Muk Kee Porridge

AT was in town again ..... and after picking him up, we went to the Open Air Market for his favourite porridge. Only that the stall wasn't open, and he had his porridge at another stall there called Muk Kee.

Pork porridge

I did not eat this, but AT assured me that taste and presentation wise, this porridge lost out to its neighbouring stall, Song Hin. Read here. 

Old Rex Cucur Udang Cafe

The Old Rex Cucur Udang Cafe is famous for its cucur udang or prawn fritters, of course. A long time ago in Kuching, there was an old cinema named Rex. Next to it was a food court which sold the local favourites ... and the prawn fritters were pretty popular back in the olden days. I had a very vague memory of eating there when I was very young .....

Now, Rex is defunct, the cinema demolished and in place now is the multi-storey Medan Selera. The Old Rex Cucur Udang Cafe, is now located at Rubber Road. The current operator is NOT the original operator at Rex, but Madam Tan, who runs the business today has 46 years of experience selling prawn fritters!

I had wanted to go there for so long ..... and that day, I finally had the chance to do so. D and I headed there for lunch .....

Special, D ordered when a boy asked for our drinks order.

Duh ... what's "special"? I asked D.

Special is special-lah! D answered.

I frowned .... and the boy said it had jagung, jelly, nata de coco, longan, milk .... Okie then. I decided to have "special" as well.

2 bowls of "special", RM2.50 each

 So this is what's inside the "special" ... 

Not too sweet, quite balanced in flavour .... nice.

Of course, this was the namesake of the shop .... 

The famous cucur udang or prawn fritters. This plate was RM11.80.

D had ordered quite a lot ..... there were prawn fritters, sweet potatoes, tofu, fishballs, and a type of cheesy fish cake. The prawn fritters were all the same size! And they were really crispy and tasty. I loved them lots. The other item I liked was the sweet potatoes .... the others were ordinary processed items which we could buy off the supermarket freezers. 

 The chilli dipping, topped with chopped roasted peanuts .... 

The sauce was also distinctive, not too spicy, but went so well with the deep-fried foods. 

D ordered for me a belacan beehoon, which I had wanted to try ....

Belacan beehoon, RM3.50

Belacan beehoon is only available in Kuching somehow ...... and it consists of rice vermicelli, topped with shredded cucumbers, blanched beansprouts, cuttlefish. And of utmost importance is the pungent belacan gravy ..... This version here at this cafe was rather diluted in terms of the gravy, not too spicy. I found it quite good ...

Anyway, good to rediscover this place ... as it makes another place to hang out. :))

Airfried Shao Mai

There are lots of things that one can cook using the Airfryer, and I decided to airfry some shao mai dumplings.

It was super easy to use the Airfryer. All I had to do was to place the shao mai into the tray, and place it into the Airfryer. I adjusted to the temperature to 160 degrees Celsius, and airfried it for 10 minutes.

Before airfrying

After 10 minutes ..... 

Golden brown shao mai with crispy skin ..... 

I ate a few immediately, dipped into chilli sauce .... yummy, and another way of enjoying my shao mai. :)) 

The shao mai was bought from Good Old Days Cafe at Kenyalang Park Commercial Centre, RM0.70 per piece. 

Morgan Pork Soup

I've been wanting try this KL-style pork noodle soup for a while ... and today I finally had the chance. Mom and I went there after her appointment at the Tanah Puteh clinic.

Morgan Pork Soup is located at Homemade Specialties at Jalan Ang Cheng Ho. It's a corner coffee shop, which has plenty of stalls selling the local favourites like kolomee, laksa, Heng hua noodles, economy rice and so on. Morgan Pork Soup is the last stall at the side.

I sat down, and ordered a bowl ... and I could have my noodles customised. I chose beehoon or rice vermicelli noodles.

My bowl of noodle soup, RM5.50

The rice noodles were covered generously with pork meatballs, pork slices, some mustard greens, a poached egg .... and the brown little cubes were bits of lard rind .... 

Well, I must say that I enjoyed the noodles a lot! The portion of the vermicelli was just nice .... not too much and not too little. But the broth was really sweet, umami. And I loved that they were generous with the ingredients. Recommended. 

Breakfast @ Jia Jia Cafe

I was being a good Samaritan the other morning when my friend D needed a lift from the car service centre to work. But before I dropped him off at work, we had our breakfast at his favourite cafe, Jia Jia at Ang Cheng Ho Road.

