Chong Chon Biscuit Maker : Legendary Pastries

My friend asked me to buy her the infamous Sau Pau from Kai Joo Lane here in Kuching.

I reached there at 10.30 a.m., but the Sau Paus were not ready yet. The counter was totally empty, except for some Wu Kok or deep-fried yam puffs. I placed my order and had to wait for a while.

Yam Puffs

There was a middle-aged couple from Sibu who were ahead of me, and they bought RM154.00 worth of Sau Paus to bring home. Wow, I thought.

While waiting, people kept coming and ordering. But all had to wait.

Chong Chon Biscuit Maker has been at Kai Joo Lane - dubbed Coffin Lane by the locals - for years, and has been selling pastries for at least 40 years.

There are 5 types of pastries sold here

In front of the shop, you can see the vendor lady and her assistant making the various puffs. They're quite fast, and very soon, she has got a tray full, ready for the oven.

Vendor lady and her assistant deftly making the pastries

After about 15 minutes, my orders were ready. The pastries were piping hot as they went straight from the oven into the paper box. They were still hot when I reached home.

The legendary Sau Pau from Chong Chon Biscuit Maker

The filling used by the vendor is unlike the ones of Seremban Sau Pau. This Sau Pau filling has got bite-size pieces of char siew, mushrooms, and green peas. The filling is compact, moist, and really full of flavour. Very 香 indeed.

Yummilicious Sau Pau

Dad preferred the Wu Kok, so we bought some too. The Wu Kok is deep-fried, so the pastry is crispy.

Wu Kok or Yam Puff

The filling for the Wu Kok is the same as the Sau Pau, except that there is a pinch of mashed taro inside.

Yummilicious Wu Kok

Well, if you want to buy these delicious pastries, be prepared to queue up and wait for your turn. But I do tell you that it's all worth it!

Sardine Rolls

I asked Mom to make me some sardine rolls today. She agreed, even though she disliked those little fishes. Mom wouldn't eat sardines but she did not mind making them for me.

I made the filling myself. I just mashed up the little sardines, chopped up some onions and chillies. Then I sauteed the chopped onions and chillies and quickly stir-fried the sardines. My little niece said it smelt yuck ;p. What does she know, anyway. She's a kid. ;p

Sardine filling

Mom made the short-crust pastry for me. She rolled the pastry into a flat square and filled it up with the sardine filling. Then the pastry is rolled up and and the edges are sealed.

Short-crust pastry

I pressed the edges with a fork, and then made little slits on top before brushing the pastry with a mixture of beaten eggs and milk.

Sealed short-crust pastry with sardine filling

The whole tray is baked in the oven for about 20 minutes.

A tray of sardine rolls

Very quickly I could taste my homemade sardine rolls.

A sardine roll, fresh from the oven

To me, it's great to have freshly-baked sardine rolls and a cup of coffee for lunch.

. . . Yum . . .

Since Mom did not eat sardines, she made some scones for herself.

Homemade scones

Vegetable Fritters

Mom made some vegetable fritters today. She wanted to bring some over for Grandma, as it is one of Grandma's favourites.

Mom julienned the vegetables finely. She used a sweet potato, a yam, onions, celery, and spring onions. Mom said any vegetable would do, and she could use pumpkin or carrots or long beans if she wanted to.

For the batter, Mom used plain flour, mixed with some corn flour, rice flour and glutinous rice flour. The different types of flour bring different textures to the fritters. The flour is mixed together, and bound with an egg and water to the right consistency.

Batter

For flavouring, Mom used some finely chopped dried prawns, salt, pepper, fish sauce and a bit of curry powder.

Mom then spooned the batter into the wok and deep-fried the fritters till golden brown.

Deep-frying vegetable fritters

When done, Mom drained the fritters of excess oil.

Vegetable Fritters

Mom's vegetable fritters is good enough to eat on its own.

. . . Yum . . .

One can even add prawns to the batter to whip up some vegetable & prawn fritters. Yum.

McChicken Burgers On McD

I participated in the McDonald's McValue Lunch contest a few months back. This is my post. Well, I did not win the much coveted iphone. But for my effort, I was given some vouchers. I received 2 McChicken vouchers and 2 Sausage McMuffin vouchers.

