金囍楼 Golden Happiness (Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia)

Hello all...long time no see and I hope there are still people hanging around. :D Anyway, this is the official revival of Iron Eaters (I hope!! I really want to keep updating this!) and to start things off, the next few posts will be specials on food in Sibu, Sarawak!

(I'll be mostly blogging on food in Malaysia for a while as I'm not back in Melbourne till late February...bug San for Melbourne food posts if you want 'em)

A couple of weeks ago, me, San and Mad visited CC in Sibu - which was tons and tons of fun and tons and tons of food. Especially great for me and San because we haven't been to that side of Malaysia prior to CC's invite. Anyway...on with the food!

The first post of the Sibu series will feature CC's family restaurant, Golden Happiness 金囍楼. Now, please trust me when I say that their restaurant serves some of the best food I've EVER tasted in my life. And it's not because I'm biased either. Take my word for it - if you're ever in Sibu, don't miss out the Chinese food in Golden Happiness. You will regret it. And no, I'm not paid to say this, and neither am I saying this because I heart CC. My waistline after two days will attest to this. :(

CC's family restaurant in quaint Sibu.

And...urm...I have no idea how much the food cost as we didn't pay anything for food during the entire trip. :D (OMG i love you CC)

First off for dinner on the first day, we had the restaurant's ultimate signature dish: 龙船拼盘 Dragon Boat 'Long Chuan Pin Pan'.

Drooling yet?

Bet you are (drooling, I meant).

Just. Look. At. The. Boat. (!!!) It's filled with the most delish things ever: there's fish pieces and veggies, crabstick rolls, prawns in egg parcels and right smack in the middle are chunks of fresh lobster meat in mayo. Oh my goodness...it was like food heaven. Everything is so delicious! Especially the seafood-prawn in egg parcels, it's like...WOW. I love love love this dish.

The greatest fish in Sibu.

Next up we're served some super amazing awesome fish. This fish is one of the most expensive kinds in Sibu (FYI, Sibu is famous for fresh river fish) and apparently it can cost up to RM600 (approx AUD$200) per kg. This is because the fish only resides in water near hills and only the locals (Ibans) catch them. Hence it's extremely difficult to get a hold of the fish in its entire glory. The fish is called 红不老 Hong Bu Lao but visitors love it so much that they called it 意难忘 Yi Nan Wang which translates to "Difficult to Forget". That's how good it is! The fish is served steamed lightly in soy-based sauce and a dash of spring onion, carrot and coriander. It's very light and absolutely delicious.

Such cute veggies!

Cute and wow...amazingly yummy wow.

And then...we had these most amazing vegetables, stir fried with oyster sauce, called 炒米莲 Fried Million 'Chao Mi Lian'. I've never ever seen these kind of fern-like veggies before but apparently they're not that uncommon. It's one of the most yummy vegetables I ever had. The texture is crispy and clean and the sauces used to stir fry it are simply fragrant and yummy. I love the vegetables so much that I actually contemplated buying some back to Penang...which was not advised as they will wilt. :( Which makes me sad.

Souuuuup.

Then we had the obligatory soup - 海参鱼鳔汤 Sea Cucumber Fish Soup 'Hai Shen Yu Biao Tang'. It's a great, thick soup with chunks of sea cucumber and fish plus bits of egg and crab meat. Filling and satisfying!

Huge ass prawn with pretty flower carrot.

Waaaaa...brings back such fond memories. :D

And finally - another signature dish - Cheese 大头虾 Cheese Prawns 'Cheese Ta Tou Xia'. These are huge prawns halved and baked with cheese. It's super tasty - the cheese doesn't overpower the prawn and all and the prawn meat is plentiful and tangy. Yummm! The pictures speak for themselves.

For dessert we had fruits. And among them is the best pineapple I've ever tasted.

Fruits are good for you.

PINEAPPLE that is like...best ever. And I don't like pineapple.

And I carted two of those pineapples back to Penang, yippee!!

That's it for the dinner post...coming up next, some other local delicacies and ANOTHER restaurant post to whet your appetites!

- Mouse

p.s. I should mention...that poor San was sick and didn't eat ANY of the yummies above. Except pineapple. My condolences. *pats San*

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金囍楼 Golden Happiness
5-7 Jalan Chengal
96000 Sibu
Sarawak
Malaysia