Sibu - A quick guide

Here's some highlights from a recent short trip to Sibu, Sarawak.

A must try is the 'Kompia', a localization of 'Kong Piah' or King of Biscuits? It's actually just a oven baked plain bun but is usually served stuffed with meat or other fillings. This was one stuffed with a sweet chicken filling from Sarawak's  ubiquitous Sugar Bun franchise restaurants. A nice snack indeed.

I managed to try some seafood and this was at a Chinese Muslim restaurant. A word of warning though - many of the seafood available in Sibu are actually obtained from elsewhere so it may not be as fresh as you would expect of a coastal town. And not exactly cheap either.

Traditional biscuits are available on the streets. The two types shown here had peanut paste and red bean paste. Both were good enough for me to pack back home as gifts! 

 

'Kampua' Noodles - perhaps a distant cousin of Kuching's Kolok Mee? Very simple homemade noodles, slightly springy and chewy. Served dry, tossed in pork lard and topped with char siew and chopped spring onions. Definitely a must try when visiting Sibu.

 

I did not have enough time to try some other signature noodle dishes like the river prawn noodles, which is enough reason to make a return visit in future. Maybe take a slow boat ride up to Mukah too.

The Gift Tilapia Restaurant @ Seremban

A word of thanks to Sivin Kit for bringing this restaurant to our attention. On a recent visit to Seremban, we made a short detour to try the food here.

 

A must try would be their signature farm fresh tilapia. We chose the plain steamed tilapia fish with chili padi (birds eye chilli). The fish was indeed fresh and firm. It had a clean taste and no 'muddy' smell. Highly recommended and good value at RM35 (before GST ya). Perhaps one of the best we have ever tried. 

 

We had to try their version of the Japanese unagi (eel). However their version was made with the humble ikan keli (catfish). The fish had the right amount of fat and was slightly sweet from the sauce. It was very good but could have been better with a little more caramalization and more teriyaki sauce. The bed of shredded cabbage and carrot is a bonus vegetable dish too. Quite good value ar RM15.

 

The nyonya style Kapitan chicken curry was decent only at RM13 for a small portion.

 

The paku (fern shoots) with sambal belacan (shrimp paste) was exceptional and highly recommended. For RM10, it's a steal.   

 

Overall, a great little restaurant. Lunch time is a good time to visit as it gets crowded come dinner time. We'll definitely be back to try more. Give it a try and tell us what you think.

Location:   No.11, Lorong Merbok 6/1, Taman Bunga Blossom, 70100 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Contact :  010-251 5340

Restoran ZZ Mee Rebus Tulang @ Johor Bahru

A colleague of mine told me of a place in Johor Bahru that I 'die-die also must try' when i was there recently. Armed with my Waze, I ended up spending a good 20 minutes circling a residential area looking for the elusive restaurant. When I finally found it, it was a nondescript shack in between some trees with cabana like sheds scattered around in a random fashion. Very kampung-esque.

Putting aside the setting, I went straight for the main course - mee rebus tulang. Two large beef bones with bone marrow inside were heaped onto a serving of tasty mee rebus. The mee rebus was good - not overly sweet or thick and with just the right amount of spices. Topped with some green chillies, the mee rebus alone would be worth a visit here. The tulang (bone) was a little bit of a let down. Maybe because of the hype about it, my expectations were set very high. It turned out to be just OK. I ended up spooning the mee rebus gravy into the bone when sucking out the marrow to give it the extra taste boost. They serve the dish with a straw to facilitate the extraction of the marrow from the bone (brought to mind a phrase from the Dead Poet's Society about sucking out the marrow from life).

The ubiquitous otak-otak (this is the Johor version, served grilled in nipah leaves) was available. This turned out to be just OK, bordering on the bland.

The area is dark and the parking lot nearby is littered with glass fragments from shattered vehicle window glasses. Doesn't give you a sense of security, especially when the owners of the restaurant have also posted up prominent signs at the entrance stating that vehicles are parked at owners' own risk. It wouldn't hurt them to have some security personnel stationed there.

So in conclusions I can say to my colleague Danny, I would go here again if I was in JB - but only with a local and I think I could still live happily even without returning here again.