Free vouchers from McDonald's

So today, Dad and Mom and I went to McDonald's for lunch, where I redeemed my 2 complimentary McChicken burgers.

Free McChicken Burgers

I ordered a set of Big Mac and a set of Filet-O-Fish McValue Lunch Meal too, since there were 3 of us.

Well, we went to the McDonald's outlet at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, next to Tun Jugah Shopping Mall. The upper floor is under renovation so there wasn't many places to sit. There were I think less than 20 tables. Luckily we went early, or else we'd have to take away.

Anyway, thanks for the treat, McD!!

Kolo Mee @ Noodle Experts

Noodle Experts is a newly-opened coffee shop at Kenyalang Park Commercial Centre.

The noodle stall is operated by Ah Ming. He used to sell at the corner coffee shop in the opposite block. Ah Ming has been selling noodles for as long as I remember. The signboard said "Since 1983". That means Ah Ming has been selling for 26 years. Wow.

This morning, dad and I went there for breakfast. Dad ordered the regular kolo mee.

Regular kolo mee

Ah Ming's regular kolo mee is topped with char siew, minced pork, and chopped spring onions. He also puts some bok choy. This regular kolo mee is RM3.00.

I ordered the kolo mee special.

Kolo Mee Special

The kolo mee special does not have char siew and minced pork. Instead, it came with fresh seafood. On top of my noodles are 2 pieces of prawn, fish and pork slices, meat balls, a fish ball, bok choy, and spring onions.

Well, for me, the mark of a good bowl of kolo mee is that the noodle must be good enough to eat on its own, and Ah Ming's noodles are moist and Q and fragrant - simply yummilicious. Ah Ming's kolo mee special costs RM4.50.

Ah Ming's business is very brisk, and I had to wait for at least 15 minutes for my noodles. A must-try, if you happen to be near the Kenyalang Park Commercial Centre area.

Mum's Chicken Sau Pau

Mom made chicken sau pau for me. I had them for breakfast for 2 days in a row already.

Homemade Chicken Sau Pau

Mom learned to make the pastry years ago.

Filling for chicken sau pau

Mom uses sweetcorn, carrots, onions and chicken for the filling, seasons with a bit of salt, pepper, and oyster sauce.

Mom's chicken sau pau is delicious, wholesome, and satisfying.

The Naked Kitchen

(Pic Source : http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=224487)

As I've mentioned, I'm a fan of Ju Jihun, and I do hope that the Korean entertainment industry will be more forgiving towards this young man.

I'd been waiting to watch The Naked Kitchen. So you can imagine my delight when I got my hands on dvd last night.

Well, The Naked Kitchen is about a married woman, coming to terms with love and life. In this movie, Ju Jihun plays a young and talented chef who's half-French, half-Korean named Park Durae.

Ahn Morae (Shin Minah), after meeting Park Durae, realises that she has never been in love with her husband, Han Sang-in (Kim Taewoo). Morae and Sang-in are childhoold friends. She calls him "hyung", and she marries him because he is her confidante. She finds herself attracted physically and emotionally to Park Durae, after her initial run-in with him at an art gallery. When Sang-in finds out about Morae and Durae, all hell breaks loose.

The story is quite simple, though I do not really get the ending. Am I dumb? Or am I just not artistic enough to appreciate the hidden messages? Nevertheless, I do think the setting is so pretty, and all the food is a feast to the eyes.

Overall, I think Ju Jihun has improved in his acting. He portrayed his character quite well - young, carefree, and DARES to love.

A definite must-watch for all Ju Jihun fans.

Hatch Day Dinner @ Sushi King

I had my hatch day dinner at Sushi King Bintang Plaza Megamall last night. This outlet is newly-opened, and received mixed reviews from the public. Some praised the food. Some criticised the service.

Hence, I went for my dinner last night without much expectations. In fact, I was quite wary, both of the food and the service.

Upon reaching there at about 7.10 p.m., my friends and I did not have to wait for a table. The waitress indicated an empty table at the back of the restaurant outlet. Whilst making our way there, a waiter stopped us. He wanted us to occupy another table at the other side of the room as the table that we were heading for was meant for 6 persons. My friend ignored him and parked herself into the booth. ;p

We had these off the conveyer belt.

