It is with deep regret that I hereby announce that this will be the last blogpost in my 15-year-old blog…
…due to unforeseen circumstances in my personal life.
I am indeed most thankful to one and all for your overwhelming support through the years and for the wonderful friends that I made along the way, all the wonderful times and the beautiful memories which would never have had happened if I did not have this blog of mine ever since I started on March 7, 2008.
It’s Christmas Day today…
May the Good Lord bless and keep all of us on this day and every day in the year ahead. A Happy Christmas and an awesome 2024, everyone. Take care, all. Goodbye.
…that in my honest opinion, is second to none (and cheaper too). That was why i made my way to come here for that once again.
For RM7.00, you will get the plate of fried noodles with one fried chicken wing…
…plus a bit of the old lady’s very nice daging masak hitam…
…and make sure you squeeze that calamansi lime juice all over your noodles. It will surely bring the taste to a whole new level.
It you throw in another ringgit, you will get one fried egg…
…fried the traditional way, in a wok! RM8.00 altogether.
The complimentary soup…
…is as always very flavourful, nice till the last drop.
If you have not come here to try this old lady’s mee goreng special yet, perhaps you should consider doing so. I am pretty sure you will enjoy it as much as I do…everytime.
The old Malay lady’s stall…
…is located at FAST CAFE (2.319250, 111.832257) in the vicinity of Sungai Antu at No. 11, Jalan Tapang Timur, off Jalan Kampung Nangka.
The schools are having their holidays right now and my girl went over to Kuching with my sister for a much-needed break. Yes, she went out for dinner and lunch and whatever with our relatives – her grand-uncle & grand-aunties, her aunties and also with her friends, those working in Kuching.
She did not take snapshots of all that she ate though – she’s not like the dad but she did send me one of this awesome plate of char kway teow with see ham (cockles)…
That sure was a lot of cockles but it did not come cheap, RM12.00 a plate, if I am not mistaken.
She and my sister did walk over to Hon Hin along Abell Road, round the corner from the hotel where they were staying. We’ve heard a lot about this place and I’ve seen people sharing on Facebook all the things that they ate there. Needless to say, it was very crowded and they actually had to queue to go there and eat.
She had their Kuching kolo mee…
…and the special soup…
…but she said they were just so-so. They did not get her all excited, it seemed.
Yes, I’ve been tapao-ing lauk (dishes) home for our meals and when it comes to those Malay delights, I would just head to this stall at Bandong Walk.
Chicken was RM2.50 only a piece – you can’t find this price elsewhere and I bought their very nice ayam masak merah (RM10.00)…
I was early that morning, around 10 a.m. so I was able to ask for the drumsticks. It was super delicious and a little bit spicy, very much to our liking.
I also asked for the pumpkin and cangkok manis masak lemak (RM5.00)…
…which was not as lemak as I would have loved it but it was ok.
At the same time, I also asked for the pajeri nenas (RM5.00)…
…and in the end, I found that I had bought too much so I put the pineapple in the fridge for us to enjoy another day.
I couldn’t resist their sambal petai (RM5.00)…
…and also their kerabu ikan masin (RM5.00)…
…so I ended buying the two as well. These turned out to be quite salty, best eaten with rice so we just nibbled a bit and saved the rest for another day.
There you have it! RM30.00 altogether and we had enough for a few days (except the meat – that was good for two meals).
With our girl currently out of town and just the two of us left in the house, I told my missus not to bother cooking. We would just go out some place for our meals or I could go and tapao (take away) from our regular sources.
That was what I did the other day. I went to this food court near my house and I was quite surprised to see the crowd lining up at the stall. It was always quite popular – there would be some people there buying what they would like for lunch but I never saw so many before. I guess word must have gone round as to how nice the food was and how cheap/affordable so more and more people would choose to just go and buy instead of sweating it out all morning in the kitchen.
Their most popular dish, it seemed, was their curry chicken…
Some of the customers went there and bought just that one dish – it would be enough for them, they said, only two at home, children and families all over the country or overseas.
Yes, their curry is very nice, a must-buy but you will have to go early, around 10.00 a.m. when they would cart the dishes out of their restaurant’s kitchen. If you go later, say, at around lunchtime, there wouldn’t be much left.
I also bought their sweet and sour pork…
…and yes, it was very nice too. They do not have many pork dishes usually, mostly chicken. I guess with the prices going up and up all the time, pork is no longer that feasible to include in this so-called economy rice or chap fan (mixed rice) business.
For our vegetable dish, I asked for our usual, cangkok manis fried with egg…
That was RM25.00 altogether, more than enough for the two of us for two meals that day with some left over even.
