Seafood feast @ Ling Loong Seafood [Top Spot Food Court], Kuching (Malaysia)

When we visited Kuching earlier this year, our Kuchingite relatives kindly organised a dinner at Ling Loong Seafood for the visiting relatives. As soon as we walked through the undercover carpark to the lift, I recognised that we were taken to this same food court 11 years earlier by a friend (one of the many foodie places this generous Kuchingite friend took us to on that trip!). Our relatives filled up two tables, and we all enjoyed catching up over a delicous seafood feast. The dinner showcased the local specialties that can only be found on this side of Malaysia, and I didn't realise I'd missed having these local food until I saw them again that night!

O-chien - oyster omelette is a delicious combination of seafood and egg:

Manichye, also called cangkuk manis in Malay which means sweet leaf. It has a texture much like spinach, but without the bitterness:

The last time I had Midin was 11 years ago when we visited Kuching. This local fern grows in the wild, has a distinctive curl and a lovely crunchy texture. I do wish midin is more readily available outside of Sarawak:

Another local seafood delicacy is the bamboo clam. These clams have a delicate seafood flavour and a texture similar to perfectly cooked scallops. Curry sauce is a popular way to serve bamboo clams in Kuching:

Here we have Butter Prawns. These deep fried crunchy goodies are not the healthiest choice, but they taste so good, I ate them whole with the heads, shells and tails!:

Classic Steamed Whole Fish. I'm not sure what kind of fish this is, but this was perfectly cooked and seasoned with a light and simple ginger soy sauce:

Deep-fried silken tofu in a mixed seafood and vegetables sauce:

Ling Loong Seafood Top Spot Food Court
6th Floor
No 6 & 33, Jalan Padungan
Taman Permata, 93100 Kuching
Sarawak, Malaysia
Tel. +60 14-684 8368

Sarawak laksa @ Chong Choon Cafe, Kuching (Malaysia)

The late Anthony Bourdain called it "breakfast of the gods", and featured Sarawak laksa in his programs Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown and No Reservations. I heard that this laksa had made such a great impression on Bourdain, it was on his top 10 wish list for his food market in New York! My first introduction to this East Malaysian version of laksa preceded Bourdain's televised publicity of this dish by more than a decade, when I was still a university student in Perth, and a Sarawakian friend's visiting mother cooked this dish for us. From that first bite, we were smitten with Sarawak laksa, which is not very much like the curry laksa that we were more acquainted with. Unfortunately this dish is not easily obtainable outside of its region, not even in Peninsular Malaysia, and it would be a number of years before we would taste this dish again on our first visit to Kuching in 2009. When we revisited Kuching at the beginning of this year, we had planned to visit the top three places for Sarawak laksa, as rated by my Sarawakian cousins and friend, who each had their favourite. Disappointingly our family was struck down by a flu virus for half of our stay, so we got to try out the laksa at only one of the three places. Still, it was better than none, and we can look forward to trying the other two next time we visit Kuching! The Sarawak laksa at Chong Choon Cafe is one cousin's favourite, and indeed it packed an aromatic punch for a small bowl. Chong Choon Cafe also has several other food stalls offering non-laksa food, and it was good to have non-spicy options for the little ones. I was told that Chong Choon Cafe is extremely popular for breakfast, often with a queue for a table. We arrived just before noon on a weekday, and there was plenty of available tables and seats. The area was bright, airy and spacious - perfect for families with kids. We enjoyed everything we ordered at Chong Choon Cafe, and we will revisit when we are in Kuching again, to do a proper comparison between the top three outlets for Sarawak laksa as rated by my cousins and friend!

A sure sign that we had arrived at the right place:

Chong Choon Cafe is a clean and tidy kopitiam, with several other food stalls selling food other than Sarawak laksa, and the main cafe at the front selling :

This stall at the corner is likely the most popular stall at the kopitiam, dishing out the much-beloved Sarawak laksa for the locals who come here for breakfast:

Sarawak laksa - aromatically spicy, not too creamy, with generous serving of prawns:

A delicious claypot of congee with century egg, from another stall:

Son was already homesick for homecooked food, and this bowl of meesua with chicken was his request:

Chong Choon Cafe
275 Jalan Chan Chin Ann
93100 Kuching
Sarawak, Malaysia

Kuching trip III: "wild" eats and oodles of noodles

On the morning of our second day in Kuching, our guide S wanted to have an early start at 7am to have breakfast then head to Semenggoh Forest Reserve for the orang-utans' 9am feeding time, but we had a late night the previous night and by the time we were all ready to go, it was already 10am in the morning. We had brunch instead, and went to the orang utan sanctuary for the 3pm feeding time.

