Wedding Reception @Li Hua Hotel 麗華大酒店, Sibu

Address: Long Bridge Commercial Centre, Pekan Sibu, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak.


My bro tied the knot last month. As majority of our relatives are staying in Sibu, they are aged and not that convenient to travel far distant. So my dad decided to hold a small wedding reception at Li Hua Hotel in Sibu. Although the hotel is an old building, but still looking pleasant. The hall can fit in 15 tables, just sufficient for us to host our guests.

My dad booked 14 tables at RM650 a table, 9 dishes. I do not want to elaborate more on the dishes, just show you the pictures. Except the black chicken soup, 8 dishes are shown below:

I love their assorted platter here. Thumbs up for all.




Yam basket. The mixed veges was good but the yam tasted alright only.




Sesame chicken.




Sweet and sour deep-fried cod fish. This fried cod fish was really a surprise to me. Normally we would choose steamed fish menus but never tried the deep fried cod fish before. They cooked it perfectly well. the meat was still soft, not overly deep-fried. The strips on top is made of potato. It's like eating the potato sticks.
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Beef tendon and sea cucumber.




Roast duck with buns.




Prawns, quite ordinary taste but the prawns were fresh.




Dessert, we had cream puffs.




The customer service was excellent, the staffs were friendly and experienced. I believe some of the staffs have served very long term in the company. Even though the price is slightly more expensive than the banquet we had in Kuching, well..  different menus different pricing.


The map to Li Hua Hotel in Sibu town:

Happiness Cafe 幸福園饮食坊 @Jalan Delta, Sibu

Address: No. 1D & 1E, Lane 4, Jalan Delta, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak.
Business hours: Tuesday 6:30am - 1:00pm; Wednesday - Monday 6:30am - 1:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:30pm


After breakfast at Chop Hing Huong, we stopped by Happiness Cafe to meet family members as they chose to have breakfast here. This coffee shop is located in housing area, Delta Road. Variety of choices here, there's a Malay food stall here too. My uncle paid a high compliment on the ding bian hu here. So out of curiousity, I also tempted to try it out.





My parents liked the kampua here. The texture was good but the lard aroma wasn't strong enough. For me, there's no kampua can compete with the kampua at Pasar Utama Bintulu.




Here's the ding bian hu. My uncle said it has lots of ingredients. Yes, it does have more ingredients but frozen fish cakes and fish balls. And they used kueh chap's flat rice noodles not the traditional form of ding bian hu. This should not called ding bian hu. They should name it differently.




The map to Happiness Cafe:

Revisit Chop Hing Huong 興園餐室 & Xiu Long Confectionery 小龍餅家, Sibu

Address: 2-40, Jalan Tukang Besi, Pekan Sibu, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak.
Business Hours: Monday - Saturday 6:00am - 5:30pm, Sunday 6:00am - 12:30pm


Last week my family drove to Sibu for my bro's wedding reception. Again we tried to squeeze a time for this famous "ding bian hu" 鼎边糊. I just found out, this is the third post of Chop Hing Huong in my blog. Despite my uncle and aunt in Sibu keep recommending us to try out ding bian hu at other coffee shops, but we are still not convinced. Next post I'll blog the other ding bian hu we've tried.

This time I embedded videos in this post. 




They still do it traditionally, use the stone grinder to grind rice freshly everyday.







Ok, shame on me. I didn't know they sell also Foochow fried noodle and noodle soup. First tried their fried noodle, not bad too. The noodle was wok-fried so it had the charred aroma. The gravy was not as thick, quite watery but flavourful.




While waiting for my food to be served, I always sneak to the next door for their egg cakes. The egg cake should be their signature. We have tried their gong pia / kompia. Not so recommended, as their gong pia is oven machine baked not using the traditional clay oven.




First time I tried this modified version of "Jun Nu Piang", the sweet and soft version of gong pia. The yellow layer on top is butter. I was quite impressed with its taste, it was surprisingly good. It reminds me of Hong Kong's polo bun. But it's best to consume while it's still fresh. The next day the bread would turn harder, the texture gradually deteriorated.





Click HERE to read my first post of Chop Hing Huong.
Click HERE to read my second post of Chop Hing Huong.

The map to Chop Hing Huong:

The Flying Kampua @King Sun Canteen 金顺阁, Sibu

Address: No. 4, Jalan Tekam, Pekan Sibu, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak.
Business Hours: Sorry, didn't ask them for operation hours. Wait till my next visit ok.


The day after funeral, dad drove us to this coffeeshop. His youngest brother brought him here once, saying the vendors can perform a special act, tossing the noodles very high in the air. And, the kampua tastes surprisingly nice too. Too bad I didn't capture the vendor tossing the noodles. Apparently the tossing act made them famed and published in newspapers. Click here to know it further. Or, just google "Sibu flying kampua", you should get the search results with video.