I guess I will be going there again over the next few days. Do hang around – I may blog about it if I come across anything special or new.
GRAND WONDERFUL FOOD COURT (2.309601, 111.845163)…
…is located along Jalan Pipit, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai, on your right. You can also go in via Jalan Pipit from Jalan Pahlawan – go straight ahead till you get to it on your left.
This place is sparkling new. It just took over from this café a couple of weeks ago.
It is a very nice and pleasant place, bright and clinically clean. There isn’t much decor to boast about but this table set with its Marilyn Monroe chairs…
…caught my attention the instant I walked in.
My missus had this cucumber, pineapple, orange and lemon drink (RM8.00)…
…while I just had a glass of drinking water (RM1.00) – they did not have anything that’s not sweet and I am not into any of those branded kopi susu or designer teas.
Of course, I had the Big Breakfast (RM15.00)…
…which looked good with its scrambled eggs on a bed of potato rösti, sausages and two slices of toasted bread. There were some grilled mushrooms too and blanched vegetables and mushroom sauce plus some lettuce and grilled tomatoes by the side.
I would say it was nice…
…even though the eggs were not as creamy as I would love it to be and the rösti was very thin and slightly burnt at the edges. The one here was nicer but it was a whooping RM32.00, a lot more expensive and I do think it had an edge over the simpler one I had here.
My missus asked for the grilled chicken balado (RM17.00) and was taken by surprise when this…
…was served. The fine print in the menu said, “French toast, melted cheese, sliced chicken ham served with cream chantilly and maple syrup“. Obviously there had been a mistake somewhere as that sure did not sound like a balado or anything Indonesian. Perhaps they left out the correct description and there should be another item in that section that befits the aforementioned tagline.
It did not matter one bit though as my missus absolutely loved what she was served. The curry gravy was VERY nice and the super spicy sambal was simply out of this world. My missus enjoyed eating them with the chicken and the rice. I am pretty sure that if we drop by here again, she will not hesitate and will definitely order this without a second thought. It was that nice!
The total for the two of us came up to RM41.00 only. We certainly would want to drop by again to check out what other nice things their have in their menu. I saw somebody having their submarine club sandwich 8″ and it looked truly impressive. I would ask for that the next time around.
Incidentally, it opens from 9.00 a.m. till 5.00 p.m. and is closed on Monday, their off day. Service is good and very polite and friendly – there was only one Malay girl taking the orders and doing the serving and an equally polite and friendly Chinese girl manning the counter and helping out a bit too. As we were leaving, the latter quickly went to open the door and said, “Thank you. Have a nice day!” You certainly will not get this at many places around here.
FOUNDER (2.297450, 111.824229)…
…is located at No.29, Ground Floor, Lane 1, Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg.
They are having something on at the town square every night for Christmas so going out is out of the question. I can imagine the jam and that was the reason why we ended up here AGAIN last Saturday after the weekly novena and sunset service at our regular church.
I asked for something on their menu, some BBQ grilled chicken but the girl came back to tell me they did not have that. Oh? There was a NOT AVAILABLE sticker in the menu that she brought along – there wasn’t any in the one that I looked through earlier. In the end, I just told her to bring me my favourite, their burger with chips (RM19.90)…
…and yes, they gave me a pair of disposable gloves…
…to eat the burger with.
I tried the last time I had the burger, putting on the gloves and holding the burger in my hands and eating it but I gave up after a while. I prefer to cut the thing up with my knife and fork into small bite-size morsels to enable me to eat slowly with a lot of finesse, a touch of class. It turned out that the young(er) generation would frown upon people eating a burger like that – it is the trend these days, they insist, to put on those gloves to hold the burger and eat it.
Never one to back out of a challenge, that night, I decided to give it another try. Putting on the gloves and squeezing the bun tightly, I ate. It was not easy as the huge slab of chicken and the beef bacon…
…wouldn’t stay put and I was worried that they might just slip out along with everything else inside. Other than that, there were all those sauces dripping all over onto the plate…and worse, I was getting them all over my face! I must have been a terrible sight but thank goodness, there wasn’t anybody watching…or if there was, I did not notice.
I did manage to finish eating the burger in this so-called trendy way but I can’t say that I enjoyed myself. The next time I order that burger, I would definitely go back to my knife and fork.
My missus wanted the fried kway teow but word came from the kitchen to tell us that they did not have that as they had run out so she went for the mee goreng (RM10.90)…
…instead. Gee!!! It certainly looked like they did not have a lot of things these days…and there was still no sign of the new menu that they said they would be coming out with soon.
In case anyone is wondering why there were only the two of us, the schools here are on holiday right now and my girl is currently out of town for a few days with my sister for a much-needed break from the dreary day-to-day routine in the classroom.
