Noodle Experts 麵匠

Location: Wisma Lai Swee Yian, Lot 10716, Section 64, Kenyalang, 93050 Kuching, Sarawak (enter from the junction next to Kenyalang Shell Station and go straight)

The kolo mee here has been crowned as one of the best kolo mee in town. It has branch at Jalan Song, but in term of service the main branch is a lot better.





The portion is quite petty for me. One bowl costs RM5.00. You can choose the ingredients you want, seafood or pork intestines or both.



At here you can order "Zheng" too.

Li Yuan Cafe 莉园

This "little" cafe is located at Jalan Song, the single storey shoplot behind Starbucks. Friend brought me there for laksa and she said it is quite famous. Under hot sun, the ambient here will be quite hot because the roof is not covered with metal sheet but canvas.



The laksa tastes quite salty though. And the prawns were not 100% fresh as it had been soaked in water for sometime. Overall it is acceptable to me but I still prefer the laksa in my hometown Bintulu. The next trip home, I will definitely introduce it in my blog.

Chong & Law Cafe 状元楼

This cafe is located at BDC and the noodle stall here is famous with its home-made recipe 自制好味麵. Now it has branches at Jalan Song and Yew Kee Kopitiam. This is the main branch. The noodle is thicker than the normal kolo mee and it's non-halal as they use pork lard. It contains one or two pieces of deep-fried pork lard.



Besides home-made noodle, you can find laksa and nasi lemak here. You can even order the Bak Ku Teh next door and get them send it over. The Bak Ku Teh is different from others because they use garlic rice rather than white rice.

Fish Head Noodle 鱼之香

Location: Jalan Stutong, Heights Drive Commercial Centre, Kuching (behind OneTJ)





This shop is another popular place for fish head noodle after Ayuke Fish Chef. What attracts me is their spicy Belacan dipping sauce. It is the best match with the fish meat. Usually I ordered mix fish noodle soup, with vermicelli. Their noodle is nice too, it serves separate from the soup.

A bowl of this, costs RM10.50. I like the milky soup, erm.. personal liking. :D with some bits of sour vege and tomato.

Pratunam Kuang Heng Chicken Rice in Bangkok

I traveled Bangkok frequent for sourcing stock. And I'm going to share with you my must-have food in Bangkok: Hainanese Chicken Rice. You may think it's not as good as those in Singapore or Malasysia. But for me, it's heavenly tasty good!





There's one well-known chicken rice located at Pratunam. It becomes tourist's must-have food list when visiting Bangkok. They name it "Pink Shirt Chicken Rice" just because the staffs are wearing striking pink shirts. I googled, the actual name is "Kaiton Khao Mun Kai". Khao Mun Kai is chicken rice in Thai. Usually the place is full during lunch and dinner. Therefore I swing to the "Green Shirt Chicken Rice" (Kuang Heng) which is equally good taste to me too.



Kuang Heng Chicken Rice is the "Green Shirt Chicken Rice" which located adjacent to Kaiton, on the same road but different block. The portion is pitifully 'small' to me, even though I ask for 'extra' which costs 50 Baht. But never seems enough to fill up my stomach. Usually I would order 'Coca Cola' in bottle, something that can fill up the gap after chicken rice.

Thailand as one of the rice production countries, the rice is fragrant and tastes good. The chicken tastes tenderly soft but the most important ingredient is the spicy sauce. Slurp!

Eng's Cafe 英姐茶餐室

Location: Jalan Petanak, next to "Chai Ho Pin 蔡和平"

Here comes my personal favourite Kolo Mee in Kuching. This ranked no. 1 in my list for Kolo Mee! I always recalls the taste of its noodle. Others might have different rating for this one, but different people has different taste favourism. For me, this is definitely my no. 1 so far. Second in my list is Ta Wan Kung, which I have introduced before.



The seafood was sold out that morning, so we ordered normal version with pork intestines, meat and fish balls. Love it! Not many Kolo Mee stall will provide soup, but they do. I can't remember the price, I think it's between RM3.50 - RM4.00. You have to have it while it is still hot. The taste deteriorates when turns cold.



Oh yeah, if you want to visit Eng's Cafe, do go as early as you can. They open early, around 6am and noodles will sold out around 10am normally. And they have Laksa too. Closed on Mondays.

Peter Noodle House 彼得麵店

Location: Precinct 88, Jalan Song




"Noodle experts 麵匠" is another Kuchingites' favourite for Kolo Mee. The main stall is located at Kenyalang's new business block (behind Shell Station). The one I am going to introduce is the 'branch' located at Jalan Song.

The Kolo Mee here tastes good. A bowl of RM3.50, the portion is just right.




Wanton Kolo Mee



The coffee shop here has limited choices. Other than Kolo Mee, they sell Laksa and toasts. Not many people know this place though, as its location is not so 'ideal'. If the noodle experts at Kenyalang is too crowded on weekends, this place is another option for you.

Song Kheng Hai 宋庆海

Location: Pandungan, Jalan Song Kheng Hai, 93100 Kuching, Sarawak



Hot day, what we normally want to do is to have something 'cold' and eat something 'light' as afternoon tea. Song Kheng Hai is our favourite place for afternoon tea. You will be spoiled with variety of choices. Rojak, chap kueh, kueh chap, etc. One of the famous local dish in Kuching is Belacan Bee Hoon, it is cuttlefish with vermicelli in shrimp paste sauce.



There is one thing you must have is Gong Pia "光饼" from stall no. 7 RIHGA 丽佳, the stall is located at the back row. Gong Pia is Foochow delicacy originally. Gong Pia with minced meat is the original version but Rihga has reinvented Gong Pia with different flavours. Now they have Gong Pia in 4 distinctive flavours: Minced meat, cheese, garlic and ham. Try it out! I still like the original flavour the most.