This place is located at light industrial area. So it might be challenging to find a parking space. It was raining that day, we definitely didn't want to park too far from the coffeeshop. Made two rounds to search for parking, finally got a car reversing out.




Pork liver soup was sold out so we had mixed ingredients soup which contained fishballs, meatballs, mince meat, and veges. We are typical Foochow, must have kampua with a bowl of soup. Normally if you order kampua, they will offer a small bowl of clear soup for free. But my family always order ala carte soup. This mixed ingredients soup was great in taste despite its look quite plain.




This is dark kampua with chilli sauce, it's noodles mixed with dark soy sauce and chilli sauce. If you can pronounce it right, in Foochow it is called "kampua dou you lak".




This is the authentic form of kampua. I like the kampua in plain so that I can savour the noodles with thick pork lard aroma. The noodles portion and meat slices were pretty generous in size. The deep-fried onions and spring onions sprinkled on top makes the whole presentation perfectly mouth-watering. I still drool by looking at this picture. Hmm.... should go back to Sibu for this again.




My dad's chilli kampua, noodles with chilli sauce. It's called "kampua bu-a lak" in Foochow. Can you follow me? 😂  I can't recall how much it cost. Should be RM3? Or RM3.50? Well, it worths the price though.. Big portion and big meat slices.




This is one of the best kampua I ever had. I've tried some kampua that taste average too in Sibu. According to my dad, his all-time favourite kampua still the kampua stall at Century Inn, Jalan Central. Unfortunately the vendor has retired.

The map to King Sun Canteen:

Chop Hing Huong 興園餐室 & Xiu Long (Sibu) Confectionery 小龍餅家, Sibu

Address: 2-40, Jalan Tukang Besi, Pekan Sibu, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak.
Business Hours: I have no idea of its business hours. It opened every time I visited. Early morning till late noon, even evening time. Not sure they are still operating at evening time?


I lost my aunt in February, flew back to Sibu to attend the funeral. Before getting ourselves busy with the guests, we must fill our stomach first. We rarely skip to have the famous ding bian hu 鼎边糊 every time we visit Sibu. I think Sibu Municipal Council has done a good job, the alley got "visibly" cleaner. And there is "Dian Mian Hu" mural on the wall. The picture looks familiar to me, I compared it to my previous post of Chop Hing Huong, it is actually identical. Now I realised the reason Sibu Municipal Council emailed me for permission to use the photo.




The photo Sibu Municipal Council asked for permission to use. Looks exactly the same right? The pails, drinking glass, pots, kettle, and the vendor with the same shirt, apron and pants, at the same angle. The mural artwork is finished by the artist named Braden Tiong. Hmm, same surname as mine. Haaha..




The day we visited Chop Hing Huong but we sat at the coffee shop opposite. If you came here and found out no seat available, don't worry.. there's plenty of seats available at the coffee shop opposite. Different owner but you are allowed to order outside food as long as you order drinks from them.




My big bowl of ding bian hu and a bottle of soda cream manufactured in Sibu. My another aunt told me that she prefers the other ding bian hu near Sibu Civic Centre, which is operated by a sibling of the owners of Chop Hing Huong. I ever tried the ding bian hu that she mentioned too, both are equally good. But my parents prefer to visit the old place, me too.. so that I can buy the egg cakes from the next door.




I have tried a lot of egg cakes (kuih bahulu) in the past.. and none is as delicious as Xiu Long's. Seriously it is superb springy and full of egg yoke aroma. It's a must buy item for me. I can have 4 pieces continuously, or even more than 5 if my mum didn't stop me. No joke. If not mistaken, 3 pieces at RM1. I bought RM5, not enough still since I had to share it with others. Next time I must buy a lot for self consumption.




The variety of Foochow pastries that are only available in Sibu.




Map to Chop Hing Huong and Xiu Long (Sibu) Confectionery:

Chop Hing Huong, 兴园茶室 The Famous Ding Bian Hu 鼎边糊, Sibu

Location: Alley besides Ah Hee Kopi Tian, Butterfly Garden, Sibu, Sarawak

I'm going to Sibu this weekend for my grand mother's 80's birthday celebration. This reminds me of the famous ding bian hu 鼎边糊 which I should blog. Everyone in Sibu knows where to have it and the shop has been existing more than 30 years, even during the courtship of my parents, I guess? Every trip to Sibu, this is the place my father and I will not miss out. Since kids we always went there for a hot bowl of ding bian hu and a bottle of local-made soda drinks. That's our childhood memory.

