I had a glorious lunch of braised pork, four emperor vegetables, and buttered prawns with the famous suituapui a.k.a. Arthur a couple of days ago. He suggested either Ming Mei Shi – a Chinese restaurant I haven’t been to, or Payung Cafe and I went with the former. It’s relatively new and one of Arthur’s favorite places to eat so I wanted to check it out.
Ming Mei Shi is owned by the chef of the now defunct Blue Splendor (a famous restaurant in Sibu). Word is, the rent at Wisma Sanyan was raised to levels he found unacceptable, so he opened a new restaurant at a different location.
Four emperor vegetables
This is a dish made with four different types of vegetables – brinjal (eggplant), lady’s finger (okra), baby corn and long beans. It tasted really good and I ate most of it, much to my surprise, since I’m not usually a huge fan of vegetables. It’s the mixture of sticky starchiness in the eggplant and okra combined with the sweetness of the baby corn and the crunchiness of the long beans that did it for me.
Homemade silk tofu
Okay, I don’t actually know what this homemade recommendation is called. It was the special of their day and I wouldn’t call it tofu at all. I hate tofu and this is awesome stuff. It has tofu in it but also surimi (crab meat) and a plethora of other flavorful ingredients all mixed together before being quickly deep fried, creating a very fine and silky tofu medley piece that goes well with the mayonnaise served on the side.
We didn’t really know what it was so we only ordered one piece each. I wish I had ordered more as it was excellent!
Creamy butter prawns
Our version of butter prawns is not deep fried with butter but cooked in a sweet and creamy butter sauce. Ruby Restaurant does this really well but I love Ming Mei Shi’s version too. Arthur preferred Ruby’s but I was rather taken with the sweet butter prawns the cook dished out. Perfection!
Braised pork belly with man tou
This is the signature dish of the place and it’s a huge chunk of artery clogging pork belly. The waitress cut the string binding the porcine goodness and used a pair of scissors to dissect it into manageable pieces. You’re supposed to eat it with the warm man tou (plain steamed buns) as a sandwich of sorts.
It is tender and flavorful, with a thick starchy sauce that goes very well with your rice. I enjoyed this dish tremendously.
I polished off everything – there wasn’t a morsel left when I was done with lunch – a testament to Ming Mei Shi’s delicious culinary offerings. The bill came up to about RM 50 for all that, which is very reasonable for the dishes we ordered.
Just look at this fine specimen of perfectly cooked pork belly! I highly recommend every single dish that we had that day. 😀
Ming Mei Shi is located behind Rejang Medical Center in Sibu.
RM50?!!! OMG so cheap! but don’t tell the shop owners lols…
That’s the best thing about dining in Sibu, you get good food for relatively cheap prices. 🙂
Not everywhere though, some places are more expensive than others. 😀
Yum! Good thing my dad can cook that =P
Nice! 🙂
Yeah, it’ll be great to have home cooked meals like this. My parents don’t cook unfortunately but I do like cooking. 😀
Wow! Ur cooking must be good right? =P I love home cooked meals.
Well, I wouldn’t say my cooking is great but I do enjoy cooking. 🙂
Correction:
Ming Mei Shi is owned by the chef of the now defunct Blue Splendour who left with his wife – the chief waitress/captain and opened this shop. Word is, the rent at Wisma Sanyan was raised to levels he found unacceptable, so the owner of the original Blue Splendour decided to call it a day and close shop.
So these days, this place is the next best thing to the former one – the food is just as nice or perhaps even better (but the place is not as impressive as the old one).
Oops! I think my 2nd comment has gone to spam…
Fixed that! Cheers, my friend! 😀
Oh, I get it! 🙂
1. The chef from Blue Splendor is *not the same person* as the owner of Blue Splendor
2. Only the chef went to open Ming Mei Shi with his wife in tow, but not the original owner of Blue Splendor
I thought the chef of Blue Splendor AND the owner of Blue Splendor are the same person. Haha!
Yup, I remember the now defunct Blue Splendor, they had really nice dishes and one of my friends from Kuching actually had the Sibu leg of his wedding here. 😀
Thanks for the lunch, Huai Bin. I always enjoy your company…and sure am flattered that you don’t mind going out with this old man. Who? Me, famous? Eyewwwwww!!! Not me, you… Wink! Wink!
Hey, no worries mate! It’s my pleasure, and it’s always fun to eat with you and talk about all sorts of stuff – I remember topics ranging from music to literature. 🙂
You’re the famous one – hey, even the boss of Noodle House even promised you the Mille crepe on the house next time you come in. Haha!
Thanks for dinner and the t-shirt, much appreciated. Next round is on me, tell me when you’ll be in KL! It’s always a pleasure to dine with you Arthur! 😀
there’s only 2 of you in the whole restaurant?
All the smaller tables taken. That section, all the big tables for full-course sit-down dinners.
Yeah, and I hear you’ve been going there every single day for an entire week! 😀
It has great food though, definitely have to visit it again next time I come back to Sibu. 🙂
Nope, the other side was very full, so there were no seats available. We sat at the restaurant style dining area instead. 🙂
Funny thing was, I was in the restaurant and called Arthur – turned out he was just outside, I came in from a different direction.
Hey, you should try this place if you come down to Sibu Eiling! 😀
Sei dai tin wong is my favorite!!
Indeed! I don’t like most vegetables but this version of “four emperor vegetables” was delicious due to the mixture of vegetables which provides it with different flavors and textures. 🙂
Hey, Michelle, I’ve always wondered, does “si dai tin wong” e.g. “four emperor vegetables” always have the same four vegetables in the “original version” (if there ever was an original version).
I’ve seen different implementations with different choices of vegetables over here but it’s always four different types. I’ve had different combos of 4 vegetables in KL and elsewhere when I order the same dish too.
Ming Mei Shi’s version is great though – a very well thought out selection of four vegetables cooked well. 😀
HB, wonderful meal. I now won’t be able to find those dishes in San Francisco since they are your homeland own special dishes. I would like to try make some of it since like the Chinese ones we already know of. The Butter Prawns look so good and pork dish also. I like to have mix vegetables one the most and able to get ingredients in stores.
Yup, it was a great meal! 🙂
I love Chinese food like this – especially the pork belly and the butter prawns.
We have mixed vegetables of various sorts but this is the best – four kinds, complementing each other. 😀
was just telling STP, thats some crazy pork belly dish.. whoa, sinfully crazy..
Indeed! It’s an awesome dish. I loved it to pieces.
No pun intended. Haha! 😀
ohmaigee the fatty bom bom pork belly! *faints*
when i was in Sibu years ago, STP brought me to mum nice food too! at Ruby 🙂
Heh! It’s the fat that makes it good. The glorious layer of pork fat that’s soft and melts in your mouth. 😀
Ruby Restaurant is a favorite haunt of mine too! However, it seems to be in a slight decline food-wise lately, not sure what’s going on over there.
It’s still better than most restaurants though. Ruby Restaurant used to be my favorite place for Chinese food, now this one is a strong contender. 🙂
Pork belly!!!!! Although it looks fat, but it’s irresistible really! XD
Yup, you’re absolutely right! I can never resist pork belly, or most braised pork dishes. 🙂
My grandma made my favorite braised pork just now, had it for dinner before heading back to KL. I just got home.
I gained 3 kgs while I was in Sibu.
Totally worth it! 😀