Brunch @ Jit Hin

S took us on an hour's drive out of Kuching centre to Tebakang, to a kopitiam called Jit Hin to eat some unusual and interesting dishes. He actually wanted us to try a type of fish, but it had sold out by the time we arrived at 11ish in the day. Jit Hin is a no-frills place, in a "kampung" (rural) setting, and it is definitely not the decor that draws the crowd to this family-run business. Jit Hin serves up organic-grown and wild-caught dishes, with some unusual items like deer and bat meat, and is very popular for its seafood.

The shopfront:


Dishes we ate included:

Tortoise in Soya Sauce - tasted like pork; and Drunken Ginger Prawns - the prawns were delicious, but too much shaoxing wine was used which was a bit overpowering:


Wild boar in Soya Sauce - tasted like pork, but leaner; and Kampung Chicken in Soya Sauce - "kampung" is Malay for the word "village", and this dish is basically free range chicken with firm meat that is not at all fatty:


It was good trying out all the unusual dishes, but having almost everything in the same soy-based sauce made everything taste (and look) the same.

Drinks and snacks @ a kopitiam:

After checking out the orang-utan at the sanctuary, we had some icey drinks to cool down and ate some delicious Kuching cucur (fritters). White Lady is a popular drink in Kuching, and we had the Black Beauty drink mostly out of curiousity.

Black Beauty (blackcurrant flavoured) and White Lady (pineapple flavoured) - icey milk-based drinks with jelly and flavoured syrup; and Mixed Cucur - fritters of prawns, sweet potato, tofu and yam (or was it taro?):



Home-prepared Breakfast

The housekeeper at my auntie's house where we stayed put together this meal on our last morning in Kuching. We asked her to cook Char Kuey Teow, and boy can she whip up a delicious one! She also bought some Pulut Panggang (grilled glutinous rice in banana leaves with grated coconut filling) and Chai Kueh (vegetable dumpling) from the nearby market. We'd gotten some Kuching Kolo Mee and Sio Bee (the Kuching siu mai the previous night, but we were far too full to eat them after that big seafood feast, so the dear housekeeper steamed up both of them for our breakfast - they were both delicious even though they were bought the night before.

Clockwise from top left: Char Kuey Teow, Pulut Panggang, Chai Kueh, Kolo Mee and Sio Bee - now, this is what I call a breakfast feast!


Lunch @ Madam Tang's

S had to work on our last day in Kuching, so his mum kindly drove us to the airport. We had a quick lunch at Madam Tang's, where we ate some delicious Kuching Laksa. This type of laksa is quite different to the common types of curry or asam laksa as it contains sambal belacan (a chilli shrimp paste).

Kuching Laksa - a must try for anyone who is visiting the area; and Beef Noodles, one of Madam Tang's specialties:

Kuching trip II: Seafood Galore!

Surely I must have consumed more cholesterol-laden seafood in the two days we were in Kuching than for the whole of our 3 week holiday. Kuching is blessed with abundance of fresh and delicious seafood, and our guide S made sure we filled up on a lot of it.

Ling Loong Seafood Stall

For our first dinner in Kuching, S brought us to Ling Loong where you get to pick your choice of seafood and vegetables to be cooked to order. I like this concept of being able to choose the freshest looking ingredients for your table rather than be at the mercy of your chef who may try to use up the oldest stock first (which can be avoided anyway by going for popular stalls where turnover is high). Dinner included:

The fresh produce on display to entice customers; and the coral trout chosen for dinner


Mani Chye in Hokkien or Cangkuk Manis in Malay - I don't know the English term but I do know that it is a delicious leafy green; and Sambal Kangkung - my all-time FAVOURITE leafy greens! Not easily available in Tokyo, and when it is available, it is very pricey:


Seafood Soup full of umami deliciousness - it was so good, I burnt my tongue drinking it; and Venison aka deer, which was surprisingly tender and did not taste as gamey as I thought it would:


Butter Prawn, not so healthy but so yummy - I was eating these whole, head, tail, shell and all! Rob was giving me his prawn heads too, which did not help the excessive amount of cholesterol I was consuming! And the Steamed Coral Trout, which was also delicious.


