Things do change…

Looking back at my old blogpost, the last time I was here was in the middle of 2018 but for the same reason – I was craving for the awesome roast lamb….

…that they served here.

When we entered the restaurant, the very old boss was sitting by the side splitting the stems of the paku (wild jungle fern) like what I keep telling people they should do when cooking it. I noticed that there was a whole lot of those ferns and I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “Gee!!! Business must be really very good if they can sell that much in a day!”

Of course, we ordered that, their paku santan (wild jungle fern with coconut milk), one of their signature dishes (RM15.00)…

I dare say that here in Sibu, they do it best – nobody can hold a candle to theirs!

I looked around the place – it looked like nothing had changed at all. The (fake) flowers…

…on the counter were faded/discoloured and covered with dust (even though they seemed all right in the photograph) and I do think they should replace the very old menus…

…instead of desperately trying to salvage them using cellophane tape. Thankfully though, they had stuck to these physical menus instead of resorting to that scan-the-QR-code nonsense at those supposedly more canggih places.

The pictures and decor were minimal, not that anybody would notice and yes, the place was still carpetted…which isn’t very usual for a restaurant! They might have done a thorough spring cleaning though and that prompted my missus to comment that she could not detect the unpleasant moist/damp smell that used to put us off everytime we came here.

Yes, I did mention this before – that they should get rid of the ancient window unit air conditioners and buy some new power-saving ones. That would help them save a bundle on the electricity plus the place would be a whole lot cooler. It was always hot in here, never mind how many fans they placed at strategic places all over the restaurant…and at long last, that was what they did! I saw a few new ones here and there all over the place!

I must say that I liked how they had fine table linen (table cloth) covering all their tables, giving it a touch of class and they used ceramic crockery, no less…

This was their very nice sea cucumber soup (RM24.00) that tasted like sharks’ fins soup minus the offensive stuff and their rice (RM3.00 a bowl). Yes, I felt the pinch when I saw the latter in the bill but I thought it was very nice, most likely that highland Bario rice from the mountains of Sarawak.

I never noticed this here before but it seemed that now, they would fold the paper serviette for the fork and spoon…

…that way I always do when I have dinner parties at home.

The aforementioned old boss was assisted by his equally old wife and there was an even older lady helping them with the serving and what not. I was wondering how they would be able to cope when they had a full house – there was just one table that afternoon, us…and things were a bit slow but it was fine by us. We were not in a hurry to go anywhere.

I also ordered the umai, the Melanau sashimi or raw fish (RM20.00) and it turned out that they used the black pomfret (ikan bawal hitam/or chio)…

…and it was very very good, anytime a whole lot nicer than the ones at the Malay shops and stalls where they use the cheap frozen fish fillet from the supermarkets and vinegar instead of calamansi lime juice!

My missus asked for their cuttlefish with dried chili (RM20.00)…

…something we had never tried before and yes, it was very good too.

Of course, the star of the show was the roast lamb (RM46.00)…

…served with their lovely mint sauce and chopped garlic and what not, the main reason why we decided to drop by there that day. I was taken by surprise when it was served – the presentation on a wooden chopping board was so well done, so impressive and nicer than anything I had seen at those supposedly classier western cafés and restaurants.

We asked for two slabs of the meat only because my missus was not into lamb and that works out to around RM20.00 a slab – not that expensive, I must say, compared to the prices of those thin and not very nice lamb chops here, there and everywhere. This was so very good – so tender, so juicy, so succulent, so very nicely done, a perfect 10! I was so tempted to order more but I am supposed to stay off red meat, doctor’s advice.

The overall total for all that we had came up to RM139.00 (inclusive of drinks), a little bit more than what I would have to fork out at the Chinese chu char (cook & fry) places these days, mainly because of the lamb but it was so worth it! We certainly would love to go back there again a lot more often now.

FISHERMAN RESTAURANT (2.287413, 111.826648)…

…telephone no. 084-316888, is located at No 4, Jalan Chew Geok Lin, the road that leads straight to the Tua Pek Kong Chinese temple in the Sibu town centre with the seven-storey pagoda.

Look and see…

I came across a Facebook post showing some of the things available at a shop here so I decided to go over and have a look.

In the freezer, they had a lot of products from a restaurant in the outskirts of town (across river, accessible via the Igan Bridge) that is very popular for home catering if anyone is having a buffet dinner/gathering in the house. I’ve never tried their food myself but I’ve heard people singing their praises.