C & C GALLERY, certified halal outlet (2.297289, 111.825193) …
…is located at No. 1 & 3, Ground Floor, Lorong 1, Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg, across the road from Kin Orient Plaza (the old Sing Kwong).
I can’t remember when I had the kampua mee here – I think that was in 2019 when they were here after they had moved from the old place. They are now here but I never went over to check them out even though I kept saying that their kampua mee was my favourite in town.
Well, my missus and I were on our way home from the airport on Saturday morning and we decided to stop there on the way for brunch so we could skip lunch that day. Of course, I had their kampua mee (RM4.50)…
…but I thought it was not as nice as before. It was all right but unfortunately, a bit on the dry side…
…not quite like what I remember it to be before.
My missus had their kolo mee (RM6.00)…
…and she loved it! She had hers tossed in chili sauce and maybe, that did the trick!
I also ordered their very nice beef soup (RM5.00) to share and yes, it was very nice. There was quite a lot of meat in it for that kind of money. That’s why I would say it was quite cheap! Oopsss!!! I forgot to take a photograph of that!
They now have a lady manning the stall…
…and some young boys and girls helping with the taking of the orders, the serving and everything. At one time, there were some old ladies and on some days, the young man, probably the son, who took care of the drinks, would take over. I did not see any of them around that morning. Maybe that would explain the difference in the taste of the kampua mee that I had.
RASA SAYANG CAFE 2.305124, 111.863262…
…is now located along Lorong Tunku Abdul Rahman 2, facing the left side of the Star MegaMall, right beside the Pizza Hut outlet there.
…is not famous, not like Loong Kee, but it is very nice too and a whole lot cheaper.
My missus bought a packet at our neighbourhood shop but she could not remember how much she paid for it. She cut the slices into little squares…
…so we could enjoy eating them slowly.
This is RM39.00 for 500 gm (half kilo) while Loong Kee is RM49.00 for 270 gm. They also have the latter at the shop now, selling for over RM50.00. I saw a Sibu-made one going for RM29.00 a packet and the boy kept telling me it was half a kilo too but I saw very clearly at the back that it was only 100 gms. Gee!!! Our own local made and it’s so expensive.
This one is from Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan…
…and I like what they said here…
I remember sometime ago, we had a very good one made by a butcher here in Sibu. It was so nice that I bought a whole lot and gave to everybody. It was on the 2nd or 3rd Day of Chinese New Year when I opened one of my own packs and to my horror, it had turned moldy! Oh dear! Imagine those family and friends who got a packet or two from me opening theirs only to find them moldy too. At least, these days, these people are more advanced and just like the ones from Loong Kee, these are also individually vacuum-packed so it should stay fresh a little longer.
They only had one packet left when I dropped by the other morning but the boy said that they were expecting new arrivals the very next day.
SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441)…
…is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end…and on the other end, to the left is the Kim Won Chinese Medical Store and Mini-supermarket.
What did I say? Well, this was what I said, “…the next time around, I’d probably order the Foochow fried noodles, wet (with sauce/gravy) to see if that is any good.”
I was here last month and I had the Foochow fried noodles, the moon version and it swept me off my feet. It did not look all that impressive and there weren’t a lot of ingredients added but the taste blew me away. I loved it instantly.
Well, I went back there again the other morning like I said I would to try the Hock Chiew char mee, tam (Foochow fried noodles, wet/with gravy)…
…and yes, it was nice but no, it did not get me jumping up and down with delight.
Unlike the moon version that I had previously, this one had a lot of ingredients, bits of meat, slices of fish balls and green vegetables…
…but I was wishing the whole time that they would give me the freshly-cut cili padi in soy sauce. They gave that the last time and it sure would bring the taste of the noodles to a whole new level. I did not bother to go and ask because I was sitting at the pavement outside in front of the coffee shop (for the better light so as to enable me to take nicer snapshots) and the chu-char (cook & fry) stall was all the way at the back. I must remember to put in a special request for that the next time I drop by here for the noodles.
I paid RM5.00 to the lady serving my drink, the usual teh-c peng, kosong (tea with evaporated milk, no sugar) and the boss, who was adjusting the blinds so it would not be too hot for anyone sitting at the pavement, came and gave me R2.40 change. I paid RM2.70 the other day – it was 10 sen less today. Hmmmm!!! Not much but as they say in Malay, sikit sikit jadi bukit!
EMAS CORNER CAFÉ BARU 2 (2.292229, 111.838162)…
…is located to the extreme right of the blocks of shops along Lorong Tong Sang 1B at the junction of Jalan Tong Sang and Lorong/Jalan Langsat.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 