That was because at Jia Jia Cafe, one could get value-for-money breakfast.

Coffee

Kaya Toast

Taking a bite ...

Soft-boiled eggs

Yummy

Breakfast came to about RM4.00 per person only. Cheap. D claimed to have secret admirers there too .... Lol. But I did not see any there at all on that day? Hmn .... he had to be hallucinating. Lol. 

Ais Krim Gula Apong

Where are we going? I asked as I got into the car.

You never give suggestions, D said.

Ok then, I want to go to the Open Air market.

Don't tell me you want to queue for the ice-cream? D asked.

Exactly, I said.

It was about 8.00 p.m. .... and we were going for an after-dinner drink. But an ice-cream would also do, actually.

* * *

There is this gula apong or palm sugar ice-cream sold at the Open Air Market, which has attracted lots of people. So much so that there will a long queue in front of the stall, waiting for their turn for a serving of ice-cream. So naturally, I was curious about it, and I also wanted to try it.

When D and I reached there, there was no queue .... Yayy! The flavour of the day was chocolate .... so I was slightly disappointed ... gula apong and chocolate did not seem to be an ideal combination in flavour to me. Anyway, since we had come all the way for it .... I ordered a small cup while D opted to have it served in a bun.

 Gula Apong Ice-cream, RM2.00

Well, it's essentially soft-serve ice-cream, drizzled with gula apong syrup. Though the ice-cream itself was not too sweet, I find the texture and taste to be inferior. The texture of the ice-cream was not that smooth, and sort of resembled the texture of sorbet. It did not taste creamy and milky, and the chocolate flavour was rather diluted. The gula apong syrup was not very sweet, but it did have that slight fragrance that was rather pleasant. I think that was the thing that appealed to most of the people. 

Chocolate soft-serve in a bun

D did not want the gula apong drizzle at all .... lols. 

Hmn ..... if anyone wants to eat ice-cream in Kuching, I will recommend Sunny Hill for the ultimate ice-cream experience. That's where the ice-cream is smooth and creamy and milky and yummy. :))

Read here for Sunny Hill Ice Cream.

First and last? D asked me about this pretty hyped up ice-cream at the market .....

Well, not necessarily ......................... but not worth queuing up for.

Ah Yeo Ice Kacang

It was a hot, hot afternoon, but I brought the folks to attend to some banking matters .... and after that, where else was there to go except to quench our thirst? On top of my head was ice kacang .... and there were plenty of places to have it. But nearest to us at that time was the Jubilee Ground Hawker Centre.

One popular stall there was Stall no. 2, Ah Yeo's. He's been in business since 1962! And guess what? The folks actually knew him.

Stall no. 2

The menu here is extensive, with very interesting names like White Lady, Pink Lady ... Romeo, Juliet, Lady Gaga ... the list goes on .. but boring old me decided to go with the very basic ABC. 

 ABC with milk, RM2.00

One could choose to have their ABC flavoured with coconut milk; Ah Yeo himself thought that coconut milk brought a richer flavour to the dessert. Nah ... I preferred mine with milk anyway. :P 

The hidden gems incuded red adzuki beans, green cendol, grass jelly, tiny sago pearls ... 

The ingredients were generous enough, and the dessert wasn't cloyingly sweet so it was to my liking. Lots of people here on a hot, hot afternoon tucking into spoonfuls of iced cold desserts. Meanwhile, the air was filled with the pungent aroma of belacan .....

Ah Yeo doesn't sell belacan beehoon .... but the stall adjacent to his sells. It's just specifically stated on a piece of cardboard stuck to the wall in broken English that THEY DO NOT DELIVER TO THE NEXT STALL ....

Oops .... sounds like serious rivalry .... will try the belacan beehoon next time. :P

Penang White Curry Noodles by Nanyang Chef

For so long, I had not had the chance to eat instant noodles because my aunt had been catering my meals. But now that she had stopped ... it was time to eat whatever I wanted. And that evening, I wanted to eat the Penang White Curry noodles.

Yummy .... 

Springy noodles in a white broth, topped with spicy Nanyang chilli paste, blanched long beans, and a poached egg. Now, I was supposed to cook a hardboiled egg, but I cooked it wrongly and it turned out poached. Lols .... it has something to do with the temperature of the water and the amount of time I took to cook the egg. But anyway, I loved the egg all the same. 

