Sibu is where the kampua and kompia originated from. Over the decades, the title of the “Best Kompia” had always been in the hands of the auntie at Tiong Hua Road, but in the last decade or so, at Taman Muhibbah, there’s this uncle by the name of Ah Kuok, came up with his own recipe of kompia and it’s attracting kompia lovers from all over the state.

“Kom Biang” (光饼)- a Foochow delicacy made with flour, baked in an oven and eaten either with or without meat and a special gravy. It is somewhat similar to a bagel. However, it can be either in a crisp or soft version. Nice soft kompia dipped in pork sauce can be sought from Tiong Hua road and the Sunday Market at Pedada road.

- Wikipedia

This is the Ah Kuok kompia stall. You can’t miss it once you’ve stepped into Taman Muhibbah food court (just a few blocks beside Delta Mall), with his signature “KL Twin Tower” replica. He claimed that the towers “construction” costs him about RM800+. He draws the idea with his visits to KL some time ago, and came back to built this model for his own shop. Very patriotic of him!

Mary was in town for the Ching Ming festival, I wonder if it’s right to classified it as ‘festival’ since no one is actually celebrating it. Moods were mostly subdued with thoughts of their loved ones from the other part of the world.

Anyway, whenever we meet, food is the top agenda. Pizza Hut is one of our targets this time. I don’t really fancy pizzas, but I really loved their onion bread and roasted chicken wings! It’s been a very long time since I last stepped into Sibu’s Pizza Hut, a lot has changed.

Nowadays we don’t get to scoop our own mushroom soup, everything is brought to your table. Cutleries, food, soup, bills, etc. Back then, it was mostly self-service, even when it comes to payment. But now, you’ll just have to diam diam sit down, eat, pay, stand up, pat your ass and walk away.

We order the stuff-crust seafood pizza set deal that comes standard with the Pepsi drink and the Onion bread.

The onion bread.

We side-ordered the roasted chicken wings. A must have for any visits to Pizza Hut!

Breakfast and tea time outlets are popping up everywhere in West Malaysia and it’s just a matter of time this culture hits the shore of Sarawak.

Kaya Toast is a local, brand new, breakfast concept shop originated from the capital Kuching. It now has stores spreading all across the vast state, including 2 in Miri, and another one in Bintulu.

This is the outlet in Miri’s CBD.

Apart from the annual flood, Sibu’s Tiong Hua Road has other hidden treasures for travellers to discover. Just ask any Siburian about the direction to Tiong Hua Road’s kompia house, I’m sure you’ll have the answer.

Don’t worry, it only floods during the Chinese New Year.

A lot of us tends to get hungry while flying on board, especially the long-haul flights to international destinations. So this smart CEO of AirAsia knew this could be yet another way to net in more profits, following many additional charges that were already implemented.

The free tickets or low-fares were actually meant for those really, really, early birds who can get them. For those who’re late, they might be paying at normal fares, or sometimes even extra to get a ticket. You do the math, when you span average the total fees collected, they pretty much got it covered and then earning some.

Anyway, today, we’re looking at this very hot franchise brand in Malaysia, it’s franchises are spreading nationwide that even Sibu has it! Ya, Sibu. It’s weird because there aren’t much Siburian who’ll fork out premium price to savor just a piece of ordinary chicken sausage wrapped in the middle of a long bun with sesame on top of it. So much so that they even had a franchise opened up in the air, thanks to Air Asia.

But there’s consequences with opening so many branches and having the ingredients rushed through the catering deck. This is my experience of having the 1901 on AirAsia.

The hotdog arrived pretty promptly after the order in a nicely packaged paper container.

Wrapped and microwaved hotdog. Seasonings and sauces are readily provided at self-service.

The wrinkled buns and hot dog. Very disappointing.

Spreading the chilli sauce and mayonnaise over the sausage.

There you have it. A plain hotdog with chilli and mayonnaise. That would be RM8(?) sir. WTF?

Thumbs down for the hotdog. Ask your kid to spot the difference between the leaftlet and the real hot dog. What’s missing?

Being ripped off here.

When it’s raining, get under an umbrella. This is yet another fine dining place popping up like mushrooms after the rain.

This is Payung Cafe @ Lanang Road. It’s a few blocks before Fat Mum Restaurant if you’re going from Upper Lanang towards the town area.

This is Payung Cafe from the outside.

The typical, laminated menu.

Mango Milk Shake @ RM5. Tasted okay, but adding some mango bits would certainly boost the taste.

Springroll.

Chicken Rice. Lots of bones and the chicken is tasteless.

Pamelo Salad, Thai style.

Guava Salad, Thai Style.

I’ve to say their Thai style salads taste great. Probably the best dishes of the night.

Not to be mistaken with the Little Umbrella Cafe (Xiao Yu Shan) at the end Brooke Drive, this Payung Cafe is located at a shoplot beside shipyards and timber yards along the Lanang Road, a few blocks away from the Fat Mom Restaurant. They serve mainly exotic Asian dishes and some western dishes. It’s not easy to spot, if you need directions, please contact me!