Location: Off Jalan Petrie, Johor Bahru, Johor
Contact : 012 7227209 / 013 7492671

Restoran Do Do Do - Tangkak Beef Noodles

I had a short trip to JB last week and chanced upon an article about Tangkak Beef Noodles at Motormouth From Ipoh's blog. I learnt that I did not have to venture far from the Plus highway toll and since it's about 2 hours out of KL, it's actually a great stop on the way to JB. Here's a map to the shop:-

The beef soup was robust and flavorful, no doubt the result of long hours of brewing. The cuts of meat though were soft but still firm - just the right texture. You can choose to have it with lean meat only or with tripe, brisket and tendon. The soup was peppery and the spices were not overpowering. Noodles (I had bee hoon and kuey teow) had enough bite.

Conclusion - an ideal stop on the way to JB. The sign at the shop said they opened until 6.00 pm but on the weekday that I stopped by, they were already packing up at 4.30 pm. Give it a try if you're ever in those parts.

Kg Koh chilli sauce, direct from Sitiawan

Happy New Year everyone!

Our Christmas outing for 2013 was to Sitiawan, Perak - home of the famous Kg Koh chilli sauce. We always have a bottle of Kg Koh chilli sauce at home to go with dim sum and fried foods. We did not get to visit a chilli sauce factory, but we made it a point to visit the Kg Koh wet market to stock up on some sauce. Here's what we got:-

The collection of Kg Koh chilli sauce bottles

Now you may be able to get Kg Koh chilli sauce almost anywhere in Malaysia, but there is one brand that is only available in Kg Koh itself.  It's the one in the middle in the photo above, NKJ's -

NKJ's, only found in Kg Koh, Sitiawan

It's thicker in consistency, more pungent and with a more pronounced garlic flavor. It's my pick between the 3 Kg Koh chilli sauces that we found. Do pick up a bottle if you're in Sitiawan. You'll find it in most provision stores there and you can even get them in six-packs, tied up with raffia string. Real old-school style.

CLOSED-Kg Lobak Thai Seafood & BBQ, Seremban

This is an overdue post from an outing last year. We took a long drive all the way to Jalan Lobak in Seremban to sample some Thai food at the (then) newly opened Kg Lobak Thai Seafood & BBQ restaurant. Located just beside (or behind) the Petronas station along Jalan Lobak, it's easy to find and there's ample parking at the side and front.

We tried some Thai staples. The Chicken Feet Kerabu was was nice and well balanced; sweet, hot and sour as it should be.

The Pandan Chicken was well marinated and tasty. Thumbs up.

The Fish Cake was springy and tasty.

The Tom Yam Soup was suitably hot, sour and slightly sweet too. I personally prefer the tom yam with coconut milk so this version without santan did not hit the spot for me although it was well executed.

The Thai Lemon Sauce Fish on the other hand hit the spot for me and was good to the last bone. Sweet and tangy, the lemon sauce was a perfect foil for the fresh fish.

A small serving of Fried Rice topped off our lunch.

We had a peek in the kitchen and found that it was manned by Thai cooks who cooked everything from scratch, using fresh ingredients.

Overall, a great addition for the Seremban folk craving for authentic Thai food. May be worth the drive down too.

Location : Behind the Petronas station, Jalan Lobak, Seremban, Negri Sembilan.

Alor Akar Seafood Restaurant, Kuantan

Christmas 2011 was in Kuantan and we found a nice homestay at Jalan Air Puteh 4 to put up for the short holiday. More importantly, it was close to town and the good food places.

Christmas dinner was at Alor Akar Seafood Restaurant, a very popular spot in Kuantan. We reserved their "Beggar's Chicken" which in hindsight was a good idea because it was sold out by the time we arrived. The place was overflowing with customers and we were glad we were given a table at the back as we did not particularly fancy having people lurking around waiting for us to finish our meal (and vacate our table). Hehehehehe, usual story with cheap and cheerful places lah.

Beggar's chicken was actually wrapped in aluminum foil and baked, so not the authentic clay wrapped version. Taste wise was good, nice herbal taste and cooked until tender. The soup was tastier than the chicken.

We had a steamed "soon hock"catfish. Plain steamed - very fresh and tasty. Good to the last bone.

"Nestum" prawns - medium sized prawns done crunchy and tasty. Thumbs up.

Half a roast duck - which came in a sweet sauce which was very tasty. Very good and recommended. We were wishing we had asked for a full duck instead of half!

Pork leg with ginko nuts is one of their signature dishes and it was very good. The leg was cooked to tender "melt in your mouth" perfection and the flavours of the sauce had permeated the meat. Recommended.

Squid with petai in sambal was good. Thumbs up.