Chuka Kurage
Seasoned Jellyfish

Chuka Lidako
Seasoned Baby Octopus

Sappari Ika
Seasoned Sliced Cuttlefish

And then we tried an assortment of Nigiri.

Sake
Raw Salmon

Sanma Kabayaki
Grilled Pacific Saury

We tried some Gunkan too.

Ebikko
Fish Roe

Hanasaki
Crab Stick

Liking the look of the balls, my friend took this off the conveyer belt. They turned out to be eggs, deep-fried and then topped with crabstick and mayonnaise.

Golden Ball

We tried some items in the a la carte menu too. I liked the Garlic Rice as it is quite tasty. It was tricky to eat with chopsticks though.

Garlic Rice

Chawan Mushi

Tenpura Moriawase
Vegetable Tempura

Salmon Sashimi

Edamame
Green Soybeans

I think that the tempura coating was not as light as I would like it to be. The chawan mushi and edamame was just ok, I guess. But most of all, I am most disappointed with the salmon sashimi. It's so thinly sliced that I could be eating paper. Sigh.

The Unagi promotion is currently ongoing in August. I grabbed this item off the conveyer belt, and I think that it has to be the sushi that gave me the most satisfaction last night.

Unagi Ikada Sushi
Sushi roll with omelette, topped fish roe and unagi

After a while, there were too many orders, and the chefs could not roll their sushis fast enough to fill the conveyer belts. We sat for a long time, not having anything to take off the belts.

What was also annoying was that we had to constantly ask for pickled ginger. The waiters were nice enough to oblige, however.

My friend wanted to order dessert, but none was available except the Peach Jelly or something. When we asked why it was so, the waiter said that the desserts were all imported from Japan, and they would melt by the time they reach Miri. Was he kidding us or something? Haven't they heard of freezers? Duh.

Anyway, I had a great time catching up with my friends. Thanks to W**** and A**** for the dinner!

Table Of Glory 乒乓圆

Joshua Ang in Table Of Glory
(Pic Sourcce : mediacorptv.sg)

I thought this drama would be like Beach.Ball.Babes, which I did not like at all. And so, I began watching Table Of Glory with some prejudice.

Well, the opening scene did not engage and captivate at all, as it focused on a bunch of old folks exercising at the park. Heck. I thought it was supposed to be about table tennis. Where was the energy?

Then came in the younger characters - He Shengwu (Joshua Ang), Mai Xiaofen (Teresa Tseng) and a ghostly plot. Lol. For a while, I thought I was watching a horror flick. It was only a few episodes later that the audience would find out that the "ghosts" were tricks played by Fat Cat to force He Yingxiong (Zheng Geping) to sell his shop. Well, the extent that people would go to in order to achieve their ends!!

Anyway, the first 7 episodes were somewhat quite insignificant to me. But after that, the story picked up.

I liked the character of Lin Dadi (Zhang Wenxiang), the caretaker of the sports premise. He was apparently a promising table tennis player once in a while, and I wondered what led to his downfall. It was also suggested that he had a relationship with the coach, Zhang Yao. So what happened between them? Was he really insane? Were the techniques that he taught Shengwu applicable? It was so ironical that this madman could produce a "disciple" who could win a table tennis tournament.

My heart went out for He Shengwu. He was so sullen, like a little boy who could not get over the lost of his mother. Competitive sports did not bring him joy. He just wanted to play table tennis. How naive and innocent he was!

I liked the Mai Tiantian and He Yingxiong scenes. They were really funny. I liked especially the antics of He Yingxiong to impress Tiantian. Hilarious.

I did not mind the Zhang Ziyi (Kola Zhou) and He Jiajun (Dai Yangtian) characters, though I thought that Dai Yangtian looked too mature for the role, compared to Joshua Ang. Nevertheless, I did think that Dai Yangtian portrayed his role quite well.

Of course, shots of the movements of the tiny ping pong balls were exaggerated - they reminded me of some Stephen Chow movie. Lol.

The ending? Hmn. I kinda knew that Shengwu would win the competition.

But what happened to the annoying Auntie Watermelon? What happened to Liu Yu as she lost to Mai Xiaofen? What happened to Jiang Xian?

