AN INSIGHT INTO THE SIBU CENTRAL MARKET

The Sibu Central Market is, by far, the largest market in Malaysia. Apart from that, it is the best-managed market in Sarawak.There is an approximate of 1,100 hawker stalls in the market on week days and an additional 400 to 500 stalls on weekends when Ibans and Orang Ulus crowd the tamu (open-air market) with displays of their exotic food and fruits.

The market has a division of sections according to the goods sold by the hawkers. The main sections are the wet areas where hawkers sell fish and other seafood, slaughtered chickens and ducks, tofu, beancurd and beansprout.

At the dry section, there are all kinds of local and imported vegetables, fruits, dried fish and prawns, spices, handicraft, flowers and ornamental plants, sundry goods, drinks, homemade cakes, buns, titbits and other confectionery.

Hawkers selling live chickens and ducks at the dry section attract the most attention from tourists mainly due to the way they bundle up the feathery creatures. Each bird is wrapped up using newspapers, tied securely with nylon strings and displayed in neat lines for customers to choose.

Some stalls sell a large variety of kuih-muih.

Natives display a parade of their jungle products and handicrafts on the floor or low makeshift tables. Among the uncommon stuff sold are live sago worms, frogs, kasam (preserved fish, pork or venison), wild jungle ferns, young palm shoots and wild fruits. For more details, click here.

The first floor is occupied by food and drink stalls and stalls selling clothes and tailor-made items and shoes.

The food and drink stalls are no less attractive, with many of them offering the kampua, kompia, chendol, bubur buang panas and laksa, etc. Prices are competitive here because of the low rent. The portions you get here are normally larger than the ones sold elsewhere.

SMC has direct jurisdiction over the market under the Local Authority Ordinances and Local Council bylaws. The market is managed by the Market and Petty Traders Committee headed by an experienced councillor. The council issues hawker licences and provides security, cleaning and garbage-disposal services. Security guards together with the police would be on beat duty at the popular spot to look out for suspicious characters to shackle lurking pick-pockets preying on unsuspecting shoppers, especially tourists.

An adjacent multi-storey car park built by SMC provides shoppers a peace of mind as far as their cars are concerned when they shop or dine at the Sibu Central Market.

A sheltered area on the right hand side of the market allows sellers to sell seasonal fruits eg. durians, mangosteen, rambutans, etc. Heaps of fruits can be seen and to choose from.


SIBU-STYLE YUMMY FOOD

KAMPUA

Kampua with dark soy sauce served with pieces of char siew

Kampua mee (干盘面) is ubiquitous and common in Sibu. Derived from the Foochow dialect, it meant dry plate noodle. It is noodles blanched in boiling water till al dente and later tossed in pork lard and fried shallots. It can be tossed also with dark soy sauce and/or chilli sauce. It is served either plain or with char siu (red pork slices), topped with some bits of spring onions.

Qing Tong Mien

For those who doesn't like it dry, one can ask for 'Qing Tong Mien' (清汤面) in Foochow - meaning light soup noodles. The 'Qing Tong Mien' is kampua noodles served in a light savoury soup with chicken stock. 

Today, some of the kampua mee sellers do serve kampua with curry chicken. This new idea gives an additional curry flavour and spiciness to the noodles.

Some of the popular places to enjoy Kampua in Sibu are listed below:

* Aloha Corner, Jalan Tunku Osman
* Thomson Corner, Pusat Tanahwang
* Rasa Sayang Cafe, Pahlawan Road
* Moi Soung Cafe, Channel Road
* Dung Fang Cafe, Salim Road


DIANG BIANG HU

Diang Biang Hu

Diang Biang Hu (鼎边糊) is a porridge prepared with grinded rice. The grinded soaked rice which is watery in texture is spilled on the surface of the heated wok; its thin layer dried instantly, is immediately removed by scrapping thus scooped into the boiling water awaiting in the wok. The cooked rice cakes is served usually with fish balls, black fungus and squids.

This dish is sold in almost all the coffeeshops, but the most reputable one is at the back alley on Blacksmith Road.

