By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, Feb 19: Fifty-two-year-old home-cooked food operator Sik Chai Pin, also known as Ah Pin, has been in the business for 32 years and never worried about securing a traditional 9-to-5 job after leaving school.
Instead, he pursued a profession that awaited him, diving into what he knew best. Today, it provides him with a good livelihood.
At 20, Sik inherited his mother’s culinary expertise, known for her home-cooked-style dishes at the renowned Palm Road Hawker’s Centre in the 1970s.
In 1993, he decided to continue the tradition, bringing his home-cooked-style dishes to the heart of Kuching’s commercial district at Jalan Song Thian Cheok.
“The area was bustling, and there was already a demand for home-cooked-style local dishes. With my mother guiding me to perfect the flavours, we created dishes that suited local palates.
“I also learned the trade and honed my culinary skills through personal food tasting and by listening to my mother’s advice. After some trial and error, I gradually built my confidence.”
Sik said he always aimed for his food to be delicious and as home-cooked as possible to suit the local palate.
“Imagine preparing nearly 50 different dishes back in those days. You had to be quick because we wanted to serve our customers their meals at any time at our old eatery. Fortunately, we had helpers, which made the job easier,” he added.
Sik revealed that with escalating rent in the city, he relocated his business to King Centre Commercial Centre to continue sharing his home-cooked-style dishes with the community.
“It was the right move. We felt like ‘kings’ of home-cooked dishes when we moved here in 2000. Business was brisk, and we attracted a wider audience—even public figures patronised our café,” he chuckled.
Sik expressed that, despite the challenges posed by rising costs of goods and services, he has managed to sustain his business over the past few years.
“Recently, the situation has worsened due to the pandemic. To adapt to these increased costs, we’ve focused on offering 15 to 16 of our patrons’ favourite local dishes,” he shared.
“We’re not discouraged, as people still need to eat and enjoy delicious local food,” he added.
Sik further shared that his dishes are always crafted with the diverse tastes of the local community in mind.
“One of our daily specialities is braised ‘paklo’ (five-spice) pork, along with local vegetable delicacies such as wild ‘paku’ (wild fern) cooked with prawn paste or topped with fried ‘ikan bilis’ (anchovies), as well as wild bamboo shoots and yam stems simmered in savoury ‘santan’ (coconut) gravy.
“One of our customer favourites is the fish head soup and pork ribs with peanuts soup. We serve these soups on alternating days.”
Sik mentioned that if his mother were still alive, she would be proud to see him continuing her legacy by serving good food to the diverse community.
His older sister, 56-year-old Sik Fen Nee, helps at the eatery by making seafood and meatball soup with kolo mee or rice.
“My soupy dishes are especially popular in the morning or mid-morning. This way, we offer options for customers who visit us early or prefer lighter meals.”
The siblings felt honoured to be the second generation in their family, continuing their mother’s legacy.
They hoped that the dishes they served at the eatery would remind patrons of their mother’s cooking when she ran the hawker centre.
Fen Nee hoped that one of her three children would carry on the family tradition in the culinary world, a legacy started by her mother.
Their eatery, called Home Delicious, is located at Queen Court, Jalan Wan Alwi. It is open daily from 8am to 3pm, except on Sundays. For more information, call 016 883 3328. — DayakDaily
