Cycles…

A Blessed and Happy and a Bountiful Chinese New Year to one and all!

*CNY gifts from my dear cousin, Mohd Syaiffuddin Suyong and wife, Saliah Japaruddin and all loved ones in the family, thank you so much*

It’s the Rabbit Year this year so that means it is the end of the 6th cycle in my Chinese zodiac – next year, the Dragon Year, I will be 72!

We are keeping it somewhat low key this year so we have not been busy doing all the preparations. I have not put up any decoration – the idea of having to climb up and down the ladder to hang up the lanterns and everything else sure does not appeal to me, not at my age and in my condition!

But worry not! We do have quite a lot of things in the house. My missus insisted on cooking for our reunion dinner even though I asked her not to bother. She did not make any nyonya acar (pickles) though so I went out and bought a bottle…

…to eat with all that keropok (prawn & fish crackers)…

…in the house. She did make some cookies – two types and some light snacks such as that seaweed wrapped in popiah skin that my girl likes a lot. Other than those, she did buy some pistachios and baked some cashew nuts too and I got a whole lot of groundnuts and kuaci from my ex-student that day.

Other than those that she made herself, my missus did buy some cookies from our local bakeries and I went and bought these pineapple nuggets…

…from the bakery not far from my house. Yes, they…

…are still as nice as the first time I bought them from that same shop many many years ago when I was still teaching but of course, they do not come cheap anymore these days. There were jars and jars on the racks when I went but when my brother-in-law dropped by as Chinese New Year drew near, they were all sold out! He did not manage to get any at all!!!

My missus did not make/bake any cakes but my girl’s coursemate, Mona, dropped by the house to give her these…

I last saw her in 2011 when they were coming back from Wellington, New Zealand! Now teaching in Daro, she was driving home to Bintangor to spend the week-long Chinese New Year break there. How thoughtful of her to drop by to pass the cakes and whatever else to my girl! I did get two from my friend/ex-student, Alex that day and one from one of my cousins from Kuching (and some cookies as well) that day…so there should be enough cakes to serve to any family members or friends who care to drop by.

In the meantime, my girl also got these cookies…

…from her good friend, Dayang. Thank you so much to the two of you, Mona & Dayang!

Because of the widespread ASF (African Swine Flu) in West Malaysia, the import of pork bak kua from there is banned at this point in time. I did not feel like buying any of our local ones or those from Sabah either but I did grab a couple of boxes of the chicken bak kua from Loong Kee…

…which isn’t too bad as well.

And talking about West Malaysia, I sure had a pleasant surprise when my ex-colleague/student, Richard dropped by my house. He is home from Johore for Chinese New Year and it sure was so very sweet and thoughtful of him to give me this HUGE box of honey ponkam (oranges)…

…thank you so so much, Richard! The last time I saw him was when our borders first reopened in 2021 after the pandemic.

I must say that I am so very glad and thankful, praise the Lord, that I survived this past year. I actually thought I was going to kick the bucket and join the Heavenly Choir when my health was not too good and I had no strength to do anything nor the appetite to eat anything and started losing weight like nobody’s business. Thankfully, I am a lot better now – it sure looks like I’d still be around for a while.

Now that the brand new year is here, let us pray that God will bless and protect all of us with good health, blue skies and everything nice in the days ahead throughout the Rabbit Year. Do drop by if you’re in town – there should be enough for everybody to munch, don’t you think?
新年快乐!…恭喜发财!…身体健康!!!

Came all the way…

I was at their wedding, my nephew, Nick and Jean’s, in Kuching in June, 2016 and in April, 2018, they did come all the way to Sibu. The pandemic in 2019 put an end to any kind of travelling, near or far, across land and sea and all this while, they were stuck there in Shanghai, China.

Finally, at long last, they opened their borders and Nick and Jean and this time around, with their little cute and endearing boy, Nathaniel, were finally able to spread their wings and fly! They stopped in Hong Kong before proceeding to Singapore and from Singapore, they took the now-available direct flight here to Sibu! Nick’s mum now residing in Kuching flew over to join them here before going back together to Kuching, all of them, for Chinese New Year.

