocks of shops to the right of the traffic lights junction turning left into Lorong Sg Merah 2. if you are coming from town. On the other hand, if you are heading towards town, the blocks of shops are after St Teresa’s Catholic Church and the SIB Church on that same side of the road.

Easter…

After the season of Lent, the joyous Blessed Easter Sunday came but this year, there wasn’t much of a celebration as I was somewhat ill-disposed.

We could not get hold of any hot cross buns, traditionally eaten at this time of the year – not something that we can just go and buy here but they did give out some Easter eggs to the congregation after the service at church. My missus and my girl went and they did bring one home for me.

My sister managed to get a friend to make these lovely scones…

…and she got some for us as well. There were the plain butter scones, the raisin and the ones with cranberries and the lady did give some cinnamon butter to go with the former.

I did mention in my previous post that my niece, the one working in Singapore, was home for the Easter weekend and she brought these home…

…for her cousin, my girl. She’s really such a sweet girl, that niece of mine, all heart!

As I said earlier, we did not go out to celebrate but after the morning service on Easter Sunday morning, the two ladies went for brunch and they had the prawn and pork dumplings…

…at this very popular food centre in town where this dumpling stall in particular is drawing customers in huge numbers…every day! Yes, they loved it so much and came home praising it to the skies.

They bought me some to try but even though it was still mid-morning, those people were running out of dumplings already and they only managed to get me the pork ones…

Yes, it was very nice. The meat filling tasted like those dim sum sio bee, the texture and the taste and the soup was very thick and very rich…

…unlike our watered down ones in our bowl of pian sip soup.

Thankfully, the price did not exceed my self-imposed limit of RM10.00 but still, at over RM8.00 for what I had and over RM9.00 for the one with prawns that the ladies had, you sure would not catch me running back there for more all that soon. Don’t get me wrong though – we certainly would go back there for more or to try whatever else they have to offer at their stall despite the prices and the crowd.

In the meantime, on one of those days, my girl insisted on going over to this coffee shop for her favourite pain sip (meat dumplings) in town, tossed in dark soy sauce…

Yes, this is the place that I have been grumbling about – where the kampua mee is RM5.00 a plate…

…and they do not even bother to put in a bit of effort to present it nicely and serve it in a clean plate.

Haters will hate and many will tell you that the noodles here are not as nice as before. We go back a very long way…to 2008 or earlier and yes, I do feel it was much nicer then but it is still not too bad right now – compared to many of the rest in town. Some will insist that they give you a bigger serving but it is quite obvious in the above photograph that it isn’t really so.

There are those who insist that the pian sip (dumplings) are bigger, how they use their special own-made skin that is bigger and how they would add more meat. I have not seen that with my own eyes but yes, I would say that I like their pian sip soup…

…very much and would go back for theirs time and time again despite the jacked-up prices!

JOY FOOD COURT is located at No. 52, Lorong Lau King Howe 1, right next door to Lim Teh and SOON HOCK CAFE & RESTAURANT (2.312181, 111.845824) is located among the Delta Mall/Jalan Pedada area of shops, facing the Methodist church along Lorong Taman Seduan 8, off Jalan Gambir.

Routine…

My missus went out with her brother and his wife last Sunday morning to visit the graves of their ancestors in conjunction with the Ching Ming Festival this year. It has become their routine every year, including on All Souls’ Day, it seems, to stop by here for brunch once they are done.

I was there myself not too long ago and had a disappointing claypot mee from one of the stalls, definitely not anything that would get me back for more. I did not see my brother-in-law’s favourite Penang char kway teow stall that morning and my guess was that it had wrapped up its business. Well, it looked like I was mistaken – it is still very much alive and kicking and my missus wasted no time at all in tapao-ing a packet…

…home for me to eat. I guess one look at it would tell you that it did not get me all excited, not at all. Well, if it is any consolation, it isn’t too bad eaten there, piping hot from the wok.

My sister-in-law did not want the char kway teow and went to order the pian sip (meat dumplings) from the kampua mee stall but she was No. 20-something in the line so she went for something else that wasn’t anything to shout about. Obviously it was the Ching Ming weekend that explained the massive crowd there that morning, not that there was anything worth fighting tooth and claw for.

Nobody had the very popular Ipoh chee cheong fun which I would say was pretty decent but this is the only one we have here and as they say, beggars can’t be choosers.

Of course, my missus bought home a lot of Chinese kuihs from the Kanowit ladies there. These purple angku koi…

…were good – the skin was perfectly made and they were very generous with the filling. The problem was they did not have mung bean and I am not crazy about the peanut filling that they had inside.

She also helped herself to a whole lot of nyonya kuihs including this tapioca cake…

…which was kind of hard and dry, a far cry from the ones my sister gave us that day. The rest…

…weren’t that great either. I vaguely remember that what they used to sell when they first opened to stall here was pretty decent, not the best I had had but good enough to ease the craving for these teatime delights when we couldn’t get any decently good ones around town.

I don’t know if it was because of the rising prices and they had resorted to cutting costs or I have had some much nicer ones from newcomers at the shops and stalls around town. I told my missus that should they stop by here again, she must not buy anymore of these kuihs. After all, I am trying to cut down on my sugar intake and these are not even worth the calories.

Well, old habits die hard and I am quite sure that when they go out together again, they will go through this same ol’ routine and stop by this same place and eat and buy the same things!

JIALI CAFE (2.292140, 111.841524)…

…is located among the shops behind Medan Mall, Jalan Wong King Huo, a few doors away to the right of Junction Cafe, facing the road leading to the Medan Hotel there.

I love it here…

My cousin, home from Brisbane, Australia that day, stayed at the hotel next door and much to her delight, she was able to enjoy the food at this coffee shop…

…in the vicinity.

She sure loved it here and yes, I would agree that the kampua mee…

…was very good and I always felt the kuih chap…

…was pretty decent, not the best in town but good enough to have and enjoy once in a while when in that part of the woods. Actually, one can have some nice stuff from the chu char stall (cook & fry) stall at the back as well and from the Malay stalls to the left of that coffee shop.

The other morning, my good friend/ex-classmate, Robert and his wife, Angela, dropped by my house again because they heard that I was not doing too well. That is what I would describe as action speaking louder than words. Most everybody would just say get well soon, God bless and that would be it.

They love the Indonesian lady’s stall at the back of the aforementioned coffee shop. Once in 2020, they took me there for the nasi ayam penyet…

…with the sambal petai…

…and also the nasi Arab.

It’s the month of Ramadan right now and according to Robert and Angela, she is open as usual but serving only nasi lemak and nasi ayam penyet (usually available on Saturdays & Sundays only). On normal days, she has nasi campur at her stall but she says that it is a little bit too tiring to cook all those dishes in the fasting month. What she cooks must be really good as come lunchtime every day, you will see the crowd queuing at her stall to buy what she has for the day for lunch.

Not only were Robert and Angela so sweet and thoughtful to come all the way to visit me, these two wonderful people even bought us packets of the lady’s nasi ayam penyet…

…for our lunch with the nicely blanched vegetables…

…which I prefer this way, not 100% raw.

The nasi lemak sambal…

…was very good and I particularly liked how the chicken was fried to perfection…

– at many places, you will find it over-fried till hard and dry.

Thank you so much, Robert & Angela, for dropping by my house to see me and also for the delightful lunch treat. May God be with you two each passing day of your lives too.

YUMMY’s KAFE (2.293333, 111.827763) is located along Jalan Bako, right beside the Alliance Bank.