They had all kinds of pork knuckles/pork trotter dishes but I was drawn to this one…

I so loved the one at one restaurant here (since closed down)…

…their irresistible dong po pork belly (东坡肉) where the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and the fat simply melted in the mouth. That was absolutely heavenly!

I simply could not wait to go home and heat it up to give it a try. Unfortunately, what came out of the steamer was a disappointment…

It was so watery/diluted, the meat was drowning in the sauce.

We went and bought some mantao (steamed buns) to eat it with…

…but no, that did not save the day. It tasted all right, not overwhelmingly so but it was good enough. Having said that, the meat, though not hard or tough, was not fall off the bone tender and no, the fat did not melt in the mouth. I, for one, would prefer it a lot more if they had cut the slices thinner…by half the thickness, perhaps.

Should I drop by here again, I may want to buy some of the many dishes available to try but no, I think in the case of this one, once is more than enough.

While I was there, I also came across these steamed buns…

…from that renowned bakery in the town centre. I sure would not mind dropping by here to buy instead of heading to the bakery itself as it is situated in a very congested area and parking anywhere there is such a pain! Here, it is easily available PLUS it is free!!!

I spotted this packet of those minute buns…

…that took Sibu by storm when they made the scene sometime in the 90’s, if i remember correctly. They were so cute, one would not even be enough to fill the mouth and plates and plates of these (different fillings including tau sar, lotus paste, kaya and what not) were served at many home buffet dinners/gatherings at the time.

I can’t remember the last time I had any so I grabbed a packet and took it home to try…

Yes, it was VERY nice!!!…

They sure did a good job with the pao skin and the filling was very good too!…

I did buy a packet of the regular ones too – they were the same except that they were at least 4 times the size. Unfortunately, they did not have any of the other varieties so I could not buy more to see if they were any good.

In the meantime, I also came across this brand of Danish luncheon meat…

…that I had not seen before. Yes, I am supposed to stay away from all processed and preserved meat but I simply had to buy and try – all the other brands are way over RM10.00 a can these days.

My missus stocks up on the Korean ones so we do eat those occasionally. I asked my friends on Facebook and all of them (except one) prefer this one to the very popular Porkies as it is not as salty. Out of the blue, an ex-student (who runs a restaurant in Kanowit) stopped by to tell me that she bought a can at a supermarket in Sibujaya for only RM7.90. @#$%^&*!!! Ah well! I am not going halfway across the world to go and buy a can of this, that’s for sure.

All in all, I do think this is a nice shop, a lot of things to look and see. I sure would not mind to stop by when I am free to browse around and pick up a thing or two that I cannot find elsewhere.

N ORGANIC is located at No. 48, Ground Floor, Lorong Aman 2A, Jalan Aman.

When life gives you lemons…

This was on Wednesday night, the night of the Ching Ming Festival. A horrifyingly freaky rainstorm blew through Sibu town, leaving behind a trail of destruction. So many trees were blown down causing traffic obstruction everywhere, the traffic lights at many junctions were down and there were blackouts everywhere. The roofs of so many houses all over town were blown off into the air, crashlanding on cars and thus causing additional damage. The aftermath the next morning was definitely not a pretty sight.

I saw in one vlog a Malay man, four days to his retirement. The storm blew his roof away and the rain came pouring down on everything in the house. Needless to say, everything was utterly ruined and Hari Raya Aidlifitri is right around the corner. Sigh!!! People always say one must prepare well for retirement but in a case like this, it is obvious who is in control. We may plan all we want and if it is not meant to be, it will not turn out the way we want it.

Thankfully, we were spared of anything drastic. The stone vase that I put outside the house to hold the umbrellas and what not were blown off balance and it fell over and broke into pieces. That, of course, was just a small matter compared to the loss of my missus’ papaya tree. We had one harvest once already and the fruits were so sweet and juicy. They were her pride and joy. More fruits appeared and were growing well but the devastating wind uprooted the whole tree and that was the end of it. My missus was heartbroken!

There are two…

…that would probably ripen eventually and may be eaten when that happens but all the rest, some half a dozen of them, are way too green. Well, as they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade…or as in our case, when life gives us papayas, make som tam…

…that most delightful Thai papaya salad.