So what's so special about this ding bian hu? It's Foochow delicacy. Mix the rice flour with water, cook it around the rim of wok with the broth boiling in the wok. When the rice flour is cooked, scrap it into the broth. Garnished with fish balls, cuttlefish, black fungus, deep fried shallots and pepper. It should be served with ceramic bowl and spoon (it does make the taste different).

Chop Hing Huong's ding bian hu is different from others is because they made the fish balls themselves.

Cream soda manufactured in Sibu. It is only available in Sibu. Less gas and sweet. Full of our childhood memory.






There's another brand of cream soda made in Sibu too. I would still prefer N.K.'s cream soda.




After ding bian hu, I always got attracted by the aroma of kuih bahulu from next door. It's a must have food for me. I had 2 pieces of bahulu after a big bowl of ding bian hu.

Kuching has better taste of ding bian hu too, one at Peach Garden Jalan Song (evening operation) and one at Sing Garden Hui Sing (morning operation).

Only in Sarawak

This idea has instilled in my mind for long time after my Penang trip with mum. Penang tourism board has put a lot of efforts on promoting Penang thru its local famous food, authentic Penang food! I enjoyed my food trip a lot. Since then I was thinking what we have in Sarawak can also boost up our tourism industry too. Here I am going to categorize the list of foods which can be found in Sarawak in different region.

My food list will only cover the major cities / towns in Sarawak, a.k.a Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu. Sorry for not being able to cover the rest of the areas: Miri, Sri Aman, Sarikei, Kapit, etc. I think the food is more or less the same. Correct me if I'm wrong, or email me the information which I missed out.

SARAWAK
Bilin / midin / milin - it has different names, perhaps it was because we have different local dialects here. Thus different pronunciations? For those who don't know how does it look like. I derived it online first, will upload a new one next time:



It is a type of jungle fern which can only be found in Sarawak. We Sarawakians love this dish. We normally stir fry it with garlic, some prefer with belacan, some like it with Chinese red wine.

If you plan to visit Sarawak, must include it in your list. It's not possible to export it because its freshness is very short. It turns black after few hours which doesn't look so appetizing.

Umai is a type of dish from Melanau, native in Sarawak. Raw fish thinly sliced, served with shallots, chilies, lime juice. It tastes surprisingly nice. Spicy and sour, syiok!



Tuak is rice wine from Iban / Dayak, native in Sarawak. The alcohol content is high. It's not available in market, but if you visit any long house here, the natives might serve you tuak generously. Be careful, don't over estimate your capability.

Dabai fruit is a type of exotic fruit in Sarawak. Also known as "black olive", taste like avocado. 




Kuching, capital city of Sarawak
Sarawak Laksa
Kolo Mee 哥罗面
Zheng / Cheng
Mattahorn & White Lady
Siobee 烧卖
Sugarcane + Coconut
Tomato Kueh Tiaw
Belacan Bee Hoon
Cha Kueh (Fried Carrot Cake)
Kueh Chap 粿什
Shao Bao 烧包
Bee Pang / Bipang 米香 (Rice Crackers)





O Jian (Oyster Omelette)
3 Layered Tea 三色奶茶
Kek Lapis (Layers Steamed Cake)
Tebaloi / Sago Biscuits 
Dayak Cuisine

Sibu, town of Foochow, where the riches from
Kong pia / kompia / gong pia 光饼 - the bun is quite hard to chew, tasteless but full of sesame aroma. It tastes nice when freshly out from oven. Not many sellers in the market because the oven of making kong pia has to be custom-made.
Kampua 干盘面 - authentic kampua must cook with lard. Normally I like it with dark soy sauce.
Ding Bian Hu 鼎边糊
Zao Cai Bee Hoon 糟菜米粉
River Snails, this only can be found in Rajang river. We normally cook it with ginger and bring it to boil. It's my favourite, too bad it's seasonal.

To eat its flesh, you have to use a toothpick to dig it out.



This is another type of river snails. To eat the flesh, you have to master your sucking skill first.



Salted Crab. This is my family's favourite. I started crave for it when picturing it. It's only available in Sibu and it is seasonal too. Can only be found in market during harvest period. This is not the crab from river or sea, it's a type of crab can be found in rice field. We eat it raw, soak it in lime juice and chilies.



Mee Sua 面线

Chicken Soup Mee Sua 鸡汤面线



Ba Zhen Mee Sua 八珍面线



Foochow Red Wine 红酒

Bintulu, a small town turning into industrial land
Belacan paste 虾膏
Cincalok / Chinchalok / Cencaluk



* This post will be edited from time to time. For easy reference, you may find it at the top menu under the name of "MUST TRY".