Comfortable + Affordable Lunch @ Le Cafe, Sibu

Looking for a comfortable place to have a decent lunch with affordable price? Perhaps you can try Le Cafe along the Brooke Drive, the new commercial building just after Sheraton Restaurant.

This cafe hasn't earn any big name yet as I hardly get or hear any review about it. However, it has its own Facebook fan page where you can get sufficient information about the foods served there as well as part of its main menu and pricing.

I first pronounce the restaurant "lee" cafe, with the word "Le" I thought is some sort like a french word, but I knew I was wrong when I found out their Chinese name is actually 乐餐厅 （le can ting) which the "Le" should be pronounce as "ler" Cafe. "Ler" in mandarin means joy, so the Le Cafe can be literally translated as the restaurant of joy!

The ambiance is a bit dim in my opinion, but it is clean and tidy as a whole. The purple painted wall with some background music give calm and relaxing experience while enjoying the meal.

There are wide range of western and eastern cuisine or mixture of both to choose from in this restaurant. I have tried the Deep Fried Pork Chop in orange sauce served with rice, which is actually a mixture of western and eastern cuisine. The portion is big, especially the cook gave a very generous portion of the pork chop but I personally feel the pork chop is a way too dry and not juicy. However, with the price of RM 11.90 per set, it is worth to try especially for those who love pork.

Tom Yam Mayo Chicken Chop served with rice is another serving that caught my eyes on the menu since Tom yam is one of my favorite. I was curious how is tom yam sauce taste like as all the while tom yam is always related to soup but not sauce. The outcome was a little bit disappointed me as the so called "tom yam" sauce more tasted like thousand island sauce with little sour taste. Despite the sauce not really "tom yam", it is good in taste and worth to try with the price RM 10.90.

For those prefer pure western serving, I would recommend this Pan Fried Chicken Chop with Cola BBQ Sauce and French Fries. The taste is good and more importantly, the price RM 11.90 is very affordable for a western food range. The chicken is nicely grilled and the meat is soft and juicy.

For eastern food lovers, Bah Kut Teh is served during weekend. If you don't like the "chop" stuff and want a decent eastern cuisine for lunch, this home made Bah Kut Teh might be a good choice. There are small, medium and large portion to choose from with medium serving priced RM 20 per claypot and it is sufficient for 3-4 people. Have a bowl of rice plus baby Kailan as side order, it is a perfect combination for a decent eastern lunch.

The beverages here are pretty affordable as well. Any choice of ice blended drink for only RM 3.90 per cup.

The cafe served wider range of steaks and western foods during dinner and supper hours. I'll definitely go back and try out other foods if got chance for their reasonable price as well as the choices on the menu! All prices on the menu are inclusive of GST!

Wrapped Chicken as the 3rd Official Mural @ Sibu Central Market

Until this moment of writing, the town of Swan, Sibu has totally 3 official murals by the local council. The very 1st mural is a painting about wharf labourer at Jalan Khoo Peng Long and the 2nd one is a series of local delicacies of different ethnics located at Jalan Market.

The 3rd one is a mural located at the venue sort of "in between" the previous 2 murals and at one of the most lively and happening spot of Sibu town - Sibu Central Market @ Jalan Channel. It is about a very unique "scenery" that one can experience when visiting to one of the largest centralized market in the country which is the wrapped chickens and ducks.

This is how the hawkers here selling live chickens or ducks, by wrapping them in tube form using newspapers, then tied with nylon string to form sort of "handle" by leaving the birds' heads protruding at one end before putting them on shelves for selling.

Wrapping the birds in this way have few advantages:

1. the buyers can easily carry it away (time saving) just like carrying a handbag (that's why some people said it is a chicken "handbag")
2. sellers can display the birds on rack to let buyers to see, choose and feel the birds before buying them (harder to choose if put inside the cage)
3. can prevent droppings from messed up the floor, the road and the cloth
4. the birds are calm and more comfortable at such position (imagine if put the birds in plastic bag, they may suffocated)

To be honest, as a Siburian who grown up in this town, I never aware of the uniqueness of such method of wrapping the live chickens until I saw some reports/articles/blog posts highlight about this scenario. For me it is something that I used to see since I was a kid and it is just a norm but obviously it is not the same case in the eyes of the outsiders or foreign visitors.

