Food T(r)ail Of Feline City - Eating Out In Kuching

So, what food you need to try in Sarawak?

1.    Sarawak Laksa at Chong Choon Café at Abell Street

Sarawak laksa is a bit different from the asam laksa in Penang. Here, they put lots of pepper into it. I guess the famous place to get it is at Chong Choon Café. The locals like here as well. At Chong Choon Café, you can try their toast as well. Thumbs up for me. As for the Kolo mee, I guess every shops sell it. Though this shop belongs to a Chinese, don’t be surprise there are Malays eating inside it. Here, they serve no pork but with no halal logo. But, they don’t create much fuss here.

2.    Lao Ya Keng Food Court at Carpenter Street

You will hardly miss this shop. Shared the same compound of a Chinese temple, I found this shop from the tourism brochure of Kuching. When we were there, there were journalists interviewing the owner which reflects the popularity of the stall I guess. I find the fish cake and fish ball served to be very tasty, soft and tangy as well. Beside the noodle stall, stood one stall which sell pork satay. The taste is not bad if compared to the other type of meat I tried before this.

3.    Nasi tsunami at food court along Brooke Street

My brother told me to try out this rice before I depart to Kuching. He was there just one week before me. At first, I don’t fond of the name because when tsunami happened, it was a catastrophe event which claimed thousands of people lives being swept to the sea. To translate that scenario into dishes... urgh… Nevertheless, I still give it a try. Taste just like the Chinese version of Cantonese noodle gravy serves with rice. The food court here serves quite a variety of food ranging from western, Indonesian and Sarawak. Try their ‘midin’, a green jungle fern that grows in Sarawak is a must have vegetable here. Kuching is famous for salted ikan terubok as well. But be careful when you try it. Chinese has a belief that the tastier the fish the more bone it will have. This fish fits the bill. ‘Umai’ is also served here and it is basically origin from Iban tribe. To me, ‘umai’ is actually the local sashimi. Last but not least, give the 3 layers tea a try. With the milk (white), dark brown sugar, and tea (brown), it forms 3 colors in your drink.

(in response to Han Ching's comment)

Ayam pansuh is another typical dishes among the people in Sarawak. The dish is prepared by cooking chicken meat in a bamboo and stuffed with water (which later will be the soup), seasonings and covered with tapioca leaves (later could be eaten together with the cooked chicken). Though it is a signature dish, you hardly find it easily available as the way of cooking it requires time and of course bamboo. So, if the restaurant claimed that they serve this dish 24/7, ask them to serve with the bamboo instead of serving you on the plate. I was told that I need to make a reservation in a hotel restaurant in order to taste it. But when I ventured along the Brooke Street, there is a stall selling authentic ayam pansuh. How I knew that? They were setting up a fire and rows of bamboo were aligned the fire.

4.    Ayam Penyet at Simpang Tiga Street

As Sarawak is located near Kalimantan Indonesia, ‘ayam penyet’ has been absorbed into Malaysia lifestyle. The ‘Ayam Penyet’ franchise you get in Peninsular is not as tasty as the one I found here which was recommended by the reception lady in my hotel. Sometimes, to try to best local food around, you just need to ask the local people rather than believing what’s written in the tourism brochure. You see, the locals like me won’t go to Jalan Alor in KL to eat. Still, there are many tourists got “slit on their throats” there. Why? Because Lonely Planet told them so. As for the name of the shop, sorry as I forgot to note it down. What I can recall is this shop located a few blocks away from a Chinese restaurant.

5.    Lui Cha at Pisang Barat Street

Made famous by Axian. This is the only Hakka dish that does not involved meat. With a mixture of vegetables, beans and herbs, the strong smell of the mint leaf soup either make you loathe it of love it. If you want to be healthy and go smooth in the toilet after all the rubbish you gobbled down the day before, give this a go.

6.    Layer Cake from Aunty Cynthea at Kapor Street

The gift you shouldn’t miss bringing back home as souvenir is this. There are so many shops and stalls selling this cake. But which one serves the best when guys selling aphrodisiac medicine along the street sell layer cake as well. Different from Appollo layer cake, it is made from much denser and more layers of cake that are compressed and formed a rainbow color pattern. To me, Axian has shown me the best and most characteristic layer cake shop house. Meet Aunty Cynthea. When my GPS brought me in front of 2, Taman Top Green Literature Villa, Jalan Kapor, I cursed the GPS for not doing his job well. 

Luckily, we got Aunty Cynthia hand phone as well and decided to ring her. Soon, there’s one old lady opened the wooden door and wave at us. Shoot. The shop we were looking for is actually a double storey rich lady house. Yup, she sells layer cakes. We were invited inside and for the first time I spoke the most Cantonese language during my stay here. That aunty is a Cantonese. She was so kind to us and began to relate her humble stories which she was once asked to prepare 1Malaysia logo cake to the Prime Minister. Trust me; this aunty is no ordinary aunty. Her connection with the politician’s wives even is better that Streamyx line.

I found the Chinese food in Kuching has a lot of influence from the Hakka community while the Malay food has the influence from Kalimantan. When it comes to food, different people have different taste, view and judgment. Just like durian. I dislike it but others worship it so much. Even my blogspot spell check does not recognise the word 'durian'.