Of course I was delighted when Nick sent word inviting me and my family and my sis to dinner while they were in Sibu so I went and booked a table for all of us that evening. I made sure the menu that night would include some of our local delights, such as our Foochow fried noodles…

…for instance and our wild jungle fern, the midin…

Nick was delighted that what we were served that night was fresh, plump and crunchy! It looked like they had something quite disappointing elsewhere.

I did not forget the cangkok manis fried with egg…

…either and the Foochow tauhu tear, the tofu with canned oysters soup…

I could not resist ordering the dishes that I fell in love with when we were here on our previous visit a few days earlier – the kangkong (water spinach) fried with pork fat crusts…

…and the sweet and sour spare ribs…

Yes, Nick said that they do have kangkong in China, thick, huge leaves with big hard stalks, definitely not as palatable and enjoyable as what we had that night.

I did not miss out my girl’s favourite, the lemon chicken…

…which we all feel is the best in Sibu and I also ordered the or chio (black pomfret/ikan bawal hitam) with taucheo (fermented beans) sauce…

A friend, a retired teacher like me, had it here and she said it was something not to be missed and it certainly was good, very very good! She was the one who got me to try the pek chang kay (steamed/poached chicken) here, saying that it was addictive…and true to her word, we had been coming back here for more again and again since. I did not include that in the menu that night though as we already had chicken in the list.

Nick’s mum’s eldest sister, residing in Sibu, joined us for the dinner that night and the wife of another cousin of mine, since deceased, as well. We had a group photo taken towards the end of the dinner…

The empty plates on the table would bear testimony to how good the food was that night.

Nick insisted on picking up the tab but I did ask the lady boss and she told me that the total, inclusive of rice and drinks, came up to RM297.00. That was very reasonable, don’t you think?

Thank you so much, Nick & Jean for the treat. It sure was good seeing you all again and I enjoyed the company so much, all the chit-chatting and catching up with one another’s lives, that I hardly felt the time fly by! I don’t know when we will meet again – in the meantime, may the good Lord bless and keep all of you wherever you may go throughout the coming Rabbit Year. 恭喜发财 新年快乐!!!

Y2K CAFE 千禧餐馆  (2.294220, 111.825753)…

…is located at No. 16, Jalan Tunku Osman, round the corner from that block of shops where the branches of AmBank & RHB Bank are located, with its back entrance facing the side (right, not the main one) entrance/exit of Methodist Secondary School.

Big shot…

The first time I dropped by this café was towards the end of 2011. I guess I was not too impressed at the time and I never went back again. In June the following year, 2012, my friend, Annie in KL, came home to Sibu and her mum took her there. She was wondering why I had not featured it in my blog – I guess she missed that earlier post of mine. She liked it a lot, it seemed and because of that, I decided to go there again and there has been no looking back since.

To this very day, this is one of the few places that we would go to again and again and again. My girl loves the biryani rice from the authentic North Indian chef, Ravi so everytime she feels like having that, no prize for guessing where we would head to. In her opinion, the biryani rice at the local Indian as well as the Malay shops and stalls is more or less like their yellow rice or nasi kuning or nasi minyak or whatever they call it, not quite like the real thing.

The dishes from their Indonesian menu are very good too. My missus, who is not so into Indian cuisine, has her favourites and will order those same few dishes over and over again everytime we drop by.

This was on Sunday that day when my girl said she would like some biryani rice so there we were, like so many times before. Business has been pretty good lately unlike before when many did not even know there was a restaurant behind the Bank Simpanan Nasional branch here in Sibu…and sitting at one of the tables with his family enjoying the food was this big shot, the so-called “Mayor” of Sibu, the Chairman of the Sibu Municipal Council!

