Guess what?!
Kampua mee is now available in Perth!!
When Wendy told me that she had discovered a newly opened Sibu cafe, Kitchen Inn, and sent me pictures of kampua mee and sarawak laksa, I knew we were going to Kitchen Inn very very soon. I just didn’t realise it was that very night haha.
Obviously word has gotten out about Kitchen Inn, even though we were there by 6.30pm, the little cafe was already packed and we only managed to grab the last table. Surrounded by fellow Malaysians and possibly many being Kuchingnites/Sibunians, it was very familiar surroundings.
We started off with teh c specials, Kitchen Inn serves all the regular Kuching drinks including teh c peng and teh c special ($3.50). They also had teh tarik, but honestly we couldn’t tell the difference and I don’t think the waitress could too. The teh c special was average but still, I love all iced milk teas 🙂
We ordered a large Sarawak laksa ($8.90 regular, $9.90 large) to share. When it came out, it didn’t look very much like Sarawak laksa, maybe it was the big piece of fried tofu and pork pieces (or something that didn’t resemble chicken), it was quite disappointing. Having sold Sarawak laksa ourselves, I guess we have pretty high standards for laksa, the taste just wasn’t quite right and wasn’t much like Sarawak laksa at all. Us Kuchingnites at the table all agreed that it wasn’t authentic.
For pictures of the real kampua and Sarawak laksa, click here.
We also ordered the Fish Head Rice Vermicelli which is actually the famous Foochow Zhao Chai Hun Ngan, a huge favourite of my grandparents. Zhao Chai is a kind of preserved foochow vegetable, Hun Ngan means thick vermicelli. The original Zhao Chai Hun Ngan is sourish, salty and refreshingly appetising. Kitchen Inn’s version had good similarities, however, it was lacking in flavour and depth, especially the tartness of zhao chai. See Kuching’s Zhao Chai Hun Ngan here.
Finally the long awaited Kampua mee ($6.90) and the real reason why I wanted to go to Kitchen Inn. To be honest, the Kampua resembled Kolo mee more in looks. The first taste, kolo mee flavours, the saltiness, oiliness, garlicky flavours, which is fantastic. My foochow foodies and kampua mee lovers declared that it was quite similar to kampua mee at first bite, but as they continued eating, the noodles weren’t oily enough and all stuck together, thus causing some stodginess. While the noodles weren’t the original kampua noodles, I thought it was a pretty valiant effort at creating the real thing so kudos to Kitchen Inn for that. If only they had chilli sauce to mix in the noodles, it would have been much better.
Would I return to Kitchen Inn? Yes, because I want to try other items on their menu (we also tried their Char Chu Mee, which was 80% similar) including Bak Kut Teh (hello, calling Jaso). I think Kitchen Inn is gutsy for trying to create some of these famous hawker delicacies, it’s true that they’re not quite there yet (especially their Laksa which I wouldn’t order again) but it’s nice that someone, somewhere in Perth is trying to introduce lovely Sarawak food to Australia.
Someday,I’ll be doing that too (* v *)Y
Kitchen Inn
Shop 32 Thornlie Square Shopping Centre
Thornlie
daitaoha 