I consolidated a list of Sarawak local dishes to try in Kuching when I was last in the capital city in June 2024. If you like to try local food when travelling, look for these Sarawak specialties in Kuching. There are 16 items on my food-hunt list and included Sarawak delicacies, Borneo native cuisines, confectionery, local wine and coffee.
Here is the list of Sarawak specialties and where I tried them:
1. Sarawak / Kuching Laksa (砂拉越/古晋叻沙)
Addressed as "Kuching laksa" in the states of Sarawak and Sabah, the local noodle dish is more commonly known as "Sarawak laksa" in other parts of Malaysia.
Sarawak laksa, a coconut milk-based laksa dish, uses sambal belacan (replacing curry), tamarind, lemongrass, spices and not-too-much coconut milk to make the broth, which is the main essence of the noodle dish. The broth is savoury-sweet-spicy, but not too spicy, and lighter than curry laksa broth. Basic ingredients, such as prawns, shredded chicken, shredded omelette and beansprouts, are added to thick rice vermicelli to create the soupy dish. The dish is usually accompanied with a lime where a little amount of lime juice will enhance the dish with refreshing citrusy flavour.
Kuching laksa is a popular noodle dish in Sarawak and is sold in most restaurants and food courts in Kuching. It is impossible to miss it.
Where:
2. Sarawak Kolo Mee (砂拉越哥罗面)
Similarly, Sarawak kolo mee is another popular favourite in Sarawak and hard to miss in Kuching. Kolo mee is usually served as dry-tossed noodle dish in white (fragrant shallot oil), black (savoury dark soy sauce) or red (sweet char siew) sauce. Other condiments may be added to the sauces to enhance their flavours. Unless otherwise specified, white sauce is normally used.
Kolo mee is prepared using curly egg noodle topped with slices of char siew (barbecue pork), minced meat, crispy fried pork lard, lard oil, and garnished with fried shallots. The noodle dish is usually tossed with just-enough sauce without making it wet. The noodle dish is often described as springy with some degrees of crunchiness and tastiness.
Where:
3. Tomato Crispy Mee (古晋茄汁炸面)
Tomato crispy mee is another specialty dish of Kuching that is lesser known outside Sarawak as compared to Sarawak laksa and Sarawak kolo mee.
The crispy noodle dish is prepared using kolo mee, or other noodles of choice, fried till crispy, added with other ingredients and drenched in tomato-based broth. The reddish broth is usually not viscous and light-tasting with mild sweetness of tomato. The crispy noodle has a different texture from other dishes and is a delightful dish to go for.
Where:
4. Mee (Sambal) Belacan
Sambal belacan is a Malay term for "shrimp paste". Thus, Mee Belacan is a noodle dish with shrimp paste in it. Aside from the strong scent of shrimp paste, there are century egg too. This dish is probably a challenge to those who have not tasted century egg or shrimp paste before.
Mee Belacan is prepared as a rice vermicelli dish added with a mild-spicy light gravy made with watered-down shrimp paste. It is topped with slices of cuttlefish, shredded cucumber, bean sprouts, and century egg. Lime juice can be added for additional citrus flavour. Mee belacan is a tasty dish and usually not overpowering in smell and taste.
Where: Borneo Delight Cafe
5. Kacang Ma (Motherwort Chicken)
Kacang ma, a Sarawak-Hakka dish, is originally a nutritious dish prepared for mothers during confinement — similar to Chinese’s red lees chicken (紅糟鸡) or Taiwanese’s sesame oil chicken (麻油鸡). It became a popular dish of Sarawakians due to its nutritional values.
Kacang ma is a chicken dish cooked with motherwort herb (益母草), ginger, sesame oil, rice wine, etc. It is a savoury soupy dish with slight ginger taste and also the unique taste of motherwort herb. The soup is best for steamed rice.
Where: Borneo Delight Cafe
6. Ayam Pansuh (Bamboo Chicken)
The ayam pansuh is another chicken dish. It is a traditional dish of the indigenous people that is cooked in bamboo stalk with water, tapioca leaves or other vegetable ingredients. The finished dish has soft and tender chicken with vegetable in a light-tasting broth.
Where: Borneo Delight Cafe
7. Dabai Fried Rice
Dabai (a Sarawak term) is an exotic black-colour fruit that is native to Borneo. It resembles olive and is also called "black olive" or "Sarawak olive" but the fruit is not related to olive at all. When dabai is used to cooked with fried rice, the finished dish has near-similar taste to olive fried rice and with some taste characteristics of dabai as well.
