Food: Banana Leaf BBQ Stingray, Squids, Fried Kampua and Stir-fried Local Snails.
Location: Bandung Cafe, Bandong Foodcourt Sibu.

Bandong Foodcourt has always been my favorite supper heaven in Sibu. Located nearby the Malay village area, Bandong is famous for its BBQ seafood. Although over the years the popularity in Bandong has declined dramatically due to the establishment of other newer eating places in town, I actually prefer the now more quieter Bandong. For me, this is still the best place to eat reasonable good food with affordable price.

We arrived today after 8pm for a late dinner.

There are many cafe-stalls in Bandong but basically offering rather similar menus. So I was never choosy over which stall to eat. Tonight, we chosen the one located conveniently in front of the entrance called Bandong Cafe.

We ordered what almost everyone would; the BBQ Stingray, BBQ Squids, Fried Kampua and Stir-Fried Local Snails.

Our Ice Bandung and Special Teh-C-Peng arrived. Just okay. Tasted better before.

The BBQ Stingray arrived first. Not much point scored for the presentation. The BBQ sauce was dark and dull, surrounded with a layer of oil. Not sure if I like that.

What I like about Stingray is that you can eat the whole thing and I especially like the edible crunchy soft bones. But speaking of the dish, I guessed the deciding factor was really in the BBQ sauce. Similar to the BBQ Squids that arrived later, I couldn’t guarantee whether the seafood were fresh enough. The strong intensed sauce used to cook the seafood had over-powered everything. The fish was a bit flaky and the squids were a bit rubbery and over-cooked.

I would suggest to side request few more limes and really drenched the whole dish in order to cut through the excessive grease besides adding a sharp fresh sourness to the spicy BBQ sauce. I thought the limes really completed the BBQ sauce.

Kampua noodle was first invented in tossed noodle dishes. Not sure who and when did someone come out with the idea to fried the Kampua noodle. And it actually works. I thought it was nice.

But my favorite was the Stir-fried Local Snails cooked in Gong Bao’s way. I thought the thick-sweet-spicy-gravy coating the snails, cooked with dried chillis, onions and sweet oyster sauce was really delicious and flavorful. In order to eat these local snails, you need to suck out the flesh from the shell’s opening. Just remember to spit out the menbrane attached. The snails were crunchy and tasted really good with the gravy.

I’m not sure if there’s any season for better snails. But what we had were rather small and to be frank, nothing much to eat. Its more of Beer food.
But I did enjoy the dish the most.

Both BBQ seafood and Fried Kampua deserve 3 stars each.There were flaws here and there, but the rich flavors were not to be denied.

The Stir-fried Local Snails get 3 stars as well.
So I guess Bandong Cafe’s food were rather consistent in the quality.

Bandung Area, Coffee Shop, Malay Specialty, News, Sea Food

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Food: Big Prawn Noodle
Location: Min Kong Cafe.

I knew that one day, before my lifetime fully expired, I must come here to taste the legendary Big Prawn Noodle. Eversince I heard someone said to me that “only successful people can eat Min Kong’s Big Prawn Noodle”, I vowed that someday I will be successful enough and then come here to eat this dish. I was determined. I was motivated. I will be successsful enough for this dish.

But well, technically all you need is RM 20.

Min Kong Cafe is located nearby the Tua Pek Kong Temple. This is a restaurant famous for its wide extensive menus of Chinese cuisines. But none is more well-known or even controversial to their signature dish Big Prawn Noodle priced at RM 20.

Since first introduced many years ago, this dish has become the talk of the town. Some have tasted it and unshamefull tell the tale, but RM 20 for a noodle dish is still too extravangant for most.

Today I had finally made the decision to go for it. I even dressed up a bit for the occasion, to look a bit more successful. After all, this was a lifetime experience.

I walked straight in alone and ordered the Big Prawn Noodle. The senior male waiter stared at me and asked twice whether I meant the RM 20 Big Prawn Noodle. I almost took it as an insult before politely nodded my head artificially.

I never denied that I am a hypocrite.

Min Kong is actually a very popular restaurant in Sibu. Perhaps without the fancy decor or anything. But from the smells and looks of the dishes I saw on other tables, I think regardless what happened today, I shall return for other tasting session.

And then my heart was pounding hard. I saw the same male waiter who took my order walked straight towards me. I knew this was the moment.

And so he placed the dish before me.