This explained why the 3rd mural of SMC is about this wrapped chickens/ducks and located at the Central Market's building. It's because of its uniqueness in the eyes of tourists and became one of the "selling point" for visiting this large centralized market.

The painting is at the wall facing Jalan Bengkel, just opposite local corporate Pansar's office building. It consists of a long bench, with few wrapped chickens on and under the bench on the left and a wrapped duck on the right. Apart from these, there are 2 empty speech bubbles, one pointing to one of the chicken and another pointing to the empty bench area.

So, you can use your creativity and imagination how and what to pose with the painting to make it more "meaningful". However, I personally feel that it is not a good spot for the mural for following reasons:

1. The space in front of the mural always occupied and parked with motorcycles, thus the view always get blocked.
2. Some people used to take a rest at that area after shopping at central market while waiting for transport (especially during weekend), thus block the view and visitors may not be able to take photo with the mural.

6 Local Delicacies for 2nd Official Mural @ Jalan Market

The theme for the 2nd official mural street arts by the Sibu Municipal Council is a series of local delicacies from different ethnics and races in the Swan city of Sibu.

They are located at an alleyway at Jalan Market, which is one of the busiest and most lively old street witnessing the growth of Sibu town. Jalan Market was once the venue of Sibu centralized wet market but then been demolished in year 2002 for whatever purposes. It was also where the pasar malam (night market) is located before it was moved to the current location at butterfly's park.

The street art was painted on the side wall of Tai Kiong Emporium with the special permission from the owner. As mentioned earlier it is about a series of  local delicacies of Sibu from multi-racial society here which one should never miss when visiting the town. These local delicacies are: Kampua Mee, Diang Miang Ngu/ Dian Bian Hu, Kompia from Chinese ethnic, Pulut Panggang, Penyeram and Kuih Jala from Iban, Malay and Melanau.

Kampua Mee
Kampua is a dry-tossed noodles with lard, soya sauce and MSG or more commonly known as "Ajinomoto" then garnish with spring onion, deep fried shallots and also few slices of pork which have been dyeing red on the surface layer.

It is one of the most favorite food of Siburians and you can easily get it at any kopitiam in Sibu.... yes... I say any... because a kopitiam without the stall selling Kampua can hardly survive as it is always the top choice of Siburians for breakfast and supper.

If you wish to read more about this delicacy... you can refer to my previous posts about it:
1. Kampua @ Sing Hin Corner
2. Kampua @ Rasa Sayang Cafe
3. Curry Kampua @ Lane 13 Seafoods Coffee Shop (This stall was moved to some other places)



Diang Miang Ngu
Some translated it as Diang Bian Hu or Dian Bian Hu or whatever but the name is originated from Foochow accent.It actually means "the rice starch paste from the wok side" which is related to how this cuisine is been prepared.

The cooked rice starch paste are served in pork broth together with black fungus, fish balls, pork and squids, garnish with spring onion. This is one of the specialty delicacy of Sibu but it can only been found at few limited spots with the most authentic one located at an alleyway between the Blacksmith Road and Butterfly Park.

Related posts about Diang Miang Ngu on this blog:
1. Famous Sibu Diang Miang Ngu @ The Little Alleyway
2. Breakfast @ My Corner - Curry Diang Miang Ngu + Pan Mee


Kompia
Kompia is a bread product by Foochow ethnic which is made of simple ingredients such as flour, salt, water and baking soda. The prepared dough will be flatten to a disc shape, then a tiny hole is punched at the center of each bun before sesame seeds been spread over them. The buns will then been pasted into the wall of the clay oven heated with hot-burnt charcoal at its bottom.