He said he went there after seeing all my posts on the place, probably on Facebook – I don’t think he follows my blog but I did hear somebody mention something about his son wanting to go there. If I am not wrong, the boy has migrated overseas or is pursuing his studies abroad and is currently home for Chinese New Year. Of course, I asked them whether my reviews were reliable or not and they said yes – they thought the food was really good. I guess that means that they will be coming back again for more.

I ordered the lumpia (RM14.00)…

…the Indonesian popiah (spring rolls) from the Indonesian menu that day to share and yes, they were very good.

Unlike the popiah which is more vegetable, mostly sengkuang/mangkuang (turnip), this is mostly meat…

In fact, I thought it was more like our ngor hiang (meat rolls) except that instead of the bean curd skin that we use to wrap those, they used the popiah skin for these. I thought they were much nicer than the Vietnamese deep fried spring roll that we had here but those were cheap and at a coffee shop, with not much filling inside.

At the same time, I asked for their Indoneisan mee tek-tek (RM16.00)…

…which was somewhat disappointing. It was nice, just that it wasn’t anything exceptional, a little bit on the sweet side and I was wishing the whole time that they had given me a calamansi lime to squeeze the juice all over the fettuccine like what I did here and it sure helped enhance the taste of the noodles I was having that day.

I was somewhat put off by the added ingredients too which turned out to be nothing more than slices of fish cake and a couple of imitation crab sticks…

…made to look like the claws. It tasted exactly like those long cylindrical ones that never tickled my fancy! Other than those, there was a plain omelette, rolled up and placed by the side…

This was a far cry from their mee nyemek…

*Archive photo*

…with all those prawns, sotong (squid) and what not. That was really good and of course, you simply can’t go wrong with all that seafood in your dish, can you?

Incidentally, that last photograph was taken outside in natural daylight. They took in all the tables and chairs on the shaded pavement outside during the pandemic but they have not bothered about them since. Hence, the photographs that I have been taking lately are not nice at all, yellowish and not very clear because of the dim lights inside. As a matter of fact, I did not bother to take any photographs of what the ladies ate that day. They were having those same dishes that I had featured many times before…and they would not look great in the snapshots taken inside, anyway.

My girl had the Indian mutton masala biryani (RM27.00)…

*Archive photo*

…while the mum had their Indonesian ayam bakar berempah (RM16.00)…

*Archive photo*

With the escalating prices of everything, lamb and beef (and pork) are all much more expensive these days so it came as no surprise at all to see that they have increased the price of what my girl had.

This…

…was new! They had those by the side in my missus’ ayam bakar berempah. Frankly, they might as well don’t bother as it was purely for decoration. Those rice crackers were bland, quite tasteless…and came across like styrofoam/polystyrene.

Incidentally, if anyone is home for the Chinese New Year holidays and is thinking of dropping by here, this place is open every day as usual, around 11.30 a.m.-2.00 pm and from 6.00 p.m. onwards but it will be closed on Monday (23rd), their weekly off day.

The CAFE IND (2.290813, 111.829294)…

…is located along Laichee Lane, right behind one block of shops facing the main road (Jalan Kampung Nyabor) where the Bank Simpanan Nasional, Sibu branch.

He did it again…

A sweet young thing dropped by my house the other morning. I could see from the box…

…she was carrying that she was delivering the festive gifts from Anthony & Nica Plus…

He did the same thing not only for Chinese New Year last year but for other auspicious occasions as well like the Mooncake Festival, for instance.

Inside the box, there were two packets of these marinated lamb chops…

…and two of these…

I remember I did mention in my review then that the kambing perap istimewa was really good and if one were to go and buy just one of the very wide selection, this would be the best choice!

Anthony also gave me what they call their “Rolling Fortune Set” that costs RM258.00! Gasp!!! It includes their curry chicken…

…beef rendang…

…daging masak hitam…

…and a new addition this year, their yogurt lamb curry…

I certainly am looking forward to trying the latter!

Thank you so much, Anthony and everybody at Nica Plus! Here’s wishing you all a Happy, Healthy & Bountifully Prosperous Chinese New Year!!!