Where: Borneo Delight Cafe
8. Nasi Aruk
Nasi aruk is a local cooking style where steamed rice was fried without using oil. The resulting fried rice is oil-less (of course) and lightly charred with some wok-aroma. However, not all types of fried rice can be cooked this way as all ingredients for preparing the fried rice should not require oil — or prepare those ingredients separately before adding to the fried rice. The most common nasi aruk dish in Kuching is anchovies fried rice.
Where: Borneo Delight Cafe
9. Paku (Wild Fern)
Paku (巴古菜/过山猫), also known as midin in Sarawak, is a wild green vegetable fern. It is widely available in the wild of Sarawak and is served as vegetable dishes in many restaurants in Kuching. The cooked green fern has similar texture as asparagus and has a mildly sweet and grassy flavour.
Where: Borneo Delight Cafe
10. Umai Ikan (Raw Fish Cold Dish)
Umai ikan (ceviche) is a raw fish cold dish that is prepared by marinating fresh raw fish in citrus lime juice, salt and vinegar. It is similar to hinava in Sabah and kinilaw in the Philippines.
Where: Borneo Delight Cafe
11. Kek Lapis Sarawak (Sarawak Layer Cake)
Kek lapis, or layer cake, is often used to refer to pastries with many layers, such as Nyonya layer cake, rainbow cake, crepe cake, traditional kueh lapis (or lapis legit) of Indonesia, etc. Unlike traditional kek lapis that has few flavours, Sarawak's layer cakes are infused with new ingredients to make them more vibrant in colours and with richer flavours. Kek lapis are usually sold in strips of about 1.5 inch by 8 inch, allowing different flavours to be purchased.
Where: Kek Lapis Mama Su
12. Kek Batik (Cake with "Batik" Pattern)
Kek batik, or cake with batik patterns, is a type of no-bake Malaysian fridge cake that is inspired by the Scottish's tiffin cake during the British Malaya period. For some reasons, kek batik is more commonly available in Sarawak than any other states in Malaysia — I was told it was a Sarawak-specialty cake.
A simple batik cake is made by mixing broken Marie biscuits in chocolate sauce, made using Milo cocoa powder, and chilled to set its shape. It has a batik-lookalike pattern after cutting — and thus known as "kek batik". Other ingredients, such as chocolate fudge, almond flakes, cream, etc, can be laid on the cake to create flavourful variants.
An Indulgence batik cake has a top layer of chocolate fudge on a thicker layer of cream cheese sitting on a batik-cake as its base.
Where: Moon & Sun Coffee
13. Sarawak Ais Kacang (White Lady)
Ais kacang, or ice kacang, is a crushed-ice sweet dessert that is commonly found in Singapore and Malaysia. Sarawak has its own version of the cold dessert and is named "White Lady".
Unlike common ice kacang that uses flavoured syrup or gula Melaka, White Lady is sweetened using condensed milk. A cup or bowl of White Lady is filled with fruit, jellies, etc, and topped with crushed ice, condensed milk and a piece of lemon. It is a sweet and citrusy dessert that is best to have on hot days.
Where: Swee Kang Ais Kacang (瑞江红豆冰)
14. Sarawak Tuak (Rice Wine)
Sarawak tuak, known as lihing in Sabah, is rice wine fermented from glutinous rice. Alcohol content varies depending on fermentation period and is usually below 16% unless distillation is done to raise the alcohol level at the expense of aroma and flavour. The rice wine is usually yellowish in colour, has light aroma and tastes sweet with mild fruity notes.
Tuak is easily prepared by many locals, for self-consumption and for cooking, and flavours vary from household to household. Try them at bars or restaurants as drinks or in dishes — if you are of legal age.
Where:
Available in certain hyper-supermarkets and gift shops too
15. Sarawak Coffee
Sarawak is also a coffee-producing state of Malaysia although production quantity is not a lot. It produces mainly Arabica and Robusta coffee beans, but Liberica and Excelsa beans are gaining centre-stage in recent years. For coffee-lovers, don't miss the chance to try the different flavours of Sarawak's coffee beans, especially the Liberica beans — the best place to do so will be at a coffee roaster-cafe where you can also buy some coffee beans to take home.
16. Gula Apong (Nipah Palm Sugar)
Gula Melaka is Malacca's coconut palm sugar whereas gula apong is Sarawak's palm sugar. Gula apong tastes very similar to salted caramel and not as sweet as gula Melaka. It is made from the sap of nipah palm (nypa fruticans) that has natural salt content, hence having a salty-sweet taste note.
A gula apong ice-cream is probably the best way to try the unique flavour of the local palm sugar. Another way will be in a cup of coffee or latte flavoured by gula apong.
Where:
—
How many of the items above have you tried in Kuching?
Comentários