As for drinks, we have shaved ice ABC special. I love the ABC from the first stall at the main entrance. But I skipped for ABC that day. Another signature drinks in Song Kheng Hai is Sugarcane with Coconut. It is a must-have in Kuching too. Very refreshing!

Richmond Place Western Cafe @Jalan Ellis, Kuching

Location: Jalan Ellis, Kuching




Richmond has been in business for many years inn Kuching. It is our favourite place for western food. Food is nice (though not fine western cuisine) but most importantly it is not expensive! A chicken chop at RM10.00, we all are their repeat customer for sure. I love the crispiness of chicken skin. Nice!

Chicken Chop (RM10.00)




Pork Ribs (RM17.00) - This is nice too, very soft and tender! Even the elderly will not have problem to chew too.

919 Cafe, Hui Sing

Location: Taman Seng Goon, Jalan Taman Hui Sing




I used to be their regular customer. But their business got better and better, I could hardly find a parking lot therefore gradually reduced my frequency of patronizing. Good business means that they are getting popular! Honestly their food is nice and price is reasonable too. I revisited the cafe, the owner still recognised me (In fact, I stopped visiting the place for 1-2 years).

Fried Rice Vermicelli (RM4.00)





Kedondong Juice(RM2.00) - A must-try




Side order: Bitter gourd (RM1.20)




* Their asam fish is nice too. Overall their food is nice. They use red rice which makes them different from others.

Pork Burger Stall at Coffee Talk

Location: Jalan Song, the corner lot at the junction to Stutong


Pork burger is prevailing in Kuching now. In the past, we only can buy beef or chicken burger from Malay burger stalls. These days I noticed there are a few places selling pork burger too by Chinese. My friend and I wanted to try out the pizza at Coffee Talk Cafe last night. However, it was closed. So we decided to have burger instead.




The menu is creative, they even have blackout burger which uses charcoal bun. Each has clearly stated the ingredients.



We ordered Ultimate RM7.50. Though expensive, but it is delicious. They made the patties themselves.

Noodle Descendents 麵家汤

Location: Ground Floor Lot 18, Padungan Road, 93100 Kuching, Malaysia
Business Hours: Monday - Sunday, 7.30am - 3.30pm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoodleDescendents

There is one famous dish called "Zheng" or "Cheng" in Kuching, which is pork innards soup that comes with noodle separately. Every Kuchingite knows this "Zheng" place at Bishopgate and their 3-wait principles: wait for car park (as it's not easy to find car park at that area), wait for seat (the capacity of the shop is limited, you will have to avoid going there during breakfast and lunch break. You won't feel good as someone is standing behind you waiting for you to finish your meal), wait for them to take order and food to be served (yes, you can't go to them direct. They will not entertain you. Wait patiently for them to come to you first). But quite sometime ago they has moved to Padungan Road (August 2012), with their new name: Noodle Descendents. The crowd still remain the same. You will notice how they have been loved by Kuchingites all these 56 years (they founded in 1957), that reminds me of the Digi advertisement song last time: "I will follow you, follow you wherever you may go.."

Check out their Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/NoodleDescendents. Tips: Avoid peak hours and don't go with empty stomach as you might have to wait 1 hour for the food to be served during peak hours. It really puts your patience to the test.

Ipoh Tuck Kee 怡保德记

Location: No 61, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, 30300 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Tel No : +605-253 7513
Opens from 5pm onwards until late night, closed on alternate Tuesday.

After Ipoh's chicken rice post, I have to post my best Ipoh food experience at Tuck Kee 德记. Before visiting Ipoh, I had done some Ipoh food recommendations online. Apparently this Tuck Kee is one of the famous ones in town, this has been introduced by Axian too, click here to watch the YouTube.




This is their menu. Sorry, it is blurry.




According to some bloggers, they waited long for the food to be served. And, they recommended to have the "appetizers" while waiting. This is boiled Baby Octopus in Soy Sauce 八爪鱼, you can notice that almost every table will have this on their table. You should not miss it too.




Another popular side dish is their Braised Mushroom Chicken Feet 冬菇焖鸡脚. I enjoyed chewing off every gelatinous digit of the chicken feet.




Moonlight Fried Noodle aka Yu Kong Hor 月光河! It is a must-have in Ipoh! Raw egg on top of fried kueh tiaw and mix it fast while the kueh tiaw is still hot.




Lastly, Wat Tan Hor 滑蛋河. I must say this is the BEST among all. A spoon of the gravy with lard fritter, it is heavenly tasty. If I ever visit Ipoh again, I definitely will not miss this out.

Hoto Noodles from Kawaguchiko, Mount Fuji Japan

Mount Fuji is really awesome. We spent a night at Kawaguchiko. Even though we didn't manage to visit all the 5 lakes but we managed to try the local dish called "Hoto Noodles". If you don't know where to have hoto noodles, you can go to The Tourist Centre at Kawaguchiko Station and ask them for recommendation. There is one restaurant named Houtou Fudou, located just opposite Kawaguchiko Station. Their website is here: Houtou Fudou.



This is the iron plate to hold the iron pot.



The interiors of Houtou Fudou







Hoto Noodle (1,050 yen) in large iron bowl contains pumpkin, taro, onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms and flat udon noodles in miso soup. It was indeed a 'huge' portion for me. To my surprise, I finished the whole bowl by myself. I missed it so much.



I don't know what is this called. My mom wanted to have rice and we thought it is rice but it is actually not. Barley instead. My mom liked it though. Price at 1,050 yen too.



If you are going to visit Kawaguchiko, do search for this local dish. It definitely warms up your body in cold weather.