Siong Kee is one of the most famous kampua noodle stalls in Sibu. Siong Kee Mee Kampua is located in Taman Muhibbah. The proprietor is the one manning the stall and has almost acrobatic displays of noodle handling from the pot of boiling water to the bowl.
This friendly and unassuming owner is a Guinness World Records holder (!) though not for kampua noodles. He is credited under Most weddings attended by a best man. Mr. Ting Ming Siong from Sibu, Sarawak has been best man at the most weddings in the world with 1,393 occasions and counting. His record holder status can be verified here.
He even has a name card that lists his achievements in...er, matrimonial services, and he is also the Malaysian Book of Records holder in that department. Siong Kee Mee Kampua is very busy almost every night due to the good noodles that he churns out (and I suspect his acrobatic feats and record holder status as well).
Kampua noodles is actually very simple to make but this man is the only one who makes it entertaining to watch:
1. Blanch noodles
2. Throw noodles up in the air (no one else does this except him) and catch it again
3. Mix noodles with a lard based sauce
I'm not sure if the noodle throwing actually adds anything to the flavor (though rumor has it that it makes the noodles more pliable) but it certainly makes for a very lively performance.
Everybody loves kampua throwing!
I've been told by kampua aficionados that you should always eat the noodles plain to gauge the taste properly. Kampua is served plain de facto but you can opt to have it with soy sauce, soy sauce and chilli, or chilli sauce.
I ate this one plain and I pronounce it good!
I was searching for his record in the Guinness World Records website and chanced upon a record that I could easily beat - Most Ferrero Rocher chocolates eaten in one minute which currently stands at a meager five (5).
Watch out Reuben Williams! I'm gunning for your record. I can do six easily. ;)
Haha!
well, come next time we battle for another world's record. Who eats the most Satays in 5 minutes time. :P
ahhhhhh.. i am hungry....
There is a similar technique used a a Teochew man in Vung Tau here in Vietnam. He throws it way higher and it apparently make the noodles more crunchy.
The man is amazing and the food looks delicious ... well I'm out to find myself a world record I could break lol
kampua mee?
I think i saw it some where in KL...
It look very simple mee which also can get it from KL but i dont know it same with the kampua mee or not...
Last time, when I was small, my parent brought me to eat wantan mee, some of the stall really do that! throw high high and fetch it! hahaha..... =D
HB. Doing well in Sibu with companion of lenglui. :) Hmm i start to miss Miri Kampua . hahaaha
Wa this kampua also cost RM 2.30 now. Honestly HB if you compare this kampua with Kch kolo mee which do you prefer most? Usually Foochow plp will definetly choose kampua over kolo mee. No mater how good the kolo mee is they also dislike it. As for me HB, I tried kampua (even Sibu one) em... nothing to write home lor. Even the char siew look dame fake.
hmmm been there few times. but i m not a kampua person. can't eat kampua without soy sauce they taste weird :( but will try to try someday. thanks!
Dunno true or not la... Someone told me that the mee kampua is actually a Foochow's failure-version of Kuching mee kolok! (Don't angry hor, someone told me one. I didn't make up story)
Once apon a time, the always hardworking (or other word, kiasu) Foochows wanted to learn (or other word, copy) the secret processing technology of the famous Kuching mee kolok. They did so many many trials but still failed to come out with the actual version of mee kolok. The noodle they produced was softer in texture, with paler colour and not curly. After cooked it will become a bit lumpy as what the Malays used to refer it as 'tak hidup' or Hokkian people refered it as 'lep lep'. If you ta-pau home (take away) it will soon turn into a paste or cake.
However, this noodle was still acceptable and some people did enjoy the taste. Eventually, they decided to introduce this 'failed'-noodle in another entirely new image by calling it 'mee kampua' (dry plate noodle).
Mee kolok, on the other hands, is not a original Kuching noodle too. It is copied from KL and actually should be pronounced as kon-lou (a Cantonis term means 'dry stir'). You know la, not many Kuchingnites know how to speak Cantonis that time. Some even pronounced it kolong... Like me, I still prefer to call it kolong mi.
They started at a wooden stall at Tong Sang Road (near the previous Methodist Church) by the drain. And after the council banned such stall, they moved to Muhibbah.
