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Travel Treat Together is a travel blog for working professionals who want to see the world without quitting their jobs. Explore destination guides, itineraries and stories from across Asia and beyond.
I flew from KL to Sibu for the food. I came back with a lot more than that ā a friend's family, a shy ten-year-old with too many cats, and a Sunday lunch I still think about.
When was the last time you visited a place simply because someone you know lives there?
Not because it was on a list. Not because the photos looked good. Just because a friend said, “Come over.”
That is how I ended up in Sibu.
I live in KL. A close friend of mine lives in Sibu, in Sarawak, with her parents, while her daughter goes to school there. I had heard the name of the town for years without ever really thinking about it. When the chance to visit came, I took it.
And it turned out to be one of the best kinds of trips ā the kind where you do not just see a place. You get introduced to it.
Most people fly to Sarawak for Kuching. I flew to Sibu, and not because of a travel article. I went because a friend lives there.
Honestly, that is the best way to see a place in Malaysia ā not through a checklist of tourist spots, but through someone who actually lives there. My friend did the introductions. Her family, the aunties, the neighbours, the coffee shop uncle who already knows her usual order. Within a day I was not a visitor anymore. I was just someone sitting at the table.
That is what this Sibu food guide is really about.
The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sibu takes roughly two to two and a half hours. That is it. You leave the rush of KL and land in a town where things move at their own pace.
Some people call Sibu slow. Some even call it boring. I get it ā there is no mega mall, no big attraction, nothing loud calling for your attention.
But I liked it. After KL traffic, KL crowds and KL hurry, Sibu felt like a deep breath.
The roads are not busy. Getting from one place to another takes minutes, not an hour. You can have breakfast in town, walk to the market, visit a museum and still be back for a nap. For a weekend trip from KL, that is exactly the point.
We had dinner together on the first night. That is when my friend started explaining what Sibu food actually is.
She told me something I did not know: there are foods here you will only find in Sibu. Not in KL, and not really in the rest of Sarawak in the same way. The Foochow community brought them here generations ago, and the town kept them.
I should be honest ā I don’t eat everything. A lot of traditional Foochow food is pork-based, so I picked and chose. But even if you skip a dish, knowing why it exists is its own kind of enjoyment. You are not just eating. You are reading a hundred years of history off a plate.
I also met my friend’s daughter. She is about ten or eleven years old. Very shy, and a little hesitant to speak English with me ā which is completely fair, because my Foochow is zero.
She is clearly the head of a small cat empire. There are cats everywhere around the house, and she is the one who feeds them, checks on them, and generally stays busy looking after them. Watching a kid be that gentle and that responsible at the same time was one of my favourite parts of the trip.
The weather behaved too. Not too hot, not too wet ā just the kind of ordinary good weather that makes walking around a small town a pleasure.
If you eat one thing in Sibu, make it kampua mee.
It looks simple. Thin egg noodles, tossed in fragrant shallot oil and a little soy, topped with slices of char siu or minced pork, with a small bowl of clear soup on the side. That is the whole dish.
But that is also the beauty of it. Kampua mee is plainer and less sweet than Kuching’s famous kolo mee. It is not trying to impress you with sauce. It is about the noodle, the oil and the balance. A plate at a normal kopitiam costs around RM5 to RM8, and locals eat it for breakfast, not dinner.
A few things I learned:
Kampua mee is the answer whenever someone asks, “What is the food in Sibu?” Start here.
Then there is kompia.
Kompia is a small round Foochow bun with sesame on top, traditionally slapped onto the wall of a wood-fired oven and baked until the base is crisp and the inside is chewy. Some are plain. Some are split and stuffed with minced pork.
People call it the “Foochow bagel,” which undersells it. A good kompia is crisp at the bottom, soft in the middle, and just salty enough that you want another one. They are cheap ā often around RM1 to RM2 each ā and they are the perfect thing to carry around while you walk the town.
If you see a stall baking them fresh, stop. The smell alone will tell you it is worth it.
Once you have done kampua and kompia, this is the next layer of Foochow food in Sibu.
| Dish | What it is | When to eat it |
|---|---|---|
| Kampua mee | Dry-tossed egg noodles with shallot oil, soy and char siu | Breakfast, early lunch |
| Kompia | Wood-fired sesame bun, plain or filled with minced pork | Anytime, as a snack |
| Bien nuik | Sibu’s version of wantons ā thin skin, small, delicate | Breakfast or as a side |
| Mee sua | Very thin wheat noodles in a ginger and rice wine broth | Cold mornings, celebrations |
| Dian bian hu | Hand-torn flat noodle pieces in a light savoury soup | Breakfast, light lunch |
| Red rice wine chicken | Chicken cooked with Foochow red wine, warming and slightly sweet | Family meals, festive days |
| Tomato kuey teow | Flat rice noodles fried with tomato sauce and pork | Lunch or dinner at coffee shops |
The red wine one surprised me. Foochow red rice wine shows up everywhere in this cuisine ā in soups, in chicken, in celebration dishes. It is one of those flavours that tells you exactly whose kitchen you are standing in.