KOMPIA

Kompia

Kompia (光饼) is known as Foochow bagels made of flour, usually glazed with peanut oil and lightly dusted with sesame seed on the surface with a small hole in the middle. It is sticked on the inner surface of the pottery flask for charcoal heating. It is crispy and fragrant, with a little salty taste.

In Sibu, it is served either plain on its own or with minced meat and gravy. The latter is very much accepted by most people.


YOU ZHAR GUI

You zhar gui

You zhar gui (油炸桧/ 油條) is twin dough batter deep fried until golden-brown and is usually eaten for breakfast. Conventionally, it is lightly salted and made so it can be torn lengthwise in two. You zhar gui are normally eaten as an accompaniment for rice congee, soy milk and in Sarawak, over a cup of fragrant coffee.  It is also normally served with Bak kut teh, sliced thinly to be dipped into the broth and eaten.

YUMMY KAFE, SIBU

Opposite the Ngiu Kee Departmental Store at Jalan Raminway, is a local kopitiam named 'Yummy Kafe'. Similar to the 'Aloha Corner', there are plenty of food stalls here. I'm going to show you some of the different food you can try here.

I love the kueh chap here. Kueh chap is a teochew cuisine. It is soft rice flour cakes cut into squares, then cooked and served in a savoury dark herbal soup, together with some belly pork, pork intestines, pork stomach, some fried beancurd and slices of hardboiled stewed eggs. The savoury soup is cooked using pork bones and special herbs and stewed for long hours, so you can imagine how pungent the aroma of the soup is. I never fail to finish the soup till the last drop. I usually request to omit those intestines and stomach because I'm not a fan of those internal organs. The kuep chap comes with a special sambal chilli sauce as a dipping. The dips add an extra samballish and spiciness to the belly pork... yummy!

Kueh Chap

 There is a stall selling vegetables in a fried crispy basket. A portion usually comes in 6 baskets with some chilli sauce. To get the best flavour, scoop some of the chilli sauce onto the veggies before putting them into your mouth.This dish is suitable for vegetarians. Thumbs up!

Vegetables in crispy basket

The roti canai here was declared by most people the best in the town. Many came for the roti canai as well as the Malay mee goreng.

NICE APAM BALIK

Apam balik (半个月亮) is also known as 'terang bulan' or 'martabak manis'. Apam balik is sort of a pancake with plenty of butter, sugar, corn and peanut crumbs in the middle. It is cooked in a pan griddle and tuned over to look like omelette.

As you go along Sungai Merah in Sibu, you will come across a small stall in front of a coffeeshop, selling apam balik. I love their apam balik because they put plenty of butter and coarse penuts. Each costs RM2.00 only.

SWEET DESSERTS AT THOMSON CORNER, SIBU

Thomson Corner is well-known in Kuching and Sibu for its breakfast, their large varieties of sweet dessert drinks and nice food. In Sibu, Thomson Corner is situated at Pusat Tanahwang and a smaller one located inside the Medan Mall shopping complex.

American Breakfast at RM4.50

Their famous dishes include Laksa Sarawak, nasi pataya, kampua/bihun with sambal (nice) and nasi lemak (my fave).

Their Laksa Sarawak comes with bihun, shredded fried egg slices, some prawns, crispy tauge and chicken shreds. Quite nice, but I personally still like the one in Aloha Corner better.

Laksa Sarawak

Talking about their nasi lemak, it is coconut rice with delicious sambal stirred with fried peanuts and anchovies, half of a boiled egg, some cucumber slices and some crispy fried chicken pieces. Forget about the calories and you'll be one tummy satisfied customer.

Sambal bihun

The typical Foochow noodle, the Kampua, is quite nice, especially the ones with sambal. If you don't like Kampua, go for their bihun ones. 

Apart from the nice meals, you'll be refreshed by their wide variation of sweet dessert drinks and soups, eg. bubur chacha, ice chendol, bubur buang panas(similar to Lin Chee Kang), nata de coco, ai yu drinks, longan ice, ice blended drinks, fresh juices, etc.. too much for me to remember. Yes, they taste really nice and refreshing indeed. I had some bubur buang panas, which has red dates, dried winter melon, cubes of jelly, some barley in sweet syrup and topped with crushed ice. Lovely!

