The Tower Market is built around a historical watch tower, which remained till today as a landmark that the site used to be occupied by a fire brigade. The market did not have a roof in its early days and was known as the "Open-Air Market". In 1971, a roof was constructed but locals still prefer to use the old name till today.
The Open-Air Market — it is more a foodcourt than market — has two sections with many stalls selling all sorts of food. The market is the best place to go for cheap local food. Although several stalls are opened during the day, most of the stalls will open in the late afternoon till night.
I was at the market twice during the day and tried 3 stalls altogether.
1. Red Kolo Mee (老牌红油面)
Kolo mee (砂拉越干捞面) is a popular dry-tossed noodle dish in Sarawak and is usually served with white sauce with options for red or black sauce. The stall named "Red Kolo Mee" has been serving old-taste kolo mee with red char siew sauce as its signature dish for more than 60 years.
The (small) kolo mee is served with slices of tender and juicy barbecue pork and minced meat on curly egg noodle. The noodle dish looks simple and is flavourful with a sweet-base due to the char siew sauce but not overly sweet — white or black sauce are also available for those who prefers not to have red sauce.
The stall is usually opened in the evening — but it was opened on the public holiday when I was in Kuching. By the way, the stall also sells char kueh (炒粿) which is said to be nice too.
Opening Hours:
5pm to 12am | Daily
2. Fried Tauge Mee Kueh Tiaw (炒豆芽粿条/面)
Stall No. 15 serves fried tauge mee or kueh tiaw, or beansprouts char kway teow, as its only noodle dish. The stall is opened only in the morning session.
The fried beansprout kueh tiaw, is stir-fried with eggs, crab stick, slices of fishcake, spring onions and lots of beansprouts. Although the noodle dish is stir-fried, it is not oily and has a nice wok-flavour.
Opening Hours:
7am to 12:30pm | Daily
3. RG Ais Krim Bergula Apong (Gula Apong Ice-Cream)
RG Ais Krim Bergula Apong is a beverage and ice-cream stall that opens for business after 12pm. The hot-selling item of the stall is gula apong ice-cream, a popular dessert of Kuching that was first created by this very stall.
Gula apong is nipah palm sugar that is abundant in Sarawak. The brown-coloured sugar is not just sweet but has a slight salty taste due to presence of salt in nipah palm's sap. Gula apong ice-cream has additional sweet-savoury flavour added to the already-flavoured (pandan) ice-cream.
Gula apong ice-cream is a great way to taste gula apong when in Kuching.
Opening Hours:
12pm to 12am | Daily
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There are still a lot of stalls to try at Open-Air Market and more food options in the night session.
Address:
Jalan Power, 93000 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
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