In the meantime, my ex-student, Dr. Toh, also dropped by my house to give me these peanuts…

…and these canned ones…

…as well. I went and googled and found out that in the Chinese culture, peanuts symbolise vitality, longevity, riches and honour, the unshelled ones, in particular.

Dr. Toh and his wife are the people actively involved in helping the special people at the Agape Centre and he enlisted my help in editing the books they are publishing for those special children. Of course I was only too glad to be able to lend a hand in some small way – “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:45-46)

Dr. Toh also gave me these kuaci (melon seeds), black and white…

…as well as the flower (chrysanthemum) seeds…

A BIG thank you to you too, Teck Hock and your missus for the auspicious gifts. Wishing you and all your loved ones endless successes, good health and lots of wealth in the Rabbit Year!

NICA+ or NICA PLUS (2.296883,111.825859)…

…as it is called, is located on the ground floor of the block of shops, the first one to the right of the Old Sing Kwong Supermarket (Kin Orient Plaza) along Jalan Tun Abang Hj Openg.

Today is your day…

Last Friday, the 13th of January, was my sister’s birthday so of course, we went out for dinner together that evening.

She invited two of her friends as well and yes, we had the traditional Foochow longevity noodles, the mee sua, fried…

…with the “golden” eggs by the side.

The Thai-style midin (wild jungle fern) with mango and jellyfish…

…was a hit – everybody enjoyed it a lot and the Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王), fried with canned pork…

…as well. It sure was a nice change from the usual fried with sambal recipe.

My girl said that this tofu dish…

…was as nice as what we had at another place recently and yes, this one had a lot more toppings or added ingredients.

The sweet and sour fish…

…was great too – I liked how the sauce was on the light side and did not taste like tomato ketchup straight from the bottle. This was the threadfin or ngor hu in Hokkien that I do enjoy a lot – no fishy smell, no small bones and an absolute delight to eat.

We also had the Guiness stout pork…

…which was one dish that I had had a few times before but if I am not wrong, the last time was a few years ago in 2017. We also had it when my dear friends from New Zealand came to town in 2011 and in the midst of our conversation that night, somebody mentioned that previously, the owner of this restaurant was the chef at that one that unfortunately, did not survive the pandemic.

This was our 2nd time at this restaurant…

– the 1st time was also on my sister’s birthday in 2020. We certainly enjoyed the food and one thing’s for sure, we would definitely be coming back here again. We also enjoyed the company that night, catching up with lost times…and yes, a very Happy Birthday once again to you again, Bea. May God bless you abundantly in the year ahead. Cheers!!!

MJ HU SEAFOOD RESTAURANT(2.291971, 111.834740) is located along Lorong Mahsuri 2, the second shop on the left after Kuching Cafe, opposite Bateras Supermarket.

Always remember us this way…

I first met Roy in 2010, around 12 years ago and if I am not mistaken, the last time I saw him was in the middle of 2011. He used to work in Singapore before he came back to Sibu. He was here for around a year only, I think before he moved to Kota Kinabalu…and the last I heard of them, they had moved to Ipoh – if I’m not mistaken, his wife came from Ipoh.

Imagine my surprise when he saw me at this sparkling new place in town and he greeted me!!! I would not expect him (or anyone for that matter) to recognise me as I am now so thin, half of what I used to be…and as a matter of fact, I could not recognise him as he had grown bigger/hunkier and more a man now, better looking than before but of course, I still remember so very vividly how much I loved his Spanish chicken croquettas! According to him, he was running this place and also the eateries at the outlets of this bakery in town.

This café/restaurant is actually part of the hotel where my cousins and everybody who came that day stayed when they were here but it was not open for business at the time. Well, it is now…and when I saw it on Facebook, I couldn’t wait to go and check the place out.

To start off, we had these arancini mushroom rice balls (RM10.90)…

I googled and saw that these were Italian or Sicilian in origin. Yes, they were as good as they looked and we all enjoyed them very much. It certainly looked like we were off to a good start!