I would say that I enjoyed Table Of Glory more than I did Beach.Ball.Babes.

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An early birthday gift . . .

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Wisma Hopoh Canteen : Char Siew Pau

It's been a while since I ate at the Wisma Hopoh canteen at Jalan Jee Foh, Miri. There are a few things I like to eat there, one being the Kueh Chap.

Today, I made a quick stopover on my way to school to buy Char Siew Pau from the dim sum vendor.

Char Siew Pau

There aren't many paus that I like in Miri. Maybe I haven't discovered where the yummy paus are yet. So far, whenever I feel like eating paus, I will either head to Sau Pau Bakery or the Wisma Hopoh Canteen.

Well, is it me or does the pau look bigger today? I don't remember it being quite as big as today. Anyway, the char siew pau here costs RM1.50 each.

If you like pau skin with a crumbly texture like I do, the pau here is for you. The filling is sweet and moist, and goes with the skin perfectly. If you are not akin to the taste of spices, then I would not recommend this pau, as it is quite robust in flavour. I cannot be sure what spice it is, but it should be something similar to 5-spice powder.

All in all, one of the better-tasting paus here in Miri. Do give it a try.

... Yum ...

Busy Marking

The students are sitting for their examinations now. It's the first trial for the examination classes, and progressive for the non-examination ones.

I've been busy marking these few days. I want get my scripts done before I go back to Kuching this Friday.

Last holiday, I brought them back with me to mark over the holidays. However, they were really heavy and occupied substantial space in my luggage. My bag nearly went overweight as baggage allowance for Airasia was merely 15 kg.

Moreover I did not mark the scripts till 2 days before school reopened, which meant that I was not really motivated to mark at all during holidays.

I'd learnt my lesson, and this time I would rather get them marked before I go off. If I can't finish, I'd be happy to bring only a small pile.

I got 2 more days to go. Aja, aja, fighting!!!!!!!!

Marking load

Seng Guan Cafe : Sarawak Laksa

Today, my friend and I went back to Seng Guan Cafe to eat the tasty kolo mee in char siew sauce that we tried last week. Each of us ordered a bowl. Today's noodles, however, were slightly disappointing as they were a bit soggy, being blanched too long. So sad.

Then curious to try the Sarawak Laksa, we ordered a bowl to share.

The laksa was from the ban mian stall.

Well, the broth was quite thick and lemak. But, there was too little broth to go with the beehoon.

The laksa had the usual ingredients such as blanched bean sprouts, blanched prawns, and omelette strips. It also had sliced tofu pok, which is not an original Sarawak Laksa ingredient. Besides, steamed chicken strips were missing.


Well, the laksa is edible, but it was nothing great. I wouldn't order laksa the next time I go to Seng Guan Cafe.

Pasar Malam Goodies : Prawn Fritters & Putu Mayang

Today upon reaching the pasar malam, I was greeted by the sight of these colourful bougainvillea. I couldn't resist snapping a shot. But too bad, it was blurred.

Colourful bougainvillea

My friend discovered a stall selling deep-fried fritters. This lady sells cucur ikan bilis, pisang goreng, buah sukun goreng, deep-fried prawns on skewers, and deep-chicken parts ... like ... the bishops nose.

Her star item has to be the prawn fritters. It's flat and round, approximately 10cm in diameters. It's just basically spring onion in batter and deep-fried, and topped with a prawn in shell.


Despite the humble ingredients, this prawn fritter is fantastic. It's really tasty, crispy and chewy at the same time. The single piece of prawn is sweet.


3 pieces of prawn fritters sells for only RM1.00. This stall is at the far end of the pasar malam. The lady is a newcomer to the pasar malam, having set up her business less than 2 months ago.

Today, we also discovered putu mayang, an Indian dessert which looks like beehoon, but is in fact made from steamed rice flour.

I'd never seen putu mayang being sold here before, so I decided to give it a try. So I bought 3 pieces for RM1.00.

Putu mayang iwth sweetened grated coconut

I was disappointed with the putu mayang because the strands of flour were clumped together. I liked them in loose strands. I won't be going back to this stall for putu mayang in the future.

Well, these are our two new discoveries this week at our regular pasar malam.