Kuching Hainanese Legacy: Ann Loke Hui Cafe's Six Decades of Curry Rice and Char Siew on Jalan Sekama
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At half past one on a Jalan Sekama weekday, the lunch crowd at Ann Loke Hui Cafe has thinned out and the pot of meat curry is nearly spent — regulars know to appear before two if they want first pick of the steamed chicken. The scene would have been recognisable in 1980, when Ann Loke Hui was already fifteen years old and the queue spilled out between shows at Lido Theatre, the cinema that once stood a few doors down the Sekama strip.
Source: DayakDailyThe shop predates the cinema crowd by a decade. On 20 December 1968, five days before Christmas, Ann Loke Hui was officially registered on Jalan Sekama, and the Hainanese cooking behind the counter traces back even further: Hua Kia Jin, the founder, had learned his trade at an eatery on Carpenter Street before opening his own place. He ran the cafe for 33 years, until his death at 64, and his kitchen instincts were such that his friends always said cooking came naturally to him — 'the kitchen was where he felt most at home'.
His son John Hua took over in 2001, guided at first by his mother, Chai Lan Jin, the quiet force behind the pots. At 83 she still helps in the kitchen and, as John tells it, 'is also a good barista'. The cafe's glory years, though, were the Lido era: from opening until the 1980s, moviegoers dined here before queuing for the latest film, and old-timers still stroll in to talk about those nights and about the founder. Some even claim the char siew rivals well-known West Malaysian versions. Taste is subjective, John shrugs, but he appreciates the compliment.
Source: DayakDailyWhat to order is simple if you know the Hainanese repertoire: meat curry rice, three-layer pork with savoury rice, char siew, steamed chicken, and kueh teow in tomato sauce — the cafe's own take that diners have asked for since the kopitiam era. Then a Hainan coffee, still poured in vintage kopitiam cups and saucers; older patrons tip theirs into the saucer to sip the old-fashioned way. Takeaways still leave wrapped in old newspaper, a practice John kept because 'there were no modern wrappers back then' and the papers were on hand anyway.
Source: DayakDailyI would time a first visit for the late-morning lull, between about 10.30am and noon, order the meat curry rice with a tomato kueh teow on the side, and leave space to finish with a saucer-sipped Hainan coffee — then come back with the older generation, who will enjoy the detail of the newspaper wrapping as much as the food. It is a working kopitiam, not a museum: no airs, just six decades of Hainanese family cooking that outlived the cinema beside it.
Ann Loke Hui Cafe is at 128 Jalan Sekama, Kuching, open daily from 10.30am to 2pm except Sundays. For enquiries, call 019-889 6101.
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