Yes. It may sound simple yet it is unbelievably addictive especially when they're fresh from oven. Kompia texture is soft but very chewy. The side that pasted to the oven wall during the baking process is a little bit crunchy when they're still hot.

Kompia can be eaten plain for its original taste, or some people prefer to re-process it before serving to add more flavor such as stuff it with minced/stewed pork, fried it before add stuffing or soak it inside special made gravy.

Pulut Panggang
Pulut panggang is a well-known Malay pastry that is generally loved by most people regardless of races. It is made of glutinous rice which is cooked with coconut milk and little salt, then these rice are rolled and wrapped in a special banana leaf before they're grilled or barbequed on burning charcoal.

Pulut panggang in Sibu normally is the one without filling. However, the variant with shrimp floss as filling can also be found but rare. Pulut panggang is best be taken as breakfast or as snack during tea time.

Penyaram
Penyaram or Penyeram is a very unique pastry some said originated from Iban but some claimed it is from Malay. Its unique shape has giving it variety of nicknames. Some called it Mexican hat and some called it kuih UFO and I have friend who even said it looks like abalone!!

Ingredients for making penyaram is very simple, just flour, palm sugar and water. However, the production process is very challenging and requires high skills. You need to have a small wok which has deep dome shape at the middle because that's where the pastry get its shape later. Then you need to fry the batter one after another using slow heat and it is time consuming.

The texture of this pastry is also very unique. Middle part is soft and spongy with the edge is curly and crispy. It is not too sweet and with strong palm sugar aroma. Personally love this pastry a lot!

Kuih Jala
Jala means net in Malay or Iban language. So Kuih Jala can be literally translated as net pastry or the pastry that have netting structure.

It is an Iban's traditional snack and the process of producing this delicacy is kind of interesting and need the right tools and skills.

The flour mixture is poured through a mould made of halved coconut shell with tiny punched holes in it into the hot oil and make it a round shape until the right thickness. It'll then been fold half or quarter while still in the hot oil.

Kuih Jala is super crispy and sweet in taste. It is nice to eat as snacks during tea time. As the preparing and producing process aren't easy, thus it is harder to find on the market.

 (Photo taken from http://nyamaiamat.weebly.com/process.html)

1st Official Street Art Mural @ Jalan Khoo Peng Long Sibu

Since Penang street art mural received overwhelm respond from both local and foreign tourists, now there are more towns within the country starting to follow the step of Penang government as a method to boost their tourism industry.

One of them is my hometown, the town of Swan - Sibu. Recently Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) has kicked off the project of street mural painting at various selected venues. Differ from other places, these murals are done by engaging local artists and the theme for a series of murals are based on Sibu's cultures and lifestyle.

The 1st and the maiden mural been produced in the town was the one that illustrated a wharf coolie/labourer located at Jalan Khoo Peng Loong or currently known as Jalan Khoo Peng Long. This is one of the earliest main road in Sibu town center which is nearest to the mighty Rejang river - the longest river in the country.

When road transport was still in very poor stage in Sarawak in early days, water transport through the Rejang river was once the most important and busiest transportation method that connects various towns in the region. Jalan Khoo Peng Long is where all the wharfs to different parts of the region, such as Kapit, Kanowit, Bintangor, Sarikei and so on was located at those time.

These wharfs had become the transit point for goods and cargo between Sibu and other ports in sarawak, therefore wharf labourers were highly demanded at that time to carry weighty goods such as gunny sack of rice to/from/between cargo ships.

These labourers normally carry the weighty goods on their shoulder and they will bring along a red cloth which was used to cover their head and shoulder before placing the loads on them. This is to prevent direct contact between the rough fabrics with their skin and also as a way to prevent dirt.

There were time when the labourers not feel of using the red cloth, therefore they'll tie it across the waist so that it will not MIA (missing in action). Tying the red cloth hard around the waist somehow seems to give extra strength to the labourers to perform their duty which required plenty of energy. The red cloth also became the fabric to wipe off their sweat after hard works under the hot sun.