Rock Road Seafood Restaurant

On our second (and final) night, we went to Rock Road Seafood Restaurant for dinner, and we had the honour of dining with S's parents.

Fresh fruit and vegetables and live seafood on display. Check out the size of the claw/pincer on prawn in the tank! We had three of these babies for dinner:


Midin, a type of vegetable unique to Sarawak, which I've been informed is a fern - crunchy texture, similar to eating skinny asparagus; and Stir-fried Sweet Potato Leaves with Garlic, which has a silky soft texture when cooked - have I said how much I like my leafy greens?:


Stir-fried Bamboo Clams with Curry; and Baked Crab with Cheese. Both were yummy:


Thai-style Fish (I forget which fish) - deep-fried crunchy with a sweet spicy sauce, I was happy to munch away at the fish head too; and Crab in Spicy Sweet & Sour Sauce - messy eating, but so so good:


Scrumptious Fried Oyster in Special Batter; and the above-said Prawns in Satay Sauce, which is the restaurant's signature dish. It's served with fried mantou bread to mop up the delicious sauce:


Apologies for my amnesia. I really should have taken more detailed notes rather than relying on my memory. Kuching really is the place to go for fresh seafood that don't cost a bomb.

Coming up in this blog - kopitiam eats!

Kuching trip: celebrating Raya, Layer Cakes and icey treats

During our week-long stay in Malaysia, we flew east over to Kuching, one of two Malaysian cities located on Borneo. We were there for a very short two days, and we devoted most of that time to explore the culinary specialties of that region. We were fortunate to have the help of a friend's brother S who kindly used his Hari Raya holiday to act as a foodie and tourist guide for us. Like I have said so many times before: nothing beats having local knowledge when on holiday!

We arrived just before lunch time on the Monday, and first stop was a visit to S's friend's house who was hosting an open house for the Raya celebration. In short summary, Hari Raya is the Malay term for Eid ul-Fitr which is a Muslim festival that marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. Some people open their houses during the Hari Raya period for people to drop in, socialise and eat some tasty food. Our hosts were a lovely couple with a beautiful house, and they had set out delicious food for us to enjoy. There were various types of layer cakes, which is a Sarawakian specialty. These cakes are made up of many thin layers of cake, baked one layer at a time. Apparently a small block of these cakes can fetch for more than RM100! These cakes are very labour-intensive and the more unusual patterned designs require special skills to make. Not just a pretty face, these cakes were scrumptious!

Sarawak's specialty - the Layer Cakes:


Close-up of one of the interestingly colorful layered cakes. No doubt one of the more expensive ones!


Hot dishes were chicken curry, a beef dish (sorry I can't remember exactly what), chicken and beef satay sticks with sauce, lemang and lontong.

Chicken and beef:


Satay sticks with a peanut-y sauce on the side, and the lemang and lontong to eat with the dishes:


After lunch, S brought us to have some Ice Kacang and ABC ("Air Batu Campur" which literally means 'stone water mix'. The terms Ice Kacang and ABC are popularly interchangeable, at least on the mainland, but apparently they are different. Our guide is a purist, preferring the "original" Ice Kacang consisting of just shaved ice, sweetened adzuki beans, condensed milk and syrup. ABC is a variant of Ice Kacang, with additional ingredients like cendol, corn, peanuts and attap chee (palm seeds, my favourite ice kacang ingredient!).

Plain Ice Kacang:


ABC with cendol:


We also had Belacan Beehoon, a dish unique to Kuching. This dish was was slightly sweet and not at all pungent as one would expect with using belacan (fermented shrimp paste), The beehoon was served with chewy cuttlefish which gave an added texture to the dish. We also shared a plate of Rojak.

Belacan Beehoon:


Rojak


Coming up next on our foodie tour in Kuching: overloading on delicious fresh seafood.