new parliament building in kuching
at the start of the long weekend, on friday, we took a one-hour-twenty-minute-flight to kuching in sarawak, east malaysia. we returned to singapore on sunday, just when the national day parade was about to begin and definitely in time for the 8.22 pledge.
it was meant to be a social visit but it turned out to be more like a gastronomic adventure even though i am not that adventurous when it comes to eating.
we tried at least four unique and authentic sarawak dishes. first was the wild ferns cooked in garlic and shallots. sometimes, sambal belachan is used to cook the ferns. the ferns are apparently not that wild because, according to one of our hosts, they can be found growing by the road side. we finished the whole plate of crunchy ferns in double quick time. i think the locals call this dish midin.
the second dish was the bamboo chicken (pansoh manuk). chunks of chicken stuffed into a bamboo and cooked with herbs, one variation of which, uses kacang ma. another variation uses tapioca leaves, lemongrass and mushrooms. (kacang ma is a herb promoted by the sarawak state agriculture and food industry. this herb belongs to the mint family. it is believed to have originated in china and brought to sarawak by the hakkas.)
i also tried the sarawak version of laksa. it reminds me of our prawn noodles (hae mee). the authentic sarawak laksa uses fresh rice vermicelli. the soup is rich in 'sanatan' and spices. the toppings include prawns, chicken and thinly-sliced omelette.
of course, you cannot claim to have tried authentic sarawak dishes if you have not eaten the kolok mee - of which there are many imitations in singapore these days. in kuching, you can have kolok mee at any time of the day - for breakfast, lunch or dinner. having not eaten the kolok mee in singapore, i could not make a comparison; i was told that it tasted so much better than those sold in singapore.
15 comments:
Is that fern sayur paku?
phil, in sarawak, it is midin and in peninsular malaysia, it is paku. that's what i found out.
Yg, just like you, I too had a gastronomic adventure last week in Pahang, savouring the authentic Pahang dishes and the many varieties of Pahang durians. Added to this was an adventurous experience of trekking four trails which included Pine Trail, at Fraser’s Hill.
Last week in Haadyai, I threw "caution to the wind". I could not resist the 2-kinds oyster ommelette, beef ball kway teow soup, BBQ see hup, cold cheng teng, pig trotters in dark gravy sauce and of course the BBQ squid.
Now I must take extra medicine and also exercise even more.
You have me salivating now, you have brought back memories of the wonderful Laksa and the midin. I tried them when I was working in Kuching a few years ago. Drool, drool!
john, it was my first visit to kuching. from what i have heard, there have been a lot of developments in kuching over the last few years. i managed to see quite a lot of the new but i would like to see more of the old and the natural environment.
peter, you did not get to exercise in hatyai? were there other things you could ot resist?
nah, you all drove or took a coach to fraser's hills?
YG
First going to Haatyai was a by-the- way kind of thing because I could not find accommodation at Padang Besar. Secondly, the whole place changed very much that it is now common to see "tudung" everywhere - tells you something right? Action is over at Danok I heard.
YG. You missed one very important local dish .. the famous giant river prawn (udang galah) of Sarawak.
chun see, i should have re-read your post about your kayaking trip before gong over to kuching.
YG, we drove up and curious about developments there, we took the old road. It turned out to be a good choice as we could take short breaks to explore each town. There were no more pot-holes on the roads like those we experienced in the early years. At Segamat and Bentong, it was durian paradise.
For those who just want a quick retreat at Fraser’s Hill, take a cheap flight to KL and pay RM60, for a taxi to bring you to its doorstep.
There used to be a cafe in the old Kuching airport that served the best S'wak laksa. I used to do quite a bit of consultancy in Bintulu in the early 90's and often stopped over at the airport for about 3 hours. Last year when I brought my family there for holidays, we did not see it anymore.
chun see, i was quite surprised to find a modern kuching airport. i have heard of bintulu where petronas has an oilfield. seems like kuching is a small place because my host is a good friend of francis ho. but, i didnt go kayaking. we had our sarawak laksa at a coffee shop (choon hui cafe).
This is a very late post. I found out our Singapore UOB bank was started in Kuching.
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