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Apple duck, prawn with black pepper and honey and midin

Chinese, Food reviews, Sibu 10 Responses »

Jun 212012

apple duck

I’ve never heard of an apple duck before – the waitress taking the order assured us it was a very popular dish and thus, we swapped one of the meat orders (black pepper beef) with this menu item. We were at Nice House Restaurant – me and Arthur originally wanted to go to Cafe Ind for some fusion Indonesian and Indian food, but it was closed.

Thus, we headed over to a place which serves a gigantic roti canai that I wanted to try but that was closed too.

nice house restaurant

We ended up eating at Nice House Restaurant. I’ve been here a couple of times before and it seems that their typical Chinese cuisine has changed into something which I’ll call quasi-fusion. It’s still Chinese food but it uses much more non-traditional ingredients to cook.

prawn honey black pepper

Arthur recommended the prawn with black pepper and honey. He said it was much better than Ruby Restaurant‘s famed butterscotch prawns and I have to wholeheartedly agree. The combination of black pepper sauce with honey creates a sweet and savory gravy that had us scooping up all the gravy till the plate was almost clean. :)

black pepper lamb

The black pepper lamb was really good too – the meat was tender and juicy, and it goes very well with rice. A superb dish which wasn’t as sweet as the prawns (coz it didn’t use honey).

midin sambal

We also ordered midin cooked with sambal – it’s a wild jungle fern that’s very popular in Sibu but hard to find anywhere else. It’s our vegetable quota.

green apple duck

I felt that the apple duck was the most interesting dish during dinner. We ordered half a duck since a lot of people don’t eat duck due to the gamey taste but both of us do and we have been rather deprived of this particular fowl. I quite liked it although I think Arthur didn’t enjoy it as much. He hasn’t tried it before so we ordered it and the two of us finished everything – right down to the lettuce and green apple slices.

me arthur nice house

I think a lot of people thought we were having a major argument coz when the time came to pay the bill, both of us stood up and insisted on settling it. It must have looked quite interesting since I was blocking his way to the cashier. Heh.

Thanks for dinner Arthur and see you next time I come back to Sibu! :)

Tom's Too

Food reviews, Sibu, Western 25 Responses »

Feb 242012

toms sibu

I returned to Tom’s Too for lunch a couple of days ago with a friend. She hasn’t been there before and I wanted her to try the food here. It’s just my second time eating here too and I was eager to check out more of their offerings.

charles

Tom’s Too has a range of Italian sodas and I asked Charles (one of the best waiters there – speaks good English and friendly) to show me what they were made of. It’s apparently just syrup from a wide range of flavors mixed with soda water.

butterscotch soda

I had the Butterscotch Italian Soda (RM 8.90) which came in a clear, sparkling liquid. It *did* indeed taste like butterscotch, and reminds me of the old flavored soda fountains of old. I’m kidding, I wasn’t even born when those were around. ;)

toms freeze

My friend has Tom’s Freeze (RM 9.90) – a house specialty concoction that features lychees as its main ingredient. She said it was good. I don’t know, I don’t like lychees. You know those old Chinese banquet dinners that serves lychees with peaches in ice as dessert? I only ate the peaches.

chicken cordon bleu

We both shared the recommendations for mains – she has the Chicken Cordon Bleu (RM 27.50) which was quite good. The chicken was done well and has a slice of ham inside and lots of oozing cheese.

chicken cordon blue

They used breast meat – Chicken Cordon Bleu is supposed to use boneless breast meat – not exactly my favorite cut from our favorite poultry but I rather enjoyed it. I’m pretty sure I ate more than my fair share.

lamb shanks

The other main we had was the Lamb Shank (RM 32.50). I’ve beard people telling me that it wasn’t so great – complains ranged from it being too tough to not having mashed potatoes to go with it but I found it delicious. The meat is tender on the inside and my only regret it…

lamb shank

…not ordering a side of mashed sweet potatoes. Arthur did that – it’s not on the menu but apparently you can ask for it from the chef. I shall endeavor to do that next time. The gravy is slightly sweet so I’m sure it’ll go very well with mashed sweet potatoes.

oreo cheesecake

Dessert was a slice of Oreo cheesecake (RM 11.90) from their counter deli. It’s pretty good for Sibu standards, but I wouldn’t write home about it, I’ve had better.

toms

A great meal nevertheless and we ended up talking (or I ended up talking) so much that it was nearly 3 pm when we were done. The meal cost about RM 100 and my friend insisted on picking up the bill. Thanks for lunch! :)

Hot Pot Herbs & Spices Mutton Soup

Food reviews No Responses »

Jul 282004

hot pot herbs and spices mutton soup

This is Hot Pot Herbs & Spices Mutton Soup, the newly opened
outlet which caught my attention when I went past during lunch hour.
It’s located in front of Ang Cheng Ho and the signage can be easily
seen while driving down Jalan Padungan. I decided to drop by and sample
their mutton soup just because I liked the sign board so much.

hot pot vivid

This is the very vivid mascot (of sorts) of the place. It’s a
harmless little sheep in a bathtub. The imagery couldn’t be more
gruesome – the sheep is not enjoying a luxurious hot bath, as its
shower cap would lead you to believe…it’s being boiled alive! You
killed it when you ordered your soup! Yes kids, mutton comes from
sheep, not your local butcher. ;)

hot pot counter

The counter of this eating establishment is adorned with sample
dishes from their menu offerings. I opted for their specialty – the
Herbs & Spices Mutton Soup at RM 8. I must also mention that this
establishment gets two thumbs up for being photographer friendly. The
proprietor (photo above) jokingly asked for a copy of the prints since
she noticed me taking photos of everything. :)

hot pot clean

Back to the ambience, the place was full of the typical crowd of 9-5
workers (except I’m 8 am – 5 pm), it’s common for newly established
outlets to be packed with people wanting to try the latest and
greatest. The seating arrangements consist of mostly 6 person glass
tables, and they were thoughtful enough to leave a Kimberly-Clark
tissue dispenser and a glass ashtray on every table. You won’t be
seeing any unsightly metal flimsy ashtrays or tissue boxes over here.

hot pot meal drink

It’s worthy to note that they do not serve conventional drinks, only
“natural drinks” which includes things like red bean drink, green bean
drink, barley drink and the like. I opted for the barley. The food
turnaround was very slow, but that’s because they cook every single pot
individually as can be seen in the open kitchen. I estimate it took
about 30 minutes for mine to arrive.

hot pot herbs spices mutton soup

The soup can only be described with a single word – divine! It is
spicy and hot and very substantial. This isn’t watered down
broth…it’s (very) hearty soup! I can only imagine about what goes
into the hot pot but I could detect a plethora of different spice
notes, and all of them good. The mutton was generous, there’s much more
mutton than can be seen from the photo, the dish is well worth the RM 8
and it comes with rice. There is a variety of different cuts in the
pot, so if there’s one you particularly favor, it’s likely to be in
there.

hot pot mutton rice