Snacks Hunting @ Sitiawan

After a more than satisfying lunch at Villa Seafood Restaurant, we went on our merry way hoping to sample a few more snacks that Sitiawan has to offer.

One of our first stops was Hock Chew So Mee Shua Konpian (located along the same road as Villa Seafood Restaurant) that we spotted while searching for our lunch venue.  This small shop (with the factory beside it) is a producer of Sitiawan mee sua.

Sheets of noodles drying in the sun

Trays and trays of mee sua drying in the sun

You can buy mee sua directly from them in thin and thicker versions and they come in different packaging sizes.  Also on sale is the red wine that you can use to cook this mee sua and some other (twisted) biscuits which my friends bought.  

A 500g packet of mee sua I bought for RM4

They also make kong piah but (sadly) they were all out by the time we got there.  Gong pia (referred to by many other names/spelling) is probably the most well-known biscuit in Sitiawan (either with an onion or char siew filling) as these are reportedly not found elsewhere.  They told us we could order and come back for it the next day but we knew we wouldn't have time to drop by again.

With that, we moved on to pursue our the next food destination....the famous James Cendol in Sitiawan!  As luck would have it, my friend asked for directions and the mee sua seller pointed us to another cendol stall which she says is better than James Cendol as the shaved ice is finer.  So, off we went in search of this un-named cendol stall (they told us to look for a yellow building called Wisma Ganda).

The cendol stall was actually located a stone's throw from the famous Cheong Cia Gong Pian but (again) it wasn't our destiny to savour gong pian (on this trip) as the shop is closed on Sundays! :'(  

Anyway, this was the cendol @ RM2.50 a bowl (regular without pulut) from the un-named stall.

When we were ordering our cendol, I did see they had lots of customers, both having the dessert there and even more packing them away.  I have to say the shaved ice was not as fine as I thought and though the gula melaka was fragrant, the overall dessert was really sweet.

While having our cendol, we noticed a durian stall next to it doing brisk business....and my friends couldn't resist.  The Chinese uncle's haircut is pretty cool...like a Shaolin monk (minus the ponytail)! :D

My friends shared a durian between them...I just watched coz I don't eat durians.  I think they paid RM18 or RM20 for it.

Next, we proceeded to the more well-known James Cendol (as we originally planned) in front of (more like opposite) an Indian temple.  As you can see, it's full house!  We also noticed another cendol stall directly in front of the temple but since there were hardly any customers there, we didn't dare to try.

The stall is now manned by his wife...coz James is busy with his own stall in Old Klang Road (reportedly).....but it's ironic that I've not been to the one nearer to me....haha! ;)

Since the previous cendol was so sweet, I immediately asked for less sweet for this one.  I'm not sure if she heard me as the resulting cendol was still sweet (but not as sweet as the un-named stall).  Our bowl of cendol (without pulut) @ RM2.60.

Comparing both cendols, James Cendol's shaved ice is finer than the un-named stall (I guess the locals are not always right) and, if I had to pick one, I'd go with James Cendol (for the very reason of finer shaved ice) but will need to seriously tone down the sweetness (both stalls).  Both cendols are alright but not inducing enough to make one travel many miles to seek them out (if you happen to be here, fine).  You can get equally decent (if not better) ones in KL.

And that was all the time we had on Day 2 for food hunting in Sitiawan as we had to rush back to the hotel to shower and get ready for our Prize Giving Dinner at 6.30pm.