And taufoo (for the Taufooboy) with minced meat. Good.

Crabs were not in season during our visit but overall the seafood were top class and well executed here. And the whole meal for 13 of us (8 adults) was about RM160. Great value for money, which explains the perpetual crowd here.

Location :   Lot 7695 & 7696, Jalan Kubang Buaya, Off Jalan Beserah, 25300 Kuantan, Pahang

Contact :  Tel: 09-568 0720 Mobile: 016-952 7811

Restoran Guan Seng Loong, Sekinchan

We had a family outing to Sekinchan for seafood. The big question was, is it worth the drive estimated about 1 ½ to 2 hours depending on the route/speed.

Restauran Guan Seng Long

I was excited as we had a chance to use the new Rawang-Ijok highway which opened 2 days earlier and it was free. Journey to Sekinchan messed up big time, many wrong turns that led to some old road through Batu Arang and Batang Berjuntai and finally Kuala Selangor via Kg. Kuantan. It brought back very old memories of our cousins who once lived there and for the sister who once teached in this far-away land of Kuala Selangor.

Finally we arrived, about 2 ½ hours later – hungry!

Baby Shark Soup of a different kind

Our starter was this soup, looked mild but was unique – salted vegetable and baby shark. Yes! These Sekinchan people really know how to serve baby sharks. This was not the normal stir-fry baby shark, it came in a soup, sliced and cooked with salted vegetables and ginger. Very nice taste – loved it.

Roasted Duck

Next dish came out fairly fast – I suspect they were waiting for us to arrive and quickly rolled out the roasted duck prepared earlier, the only meat dish for the night. I am not sure if it was roasted or braised, but did not have the 'duck flavour' or the 'fragrance' that I am accustomed to, therefore I was disappointed.

Oyster Omelette

Next came the Oyster Omelette (oh chien) which again was disappointing. I guess having tasted the best in Melaka and Penang makes you have high expectation and this did not come close. It was stiff and rather overcooked.

Steamed Prawns

Then rolled in the steamed prawns – came with a thin slice of steamed egg white in the middle. A quick taste of the gravy woke everyone up. Yes, things were starting to look up. The prawns were fresh and crunchy and the chef kept it simple and you could just taste the freshness of these prawns. Now that, was worth the drive!

Vegetable

Next came the vegetable – only one for the night – someone said it was called the 'oil vegetable' and grown locally. It was fresh and certainly tasty.

Sharks' Fin Soup

Then came the sharks fin soup (sorry all you activist reading this, I did not order, I just ate) – it was very thick and nice – lots of crab meat and shark fins, but somehow it did not have that taste I was looking for. I should have brought a bottle of brandy and lit the soup up for old times sake. Perhaps the next time!

Steamed Fish - Pomfret

This was followed by the steamed Golden Pomfret – something we tasted just a week earlier from the same caterers. This was fantastic! Simple steamed fish that you can taste the freshness of the fish and it leaves that nice after-taste in your mouth. Delicious and consistent on two occasions I can vouch for.

Mantis Prawns

Next up fried mantis prawns, coated with salted egg. I am no big fan of mantis prawns as I find it to be kind of tasteless. Normally, the batter gives it 'taste'. In this case, it did not help much and was kinda mushy. It only reinforced my earlier believe, never order this - waste of money.

Fried Baby Squid

Was immediately followed by another fried dish, fried baby squids. This was oily and I guess the 'oiliness' made it mushy and did not bring out the taste. Not healthy and not recommended. Maybe, the full sized squids would have been a better choice?

Kam Heong Mud Crabs

Our finale was kam heong mud crabs. The crabs was small, the preparation was mediocre and the result was disappointing. For a seafood restaurant, this crab dish certainly let us down – I expected more. Also, overall MSG and salt level was on the high side as I was very thirsty all the way back home.

On the way back, we found the 'lost highway' (LATAR Expressway) just out of Ijok and believe me - Ijok to Rawang (south) was only about 20 minutes, before we knew it, we were on the North South highway from Rawang heading into KL.

On the whole, it was an interesting outing, not so much the food, but the journey down memory lane coupled with food – that was a good way to end a long week.

In short, let me recommend a drive down your own memory lane, wherever you frequent in your younger days that time passed it by – organise a family outing there and couple it with a local dinner. The dinner don't have to be great, added bonus if you have a fantastic dinner, but the outing itself will certainly be memorable. Mine was! Got to thank big bro for this outing.

