Amazing Vacation: food

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Eating in Kuching - Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner

The Chinese Communities in Malaysia are very adamant about keeping their culture alive, and those in Sarawak are no exception. Chinese New Year is the biggest celebration of the year, and no expenses are spared to make it a memorable and joyous occasion. New Year goodies, lion dances, flowers, New Year decor all make a killing this time of the year. Even firecrackers and fireworks which have been banned for many years will surface mysteriously when the time comes. On New Year's Eve, you won't be able to sleep way past mid night due to the crackle of firecrackers and fire works.

Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner is the equivalent of the Christmas Dinner. Family members who are away will make it a point to return home for the Reunion Dinner. In Malaysia we call it "Balik Kampung" - going home to the village. In Kuala Lumpur and other big cities this is the cause of massive traffic jams and much stress during festive occasions.

Nowadays many families including mine choose to have the Reunion Dinner at a restaurant. Having it at home would mean having to spend the whole day and even days before preparing for the dinner, and hours cleaning up afterward. With lots of things to be done before the first day of New Year, it is simply too tiring.

Most the restaurants would be booked out way ahead, and many have introduced 2 seatings to cater for the demand. We chose to go for the early 5.00 p.m. seating so that we can get home earlier. About half of the restaurant was occupied for the early sitting.

You can't have a CNY Dinner without Yee Sang. This was actually invented by the Chinese in Malaysia based on the tradition of having fish during the occasion. It is like a salad that is tossed to "loh hei" or "raise the good luck". Recipes vary from restaurant to restaurant - usually a mixture of crunchy and sweet ingredients like dried fruits and nuts mixed with raw fish slices. Nowadays salmon is commonly used.

Roast suckling pig, much prized for the crispy skin. It is served with steamed buns, a sweet sauce and pickled vegetables.

Fish is a must-have item for CNY Dinner. In Chinese fish is "yee" which sounds like "abundance", so to have fish every year means you will have lots of abundance all year round.

Steamed scallops with vermicelli. Very fresh and sweet, a rare treat in Kuching.

Prawns done 2 ways - with a honey sauce on one side and mayonnaise on the other side. The one with honey sauce was better.

Broccoli with 2 types of mushrooms.

Eight Treasured Sticky Rice. This is savoury and sweet - it is more of a dessert. Quite nice, but takes a bit of getting used to because of the unusual combination of sweet and savoury ingredients.

Dinner was over really fast as the restaurant was rushing for the second seating at 7.00 p.m. Time to go home and prepare for the big day !

Eating in Kuching - Breakfast at Ipoh Town Kopitiam

Do you feel a sense of deja vu ? Haven't I just posted on this place recently ? Well this one is actually Ipoh Town Kopitiam - not to be confused with Old Town White Coffee which is a different chain. Ipoh Town actually ventured into Kuching earlier, with outlets at The Boulevard Shopping Centre and Jalan Song, and now their latest outlet at Tun Jugah Shopping Centre.

The idea is the same as Old Town - capitalizing on the nostalgia for Ipoh food, and also the sudden Malaysian craze for kaya toast. It is hard to imagine how the humble kaya toast can be the catalyst for a whole new wave of kopitiam culture sweeping all over Malaysia. Even Kuching has its home-grown chain called Kaya and Toast.

I ordered the signature kaya toast and a curry mee. Surprisingly the kaya toast took much longer to arrive then the mee, and it was soggy inside. Not very impressed.

The curry mee was also not very good. The taste is a bit flat, a sign that the sauce has perhaps been sitting around for too long. I have tried their nasi lemak which was much better then this, and their Ipoh Kuih Tiaw Soup is also not bad.

The saving grace was the Ipoh White Coffee - strong and rich, just the way I like it. It reminds me of Cafe Sua Da in Vietnam. I read somewhere that in Asian coffee roast they add sugar to the mix, giving the coffee a strong caramel taste which is quite different from the standard Italian roast.

Homegrown cafes like Ipoh Town and Old Town are giving imported ones like Starbucks a run for their money. If only they could improve on their food offerings, I think they have the potential to drown out the imports. So watch out, mermaid !

Eating in Kuching - Nonya at The Spring Food Bazaar

I haven't been to The Spring Food Bazaar a lot as I was never quite impressed with the food selections there. Last week I was invited by fellow blogger Irene (sweetsurrender.99.com.my) for lunch at Nonya - one of the bigger outlets at the Food Bazaar. I was quite surprised at the improvements and progress they have made in the last few months - more stalls, more food selections, and generally the place feels more alive.

My first experience at Nonya was a few months back. At that time they just opened, and the menu was very limited. The food was all pre-cooked and did not look or taste very appetizing. A few months on I am glad to see that they have made great improvements. Now there are quite a lot of Nonya dishes on the menu, and the food is freshly prepared to order.

The beef render was very good - chunks of tender beef slices in an aromatic sauce which has been cooked through to release all the flavours of the herbs and spices.

Stirfried Paku (jungle fern) in a light Belachan sauce.

The Assam Fish had just the right amount of sour and sweet - and enough chili heat to tickle the taste buds.

The rice is a mix of white and brown rice.

