The black pepper lamb (RM22.00)…was certainly an improvement from how I remembered it to be. My late father used to buy home from here for everyone in the house to eat, those years when my late mum was bedridden. This time around, the meat was very nice and tender and unlike before, the sauce did not taste like what came out of the bottle like what one would get when eating that once-a-year burger in the hope that one would strike it rich and be very prosperous!
My girl also wanted their salad prawn balls (RM13.00)…and I would say that this dish was my favourite of the three.
We wanted fish and settled upon snow fish…also known among the people here as Alaska fish or 鱈魚 in Mandarin which is, in fact, cod. My missus said it would be very expensive as one slice at the frozen foods stores would cost over RM20.00 each and we got two slices but as far as I was concerned, I thought it was perfectly all right as we would not be eating it all that often and besides, my girl enjoys it very much, just like how she loves the just-as-expensive salmon.
The mum ordered the garlic naan (RM5.00)…to share and the chicken masala (RM13.50)…for the gravy to dip the roti in and the meat.
Ordered the mutton biryani (RM21.00)…The curry was absolutely perfect, exactly like how the Indian guy would cook it. I heard that he had got ready the paste and herbs and everything before he left and all the Indonesian lady had to do was to cook.
She wanted their authentic Indian mutton masala biryani rice (RM21.00)…She sure enjoyed that and she managed to finish all the rice! She could not finish all the meat in the curry though so I had to help her with a chunk or two.
I went for the sizzling nasi biryani with beef rendang (RM15.90)…except that it was not sizzling when it was served but I really enjoyed it…a lot!
This bowl of stewed pork rice (RM7.90)…that I would not mind ordering sometimes as they do it pretty well here plus the complimentary soup…with tiny cubes of tofu and sweet corn that comes with some of their dishes is very nice as well.
My girl wanted their sizzling barbecued honey spare ribs (RM25.20)…so of course, whatever she wants, she gets! It was as nice as before and had the very familiar corn-on-the-cob and sweet peas but instead of the wedges, they now served this bowl of potato gratin…in a bowl separately alongside…and yes, my girl loved that too. She was worried initially that she would not be able to finish as the serving was huge and would probably have to enlist my help but her fears were absolutely unfounded – she licked everything clean! LOL!!!
Iced red bean (RM3.50)…with a special request for extra gula Melaka and it sure was very good.
My missus had their kampua mee (RM3.20)…which, of course, is more expensive than most around town and at best, I would say theirs is pretty all right – good enough if you do not have a lot of time in town and would like to get to eat as many of the local delights as possible.
No, I did not feel like having laksa that day and I ordered their Pattaya chicken rice (RM6.20) which is one of the items on their menu that I rather enjoy. In fact, before I retired and was teaching in the school across the road, I used to hop over to have this time and time again but I am quite sure that they would give a lot more chicken…at the time.
Well, the kampua mee (RM3.00)…was all right, not so strong on the garlic taste anymore, probably because of the quality of garlic these days and he added a bit of daun sup (Chinese celery) to the noodles and the soup and I liked that – the added fragrance brought the taste to a whole new level. However, I did not like how he cut the meat into long strips like that. I prefer how they usually do it – in thin broader slices.
I decided to try the kampua noodles – they have some new people running the stall there now and I asked for the set with fish balls soup (RM6.00)…The noodles were great…and so was the soup…with their own-made bay kar/ikan tenggiri (mackerel) fish balls though it was pretty obvious they would need to polish up their skill of making round fish balls. LOL!!!
After browsing through the photographs, I eventually decided to order her bai gu mee (pork rib noodles)…though I must say that I did not have my hopes up that high. However, when it was served, I must say that at first glance, I was quite impressed. It did look impressive…and yes, it was very nice!
The minced meat porridge was all right – there are others elsewhere a whole lot nicer, like this one, for instance and I am no fan of those supermarket factory-produced fried shallots…plus I was thinking that a sprinkling of a little bit of chopped spring onion would give it a bit of colour and make it look more presentable.
The ngor hiang (meat roll)…was good. My girl also had that and she had her favourite brinjal with minced meat and also some fried tofu mixed vegetable (baby corn and stuff) dish that she liked a lot.
We should have stopped there but I saw they had ladies’ fingers and I asked for that too, fried with sambal hay bee/udang kering (dried prawns)…and it was really good – I am pretty sure we would want to order that again the next time we drop by.
The waitress came and informed us that the cook had made a mistake with our order for their honey pork ribs and had cooked a sweet and sour version of the meat instead but we could cancel the order, if we so wished. We said that we did not mind and would have it all the same (18.00)…and yes, I rather liked it even though it was not what I had in mind initially.
Unfortunately, what I was served (RM14.90, two pieces chicken) sure did not look as great…The soup was like the mushroom gravy they usually serve with chops and the bread was kind of soggy, not nice and crusty. The chicken was all right but at the end of the day, it was what it was – fried chicken.
I asked for the big one (RM5.00)…the one with the salted egg yolk inside…and a bit of meat, not a lot but at least, there was meat unlike some around here that I had had the displeasure of eating. I also tasted a bit of the shitake mushroom as I was eating but what I loved most of all was the glutinous rice – not undercooked and hard and not overcooked and soggy and over-sticky, just perfect.
I cannot remember how much that was now, probably RM4.00…but yes, it was very good, just as nice as before and I must say that it can give the ones that I had on my recent Kuching trip a run for their money, like this one, for instance. Having said that, I did feel that it was even nicer when tossed with the vinegar and chili dip that came with it.