I was at Ta Kiong and I chanced upon another brand of Penang White Curry instant noodles, and this brand was called "Nanyang Chef". Yay. Buy, I thought. 

The package

At the back 

There were 4 packs in a bag and I paid RM6.90 for it. 

The noodle cake

The condiments

As usual, I blanched the noodles first, before measuring water to boil for the soup. After the water boiled, I merely added the creamer and the laksa paste. My vegetables were blanched separately, and I was ready to serve.

Well, it did make a satisfying meal ... which I did not mind having once in a while.

Local Cakes @ Noodles Expert

If I remember correctly, I used to be able to get a good selection of local cakes at Noodles Expert, Kenyalang Park Commercial Centre.

That morning, after my exercise, I went to buy some for breakfast .... and did not really find anything interesting there .... so I bought ....

Cai Kueh

Take a peek at the filling ... 

And I bought ...

Popiah

Popiah ... which did not taste very nice as well ... 

What a disappointing breakfast. 

J's Braised Meat Rice

J is my cousin's husband. And he loves to cook. At a charity sale recently, J sold Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice. And he made lots of profit, which he duly donated to the charity he supported.

Given the success, Second Aunt and I invited ourselves to try J's Braised Pork Rice. Lol. And he obliged us by cooking for us one evening ....

J's Braised Pork Rice

Now, J himself is a Taiwanese, and he takes pride in this dish that represents Taiwanese cooking. According to him, the secret to making good braised pork is in the soy sauce. Normally, he will use a Taiwanese brand of soy sauce for braising.

Well, with my bowl of fragrant steamed white rice, I spooned a serving of braised pork and its gravy onto the rice, added half a boiled egg and some chopped cilantro ... yummy .... I liked it but the older folks found the braised meat to be a tad sweet .... I think J noted that, and perhaps he would balance up the flavour after this.

J aims to sell this during the Kuching Festival Fair this year .... ooo .... that will be so cool. :))

Lunch @ Chicking Eating House

We said we wanted to go to the newly refurbished food court at Wisma Nation Horizon. The new place was too packed. And typical D did not like to be in the crowd ..... plenty of places to eat, he often said.

So we ended up at Chicking Eating House instead. Alright, then.

 Nasi Lemak, RM5.50

The rice had a greenish hue .... D seemed to like it. 

Nasi Ayam Penyet, RM7.80

This was what I ordered. First up, I liked the rice. It was good quality rice which they used, and was well-cooked - not too dry and not too moist. On Ayam Penyet, I think the most important item would be the sambal .... and I think the sambal here fell short of my expectations. I wanted the Muara-kind-of-sambal which packed plenty of punch. This sambal here was rather mild. I wished they added more vegetables to the platter ... perhaps more cucumber slices and maybe some long beans .... and I think that some blanched tapioca leaves would make me very happy. :P The chicken was alright, crispy and well-fried.

People on Foursquare recommended the Thai Style Tofu. So I ordered it .... D insisted that I should order because I wanted to eat it, instead of ordering just because people said it was good. Duh! I order whatever I want whenever I want. And I wanted to try the Thai Style Tofu ... 

Thai Style Tofu, RM3.50
And or course, the tofu was really yummy. They were in bite-sized pieces, with very crispy crusts, and yet retains its softness inside. I loved the tofu texture which could melt in the mouth. The sauce was rather on the tangy side, and yet did not zing. The shredded carrots and chopped peanuts appealed to the sights ..... and I .loved this dish. D said, "Not bad horrrr".

With 2 drinks, lunch came to RM20.40. I thought it was reasonably priced .... no wonder there were a lot of people at lunch time. But it was alright, as service was rather speedy. :))

No More Curry Rice @ Fu Cafe

I met up with D for lunch ... it was on an impromptu as we had not actually planned to meet that day.

He was at Fu Cafe, famous for curry rice .... but by the time I reached there, they'd all been sold out. How sad! D, who was there at least 30 minutes ahead of me, managed to have the second last plate .......

Most of the stalls were already closed ... and so I had no choice but to order a stir-fried noodle dish from one of the two stalls operating.

Kopi, RM1.30

Very thick and not sweet, so I liked the coffee. After a busy morning, I sure needed a cuppa.

