Afternoon Tea @ Kim's Cafe

Well, I was at Kim's Cafe with my friends the other day at an odd hour, and it was pleasant to know that there's plenty to eat there!

Kim's Cafe opened last year, but this outlet seemed quietly inconspicuous. Many did not know of its existence, including myself. It was A**** who recommended that we go there, citing it as one of the favourite cafes to hang out.

It was W**'s birthday, and because of so many lapses in communication, we ended up celebrating at 3.00 p.m. in the afternoon. It was neither lunch nor dinner; A**** and I had a full breakfast, and yet W** and I had not eaten for the day.

Initially, W** ordered Laksa, but was told that it was not available. The lady told us that she could not secure coconut milk to not make Laksa on that day. Disappointed, W**** settled for Mee Sua in Red Wine. Lol. IMO, it's just so apt to eat longevity noodles on one's birthday. The lady offered to add in a hard-boiled egg foc. She also offered extra red wine, which W** turned down.

Anyway, the Mee Sua came topped with 3 pieces of chicken, shiitake mushroom, and as promised, a hard-boiled egg. The bowl was a tad too small and there was too little soup to eat the mee sua with, and so, the lady offered extra soup in another bowl!

Mee Sua or Longevity Noodles in Red Wine

A**** and I just wanted to snack, so we ordered a set of spring rolls. I expected them to be deep-fried popiahs wrapped with shredded vegetables. Instead, the spring roll turned out to be mini meat rolls. There were 3 rolls per order, served with sambal belacan. I suppose the meat rolls tasted pretty alright. Except that I did not like meat rolls to begin with. All of us liked the piquant sambal belacan, though.

Meat rolls

Our snacks basket came filled with crinkled fries, 3 tiny pieces of battered fish and 2 chicken wings. Pretty ordinary.

Snacks basket

However, all three of us liked the waffles a lot. The waffle was soft, and was superb when eaten with the ice-cream. The waffle satisfied and comforted and had me craving for more.

Waffles with a single scoop of chocolate ice-cream ... to die for ..

Kim's Cafe is at the same block as Clara International. Doesn't click? Hmn. Maybe if I say "Citrus", then you'll have a better idea? Parking is limited, so it can be quite a put off for some.

Breakfast @ X Cuisine

A**** and I drove past X Cuisine @ Pelita Commercial Centre here in Miri, and saw quite a lot of people there. So we decided to check the outlet out.

The cafe was small, but clean and pleasantly decorated. Soothing instrumental music entertained the diners. The menu listed Hong Kong style cafe items - from toasts to noodles to rice. Quite a lot of choices, it seems, and it was difficult for me to decide what to eat.

A**** ordered the Beef Brisket noodles in soup. Fine wheat noodles were blanched and served with clear broth, and topped with baby bok choy and chunks of stewed beef. I had a taste of the the broth, and found it flavoured with beef and white radish. The beef brisket noodles was RM6.80 for a serving.

Beef Brisket Noodles in Soup

I ordered the Hot and Sour Noodles in Soup. The same wheat noodles were blanched and served in thick hot and sour soup. There were minced pork, finely shredded black fungus, finely shredded fresh chillies, spongy slices of pig skin, a teeny weeny bit of sea cucumber slices, and lots of preserved vegetables in this dish. The soup was real sour, just the way I liked it. It was RM6.00 a bowl.

Hot & Sour Noodles in Soup

The portion of the noodles were pretty large, enough to share between 2 small eaters.

A**** and I also ordered the Hong Kong style toast. It's a peanut butter sandwich, coated in eggs and then pan-fried. The toast is served with honey, RM4,90.


A**** and I both loved the toast, but we wanted it drenched in MORE honey!!! ;p

A**** and I do not mind coming back sometime to try more of the items in the menu. We saw many people eating rice in stone bowls, and thought that looked interesting too! X Cuisine operates from 10.30 a.m. - 10.00 p.m. and is closed on Tuesdays.

Bubur Cha Cha

J* must be in the cooking mode recently, as today, he came to school with a big pot of bubur cha cha.

Bubur cha cha is a nyonya dessert, which comprises diced yam and sweet potatoes in a rich sweetened coconut milk broth. Typically, sago pearls are added to the broth.

J* used yam and sweet potatoes but no sago pearls were evident. The coconut milk was thick and sweet, and just for fun it, J* added a can of diced pineapple into the bubur cha cha. It's the first time for me, having pineapples in my bubur cha cha, and I can't say that I like it very much.