The smell was already brilliant. I could see three shelled big fat prawns sat right on top of the noodle. The dish was cooked in Chao Zhu Mian style. It smelled wonderful and looked impressive. I went for the soup first; it had strong prawny flavor with intensed sweet aftertaste. The soup basically contained all the goodness from the prawns.

I went straight for the biggest prawn; fresh, crunchy, tender, juicy and delicious. No complaint there.

Then I ate quietly and finished the whole bowl. Silence can either be good and really bad.

Well…

It was bascially a Chao Zhu Mian dish cooked with 4 big prawns, wasn’t it?

I thought I wasn’t as excited as I hope I would. It was a bit anti-climax I thought too. I certainly expected a little bit more complicated dish with WOWs and all. I have eaten bigger prawns and tasted better Chao Zhu Mian before. Don’t get me wrong, the dish was good.

But I didn’t know how should I react.

For RM 20, I’m not sure if I will return again for the dish.

Perhaps be able or willing to come here for the Big Prawn Noodle gives you a rather superior status compared to those who don’t. Perhaps it’s a created urban symbolism to distinguish the rich and the not.

If you really really love prawns, you will be thrilled of this culinary experience. I like big prawns, but the truth is, even that won’t be enough to totally impress me and meet my accumulated expectation.

Min Kong’s Big Prawn Noodle successfully gets 3 1/2 Stars.

Cafe And Restaurant, News, Prawn Noodles

Food: Beef Noodle
Location: Aho Mee Sapi Nasi Ayam

I was never a big beef noodle fan. But everytime I’m about to leave Sanyan Shopping Complex, I always notice that this cafe is always packed with crowds. This morning, I thought want to give it a try. But to be honest, I went with pure scepticism.

I walked towards the stall and studied the menus. I didn’t know how to order. Caused I really didn’t know what to eat. Maybe I didn’t want to eat at all. Maybe I should leave. But the stall owner kindly recommended me to try the Dry Beef Noodle that comes with a beef soup. I smiled and nodded lightly like a friendly puppy.

I took the smallest seat near the roadside and marvelled at the Sanyan Shopping Complex just across the road. For your infomation, Sanyan is the tallest building in Sibu and the whole of Sarawak.

The beef noodle arrived. The Dry Noodle was tossed in Chilli and Soy sauce, garnished with generous sprinkles of fried and green onions. It had good color and looked very tasty already.
The Beef Soup on the other hand had intensed dark rich color, with generous cuts of beef, tripes, tendon and sprouts. Typical ingredients for Beef Noodle. But I thought so far, the colors on both the Kampua mee and the beef soup were really gorgeous.

I tried the Dry Noodle first. It’s curly texture was a crossover between Kolok Mee and instant noodle. It’s very moist and to an extent, a bit sticky. It tasted salty and a bit hot, from the chilli sauce I reckoned. The onions really made this simple noodle a bit special. The crispy-caramelised fried onions and crunchy sweet green onions really added whole lots of textures and flavors. I actually thought the dry noodle was pretty nice on its own.

The soup on the other hand had a stong beefy and herby aroma. The soup was salty but not the usual boring flat saltiness from soy sauce or salt. I couldn’t say that the taste was complicated, but I would certainly say that the soup was unique. At least it didn’s taste like any of the beef soup that I have tried before.

The beef slices were really thin and tender. The tripes were thick and chewy, in a good way. The beef tendon was jelly-like, melting in my mouth effortlessly. So far, I thought the beef soup was really well-cooked. But the real surprise and my favorite part, was actually the humbled looking sprouts. On outer apprearence, the sprouts did not look like those generic sprouts. It had extra lightness, crunchiness and refreshing sweetness. And it really matched the strong beefy soup perfectly. I was really taken surprised by the sprouts.

And sooner than I thought, I emptied the whole thing. I thought this meal was really better than I expected. Priced at RM 4.50, I thought it really worth the value. I think beef lovers will appreaciate this dish more than I do.

I was never a big fan of Beef Noodle. But after today, I might even start to become one myself.

Aho’s Beef Noodle gets 3 1/2 stars from me. I will definitely come back again to see if they deserve another half star.

Aftertaste: I was told by a foodie friend in Sibu that Aho uses Borvil Beef Stock as the base of their beef soup. That explained the complexity of the wonderfully riched flavor.

Coffee Shop, Sanyan Plaza Area

Yes, we are everywhere. Sibu is my home town. However, I was brought up in Kuching. Thus, I will definitely would like to learn more about Sibu Food.

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