**Editor’s note: Hmmm… That headline should suggest that there is cheap local food in Kuching, not that a cheap local is eating in Kuching… I could correct it, but I find it somewhat amusing. :)
Our food adventures in KK turned out to be a warm up for what awaited us in Kuching. Fortunately for our stomachs, though, Kuching has been filled with hits rather than misses.
We have ended up with far more time in Kuching than originally anticipated. We arrived on the 22nd, made a side trip to Bako for a couple of days, got back to town today, and have opted for a day trip to Santubong (a little peninsula in the South China Sea), rather than spending a couple of nights in that rather expensive little town.
We can think of many places that would be much worse to get stuck. After the rather slovenly appearance of Kota Kinabalu, Kuching has all the charm of a Spanish flamenco dancer. Kuching is all smooth edges and gleaming details: the golden House of Congress glinting form its position on the waterfront, a bustling-but-spacious and clean riverside esplanade (without any children wishing to lift my skirt), the white-washed, palatial home of the Governor, lit up like a national monument each evening. And, most importantly, Kuching takes its food quite seriously, and has three distinctly regional dishes that quickly made their way to the top of our must-try list: kolo mee, kueh tiaw, and Sarawak laksa.
Being an avid fan of local dishes, I made it my mission to sample as many versions of kolo mee as possible. So far, I’m up to 7 and can safely say that the best involves the following:
-al dente ramen noodles (they are flash-boiled in a rather handy little set up involving a giant vat of hot water and a long-handled metal spoon normally used for deep frying)
-a broth made from pork fat (essential to the actual dish- not something I would necessarily choose) with a splash of BBQ sauce to keep the broth from being greasy
-ground pork seasoned with lemon and spices
-BBQ pork with sauce that isn’t too sweet
-a side serving of thinly sliced chilli (so that you don’t get too much chilli in any particular bite) and either lemon/calamansi juice or vinegar
So far, I’ve found an awesome little nameless spot next to Asia Fashion House in Chinatown that does all of the above except add something to the broth to cut the greasiness, but they serve theirs with what I suspect is vinegar, which cuts through the broth just as effectively. Amazing. Already planning on a stop for breakfast tomorrow.
I’ve learned that I don’t like kueh tiaw – fried wide rice noodles aren’t my thing and serving them swimming in a gloopy sauce makes them DEFINITELY not my thing – and that I DO like (I do like them, Sam I Am!) Sarawak laksa, whether it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And I probably would eat it with a goat.
As for sweets, I’ve found enough to make a Sugar Plum Fairy cringe. Beautiful deep ginger burnt sugar sponge, green coconut custard cakes steamed to that odd jelly-like consistency (great once you get past the colour and the wobbliness), those delicious brown sugar steamed cakes and a new favourite, apam balik: a warm pancake (in itself an interesting halfway point between a crepe and a pancake) that is a rather suspicious shade of orange, spread with butter and filled with crushed peanuts and a sprinkling of sugar. Fold in half, cut into wedges, stick them in a bag, and walk away smiling – and only 60 cents poorer.
The trick to eating in Kuching is figuring out who serves what well and at what time. I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve set out with a particular dish from a particular hawker stall in mind, only to get there and find out that they’re shut. Granted, we have been looking for food during the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations, which means almost everything in Kuching was shut, but that just makes the puzzle all the more interesting: are they closed because it’s a holiday or because they’re always closed at this time? Will they be open tomorrow? WHEN tomorrow might they be open?
I spent ten particularly frustrating minutes trying to figure out why one hawker stall that had food – I was standing there staring at it – wouldn’t serve me. It was like the food equivalent to Pretty Woman; I half expected the little old lady to say “Oh, we have laksa, but it’s VERY expensive…” When I finally did get my food (from another stall), I had to resist the urge to walk past her with my bowl, saying “Big mistake. Big. HUGE!” I’ve since come to the conclusion that a) Just because it’s on their menu, doesn’t mean they serve it right now and b) Just because they have some of the ingredients, doesn’t mean they have them all. If I don’t draw those conclusions, the only option left is that the little old lady just didn’t like me and Malaysians are too friendly for me to believe that one.
The main dishes that we’ve been eating are actually typically eaten for breakfast and lunch; we’ve just lucked out a couple of times and found them late in the day, completely destroying any hope of understanding the “when” of eating local food in Kuching. All part of the mystery!
Lucky for us, we’ve got until Sunday to work it all out. If not, there’s always the moderately-spectacular pork satay at the Chinatown food hall… We won’t go hungry.
Grateful for: chance encounters with spectacular local food – even if it means being unable to make a repeat visit
