Frankincense Cafe

(Update: I was back for another plate of the mifun on 9/11, and it was very different in appearance and taste from the first plate. The mifun was too wet, the chives too old and the taste overall was not special. I think it wasn't cooked by the same person. Another thing they need to do is expand the menu for kids, period.)

Last Friday, I ate an ordinary-looking extraordinary plate of fried mifun. The simple white mifun without soy sauce or much meat was of the perfect texture, not too soft or hard, and not too oily too, and it was very tasty and fragrant with an unexpected ingredient--bunga kantan, cut so finely that I couldn't see it. The next day, 12 hours after I ate the mifun, I was at Frankincense Cafe to eat the same thing again.

It turned out that the restaurant owner, Casey, was an acquaintance from my previous church and he is from the Nyonya town of Melaka. Now Frankincense makes some sense. Some. Frankincense is a non air-con family restaurant. That means no frills, but it is very clean and pleasant. The food is very home-cooked too, and the prices are probably among the cheapest in town, with most items under RM5. I immediately knew that I've found a place I can go to whenever I don't feel like cooking. I wasn't the only person who thought like that, because a friend strolled in and said he eats there every day, and pointed to our plate of fried mifun as his favorite. Just writing this makes me hungry for the mifun again. I seriously suspect that bunga kantan is addictive. (Right after lunch, Hub and I took a drive to Lok Kawi and bought three lousy, wet, bland medium-sized durians for RM55--it's so unfair that West Malaysians can eat a ton of The King of Fruits for that amount of money--and we stopped by a nursery and bought a bunga kantan plant. I love bunga kantan.)

There aren't that many items on the menu, which is not surprising since this is a mom and pop kind of restaurant, with only one helper. As Casey's wife Katherine is a Kadazan, the restaurant serves a mixture of Nyonya and Kadazan home dishes. One of the side dishes that goes well with the mifun was tuhau, which I've read about and seen in markets but never eaten before. I loved it immediately. Tuhau is the stem of a ginger (not the bunga kantan) which the Kadazans love to serve as a pickle side dish to fried fish and rice. I am going to post the recipe as soon I get some tuhau but you can jump ahead and get it from here.


Frankincense's fantastic bihun goreng special (special fried mifun) is simple but delicious and full of flavors, RM4.50. I was told later that it is best fried with dried shrimps. The tuhau is at the back along with a small dish of chili belacan.


Udang chili garam, salt and chili prawns. It was not as flavorful as it looks though. Only RM5 for 5 prawns!


Ayam pong teh, stewed chicken in soy sauce I think, RM4.50. This simple stew would be good with plain rice.


Fried Ranau veg is a mixed plate of native garlic chives, bunga kantan, chilies and dried prawns, RM4. I found this dish too oily but eating the garlic chives (lots of fibre) reminded me of my Dad who used to cook them with beef and dried radish.


I want to go back to Frankincense for the cincalok omelette, the nasi lemak, the ikan pari kuah lada...but most of all, for the bihun goreng special.




Frankincense Cafe is at the Kepayan Commercial Center. You can go there through Austral Park or by way of the Penampand By-Pass going to the Kepayan Commercial Center. The restaurant is opposite to Avena Cake Shop.