Wharf activities at Jalan Khoo Peng Long had slowly dwindled in 1990s following the development of road network which connects more and more towns within the region. Hence, most labourers were gone as well since there were not many job opportunity around anymore.

This is the brief story behind the 1st mural in Sibu town - the wharf coolie or labourer. There are more murals to come and hopefully I can/have motivation to cover each of them one after another. ;)
 

Breakfast @ My Corner - Curry Diang Miang Ngu + Pan Mee

Diang Miang Ngu - the Foochow style rice starch paste served normally in pork broth is one of the local delicacy that you can't miss when you visit to Sibu. For the most authentic Diang Miang Ngu in town, you can refer to my post Famous Sibu Diang Miang Ngu @ The Little Alleyway.

Recently I just found out there is a new variant of Diang Miang Ngu, which is served in curry broth, totally subvert the traditional way of serving the food. This variant can only be found at My Corner - a kopitiam that is located at Lorong Indah Timur.

The premises is a bit "hidden" from the main road. If you are driving from town to Bukit Aup / Jalan Teku direction, after passing by Woodland International School, you need to make a right turn when you see shop houses. You'll find a Petronas fuel station after the turn on your right. The kopitiam is just opposite.

Don't be surprised the place is flooded with patrons especially during weekend or public holidays despite its location was a little bit "remote" from the town center. Probably because many Siburians know there are something special at this shop.

The good thing about this area is it has ample parking space as there are no busy premises around. Thus, a worry less while enjoying your meals here.

There is a stall named Bean's Food Corner specialized in handmade flat noodles a.k.a. Pan Mee here. This is the main reason why I came all the way to this place to have my breakfast. Pan Mee is one of my favorite food I used to have in KL, but it is hardly found in Sibu.

Besides that, this stall currently getting its name boosted after its unique and daring creation serving a traditional Foochow cuisine in a non-traditional Henghua-way - the curry Diang Miang Ngu has been reported in local newspaper.

After I tried the curry Diang Miang Ngu myself, I found that it is something worth a try. The curry broth itself is thick enough and has strong curry spice smell. In fact, I personally feel it is a little bit too heavy in spice taste. However, the broth is just nicely cooked and not salty. That's the reason why I can finish off the entire bowl including the broth. A very refreshing taste.

The only thing is that I personally feel some of the rice starch paste are a little too thick. It is not a big deal after all since the curry broth itself is tasty enough to cover the tasteless pastes despite of their thickness.

There are plenty of Pan Mee variations here but I had tried the most original Pan Mee serving, which is in clear broth. An authentic Pan Mee soup (which I used to eat) should have the few ingredients: the deep fried ikan bilis, some sliced mushrooms, some cangkuk manis a.k.a. mani cai as well as minced pork to serve with handmade flat noodles in broth.

This stall has almost all except minced pork... another "not-a-big-deal“ since and they have substituted it with pork balls. The most important factor to determine the deliciousness of the food is still lay on its broth.

Yes, it is sweet and tasty and I can feel the squid taste in the broth. I am not sure if they have added squids when preparing the broth, anyway the conclusion is this bowl of Pan Mee passed my taste buds and it's almost the authentic taste!

A bowl of curry Diang Miang Ngu is RM 5.50 with quite big portion while the Pan Mee soup is RM 4.00.

There are many other variations of Pan Mee which worth for me to go back and try them up one day!

Eat Till You Drop @ King Kong BBQ Steamboat Sibu

Looking for an "Eat till you drop" yet affordable kind of feast in Sibu? Yes.. actually you have many choices, but what I'm going to share this time is a new (operated for roughly 6 months) eatery hidden at an unexpected building. I'm not sure how many Siburians have actually aware of its existence.

It is called "King Kong BBQ Steamboat". From the name itself, you would roughly know what kind of cuisine that are serving here. No! Definitely they didn't serve King Kong meat! What I mean is the "BBQ Steamboat"!

