Noodles With Egg 粉干鸡蛋

I've always loved thick rice vermicelli noodles with egg and red wine broth. However, it's quite difficult to find it sold at the local hawker stalls in Kuching. And if they do sell, a good version is hard to come by. Even the one at Soon Fatt Cafe (supposedly famed for its Foochow delicacies) at Petanak failed to meet my expectations.

And so my friend PH recommended to me this stall at Rock City, Eastmoore, 2 1/2 mile Rock Road. The stall is located inside the coffee shop, next to the kueh chap stall.

Noodles with Egg 

Though the portion was small, this bowl of noodles looked promising. The broth was thick and did taste of red rice wine. However, I could do with more soup. This one merely filled two-thirds of the bowl. Other ingredients included pork slices, 2 tiny slices of liver, 1 miserable fish ball, and some vegetables. Overall, it was one of the better versions, but certainly not the cheapest nor the heartiest nor the best ones I've had.

"How is it?" PH asked me ....

"Hmn .... I think I've had better ones in Miri," I replied, and my mind transported me to Pelita Commercial Centre where QQ Roasted Duck was and there was a stall there that sold some kicka$$ 糟菜粉干 and 粉干鸡蛋 . Sigh. Those good old days ....

Ban Mian 板面 @ Min Joo Kee

We were at Min Joo Kee at about 6.45 a.m., and found that there were a lot of people having their breakfast already! There was kolo mee (definitely!) and porridge and chicken rice and banmian 板面. Other stalls have not started their operations yet. I saw the vendor rolling pieces of the noodle dough, and was tempted to try the banmian that morning.

Dry Ban Mian, RM5.00

Not bad, this dish was rather tasty - tastier than some places that I know of in Kuching. I liked the texture of the noodles, which was thin and soft, and yet not mushy. The oils that coated the noodles were rather aromatic. Other ingredients included minced pork, shredded mushroom, shredded black fungus, anchovies and cangkuk manis. Suffice to say that I liked and would recommend this! Yummy!

Special Bee Hoon Soup @ New Happy Cafe

This kopitiam is hidden right behind Homemade Specialties at Jalan Ang Cheng Ho. It's called New Happy Cafe. In fact, I'd seen it many times over but never had the urge to go try the food here. Today, I went upon the recommendation of my colleague, W. Many of us ordered the Special Bee Hoon Soup ....

Special Bee Hoon Soup, RM6.00

I'd say that they were quite generous with the ingredients - both pork balls and chicken slices were used, together with fishballs, veges and black fungus. The broth tasted of red rice wine, so it was slightly tangy. It also had a homemade feel to it. This stall fronting the shop sells many more stir-fried food .... and I'd love to come back and try the stir-fried noodles soon!

Ik Ho

I'd come here right after lunch. So I could not try the sandwiches here. The sandwiches were made on the spot, and were very popular with the locals. So I decided buy some some pastries ....

Freshly baked curry puffs in the food warmer ...

I bought .... 

Curry Puff, Pork Siew Bao, Meat Floss Ball 

I found that both the curry puff and the pork siew bao tasted alright, better than the ones at Hong Kong Puff and some other places; The meat floss ball is its signature item; its filling is a combination of sweet and savoury, so it was rather unique.

I'd come back to try the sandwiches; they open from 6.30 a.m. onwards.   

Hi-Bread

I've always driven past this place, and I've always noticed the large crowd. I was curious, of course, but I've not the opportunity to come here till now.

We were there at 6.00 a.m., and was surprised to see a long queue at the counter already! Kuching folks sure start their day early! Though there were lots of people, we did not wait long for our food ...

Kopi O (RM1.30) and Milo O(RM2.20) 

 Smoked Beef Sandwich, RM4.20 & Chicken Paprika Sandwich, RM4.00

Looked rather impressive! It had been toasted and was served warm. In between the bun were thin slices of smoked beef, shredded cabbage and cheese. 

Smoked Beef Sandwich

The best thing about the sandwich was the bread - which was so soft and fresh! The smoked beef, certainly, wasn't the best, but the overall combination was acceptable. In the end, we both enjoyed the sandwich a lot. 

Set H, RM5.80

There's chicken sausage and chicken ham, crispy hash brown, a fresh and soft bun, shredded cabbage, baked beans

The meats, again, looked unattractive, but surprisingly, they tasted alright. The hash brown was really crispy, and the bun was again, soft and freshly baked. 

This place also sold a selection of buns, all priced very reasonably. I'd definitely come back for breakfast! 

Kueh Chap @ Sin Poh Poh

It was 6.45 a.m. in the morning, raining. But we went to Sin Poh Poh, Padungan for breakfast. We both wanted to eat kueh chap, but at that early in the morning, the stall had not started operating. We waited till 7.00 a.m. before we could order.

Kueh Chap, RM5.00

Served boiling hot, this kueh chap was pretty tasty. The spices used to flavour the broth was not too overpowering. I liked it as it was, but S found it too bland. The pork meat and the offal were fresh and well-braised. There was also braised eggs and tofu pok. For a small bowl of RM5.00, the portion was reasonably big. Overall, I enjoyed the kueh chap lots.

What's nice at Sin Poh Poh is also the soy sauce kampua. I'll talk about that another time.