The chicken creamy pie (RM18.90)…

…was very good too. I loved the filling…

– it reminded me of Roy’s Spanish chicken croquettas that I enjoyed so much! My girl, however, was of the opinion that the puff pastry could be a bit puffier/fluffier or more flaky.

The dry Sarawak laksa pasta (RM24.90)…

…was all right but we felt it paled in comparison with the one here which had more added ingredients but was more expensive. It tasted great but I was put off by those tiny bits from the sambal – normally, when we cook Sarawak laksa at home, we would sieve the broth/soup to get rid of those. It did not have any santan in it so one would not feel jelak after eating it for a while but somehow, on the other hand. that took away the richness in the taste.

Of course we had to order one of the crepes on their menu and my girl wanted the banana fritters crepe (RM16.90)…

…which was good but my girl felt that they could improve on the crepe. It was a bit chewy/rubbery, not quite like those layers of crepe in a mille crepe…or for that matter, the well-made skin of the kuih lenggang/ketayap.

Other than that, my girl was suggesting that perhaps they could caramelise the bananas…

…instead of coating them with bread crumbs and deep frying them like what they did with the aforementioned rice balls.

On the whole, we thought that the lunch was delightful enough. Together with the drinks that the ladies had (longan tea, iced RM7.90 & cucumber with salted plum, RM6.90)…

…and my lemon drinking water (RM1.20), the total came up to RM87.60, cheaper and a lot more reasonable that what we had to fork out at some of those new places in town over the past few days.

Service was excellent – very efficient and pleasant and cordial and they all were proficient in the English language unlike those at some places around here. The place was empty when we arrived but by the time we were leaving, it was already quite full (despite the heavy downpour that day). We certainly hope to go back there again soon.

CREPES N CHOPS…

…is located on the ground floor of the Starlink Hotel at Lot 8427, Block 10, Seduan Land District 13, Lorong Tunku Abdul Rahman 2C (among the shops beside Star MegaMall).

Far apart…

I received a call from a NO NAME number the other day. Normally, I would just reject such calls but somehow, that day, my instincts told me to answer it. It turned out to be somebody from a courier service agency who wanted to confirm that I was home as he would be delivering something to me.

I waited and I waited…for about an hour till my patience was running out so I called the number in my call log. The guy answered. He said he was at the traffic lights, very near my house already and he would be there soon. True enough, he showed up soon after that to pass me this box…

I had no idea who had sent it – nobody had said anything about sending me something and when I opened the box, I saw the note…

It was from my very dear friend, Mandy, in KL.

She probably had been busy with her work and everything else and had not been following my blog nor was she active on Facebook these days. She did send me something in March last year but I wasn’t expecting anything from her this time around.

It so happened that she saw one of the photos that I shared recently – I think it was the one at my cousin’s anniversary dinner and she was shocked!!! She was wondering if I was all right as I had lost so much weight. Yes, I am so very thin now – half of what I was before but thankfully, I am feeling a lot better and eating very much more than say, a few months ago…and of course, I told her that and reassured her that I was fine, not about to go just yet!

I like what was on the other side of the note…

“Far apart but near at heart…here’s a box of love for you” That’s Mandy for you – always so concerned, so thoughtful, so full of love for others. Obviously she could not wait to send something that may help in some small way the instant she heard that I had not been well.

Inside the box were these packs of herbs…

I do enjoy steamed chicken with these added, four of them altogether plus a cute free gift…

They are supposed to help recuperate, revitalize and reinvigorate and it is believed that cordyceps are good for anyone with kidney problems.

Thank you so so much, Mandy! I cannot remember when the last time we met was – perhaps it was on one of your working trips here when you showed up at the house when my father passed away…or was it my mother? You no longer travel, it seems but hopefully, you will take sometime off to come over here for a few days to relax – just let me know you are coming and I will make all the necessary arrangements on this side! The first time you came was over 10 years ago, just imagine that! It would be great if we could meet again…one of these days. Take care there, love and God bless always!

