Popular Foods in Sibu

Saw Mian is a popular food in Sibu

This is a simple noodle dish from the Foochow community.

The noodles are made from rice flour and served in clear chicken mushroom soup with chicken and a hard-boiled egg.

The Foochows Chinese in Sibu often have saw mian at home for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Besides the chicken mushroom broth, saw mian is also served with clear duck or pork leg soup or an herbal concoction called pak tin.

One of the eateries in Sibu that serves this soupy dish is Chai Lai Coffee Shop at Kampong Nyabor Road near the RH Hotel.

Its proprietor Lin Kie Chuan says most of the customers who ask for saw mian are visitors to Sibu who could not get the dish in their respective hometowns.

As the ingredients used in this dish are simple, it is how it’s prepared that distinguishes the saw mian in one shop from the other, Lin explains.
Noodle House at Hua Kiew Road, Sieu Hua Coffee Shop at Lanang Road Lane2 and Hock Lai Hiong at Jalan Tuanku Osman Lane 4 also serve delicious saw mian.

Many supermarkets, grocery shops and hawker stalls in Sibu sell dried saw mian packed in neat plastic bags. There are, however, only a few manufacturers who still use the traditional method of making this Foochow delicacy.

Made by hand, these saw mian are preferred over the machine-made ones.