That sure was good and it took a whole lot of restraint to stop myself from going for a second plate of rice. My missus made some for her brother and his wife – theirs had pounded hay bee (dried prawns) in it and that sure took the taste to a whole new level. It would be great to sprinkle a bit of crushed peanut (kacang tumbuk) too but we did not have any in the house.

Moving on, inspired by how our girl loved the sambal that came with the ayam penyet…

…that my wonderful friends, Robert and Angela, gave me that day, the mum went and made this sambal cili hijau (green chili sambal)…

…and it was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, it was EXTREMELY spicy so we could just help ourselves to a little pinch at a time and eat that with a whole lot of rice. I guess that bottle that my missus made will last quite a long time.

Hey! It’s Easter Sunday today! Rejoice, the Lord is risen…and a Blessed and Holy Easter to all of us celebrating this joyous occasion. May God bless us all!

Greenwood…

This…

…is the name that they have given to Peter’s wooden house that I blogged about not too long ago.

I did not manage to go upstairs the last time so I quickly grabbed the chance when I was invited to a special dinner/gathering there the other night.

This mannequin…

…in his Iban ethnic outfit stood guard at the door to welcome all and sundry and this is one half of the upstairs section of the house…

This was where we sat, the guests, at the table on the right while the family members sat at the other table on the far end. There is another table laid out where I stood to take the photograph – I heard that that was for a group of Singaporeans who had made a reservation for dinner that same night and Peter forgot all about it and went on to arrange his own gathering – in the end, he just had it altogether at one go, killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

The shelves were filled with memorabilia and souvenirs that Peter had accumulated…

…from his travels to so many different countries in the world…

…and I love his collection of sun hats (terendak) on the walls here…

…and there…

…and everywhere.

The Singaporeans were obviously impressed – they were all over the place taking close up snapshots of EVERYTHING from different angles…

…and needless to say, the buffet spread stole the show that night but that will be in the next post. You’ll stick around, won’t you?

GREENWOOD or PETER’S WOODEN HOUSE is Payung Cafe’s special location for exclusive home dining. Suitable for 25-30 people. For booking, please contact 016 890 6061.
10A, Lrg Perpati 2B1,
Jln Wong King Huo,
96000 Sibu, Sarawak,
Malaysia.

Celebrate…

Those people in government service have it so good these days. After the 10th year, they will be due for a what they call a time-scale promotion which means that they will be able to jump up one step in their salary scale.

Our time, we had to wait forever and for any promotion, the school inspectors would come and give you a hard time and they might or might not give you your promotion eventually. The worst part was with the promotion, they might transfer you to the middle of nowhere and for this reason, most would not bother especially those already happily settled with their families in the comfort of their own homes.

My girl got her first promotion in 2019, if I am not wrong, and because of the pandemic and everything, she did not get her arrears until quite recently – the increase in her salary for two years. That was why when we went out for lunch the other day, Sunday, she insisted on picking up the tab to celebrate and give us a special treat.

We dropped by here, with my sister as well, and I ordered their nasi lemak with curry chicken (RM17.45)…

It sure looked very good but no, I was not impressed. The rice was not lemak enough and I did not think the curry chicken was all that nice – what we cook at home would win hands down. The sambal was very nice but it was extremely spicy. All things considered, I didn’t think it was anything I would want to order again the next time I drop by here.

My sister had the Hainanese steamed chicken rice (RM17.45)…

…and she said it was all right.

My girl and the mum shared the otak-otak fried rice (RM19.72)…

…and the two of them were praising it to the skies. We had the otak-otak on our last visit and my girl enjoyed it, this Muar-style and that was why she wanted it again. The two ladies were talking about traces of the long salted fish and hay bee (udang kering) in the fried rice and how it was very much to their liking.

When we were here the other day, we were somewhat disappointed because most of the items on their dim sum menu were not available. They seemed to have overcome their teething problems and we managed to get to try their steamed BBQ chicken bun (RM10.90)…

…which turned out to be quite good but they were very small, much smaller than the regular sizes we are more used to.

The golden lava buns (RM10.90)…

…were good too – I loved the salted egg custard filling inside.

We had the chicken dumpling/siu mai (RM8.80)…

…and the chicken and chive dumplings (RM8.80)…

…the last time we were here. I guess my girl enjoyed those so she ordered them again.

