Dayak cuisine @ the.Dyak, Kuching

All my life, I have no idea what the orang asli (the aboriginal tribes of Malaysia) cuisine actually tasted like.  So, when I was out for a trip at Kuching for my very first time, I made up my mind that we must at least sample a traditional orang asli cuisine, no matter what.


Many people commented one particular restaurant serving Dayak cuisine, giving very good ratings on TripAdvisor.  Given its reliability, I decided to put the.Dyak at the top of my to-eat list (along with the sarawak laksa & kolo mee).


So, on our very last day of our trip, we stopped by this fine-dining restaurant.  It was sort of a "thank you" lunch to our friends-cum-tour guide, who had taken time off their busy schedule to bring us around.


Since our friend had recently tried this restaurant, we left the ordering to her & her husband.  Since I didn't have to go through the menu, I had all the time taking pictures of this wonderfully decorated restaurant and slowly enjoy.


The restaurant is very beautiful & cosy, and the owner had put a lot of thoughts into decorating the restaurant.  You can see many pictures, paintings & other decorative items (vase, swords, musical instrument) of the Dayak tribe.  Coming here is like visiting a mini museum of the Dayak tribe.


In fact, one of the waiters came to know that we are tourists, and he handed us a printed paper with a whole lot of history & descriptions behind each of the items displayed in this restaurant.


It was an interesting experience, learning about the tribe while waiting for the food to arrive. (Quite a pity though, as I didn't manage to digest every information)

Food
(Note:  The descriptions are all taken from the.Dyak's Facebook.  I could barely remember most of the names of the dishes, let alone those ingredients)

Manok Lulun - Chicken cooked in bamboo with ginger, onions, lemongrass, wild ginger flowers & tapioca leaves

This dish, although it look very simple and bland, is very flavourful.  I drank the sauce as though it was soup. Very light & freshening.  Close resemblance to Chinese cuisine.

Paku Kubok Gulai Bungai Kechala - Jungle frens stir-fried with wild ginger flowers & chillies

I love this dish.  Tasted like kangkung belacan, and the ferns are still very crunchy.  Not as slimy as I thought.

Jani Tunu - Well-marinated three-layered fatty char-grilled pork served with a refreshing sambal mixture.

A little disappointed as it was not very juicy as I have expected but still nice (I think I ate this the most).  But the star of this dish is the sambal sauce.  Dipping the pork with the sambal mixture just make you want to have more.

Daun Ubi Guring - Finely-chopped tapioca leaves

Don't be fooled by how unattractive it looks.  Surprisingly, it tasted nice & very juicy.  I am not sure what actually goes into it, but it tasted well on its own.

Tuak ice-cream - For desserts, we ordered the special version that has two types of rice wine.  Greedy, we are.

But somehow, I got taken aback with this dessert as the alcohol level is a bit to strong for my liking (not really an alcohol person).  A very unique taste, is all I can comment.  I think for all the tuak lovers, you may like this.

The service is fantastic.  The waiters are very friendly and polite - all with big sweet smiles on their faces.

Overall, it is a comforting place to relax and enjoy good food after a tiring day-out.  I totally love the ambiance of this place - it felt like you have just entered into someone's house and the host is whipping out his finest dishes while you learn about the stories of his family, history & culture.

An experience you should not miss!



the.Dyak
29, Ground Floor,
Panovel Commercial Complex,
Jalan Simpang Tiga,
93300 Kuching
Sarawak

Kuching: Kolo Mee & Sarawak Laksa

As usual, I did a whole lot of research as to where I can find good kolo mee & sarawak laksa.  Given that we do not have a car to go around, we decided to stick to places right in the city.

After long hours of going through blogs, we finally decided to test out 2 coffee-shops:

A)  Choon Choon Cafe @ Abell Road (Same row as AirAsia office)

B)  Choon Hui Cafe @ Ban Hock Road (Beside grand Continental Hotel)

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Kolo Mee

i)  Choon Choon Cafe

I prefer the kolo mee here as it is not too dry.  If you lift the noodles high up, you still can see the sauce remaining on the bowl.  In terms of flavour, Choon Choon offers better kolo mee.  The only thing I didn't enjoy was that the char siew was a bit bland.

ii)  Choon Hui Cafe

Although Choon Hui's kolo mee is not as wet as Choon Choon, but it was still enjoyable.  If you like the noodles springy (feels like instant noodle texture), then you will like the kolo mee here.  The minced meat is very nice & it goes very well with the noodles.

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Sarawak Laksa

i)  Choon Choon Cafe

Somehow, I felt that the soup lack the kick (I could have been biased as I tried the Choon Hui's first).  It is more to prawn soup & less of the curry side.  As shown in the picture, it was missing the egg omelette. Overall, I find it okay.

ii)  Choon Hui Cafe

If you are a big fan of Maggi Curry, you'll bound to love Choon Hui's Sarawak laksa.  The soup is just right - not too salty, not too spicy.  The balance between the curry & the prawn soup is just nice.  I love the pieces of egg omelette - reminded me of how my mum used to prepare my Maggi noodles for breakfast.  I finished every drop of the soup.  My vote goes to Choon Hui!

(You will notice that both the Sarawak laksa I ordered were missing its main ingredients - prawn.  Well, I deliberately omitted them as I don't really eat prawns.  BTW, I found that both stalls serve huge prawns)

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The coffee-shops also serve other food.  Some of the highlights:

Three Layer Tea - black tea served with layers of palm sugar (gula melaka) and milk

The picture on the left is the three layer tea from Choon Hui.  Between the two coffee-shops, both KS and I felt that Choon Hui tasted nicer as there is more palm sugar.  The palm sugar gave a very nice fragrance & sweetness to the tea.