I helped myself to a portion of bubur cha cha served in a fancy bowl ...

Nevertheless, thank you to J* for feeding us this morning!!

IMO Not So Impactful

These few days, I had a craving for sweets. I also haven't any idea why. So when I was at a bakery at Pelita Commercial Centre here in Miri, I was tempted into buying this bun, interestingly named Double Impact.

Double Impact

It was probably a new item, as I had never seen it before. Double Impact? I was not quite sure what it meant. Double impact, meaning both sides of the bun was coated in chocolate? Or Double Impact because there was chocolate in and on the bun? Or Double Impact because the cream had double the amount of chocolate in it? *scratch head*

Anyway, I bought a piece for RM1.80. And after eating the bun, I was rather disappointed. I found the chocolate cream to be too runny. Too diluted, or what? No doubt there was a lot of it piped in between the slit bun, but the chocolate cream did not have that to-die-for rich taste nor texture. It's such a pity as the bun had looked so pleasant to the eye....

Kompia Snack

There's a lady who goes around town with her basket of kompia for sell. The kompia is deep-fried, then stuffed with a spiced minced pork filling.

Whenever I see her, I will buy her kompia. Deep fried, the taste and texture of the kompia is akin to that of a doughnut. The filling is flavoured with 5-spice powder, and is a delightful companion to the pastry.

It has been a long time since I saw the lady who usually moves around from one coffee shop to another. But thankfully, I have friends who still see her once in a while. A**** will buy me a piece or two whenever she comes across the Kompia Lady, as we like to call her.

A**** and I have the habit of refrigerating the kompias and then heating them up in the toaster whenever we feel like having a yummilicious snack. They still taste surprisingly good, even after sitting in the fridge for a day or two. In fact, toasting makes the pastry even crispier.

So next time when an elderly lady approaches you to ask whether you want to buy kompia, do give it a try.

Kolo Mee & Liver Soup @ 阿顺板面

At the Pelita Commercial Centre intersection, opposite Hot Cross Buns is the QQ Specialist Duck. Mind you, it's not the newly opened shop at the other end of Hot Cross Buns near the junction. This is the older outlet, across the road from the bakery.

At this outlet is 阿顺板面, translated to be Ah Soon Ban Mian, and my friend T**** , recommended the liver soup there.

Liver soup

The liver soup was RM5.00 for a bowl, and upon trying it, I really liked it too. The combination of shredded young ginger and sweet red wine was really yum. The vendor was generous with the ingredients, which comprised liver slices, thin pork slices, deep-fried pieces of pig skin, and lots of green crinkled mustard.

Impulsively, I ordered a bowl of kolo mee.

Kolo mee

Well, the kolo mee was tasty too, except that there was too much noodles and not enough of toppings. My suggestion to the vendor would be to cut down on the noodles and to add a bit more char siew and minced pork to balance things up. But I guess those with big appetites would not mind the big portion of noodles served here. The kolo mee is RM2.50 a bowl.

I'm already thinking of my next bowl of liver soup, and I really do not mind trying the ban mian too in the future.

Missing The Good Old Days

Yesterday, my colleague, J* made pasta for breakfast. This morning, he cooked again, and this time it's Fried Beehoon and a microwave-cooked chicken.

J*'s fried beehoon

Microwave-cooked chicken

I liked the chicken as it was really well-marinated, the flavours coming through the normally bland chicken breast. J* used a barbecue sauce, a local product, but when asked, he could not recall the brand name.

"Lama tak makan bersama ....," my colleague N** commented, and it brought me back to the good old days when we were still a small establishment.

When I started teaching in the school more than 10 years ago, there were less than 30 teachers. Us colleagues were all very close and occasionally, we would have communal meals in the staff room. It was a time for us to relax and catch up with the latest happenings in our lives. However, more often than not, our conversation topics revolved around our school, our students, and our lessons.

As time passed, the school grew bigger, we got busier, staff came and went faster, and communal meals were a thing of the past. Nowadays, the staff room was only for work, work and more work, and people ate at their individual work stations. More and more people ate at the canteen, as there was not even time to prepare our own food from home.

So, it was really nice of J* to have woken up early today to make us some fried beehoon. It certainly brought back past memories, when eating together provided an escape from the hectic school activities.