My missus had their cendol (RM6.13)…

…but she did not say anything about it so I am not sure as to whether it was any good or not.

The glutinous rice with chicken/lo mai kai (RM10.90),,,

…was a let down. I certainly would not order that again…

…the next time we drop by here for dim sum.

We certainly went overboard with our orders – I did feel that we ordered a bit too much that day and the total, inclusive of our drinks, came up to RM149.60 but since this was some sort of a celebration, I suppose it was quite o.k.

PappaRich (2.291606, 111.821291)…

…is located at Lot 23-35, Jalan Lau King Howe in the block to the right of the Lau King Howe Hospital Museum, to the left of the Sushi King outlet there.

The best around…

Most, if not all, of the folks in Sibu will tell you that the lung ngor…

…here is the best in town. That is the Foochow name for their traditional egg cake; in Hokkien, they call it kay nerng kor and in Malay, it is kuih bahulu…

…but of course, that is not exactly the same.

This shop has been around for a very long time. It used to occupy a little corner across the road beside a budget hotel there…

…before it moved to this corner shop…

…where this coffee shop…

…was before. If I am not wrong, they are the people here now, specialising mainly in the Taiwanese-style beef noodles.

They must have moved this banner…

…from the old place and looking at how well they are doing, it must be their good luck charm.

Other than the lung ngor (5 for RM2.00)…

…they also sell all kinds of cakes and buns…

…and also steamed chicken paos…

…too.

My sister did buy some for me to sample a long time ago (in October, 2020) when they first started making these; they were RM2.00 each then. I could not resist buying a few that day…

…even though the price has gone up to RM2.20 each. Well, at least, it is cheaper than the pork ones elsewhere (RM2.50 or more) and yes, I must say they were good, very much to my liking.

The pao skin was very nice, both the texture and the taste, not chewy and rubbery or worse, mushy but I was a bit disappointed with the filling…

…when I saw the minced meat and there was no egg inside. They tasted really great though – I certainly would not mind buying some more should I happen to be around those parts of the woods again.

Huong Hiong Confectionary 芳香（詩巫）餅家 (2.288348, 111.829955) is located in the block of shops to the left of the back of TanahMas Hotel along Lorong Bengkel 1 – Victoria Inn is across the road to the left with the circular building (the SEDC Medan Niaga Tanahmas) that houses all the Malay stalls in the middle and the back entrance to the New Capital Restaurant is to the right.

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.

They came…

I think I did mention here and there that I was expecting some folks to come by this way on a visit and yes, they came that day – three cousins (children of my late uncle, my mum’s older brother), one from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and two from Kuching. One of the latter two brought her husband along and her two children, both residing in Perth, Australia now and one of them brought her two children – I was at her wedding some years ago in Penang. Three generations altogether!

I met them upon arrival and they passed to me a whole lot of stuff…

…that they brought all the way. You can see the two bottles of tuak from my uncle and his family in Kuching – his wife, my auntie, makes the best tuak, the ethnic Dayak traditional rice wine. We ran out of ours – no more in the house so I asked the daughter, my cousin, if she could send me one…and they gave me two! Now my missus can cook her kacang ma chicken – it is also very nice with tuak instead of the pek chiew thow (Chinese rice wine) and I can cook my steamed cincaluk tuak chicken as well.

One of the cousins who came gave me her own homemade tempoyak (fermented durian)…

I’ve also run out of that sometime ago. It sure looks like I can also cook some of those delightful dishes that I enjoy so much again now.

The group stopped at Sg. Tenggang along the way and bought me this braised duck kolo mee…

…that I loved so much! They gave me two packets so I ate one the instant I got home for my very late lunch and the other one for my dinner that night!

They also stopped at Jakar for the celebrated prawn noodles and one of them bought me these…

We can get the Jakar sio bee (meat dumplings) all over Sibu but the packaging is different. My cousin said this one is the real thing, much nicer. I’ve yet to try it though so I don’t really know still at this point in time.

These…

…came from Australia – I think they were from my niece and if I am not wrong, these…

…came from the mum. When there are so many people telling you so many things at one go, I guess it is inevitable that some may bounce off your head like rubber balls. LOL!!!

There is no mistaking, however, as to who this panettone…

…came from. This cousin of mine in Kuching (yes, another one) used to be very much into making sourdough bread before. Yes, she still makes those and other types of bread and yes, she now makes these panettones a lot too, especially for Christmas. From the look of things, they are in very high demand!