But a selling point of Choon Choon is that you can order really huge drinks - standard, medium & large.

Toasted bread

Choon Choon has really nice toasted bread.  It may be a simple dish but it is super nice.

I think no one mentioned about this in any blogs I read, but we noticed many people ordered it, so we thought, maybe we should order too. 

They have a variety of toppings, but KS ordered the simplest - toasted bread with butter and honey.  Wow!  The bread is toasted to the right crispiness.  This is really a hidden gem!

Popiah

The popiah at Choon Hui is just average.  But the dipping sauce is quite nice and goes quite well with the popiah.  A good snack on top of the noodles.

Kuching: bing! Coffee

Starbucks.  Coffee Bean.  These are the usual names you hear when you mentioned coffee.

But here in Kuching, the place to go for a cup of good gourmet coffee is bing! Coffee.

We decided to stop by one of the outlets to try their coffee @ Hills Shopping Mall, right next to Pullman Hotel.  As the weather was super hot, we ordered cold drinks instead:  ice-blended mocha & ice-blended chocolate.

Ice-blended mocha for me, topped with generous amount of whipped cream & cocoa powder.  The  taste is very rich and creamy - definitely a lot of chocolate.  The coffee part is also flavourful (that's because they used Illy beans, so the quality is there).

Ice-blended chocolate for KS, topped with whipped cream & drizzled with chocolate syrup.  This is even super chocolaty.  If you're a fan of chocolate, this is pure indulgence.  I can't believe how much calories I will put on if I drank the whole glass.  Haha :P

If you wanna find a place to relax & recharge on a hot sunny day, or sit around with friends & chat, you should try bing! Coffee.


The ambience is very cosy (and very good air-con), you'll feel like at home.  The staff are also very friendly.


BTW, you can only find bing! Coffee in Kuching.  So, I guess this should be a Kuching specialty? :)

bing! Coffee (Hills Shopping Mall @ Interhill Place)
Lot. 27, 270 and 276, Section 47 at Jalan Mathies, KTLD

Kuching, Sarawak.

Kuching: Must Eats

When you do travel to Kuching and ask around the locals, they never fail to recommend you a few must-haves dishes.  If you didn't, it's like you have not truly experience Kuching.

Here are some of the must eats.

1)  Kolo Mee:  Egg noodles drizzled with oil & white vinegar served with garlic/shallots, minced pork and sliced char siu

Click here to find out where you can possibly find good Kolo Mee

2)  Sarawak Laksa:  Meehoon in spicy coconut prawn soup topped with egg & chicken strips and prawns.

Click here to find out where you can possibly find good Sarawak Laksa

3)  Tomato Mee:  Crispy deep fried noodles served with tomato sauce, vegetables & chicken

4)  Kueh Chap:  Thin square sheet noodles served with braised pork broth flavored with dark soy sauce & spices, and a variety of pig's internal organs - sometimes served with hard-boiled egg  & deep fried tofu

(Sorry, no pics.  Forgotten to get pics of it)

The above tomato mee & kolo mee are from Stall No. 25 @ Song Kheng Hai food court, just next to a large field behind Jalan Padungan.  You can also find another nice snack called Gong Piah, a type of donut-like filled with juicy pork meats, pretty similar to siew pao.  Just look out for Stall No. 7.

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Other dishes you must also try are:

• Pork Satay @ Carpenter Street

We stumbled across this stall purely out of coincidence.  We were shopping for souvenirs along Main Bazaar and after a while, we started to feel tired & hungry (could be the heat).

At first, our intention was just to eat at the nearest restaurant/cafe we find on the map.  So, the closest listed was a local hawker food court (no name mentioned on the map but it is located at Carpenter Street, just opposite a temple).

As I was tired, I left it to KS to do the ordering.  There weren't much choices as it was quite an awkward time to eat - almost 5pm - not tea-time nor is it dinner time.

Initially, when the pork satay arrived, it didn't look very attractive.  But the moment you put it into your mouth, wow! :o  The pork satay was so good!  I am pretty sure it was not because I was hungry as KS gave me the same shocking look too.

It doesn't taste like the usual satay, more like BBQ char siu on sticks.  The meat was tender & has some layers of fattiness, drenched with lots of dark soy sauce & honey.

The only downside was the peanut sauce.  It didn't have that kick that will make you want to dip your satay in.  It just tasted like peanut butter.  But then again, the pork satay is good enough to go by itself.  You don't need anything else to go with it.

Oh, how I miss it now!

BTW, this stall also sells nice, springy homemade fish balls & yong tofu served with vermicelli.

• Bipang

Okay, I know this is not a dish, but I think it is worth mentioning.  Before I went to Kuching, I had no idea what it is.  KS keep mentioning how nice it is and I had to believe him.

Turns out, it is actually rice crackers.  A bit different from the Japanese ones in that Bipang is sweeter & it has a stronger rice fragrance (& a lot more crunchier)

There are many flavours:  black rice, red rice, chicken floss, black sesame, onion & peanuts.

You can find these (Wide Way Bipang) almost everywhere, just look out for the old man with moustache trademark.  Plus, it comes in different sizes.  I bought the minis as it will be easier to store without worrying it will go soft.

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Know of any other must eats in Kuching?