Christmas dinner…

We did not cook up a storm nor were we planning to go anywhere for dinner on Christmas night but my girl wanted to give her cousin, my niece, a treat before she went back to Singapore the following day. It seems that my brother-in-law is so into the Indonesian ayam penyet and all those these days and since this is my girl’s favourite café in town for their North Indian biryani rice, we decided to go there that night.

They arranged a table for the six in the inner section of the restaurant where the decor evidently reflected the Indonesian…

…as well as the Indian influences…

…in their menu…

We shared the biryani rice, the masala lamb (RM27.00)…

…and also the butter chicken curry (RM21.00)…

Usually, each serving would be enough for two so we were quite sure that there was enough to go round. We could always order some more if there wasn’t enough.

We also ordered some garlic naan (RM18.00 for 3 pieces)…

…plus one plain one (RM5.00) because my niece wanted that, to enjoy with the delightful gravy in the curries.

We specially ordered the ayam bakar berempah (RM16.00)…

…from the Indonesian menu for my brother-in-law and it sure swept him off his feet. He kept singing praises of how the chicken was bursting with flavours, so so nice…and he and his wife absolutely loved the grilled brinjal with the peanut sauce.

I also asked for the ayam opor…

…and the kalio ayam…

…without the rice (RM28.00 for the two). Usually, there would be some mixed vegetables by the side if you order the kalio ayam set – it sure looked like they will only give you the chicken if you ask for that.

With the drinks, the total came up to RM139.00 altogether and the nice and generous boss gave my girl a discount and charged her RM135.00 only. We sure had a great time chit-chatting away in that section of the restaurant, all by ourselves. There were some customers on the other side, all Chinese. Usually, there would be a mix of Malay, Indians and other races.

The CAFE IND (2.290813, 111.829294)…

…is located along Laichee Lane, right behind one block of shops facing the main road (Jalan Kampung Nyabor) where the Bank Simpanan Nasional, Sibu branch (2.290561, 111.829071), is.

It’s Christmas Eve…

Yes, it was Christmas Eve and no, we did not have anything planned. Things kind of simmered down after my cousins and family left town. My niece, the one working in Singapore, who flew in that night on the direct flight here, was still in town and she asked us out for dinner but we said we would be going to church that evening so we all met for lunch here instead.

We went there once and we did check them out at their former location as well but we were not impressed with the food nor the prices, both times! My niece went there a few times with her friends when she was back home and she obviously liked the place a lot.

We had this lychee pork…

…which was very nice and we loved their salted fish pork belly in a claypot…

…a lot! Oopsss!!! Sorry for the blurry pic!

The lemon chicken…

…was nice but came nowhere near our favourite in town here.

This brinjal dish…

…was really good but one is probably not enough – we’d definitely order two at least the next time we drop by here. After all, my girl loves the vegetable a lot. For one thing, I noticed that it was done differently from what we had the previous time we were here – they probably had a new chef at the helm and that was why everything did seem a lot nicer than before.

The mixed vegetable dish…

…was all right. I really liked the blue & white ceramic crockery that they used here and none was chipped unlike at some places around here, those no class at all ones around town…or worse, the ones still using those horrendous gaudily coloured plastic plates that even some cheap coffee shops and chu char restaurants have the good sense to abandon for good!!!

These must be the Hakka yam balls…

…that my regular reader and commentor, Irene, in Kuching was telling me about that day. They tasted like the skin of the or nee (yam puffs) but they did not have any filling inside. I wonder if the Hakka abacus are anything like these – we can’t get those here so I can’t get to try them.

The pineapple fried rice…

…was good even though there were only two prawns in the dish. Well, that was supposed to be an individual serving – they should make it more flexible and allow diners to order bigger servings depending on the number of people there are in the group.

This pork lard crusts & egg rice…

…however, stole the show! It did not look like much but you pour in their special sauce and break the egg yolks and mix everything together thoroughly before you start eating. I did not expect it and was pleasantly surprised that it was so good, nicer than the pineapple fried rice.