And this lovely Christmas card…

…came via poslaju from my cousin in KL. She never fails to send me one every year.

In the meantime, my sister took my girl and the mum to a Christmas gathering that her church prayer group was holding and some old friends of mine were hoping I would be there as well. Unfortunately, I was not feeling up to it that night and decided to sit it out. The wife cooks the best beef stew I’ve ever had, something like the one here and so much better than this one here that my girl said was so very Chinese. A long time ago, she used to cook it if there was any fund-raising food sale at the church and I would buy a whole lot of coupons just to buy and keep and eat slowly.

Well, they remembered it too and insisted that my girl took a bit…

…home for me to enjoy, thank you so much, Annie & Lawrence. That was so kind and thoughtful of the two of you!

And talking about beef stews, my cousin, the one from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah went to get the celebrated asam pedas oxtail at a leading hotel there. My blogger-friend, Monica, went to try it once when she was there and in her own words, “Sour and saucy with a mild warmth from the chili, it’s so luscious and addictive that we can’t resist picking it up and sucking the bones.”

Unfortunately, it was not available so he went to get it from somebody who is believed to be the one behind it all at the start but he has ventured out on his own, no longer with the hotel. He did send me the one from the hotel once and it was so so so good – let us see if this one is just as good or not. That would be one of those newspaper-wrapped packages in the first photograph. I certainly will blog about it when I have opened it, heated it up to eat and enjoy. You’ll stick around for that, won’t you?

To end this post of mine, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everybody for everything! You’ve all made me so very happy! Life is so good!

Listen to the music…

This place has been around for quite sometime. If I remember correctly, it had a different name and it only changed to this one quite recently.

I did not bother to go as it got a lot of not-so-encouraging-reviews from my Malay friends. An ex-student of mine went not too long ago so I asked him for his opinion. All he said was that the sambal that came with the ayam penyet was very nice.

Finally, at long last, we decided to drop by the other day as we were at a loss as to where we could go for lunch. Much to my surprise, there was quite a crowd there and the one next door/on the other side was pretty full as well. I sure did not expect that!!!

There was a female wheel chair-bound busker…

…singing, entertaining the crowd with her soothing, sentimental Malay songs. She sure drew a lot of attention when she sang Teresa Teng’s “Yue liang dai biao woe de xin” (The moon represents my heart). Yes, she had a good voice and sang very well but I did not see anybody giving her anything. I walked up and dropped my contribution into the donation box and I was delighted to see a lot of people doing the same after that.

An older lady took over the mike for a while and sang Bob Tutupoly’s “Widuri“ and she did such a good job at it that I gave her a round of applause. Honestly, there were so many people there but nobody bothered to show any appreciation of the display of talent and the pleasant (free) entertainment. The lady sang another song, the Hetty Koes Endang classic, before she left to do her shopping at the supermarket in the vicinity.

This was truly unprecedented and I really enjoyed myself so much. That sure brought a lot of pleasant memories of those wonderful days when I used to frequent pubs and music lounges to have a drink and listen to the live music at those places.

Oopssss!!! To get back to our lunch that day, my girl decided to try their Sarawak laksa, biasa (RM8.00)…

…which was very vaguely like what it should be. I guess one look of the colour would tell you that. They have a lot of so-called specials on their menu including one Sarawak laksa Pattaya where it is served in a bowl lined with a thin piece of omelette. There are others with extra prawns and clams (lala) – the extra sweetness may help enhance the taste, I wouldn’t know.

I wanted to try their belacan bihun – I did not like the one I had at one place in Kuching but I really enjoyed one at another place so I thought I would give the one here a try. However, when I opened their menu, I saw that they had ikan keli (catish)…

…so of course, I asked for the pecel lele/nasi keli penyet (RM15.00)…

…instead. The sambals that came with it were so very nice – I must say that I really enjoyed what I had that day – I am quite sure it wasn’t because of the nice music in the background.

My missus had the nasi ayam geprek (RM14.00)…

Initially, she did not know what that was and wanted something else but I encouraged her to give this Indonesian dish a try. That sure was a lot of sambal on the chicken and they also give another one in a saucer by the side…

My missus said it was nice and yes, she did like her order as well.