Bubur Buang Panas (Lin Chee Kang) at RM1.80

Their version of bubur chacha has cubes of softened sweet potatoes and yams, in thick fragrant coconut milk. This you can either have it warm or cold. They also serve ice-creams in sundae cups... kid's favourite.

Bubur Chacha at RM2.20

Ice-cream

If you prefer burgers, there is a selection of burgers and toast to choose from. Apart from these, there are snacks, such as kompia, hotdog on skewers, fishballs, dumplings, rojak, rojak sotong, french fries, etc. A lot of people like to go there for some snacks and a thirstquenching sweet drink.

Chicken dumpings

The prices are reasonable and affordable by most people. So, when you are in Sibu, this is a place not to be missed.

TEOCHEW PORK PORRIDGE

A simple, healthy breakfast of pork porridge with runny egg yolk.... a great taste despite its simplicity.

Situated on the 1st floor of the Sibu Central Market, stall no. 49 sells the teochew-styled pork porridge. They don't have much variety because their signature dish is the pork porridge, but you can opt for either one egg or two eggs. The pork porridge smells and taste great, served with fragrant minced pork, preserved vegetable and some bits of spring onions.

There is also one located in Bai Shun Coffeeshop in Sungai Merah.

ALOHA CORNER - A HOTSPOT FOR GOOD FOOD

As you travel along Jalan Tunku Osman in Sibu, you will see a corner coffeeshop named 'Aloha Corner'. This coffeeshop is usually fully seated in the morning, around 7:30a.m.-8:30a.m., where people come for their breakfast and in the mid-afternoon, people crowd the coffeeshop for their lunch.

There are roughly 8 stalls in this coffeeshop and they offer a wide selection of yummy food.

The first stall sells nice Kampua mee and wantans. I love having the Kampua with dark soy sauce and chilli sauce.

The next stall sells a tasty Lor Mee (better than most Sibu stalls), kompia with minced pork and rojak.

Lor Mee

The third stall sells their signature Laksa Sarawak, which for me, is the best in Sibu. They sell only one type of food, and that is the food that is driving most people to this coffeeshop. Their Laksa Sarawak recipe was a family inheritance. They use the best rice vermicelli in town and the laksa gravy was a concoction of various spices with coconut milk, topped then with prawns, tauge, fried egg strips, chicken shreds and some bits of spring onions. I couldn't resist slurping at the orangey spicy soup until the last drop.

Laksa Sarawak

The next stall in the corner sells fried noodles, char kway teow, meehoon, etc. You should have a go with their fried macaroni, a little oily but nice.

At the back, we have two stalls. One owned by a chubby woman who sells homemade fishball soup with tanghoon (my favourite), pork porridge with century egg and also red wine chicken mee sua (very nourishing and tasty). The homemade fishball soup is a light but aromatic soup stewed for hours and hours using fresh fish bones. The fishballs, known also as Foochow fishballs, is homemade by the chubby lady with a mixture of fresh fish meat and some seasonings. In this soup, you can find seaweed, some slices of carrots, a few pieces of leafy veggies, some fried beancurd, a piece of bitter gourd and some lady's fingers.

Homemade Fishball Soup with Tanghoon

Another stall owned by a man in his forties (I hope I got his age right) sells his signature Teochew char kway teow, a different version from the usual ones that we have. It is char kway teow wrapped up by eggs, served with some chilli sauce. This char kway teow does not come with meat (like the usual ones we had), just noodles, beansprouts, eggs and spring onions, but surprisingly, it does not taste bland at all. I remember I had to wait for an hour for it during one of the Chinese New Years, so just imagine!

Teochew Char Kway Teow

There is a Malay stall in front, selling roti canai and kuih-muih. There's a variety to choose from.

Aloha Corner also sells waffles. My favourite is peanut butter waffle.

Waffle with peanut butter

Address: ALOHA CORNER

              Jalan Tunku Osman,

              96000 Sibu,
              Sarawak