Like Arthur, I find the Kampua here has nothing to shout about. According to what my tastebuds told me, the Kampua has too much lard for my liking. The texture and taste of this particular stall have somewhat deteriorated (especially when there are a lot of people ordering). We've tasted better Kampua :)
Cokelatrawkz: Hmm...I'm not very confident of winning that, since you suggested it, you must be quite good at it. :)
I'm going for the Ferrero Rocher one, I wonder if we need a Guinness representative for the record to be valid or just record it and show it to them.
clementwpy: Hungry for kampua? I've been eating the noodles almost daily now coz of factors relating to my bank account balance (or rather the lack of it). ;)
colin: Vietnam! I've always wanted to go there. Teochew noodles, we have a rather famous stall over here too but he doesn't do the tossing acrobatics. :)
MI!: Yeah, being the best man for 1k weddings is nothing to sneeze at. I don't even have 1,000 friends so I can't beat his record. ;)
I'll go for the Ferrero Rocher one instead.
Hey, we saw one yesterday, eating a 12 inch pizza in one minute. Can you do speed eating? Or eating 37 cockroaches in one minute. You just need to eat 38 to beat that record. :)
nkwai: It's a Sibu dish. Uniquely Sibu. I think most people outside Sibu doesn't enjoy it coz they didn't grow up with it. It's just like how Kuching people prefer kolo mee and KL people prefer wantan mee.
There's a stall manned by a Sibu person near the Sunway campus in KL.
goolooloo: Haha! I heard from a friend that people seem to have the impression that I'm a playboy and non-conformist person from my blog. I won't argue about the latter but that seems to be the impression I give people. This person met me and then was surprised to find that I was actually a nice person. Don't mean to verbally masturbate but yeah, conceptions formed from blogs are highly dubious. :)
Miri kampua? Not original lah. Kampua is from Sibu.
Roland: Yeah, the fuel price hike. It's RM 2.20 to RM 2.40 nowadays. I remember it was RM 1.20 to RM 1.40 about 10 years back. Then again, cigarettes costs RM 4.60 back then too compared to RM 8.20 now. Oh well, the price of inflation.
I prefer kolo mee with lots of char sio oil but kampua with chilli and soy sauce is good too.
I don't think it's Foochow people though, coz I'm Heng Hua. It's just what you grew up eating that influences your preference.
(='.'=): I eat kampua with soy sauce and chilli sauce and put some more chilli sauce on top of it. I don't usually eat it plain.
Wilson the food technologist: Hmm...very interesting. Of course I won't be angry, I'm not even Foochow. Not all people from Sibu are Foochow la. I'm Heng Hua. :)
Very interesting anecdote you have over there. Had fun reading it. :)
Clare: Wahlau! You're trying to take over Arthur's seat as Sibu's resident food critic izzit? So much history. ;)
I like lard. Lard is good. The more lard the better. I don't like the kampua with vegetable oil. Kampua should be made with lard. From pigs. Not plants.
What trying to take over? Excuse me! NO ONE can take over Arthur's seat ok! LOL! I want to become Arthur's student you know, learning how to become a food critic (HAHA!) but I don't think he wants to accept student lor.
I like lard too. But not too much though. Too much of lard spoil the dish. (No wonder you are such a pig! LOL!)
Dude! With the way you speak, I think you can qualify to be a VJ!
hey there!
i've tried sibu kampua but i think sitiawan kampua is better!! well actually quite biased cos i grew up in sitiawan and everything but then sibu kampua mee is too plain and sticky for me liking =P
Clare: Hmm...our mentor. :)
I sleep and eat like a pig too. Do I pak cheng like a pig? ;)
xes: I've always wanted to be a VJ for those food shows. Like the Discovery Travel & Adventure food shows which goes around the world trying their cuisine and checking out their local culture. Unfortunately, that never happened. Oh well.
Peter: I've been reading about the history of Sibu and Setiawan in Perak and apparently it's somewhat linked. The White Rajah and Wong Nai Siong (which brought the first batch over to Malaysia).
I've never had Setiawan kampua though.
Err...I've never seen a pig pak cheng. LOL! :D
Clare: I'm glad you never did. It's quite a messy affair. ;)
这家不错．．我都支持他的
haha, if you are talking about kampua mee in sibu, then i recommend you kampua & laksa at RASA CAFE, JALAN PERDANA ( some where near to bus terminal )
haha, if you are talking about kampua mee in sibu, then i recommend you kampua & laksa at RASA SAYANG CAFE, JALAN PERDANA ( some where near to bus terminal )