The two ladies had their teh tarek ais (RM4.00 a glass)…

…while I just had the complimentary soup that came with my order since I am on a low/no-sugar diet.

This place opens throughout the whole day starting at 7.00 a.m. until 10.00 p.m. The girl whom I asked noticed the surprise on my face and she quickly added that they worked on shifts here, not the same people the whole day through. Yes, I must say the service was very cordial and very efficient and when I wanted to pay for my bill – customers are supposed to do that at the cashier’s counter themselves, I told the girl that I was not that mobile (pointing at my walking stick) and the sweet girl happily did everything for me.

The ladies went browsing around at the supermarket while I sat there waiting for them, enjoying the music. She did play some English songs – John Denver’s “Leaving on a jet plane” and Lady Gaga’s “Always remember us this way”, just to name two. I wonder if she will be there every day – if she is, I sure would not mind dropping by a lot more frequently.

MAT LAKSA (2.308351, 111.820696)…

…is located at No. 67 & 69, Jalan Kuda 2, Kampung Nangka, right across from Cabe Ijo in the next block, both facing the main entrance of Bisonte Grocer & Deli.

Standing on my own two feet…

I used to drop by quite frequently when my girl was helping out at the centre, teaching the kids with special needs but we have not been there since their fund-raising food fair in 2015.

I did read about their more recent developments and yes, that included a very big and impressive building in addition to the old/original one that has been around since a long time ago. If I am not wrong, this was made possible by our own local philanthropists, and I vaguely remember that our Sarawak government did chip in to help as well. Perhaps that is why there is this dedication in that building, a tribute to the late Adenan Satem, the Chief Minister of Sarawak before the present one…

To the right hand side of the building, Block B…

…on the ground floor is the café/servery…

From what I gathered, they train those special individuals here…

…so they can learn some skills like cooking and making drinks, for instance, that may enable them to stand on their own two feet.

The coffee is VERY nice, so I’ve been told and yes, I did see a glass being served to one of the tables…

It was BLACK and the froth on top was so very thick. Unfortunately I am off coffee these days so I did not order a glass to try. The rojak looked very good too.

I was looking at some leaflets on the counter to see what would be available here – there did not seem to be a lot. I just saw things like half boiled eggs and toast, a chicken burger and some drinks. The lady gave me a list of suggestions in Mandarin and I just picked the char chu mee…

…the Foochow-style noodle soup, not that I am particularly fond of it but I thought I would just order something to help them out a bit.

Somehow or other, I missed the sign…

…that they had hanging there or I would probably order the mee mamak or nasi lemak from their special menu.

The noodles I ordered were only RM5.00 a bowl and yes, I quite liked the taste even though it wasn’t exactly like the old school authentic ones around town. There was no meat though, just tofu puffs, carrot and green vegetables (sawi) plus one poached egg…

Service was good – everyone was so cordial and polite and I do feel that it is a great place to hang out for people like those retirees who are always at one food court in town, once a week and they would sit there for hours chit-chatting and catching up with one another’s lives. Parking is not a problem here and it is free and I am pretty sure they can sit here as long as they like. Opening hours are from 7.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m. excluding weekends – yes, unfortunately, they do not open on Saturdays and Sundays.

As I was walking around, I saw these Christmas trees made from empty cough syrup bottles…

I think there are lights in some, if not all of the bottles…

– I bet that would look really nice when they turn them on at night.

I saw a lot of those special individuals all over the place doing odd jobs such as cleaning the windows, sweeping and so on and there was a HUGE crowd at the children’s clinic that morning. It made me feel sad somewhat as it dawned on me there and then that there are so many less fortunate people in the world.

As I was leaving, I spotted these fried wantons…

…on the counter, RM4.00 for a bag of 5. I grabbed a few to take home for our lunch and dinner and yes, they were VERY nice. Perhaps they should put it on their menu whereby they will fry a few at a time when there are orders – served piping hot from the wok, they would be even nicer, I’m sure.

Honestly, we have so much to be thankful for and we should do our bit, however small, to help those in need. In the case of these special individuals, I am sure they would appreciate it very much if we could, at least, try to drop by here for a bite to eat once in a while.

AGAPE CENTRE (2.272976, 111.851193)…

…is located at No. 16, Jalan Alan, a short distance from its junction with Jalan Stadium where the Bukit Lima swimming pool is.