Located at the rooftop of 11th floor SMC Multi-storey Car Park of Sibu Central Market, the place is not easy to discover. However, the big red LED notice board placed at a higher place of the rooftop is somehow quite eyes-catchy and one can spotted it once you drive through Jalan Bengkel, from the direction of KTS group to Pansar Group office buildings.

I have a chance to try out feasting at the eatery about weeks ago with some friends. As it is inside the building of multi-storey car park, looking for parking space is not a problem at all. You can just drive all the way to the 10th floor of the carpark and with just stone throw distance of walking, you will reach the place. Just that bear in mind, parking is not free. you need to pay some bucks for parking inside the building as usual!

The moment stepped into the place is a shock! It's just like you found another world on the heaven!! (I mean an eating heaven!) As I went on weekend, the place was flooded by patrons. Even though the place is big enough, but it was almost full house!

6 of us in a group... we hardly found a table with good fengshui to sit down. After some search and pick... we finally got one. Upon sitting down, an usher came to us to record down how many of us in a group. Please bear in mind, there is a time limit for each entry. One have only 2 hours of eating time per entry and if exceed the time, a certain amount of charges will be applied per head basis. The time of entry will be recorded down by the usher.

This is a down point of the eatery, but with the charges of RM13.90 per head, you can't complain much. Another eatery with similar business model charged RM20 per head with unlimited eating time.

Another thing surprised me a bit is that they're actually using charcoal as the heating medium instead of gas-powered cooking stove or electronic stove. Is it because charcoal is more cost effective or it is just a matter of choice of cooking method, it is up to you to judge. But what I am sure is that using charcoal definitely involve more tedious and hard works to prepare and the proprietor has "specialists" doing that. I think we just waited for around 5 minutes or so for the BBQ steamboat tools to reach our table.

The 1st impression I had on the BBQ steamboat pans when they're served onto our table is that they look like Korean BBQ style where the BBQ part is at the rounded protruding surface at the center of the pan and the broth part is at the sunken surface on the edge. It is some sort like an "upside down" version of the BBQ Steamboat that I had at another eatery before where the center is for steamboat and the grill is at the side.

As for the foods... for BBQ and steamboat purposes, there are variety of raw foods for you to choose ranging from marinated pork, chicken, beef  to limited seafood, variety of cold storage processed foods such as sausages, fish balls as well as fresh vegetables, bean curds, eggs and all those "standard" steamboat ingredients. Take as many as you can... but the only condition is make sure you can finish them! Wasting of foods is subject to extra charges!

If you are hungry and couldn't wait for the grilled foods to be cooked, there are ready foods such as fried rice, fried noodles, fried kway tiaw and fried beehoon - the 4 kings of foods ready for you. You can fill your stomach while taking your time enjoy the process of food grilling, a.k.a. BBQ!

As for the steamboat part.. the area to contain the broth is rather shallow and narrow, therefore is up to your creativity how you gonna boil the foods with bigger size in the broth. The structural design of the steamboat pan causing the sauces from the marinated meats to drip into the broth when doing the grilling, thus will cause the broth's salty level to be increased linearly over time.

There are free flow beverages as well but it is in a D-I-Y style where ingredients such as red beans, green beans, cendol, jellies, basil seeds a.k.a. the frog eggs, coconut milk, syrup and etc etc to produce the beverages are places in several big bowls. Yes... again... use your creativity to produce a drinking mixture and you can give the beverage whatever name you like! Free flow ice cream are available as dessert.

As a conclusion, if you are looking for a good place to "eat till you drop" yet not "hurt" your purse too much, perhaps this King Kong BBQ Steamboat can be a good consideration. The open air environment and its location on the rooftop provides natural cool air ventilation thus the place is not too hot even without air-conditioners besides you can see part of Sibu's scenery from a higher altitude.

The only few things that not favored me are the slow refilling frequent of foods as well as the insufficient way of beverage been served and also the 2-hour time limit. 

Oh ya... forgot to mention just now... if you need that little bit of private space, perhaps there are minor parts of the eatery been designed for the purpose.

For more information you can visit there Facebook fanpage. The operating hours is only from 5.30pm-10.30pm.