After all these years, I do think the beef noodles…tasted quite good but it used to have a very much stronger beef flavour before. I guess that is to be expected as beef is now very expensive and at those prices, one cannot afford to be too generous with it.
The cangkuk manis and pumpkin, masak lemak…was excellent – if I had known, I would probably have a double helping of that and skip the paku and baby corn
We had the nasi campur (mixed rice) and my missus had the sotong (squid)…and this young mango sambal…which turned out to be extremely sour, she said – thank goodness I did not pick that!
Stewed pork leg. In my opinion, this was definitely my favourite – the very tender meat and melt-in-the-mouth layers of fat were to die for, really!
I loved the steamed fish head too…but by the time it was served, I was already bursting at the seams. The servings were huge! The dinner, inclusive of Foochow tofu soup…and rice and drinks for ten people, came up to a little over RM200.00.
I counted five, all very fresh, very succulent and firm and sweet…but all of them were very small and they could have garnished the dish with a sprinkling of chopped spring onion and/or daun sup (Chinese celery) and a few bits of sliced fresh, red chili for a bit of colour.
In the end, I decided to go for the Foochow fried noodles (RM4.00)…from the last stall in the row. It sure looked great and that got my hopes up high but unfortunately, it did not have that much coveted wok hei fragrance so like most of the things that we had tried there, I sure would not be rushing back for more
I ordered the liver kampua (RM5.00)…and I was pleased with what I saw when I was served – so much liver…and there was meat too and a bit of tofu puffs and green vegetables.
My missus tried the beef noodles (RM8.00)…and she liked it. I thought it was way too strong on the spices – the star anise or cinnamon sticks or whatever, so strong that it drowned out the coveted taste of the beef in the soup and they could do with a little less msg as well. In comparison, I do think the one here wins hands down.
My girl had their lamb chop with mint vinaigrette sauce (RM26.00)…that we had before at their other outlet and liked very much.
Of course I ordered their absolutely out-of-this-world creamy tom yam prawn noodles served in a young coconut (RM38.90)…to share and yes, it was as good as before, with two huge freshwater prawns (udang galah)…and we were given a big bowl of the lovely soup
My girl had their creamy pasta (RM18.90)…and she sure enjoyed it a lot – she said it was nicer than a lot of places in town.
Niang Jia mee sua & egg and red wine Yes, it was so nice and so very fragrant with their own-made traditional Foochow red wine and ginger that everyone dropping by would exclaim, “Wahhh!!! Hern siang! (So fragrant/smells so good!)” the moment they entered. It was VERY red though, quite unlike the clear orange/reddish ones that we are used to…and they got the mee sua by special order from Bintangor, double the price of the usual ones we get around here but we felt the taste and texture required a little bit of getting used to.
The instant the hua dan hor (RM13.80)…was served, we knew right away that it would be good as we could detect the lovely wok hei fragrance in the dish. We certainly were pleased that we had picked that and enjoyed it to the max.
In the end, we asked for their golden squid (RM15.80)…which turned out to be really nice and we did enjoy that a lot.
My girl wanted what I had the last time we were there, the very nice lamb chop that I felt was the best I had ever had too and that (RM26.90)…was what she had and yes, she did enjoy it.
They did not have a lot of burgers on their menu to choose from – in fact, they only had one, their Ultraman chicken burger (RM15.90)…and it was on their special menu, not the regular…and don’t ask me why it was thus named. Both the ladies wanted to try that and yes, they enjoyed it very much. My girl did comment that it tasted like they had salted egg in it – that certainly is the trend these days, salted egg everything!
We ordered from their regular menu and as always, my girl opted for their grilled Norwegian salmon (RM38.90)…her favourite here and for sure, it would be something she could eat and enjoy, being gluten-free but I noticed that the price had increased quite a bit, from RM30.90 around this same time last year but of course, it did not matter – as long as my girl enjoyed it and besides, we do not go for it all that often, just once in a long while. As always, it was nicely done and to my girl’s liking and they certainly were very generous with the potato salad.
Their club sandwich…It was all right, nothing great – I had club sandwiches a whole lot nicer elsewhere.
I ordered a plate (RM4.00)…to try and it turned out to be really very good. I sure enjoyed it very much and there were potatoes in it too!
My missus had their tomato rice with ayam masak merah (RM7.50)…which we thought was quite all right, not anything to get us running back for more but I would rate it a lot higher than the nasi kak wok that I had.
I ordered their nasi lemak special (RM6.00)…and asked for the ayam percik but the girl said they would serve that with chicken rendang…This time around, I thought it was good, the chicken rendang, but between the two, I felt the ayam percik was nicer. The rice was quite lemak (rich with santan/coconut milk) and not hard and dry like what I had at some places around here and some were so bad that they might as well just serve plain rice instead and on the whole, I did enjoy my order
They all had the nasi kerabu ayam percik, drumstick (RM6.50)…and yes, they loved it a lot – the exotic flavours and fragrances and its mild spiciness!
Of course, we had our favourite, the Sarawak laksa (RM5.70 now, down from RM6.00 because of the 0% GST)…but when it was served, I thought it did not look as good as what we are used to at the other place…Other than being kind of oily, obviously, they did not sieve the broth well so I could see all the “impurities” in it…Besides, they were so miserably miserly here with the belacan (dried prawn paste) and gave us just a teeny-weeny pinch of it. Thankfully, it tasted great and yes, we did enjoy it.