One of the nephews suggested an outing to Bukit Kayu Hitam next week. Any takers?

Restoran Guan Seng Loong,
No. 73, Lrg 3, Bagan Sekinchan,
45400 Sekinchan,
Selangor
Tel: 03-3241 0494

Kedai Kopi Kok Beng, Taiping

Kok Beng in Taiping is a place I have written about briefly in the past. Voted one of the Top 10 Chicken Rice restaurants in Malaysia, there was a lot of anticipation as I took my family here for lunch over the Christmas weekend recently. Gd, the resident chicken expert is especially picky about chicken texture. Would this meet his high standards ?

 First up was a side order of nyonya style acar awak (mixed pickled vegetables). Piquant, spicy and a little sweet, this got the thumbs up from everyone.

Next up was the char siew (sweet roasted pork). Sweet and juicy on the outside with enough caramalised bits to make it interesting, the char siew was top quality. Excellent.

Finally the steamed and roasted chicken arrived. It was good and everyone agreed it was pretty tasty. Succulent and tasty would be a good description. Gd however found that it lacked the 'bite' of a free range chicken and was rather soft in texture. The roasted chicken on the other hand was cripsy on the outside - it fared somewhat better than the steamed chicken. 

Special mention must be made of the accompaniments. The soup was made from chicken stock and had a strong pepper taste which was pretty hot on the tongue. Top class and suitable for the cold rainy Taiping weather. The ginger and chilli sauce was excellent - packing enough punch to cause a hiccup if you pile on too much.

Located along the main thoroughfare in Taiping town, this is a good spot for an above average Chicken Rice. We would highly recommend the char siew here though.

Location : No 38, Jalan Kota, 38000 Taiping, Perak

Xin Kuala Sepetang Seafood Restaurant

I'm still writing about our Taiping Christmas outing last December. Another memorable place we tried was Xin Seafood located in Port Weld or Kuala Sepetang as it is now known. Kuala Sepetang is a 30 minute drive from Taiping and the journey will take you through various old kampongs (some dating back to the days of Long Jaafar) and a verdant mangrove forest. A visit to the mangrove education centre and a charcoal factory would make a good day trip, but we did not do it this time. Our sole intention this time was the seafood ! The original plan was to go to Restoran Tepi Sungai (a.k.a. RT Port Weld). It was however the Christmas weekend and the place was full and we had not made any prior reservation. They were kind enough to point us in the direction of Xin which they said belonged to their 'saudara' (relative).

So that's how we ended up at Xin. The restaurant is located just beside the river. There were actually boats docked next to the restaurant. Quite a scenic view at sunset I must say. The restaurant itself was very basic and functional as most restaurants tend to be in small villages. Lots of seafood were on display in various tanks and baskets and we were told to take our pick. The choices of preparation were mainly either steamed or fried with a few choices of gravy.

We picked 2 medium sized ikan kerapu (RM36 each) and these were plain steamed with some ginger slices. In any other place, a simple preparation like this would have been disappointing but the freshness of the fish here prevented any unsatisfactory verdict. 

We were recommended to try the prawns and squid in a tom yam soup (RM48) and we had no regrets with this dish. The tom yum was thick without the heaviness of santan (coconut cream). Sour, spicy and a little sweet – very well balanced and definitely a 'must have' here.

We picked several types of seafood which were just plain fried including:-

Small sardine-like fish. These were fried until nice and crispy and you could almost eat the entire fish - with the exception of the spinal bone. This was pretty good.

Small baby crabs. You can often see these tiny crabs on the beach but we never thought these could be eaten. Deep fried in oil, these became a very nice snack. It would Would have been great with some cold beer.

Small prawns. Like the baby crabs, these would have been great with beer.
Boiled shellfish (kerang). The accompanying chilli sambal was not pungent enough so this dish was not very exciting.

Flower crabs. There were no mud crabs available so we had to make do with flower crabs which tend to be less meaty and tasty. However the freshness of the crabs saved it from being mediocre.

There were no green vegetables available so we had to make do with binjals. These were stir fried with a dried prawn sauce which was very crispy and tasty. Very good and recommended.

Other popular dishes here are boiled octopus (we saw it on many tables) and mud crabs (when available). Overall it was a pretty good experience. The total bill was RM245 for 13 of us which is about RM20 a head – not too bad for the amount of food we had.

Location : Lot 155B, Tepi Sungai, 34650 Kuala Sepetang, Taiping, Perak
Contact : 017-5619384