Sarawak Trip (Day 3)

Day 3 - The Final Adventure.

We had our breakfast in the hotel again.

This time, I tried the scrambled egg.


Fish Ball, Cocktail, Four Season Rolls, Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, Baked Beans...


In the Kuching International Airport, surprisingly the whole airport has only one eatery (However, a KFC outlet is to be opened soon, but not when we were there!). Having no other choice, we went to the only eatery - Only Mee Restaurant.


Despite its name, there are rice served in the restaurant as well. My brother ordered this. It's the Pot Rice with Green Curry Chicken.


It came with a side dish and a soup - Fishball Soup and Acar.
Acar is a Malaysian salad. It is made from different kinds of hard vegetables such yardlong beans, carrots and cabbage which are pickled in vinegar and dried chillies. The vegetables are then tossed in ground peanuts.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acar)



This meal officially ended our food search quest in Kuching, the Cat City.

Sarawak Trip (Day 2)

Day 2.

My brother and I woke up early in the morning for a purpose - to enjoy the Buffet Breakfast which was included in the package when we paid for our hotel room.

To our dismay, the buffet spread was not grand, with only some limited choice. However, they were certainly more than enough as breakfast for us, because we planned to...

The breakfast enjoyed by my brother and I was as follows...

Bread and Pastry


I made myself the toasted bread spread with some margerine and made them as sandwich together with a piece of smoked turkey ham. The combination was yummy~


Hotdogs, Roti Plata, Chicken Fingers...


Fried Rice, Fried Bee Hoon (Rice vermicelli), Omelette


And finally... fruits


Yes, because we planned to visit Min Joo Restaurant AGAIN! To satisfy our appetite of trying the local food there, we decided to go to the same noodle stall we went yesterday, but still, our aim was to try the real kolo mee. So, we went there earlier.

The "real" version of Kolo Mee.


The Vegetable and Pork Soup.


The Mee Kosong (Only the noodles without any toppings).


Iced Tea with Milk.


After some further touring around the city, our "tour guide" brought us to this restaurant - The Hong Kong Noodle House.






Tofu with Seafood.


Pork Ribs in Sweet and Sour Sauce.


Fried Fish Fillets with Butter.


Stir-fried Midin with Sambal Belacan.
Forest ferns have a special place in the diet of the people, with the two most popular ferns used as vegetables being midin and the fiddlehead fern (pucuk paku). Midin grows wild in the secondary forests and is peculiar to the state. It has curly fronds and is very crunchy even after it has been cooked. Rural dwellers have always considered the fern a tasty, nutritious vegetable and the jungle fern’s rise from rural staple to urban gourmet green occurred in the 1980s with the increased urban migration of the Iban, Orang Ulu and other groups.

Today, the fern is widely available in markets. It is enjoyed by all and many eateries have the fern on their menu, often stir-fried with sambal belacan. Unfortunately, the fern does not travel well as it only stays fresh up to two days after harvesting so Sarawak is largely the only place to try midin dishes.
(Extracted from http://kuali.com/flavours/review.asp?file=recfeature/2005/7/47savou&sec=recfeature)


During the night, we paid the Sunday Market at Jalan Satok a visit.
The Sunday Market, which actually starts on Saturday afternoon, is held at
Jln Satok. It is renowned for the Bidayuh ladies who set up shop here selling fruit
and vegetables, but there are also many good Chinese and Malay stalls. Goods on
offer include handicrafts, forest produce (including deliacious wild honey), pets of
all descriptions, orchid plants, live fish, and a whole range of local snacks and
delicacies. The market is a must for weekend visitors, as it is very colourful and
teeming with shoppers. The best time to go is Saturday night or early Sunday
morning. (Extracted from Official Kuching Guide 2006)

There we finally had the chance to try the Sarawak Laksa. However, to me, it was like no difference with the Curry Mee I used to eat in Peninsular Malaysia, except that the Curry Mee has noodle as well instead of just the rice vermicelli as in Sarawak Laksa. And I still prefer the Curry Mee version as the soup base has richer aroma and flavour, but maybe because I never have the chance to try the best Sarawak Laksa in the city!


We also ordered some satay. The satay was cheap compared to what I used to have in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, at only RM 0.40 per stick.