My favourite - chinchalok, a sauce made with preserved baby shrimps which has been salted and dressed with sliced shallots, ginger, chili and lime juice. It has a unique funky taste that is very appetizing. Here it is served over steamed okra.

This is a Nonya vegetable curry with Cangkok Manis (a local vegetable) and pumpkin. The sauce is made with traditional sambal and dried shrimp, giving it a rich and aromatic flavour.

Nonya was a pleasant surprise. In fact it is one of the few Nonya food outlets in Kuching worth a visit for it's nice, authentic and tasty food at a reasonable price. The added bonus is the shopping mall location which is comfortable and convenient.

Eating in Kuching - Dinner at Zhong Yuan Kitchen

Despite what the TV food progammes say, trying to juggle a job and cooking dinner at home is no easy feat. That is why more and more people are eating out, even in Kuching. Its not really a good thing, but that's a fact of modern life. So, it is always great to come across a place which provides delicious, "almost-healthy" food in a convenient location. Zhong Yuan Kitchen is such a place. Located at 101 Commercial Centre, it is right at the epi-centre of the hottest commercial centre in town, and the good thing is its only 5 min from my house. Hence this is one of my family's favourite hangouts for a weekday or weekend meal.

The menu at Zhong Yuan consists of mostly simple home-cooked style dishes, though they also have more fancy items for special occasions. Its the simple stuff we come here for.

The Zhong Yuan Fried Rice is one of our all time favourites. We always order it when we come here. It is basically a jazzed up version of fried rice with XO sauce, with lots of fresh ingredients like squid and prawns thrown in. Really delicious. I could just eat this stuff and be happy.

The Sweet Corn Soup is unlike those in other lessor restaurants. Here the corns are fresh corns, and there are lots of seafood added in to make it more substantial. The soup is really sweet and has a very nice mouth feel - not too starchy. Be sure to order this when you are there.

Stirfried Midin, fresh and crunchy.

Deepfried Tofu with Minced Pork and Preserved Turnips. Another simple homecooked dish that is done very well here.

Stewed Pork Ribs. The ribs and very tender and the meat fall off the bones. The sauce was a bit too sweet to my taste, but overall still quite an enjoyable dish.

Zhong Yuan Kitchen is a great place for simple family dinners, and it is very popular because of that. They started out with one shoplot, and now have expanded to two. The problem is they have not expanded the kitchen - still the same size and same number of people in the kitchen. On busy days, the wait can be quite long. Go early to avoid the dinner time rush.

Eating in Mukah - Dinner at Riverside Seafood Restaurant

Another very good restaurant in Mukah is the Riverside Seafood Restaurant. Located along the Mukah River, just 10 min from the town centre is this quaint little restaurant in a single-storey kampung house. The owners have made some attempts at decorating the place with local arts and craft - giving it a slightly exotic look.

The food here is a little more refined compared to JS. This is what we had. Stirfried Midin in belachan sauce. Very fresh, crunchy and tasty.

The fried chicken with a Thai sweet and sour sauce. This version is better then the one at JS Seafood.

Braised Japanese tofu with mushroom.

Deepfried Pompfret with sweet and sour sauce. The fish is extremely fresh. Pompfret is one of the best fish when fresh - very difficult to get in the bigger towns nowadays.

Mixed vegies.

Steamed king prawns. Look at the size of the prawn - sweet !

Stirfried crabs in a spicy sauce. Again extremely fresh and tasty.

JS Seafood and Riverside Seafood Restaurant are without a doubt the best seafood restaurants in Mukah. The taste and quality of their food can give restaurants in bigger towns a run for their money. Don't miss these if you are in Mukah.

Eating in Mukah - Lunch at JS Seafood

I always enjoy a visit to Mukah. It is a very small town, yet not lacking in modern amenities. Time slows down here, you can relax and forget about all your worries. Another great thing is the food - it is surprisingly good. There are not many restaurant choices here, but their good ones can rival those in bigger towns.

I have posted on JS Seafood before, but the food is so good it deserves another post. JS Seafood is in many ways the typical Chinese restaurant in a small town. It is devoid of any pretensions, there are no fancy decors and expensive table ware. What it specializes in is top notch food with very fresh ingredients - especially the seafood which come from local fishermen and suppliers.

The food is similar to what you get in seafood restaurants all over Sarawak. What makes it special is the excution and balance of flavours.

Umai - the famous Mukah raw fish marinated in chili and lime juice.

Deepfried "ikan terubok", a local fish that is full of small bones but has very sweet and delicate flesh.

Braised tofu with minced chicken.They don't serve pork in this restaurant.

Fried chicken two-ways. The chili version is better.

Prawns with oat flakes. The prawns were a bit overcooked.

Sweet and sour venison. The meat has been deepfried until slightly crispy but still tender. The texture is a bit like crispy Thai beef.

The highlight in this restaurant - fish head curry. A large head of a sea bass with lots of tender meat on the cheek, in a mild curry sauce which sets off the sweetness of the meat very well.

This is what the dish looked like after we were done with it.

When you visit some of the small towns in Sarawak, don't be surprised at how well they are eating. There are many chefs here who prefer the quiet and simple life, and the freshness of local ingredients make a great combination.