Sibu is a Foochow town, but it is still Sarawak. So the wider Sarawak hits are easy to find here too.
This was my friend’s proudest point, and she was right. Sibu sits in the middle of Sarawak’s fruit country, and the market shows it.
If you want to understand why Sarawakians are so casual about incredible fruit, stand at a fruit stall in Sibu for ten minutes.
We went to the wet market, and it was one of the highlights of the trip.
Sibu Central Market is often called the largest covered market in Malaysia, and it makes sense the moment you walk in. Downstairs is the wet section: seafood, live poultry, meat, jungle vegetables, herbs, and a fruit section that will stop you in your tracks. Upstairs is dry goods, clothes, local cakes, and a big food court.
Go early. Most stalls start winding down by early afternoon, and the market is at its best in the morning when the produce is just in. Bring cash, bring small notes, and do not be shy about asking what something is ā most traders are happy to explain, and sometimes to let you taste.
Even if you buy nothing, walk through it. This is where the town’s food actually begins.
After the market, we went to the Sibu Heritage Centre, and I am glad we did it in that order.
The centre sits in a restored 1960s circular building on Jalan Central, just a couple of kilometres from the town centre. Entry is free, it opens from around 9am to 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays and major public holidays), and an hour is enough to go through it properly.
Inside, you get the story of how the Foochow community came to Sibu, the role of the Methodist missionaries, the old schools, the Japanese Occupation, the great fires, and the mix of Iban, Melanau, Malay and Chinese communities that built the town.
Suddenly the food is not just food. The kampua makes sense. The red rice wine makes sense. The kompia in a wood-fired oven makes sense. If you have time for only one non-food stop in Sibu, make it this one.
On our last day, before the flight back, we had one more thing to do.
My friend had told me that Sunday is family day in her house. Everyone comes together for lunch or dinner ā parents, siblings, aunties, kids, whoever is around. It is not a special occasion. It is just what Sundays are.
So we had lunch with the whole family before heading to the airport.
That meal was better than anything I could have ordered from a menu. Not because the food was fancy, but because of what was happening around it. People talking over each other. Someone telling a child to eat more. Aunties asking questions and answering their own. Plates being pushed towards you without asking.
You can eat kampua mee anywhere in Sibu. You cannot buy a Sunday lunch like that.
And it reminded me why travelling with a local beats any itinerary.
Kampua mee and kompia. Both come from the Foochow community and both are at their best in the morning.
No. Kolo mee is Kuching’s version and tends to be sweeter and more heavily seasoned. Kampua mee is plainer, with more focus on shallot oil and the noodle itself.
Dabai is the Sarawak olive ā a seasonal black fruit with creamy flesh. Soak it in warm water until soft, then eat it with salt, sugar or soy sauce, or try it as dabai fried rice.
Two to three days is comfortable. One full day covers the food highlights and the town, and the extra days let you slow down and eat properly.
Yes, especially for a short weekend. It is a short flight, cheap once you are there, and it shows a side of Sarawak ā the Foochow river-town side ā that Kuching does not.
Yes. Entry is free and it is open Tuesday to Sunday.
I came to Sibu because a friend invited me. I ate kampua mee. I learned what kompia is. I stood in a wet market staring at fruits I had no name for, and I stood in a small museum understanding why the town tastes the way it does.
But the thing I keep thinking about is a Sunday lunch table, a shy ten-year-old looking after her cats, and a town that does not perform for visitors.
Sibu will not shout at you. It is a simple, slow, working river town on the Rajang, and it is fine with that. Sit down, order a plate of kampua, and let someone explain where it came from. That is the whole trip.
And if you are lucky, you will know someone there.
So ā who is the friend whose hometown you still have not visited? Tell us in the comments. We read every one.
We’re three friends who met in Malaysia and turned our love for travel and food into Travel Treat Together. Full-time professionals who never quit our jobs ā just found a way to make every trip count.
Travel Treat Together is a travel blog for working professionals who want to see the world without quitting their jobs. Explore destination guides, itineraries and stories from across Asia and beyond.