Stir-fried Fen Gan, RM5.00

Eew. Leeks. D hated leeks. Hence he refused to try the noodles when I asked him to. Silly man!

But well, the noodles were rather tasty with the light smoky flavour. The leeks had hardly any taste, and I wouldn't mind if they had more in it. Perhaps they could even add more textures into the dish .... I'd say that black fungus would go really well with the noodles. Other ingredients in the dish included prawns, slivers of pork, and egg. I have always loved the smooth texture of the Fen Gan. 

Overall, the noodles were alright. :))

Sigh ..... I left the coffee shop unsatisfied ..... curry rice ... sigh .... curry rice ..... next week, D. We're coming for curry rice next week!!!

Nasi Lemak @ Kluang Station

I regretted paying nearly RM20.00 for my meal at Kluang Station. You see, I was craving for nasi lemak, and wasn't sure where I would be able to buy a good version of it here in Kuching .... so meanwhile, I headed to Kluang Station.

Though Kluang Station had opened for years here in Kuching, I had never eaten there before, and I thought why not I try the nasi lemak there ....

Nasi lemak with deep-fried chicken thigh

While the nasi lemak tasted alright, it did not really satisfy my cravings.

For I wanted the old-school type, which came wrapped in newspaper, the messy type with spicy red sambal all over the place, the type which I could happily eat with my fingers and feel very shiok doing so ....

Nasi lemak with cockles rendang, RM3.50

Can anyone recommend me good nasi lemak here in Kuching?

Eh? Changed His Mind ....

D texted me to say that he wanted to try the noodles at Noodle Descendants at Padungan. He'd never been there before in his life! I was aghast! How could he call himself a Kuchingite??

I'd warned him of the long wait, and of course, went through the rules by him .... Must queue, just sit and wait patiently, etc ... and I thought he understood. I even told him to charge his phone so that he could play with it while waiting .......... 

We reached there 10 minutes before 8.00 a.m., and the queue for the table was short .... I counted 3 persons ahead of me only. It would only take a jiffy ..... 

Queue up, I told D.

And he was put off by even that ....................... Goodness! He changed his mind immediately and decided to go elsewhere. 

Where?????? I demanded.

I bring you somewhere better, he said.

What????? I thought Noodle Descendants was the best there was!!! How could there be an even better noodle joint?

D lied. We merely went across the the road to Min Hong Kee. Lol.

Well, over here, there were also plenty to eat, with a number of difrerent stalls within the coffee shop. What was good? 

 Laksa, RM4.00 or RM5.00

Yummy ....

The laksa was really good. All the ingredients were correct, i.e. the beansprouts, chicken, omelette and prawns. And I loved the broth which was tasty and lemak. What I loved even more was the coriander which garnished the whole dish. That made the laksa superb, highly recommended.

 Kolomee, with Liver, RM4.50

 The kolomee was alright...... the noodles were blanched just right and was rather Q ... only that the taste of it wasn't really to-die-for ...

I overheard someone ordering kompia and thought I'd order too. D said I was a busybody. Oh well .... 

Kompia with minced pork, RM1.00 each

D and I both ate one each ..... and took away the rest ...

The kompia here was deep-fried, hence it induced plenty of guilt. I also did not like the filling which I found to be on the sweet side. It was also sticky ... meaning there was use of starch. 

What? They have popiah here? I exclaimed when I saw that many people were eating ..... D rolled his eyes at me. 

I got my wish to try the popiah. I took away 2 pieces. 

RM2.00 per piece

I loved the popiah more than the kompia .... Compactly rolled with sweet peanut sauce .... crunchy and textural .... and dip it in the sweet chilli sauce .... nice. I liked. 

Well .... so much for wanting to have breakfast at Noodle Descendants. We strayed. But I did not regret it. :P Next time, D. Will bring you again to try the "bestest" noodles in Kuching!! 

Dinner @ Grand Continental Hotel

School dinner the other day was at Grand Continental Hotel; food was mediocre, and here are the pictures.

Four Lucky Hot & Cold Seaons

Fish Lips and Assorted Seafood Soup

Thai-style Fried Rice with Chicken

Twin Flavour Roasted Chicken

Steamed Seabass Nyonya Style

Mixed Vegetables with Crab Meat Sauce

Black Pepper Prawns

Snow Fungus with Mixed Fruits Cocktail

I guess food catered from hotels are more or less this standard.