Well, the food certainly was a whole lot nicer than what we had here before and the bill for all that we had for the 6 of us came up to around RM229.00 which I guess was pretty reasonable. We would love to come back again, that’s for sure.

In the meantime, another cousin of mine from Kuching came to town and she dropped by my place to see me – that certainly was so sweet and thoughtful of her. She gave me this awesome fruit cake, so very soft and moist and super intoxicating…

…thank you so much, Liz!

That evening, we went to the church that we would frequent every week…

…for the evening service, just like what we did all this while every year…

*Ronnie Morris’ 2013 photograph*

…without fail and yes, we sat at more or less at that same place too! Old habits die hard!

THE BLUE DOOR DINE & WINE (2.291959, 111.819462)…

…is now located at No. 83, Jalan Lau King Howe, right below The Win Hotel, across the road from the Waterfront Residences or the Sibu Twin Towers.

He likes…

This guy was here before. At one time, everybody said that his kampua mee was the best in Sibu. I did go and try but I was not all that impressed. I did like his pian sip (meat dumplings) a lot though. Then he moved here and I did go to eat, twice and both times, it did not get me all that excited. After he had moved to his present location, that side of the coffee shop closed down and somebody else took over the kampua mee stall in what was left of the shop.

In the meantime, the char kway teow (fried flat rice noodles) people, my girl’s favourite when she was little, moved in from here after moving here, there and everywhere all over town while the brother of the guy took over at their former location.

I never dropped by there ever since the former kampua mee guy left but a foodie friend of mine seems to be quite a regular. He would share the photographs of what he eats there everytime and sing their praises to the skies. No, it was not my intention to go there that morning – I was driving past and on the spur of the moment, I made up my mind to just stop there and check things out.

There was an old lady running the kampua mee stall, assisted by a younger man, probably the son. I ordered her kampua mee and a bowl of her pian sip soup…

The kampua mee (RM4.00) looked really good…

…but the strands all stuck together when I started to eat it. The whole thing came up like a sanggul (hair bun) and it took quite a bit of effort to toss the noodles to loosen the strands before I could start eating.

That may happen when the noodles are not rinsed in the process of cooking to remove the excess starch but my guess was it was sometime after it was cooked before it was brought to my table and I was busy taking all the photographs, so I did not get down to eating it right away or perhaps, it needed a bit more oil/lard…

I thought the overall taste was kind of mild so I asked for chili sauce and it was quite all right after that.

Actually, it was the pian sip (meat dumplings) in my foodie friend’s photographs that caught my attention. They looked really very nice and there seemed to be quite a lot in a bowl compared to the ones elsewhere. That was why I asked for a bowl (RM4.00)…

…to check it out first hand.

I must say that I sure was impressed when it was served. The dumplings…

…were as good as they looked. The skin was perfect – translucent, smooth and very thin, the kind that would slide down your throat without any need for a lot of biting and chewing and there was just the right amount of meat filling. This is a noodle dish so the main focus should be the skin and there should not be too much meat in the dumplings.

The soup, however, was like the kampua mee, rather mild/bland. I was thankful that it was not overloaded with msg so I quite enjoyed it actually. Perhaps a richer and stronger bone stock soup would make it a bit better.

Due credit must be given for the use of ceramic plates and bowls, not those horrendous gaudily-coloured plastic ones – it is about time everybody gets rid of those! Parking is not a problem and it is free plus there is no traffic jam/congestion around here. On the whole, I thought this is a convenient place to stop by for a bite to eat but considering that the ones round the corner are cheaper by RM1.00, RM3.00 a bowl, perhaps one would prefer to just go over there instead.

ORIENT CANTEEN(2.289916, 111.835333)…

…faces Jalan Pedada, to the extreme left of the four-shop block right across the road from the shops where the Sunday Market formerly was on weekends. It is accessible via Jalan Tong San