Satay
Although recipes and ingredients vary from country to country, satay generally consists of chunks or slices of meat on bamboo or coconut leaf spine skewers, which are grilled over a wood or charcoal fire. Turmeric is often used to marinate satay and gives it a characteristic yellow color. Meats used include beef, pork, venison, fish, shrimp and chicken. It may be served with a spicy peanut sauce dip, or peanut gravy, slivers of onions and cucumbers, and ketupat. Pork satay can be served in a pineapple based satay sauce. An Indonesian version uses a soy-based dip.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satay)


In the Sunday Market, I finally had a view of the Midin in its uncooked form.


And I bought something peculiar, at least to me. I bought a banana at RM 1!

Couldn't imagine what's so special about this? Check out the next photo.


Do you know why now?

These all ended our Day 2 trip as we went back to our hotel directly after the Sunday Market visit.

Sarawak Trip (Day 1)

In the early October, I finally had the chance to fly, the very first time in my life, though it's just a short one hour and forty five minutes fly to Kuching, the Cat City!

After settled down in the Harbour View Hotel, we were on our way to find good food. A man in the Kuching International Airport had recommended us a mee stall somewhere nearby the hotel we staying in. So, we were on our way to the famous mee stall!

Finally, the view of the shop was in our sight. It's not really that difficult to find, even though it was our first time in the Cat City.

The Front View of the Min Joo Restaurant
Min Joo, corner of Carpenter & Bishopsgate Street. Small but very popular coffee shop selling Chinese noodle dishes. At breakfast time the place is packed. (Extracted from Kuching Official Guide 2006)


This restaurant sells Kolo Mee (also in Keow Teow), Vegetables and Pork Soup. Due to our late schedule, the mee had sold out when we were there. To avoid disappointment, we ordered the Keow Teow version instead.
Keow Teow or Kuey Teow are a kind of rice noodles. Rice noodles are noodles that are made from rice. Their principal ingredients are rice flour and water, though sometimes other ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are also added.　Rice noodles are most commonly used in the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia, and are available fresh, frozen, or dried, in various shapes and thicknesses.　(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_noodles)

Kuching 'kolo mee', 'kolok mee' or 'koh-loh mein' is a dish of egg noodles which are flash-boiled and then served with sliced barbeque pork also known as "char siew", minced pork, pork slices, prawns, fish balls and fish paste slices. (Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuching#Cuisine)

Customer can have the dry version.


Or the soup version.


We also ordered a cup of Hot Kopi O' (Coffee with only sugar). I was not sure whether the coffee was made of the Sarawak Coffee bean. However, it was pretty condensed and I was contented with it. :P


The Min Joo Restaurant is so famous that a well known host from a TV Food Show, Ah Hong （阿鸿） in Taiwan actually dropped by and tasted the food there.


On my way to the restaurant, I noticed this... Don't it look familiar? :P


After our late lunch, we went to walk around the Cat City and stopped by at this stall to buy some apam balik which is the Malaysian style of Pancake with nuts, margerine, sugar and sometimes with sweet corn kernels.


During the night, we was informed that there was a cultural event along the Carpenter street (the street where the Min Joo Restaurant located in). So, we decided to attend the event and of course, to search for nice food from the available food stalls!

The first that we tried was the Prawn Stick.


Then, some fried dumplings.




Next, the　chestnuts.


The Oyster Omelette.


Some pancakes.


And this - the special and cheaper version of Ice Kacang, the "Ice Stick" or known as the "GanDongBing" （甘冻冰） by the locals. It's actually the shaved ice squeezed around a stick and is pour some sugar dressings to add some colouring and flavouring to the tasteless ice. A kind of the dressings that is used tasted like Sarsi (Pepsi-like).




Since all the food stalls did not offer any tables and chairs for us to take our meal properly, we went to a food court nearby. I heard this food court was pretty famous with its fish soup and fish balls.
Chinese Food Centre, Jalan Carpenter (opposite temple). A wide range of Chinese food stalls. One sells excellent fish balls (afternoons only), while another sells superb fish and prawn soup from late afternoon until late at night. (Extracted from Official Kuching Guide 2006)

The Chinese Food Centre.


This is the stall selling the fish soup. There are also fish porridge, prawn porridge and kuey chap served.


The Kway Chap or Kueh Chap.
Kway chap (粿汁), a Teochew dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made with dark soy sauce, served with pig offal, tofu derivatives and boiled eggs. (Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Malaysia#Chinese_food)


The Fish Porridge


The Plain Porridge and Fish Soup


Closer View of the Plain Porridge


Closer View of the Fish Soup