The Good Food of Kuching, Part Two

*Continue from Part One.

Eventhough Kuching is just two hours flight away from Kuala Lumpur, there are plenty of differences in the culture, people, environment and food between the two cities. For example, when our local friend Danny said he ordered “orr chien” (oyster omelette), little did we know that the oyster omelette in Kuching cooked without egg! (See picture above). So, this dish can’t be called oyster omelette-lah. Plenty of juicy oysters and chopped spring onions embedded onto the crispy deep fried cracker (made of flour) and sprinkle of alfalfa. Served with a diluted sauce made of white pepper, it’s a delicious snack to munch on to keep our tummies occupied before tea time.

We let Danny take full control of the itinerary of the day and all the places he wanna bring us to. After spent few hours at the suburbs of Kuching, we’re back to the town and arrived at this small food court along Jalan Khoo Hun Yeang.

Upon Danny’s recommendations, we tried the ais kacang, which came in petite bowls. And surprisingly, we found no kacang (beans) in it! Hahaha… anyway, the ais kacang was pretty standard and a good thirst quencher for a hot sunny day.

Danny’s favourite dessert, “lek tau suan“. Made of mung beans – boiled till tender and powdery in texture and served warm with deep fried crullers (yau cha kuey), this dessert rarely can be found in Peninsular Malaysia. It is different from the usual red bean or mung bean porridge because of the texture; it doesn’t being cooked till mushy, but instead, still retain the shape. If you want to try making this, you can get the recipe here.

Aside from the two mentioned above, the steamed “siew mai” here is quite good too. But expect no yellowish skin, the siew mai here are pale in colour and contains no shrimp. Instead, minced fish paste and minced pork are used as filling.

Food court at the open air market,
Jalan Khoo Hun Yeang,
93000 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.

*Map’s location doesn’t show the exact location, but the place is somewhere along the street.