#tanahairku Murals in Kuching

My last post of the year 2015. Introduce these beautiful murals in Kuching to you. In September this year, I drove through Carpenter Street and Ewe Hai Street. There were skylifts parked on roadside at three different locations. Noticed they were doing the paintings, their artworks look so stunning. The colours are so eye-catching. I couldn't stop admiring at their murals. Each piece is a masterpiece. If you travel to Kuching city, remember to lift your head higher for these beauties.


The hornbill mural




The children mural




The leaping feline mural




Out of topic, just found the "signboards" so antique.




This alley and the stretch street is called Bishopsgate Street. There is one church at upper hill. In history the bishops usually came out for grocery, they walked on this path so it got its name from there.




2015 is going to an end. Wish you all have a wonderful countdown celebration. Happy new year to you all!

Kolo Mee 七层楼哥罗面 @Cheng Gong Cafe, Kuching

Location: Ban Hock Road, Kuching (behind Hong Leong Bank)


I first got to know this "qi ceng lou" kolo mee 七层楼哥罗面 at Sin Poh Poh Cafe. Just somewhere behind the current location. As the previous location adjacent to old apartments, so it got its name from the location.

Someday after a busy day, had supper at Cheng Gong Cafe with my friends. Found out the kolo mee owner has moved his business there. I must say their kolo mee is one of the best in town.







The noodle is chewy Q. A must try.




There have many recommended foods nearby, the nice dumplings and kueh chap at Lee Coffee Shop, Foochow cuisine@Mee Kwong, Ting Noodle House, and Hock King chicken rice.

Soon Fatt Cafe 顺发茶室 @Petanak, Kuching

Location: Jalan Petanak, 93100 Kuching (Opposite Magnum 4D)
Business Hours: It should be available after 7am, but closing around 2pm. Can't remember when is their off day. Either Sunday or Monday.


Soon Fatt Cafe is specialized in Foochow cuisine. I used to patronize Soon Fatt Cafe frequently because it is near to my ex-company. It was really good in the past, big portion, price was reasonable, and the taste was good too. The helpers, twin sisters are friendly and hardworking. The owner trained both of them very well, one mastered making drinks, and another mastered cooking. Slowly I stopped patronizing because the smoke from the kitchen made my hair smelled bad every time, and the price they charged is rather high compared to others.





Foochow Fried Noodles. This was my favourite. Their fried beehoon is equally good too. After so long, I went back again with my bro. The portion was big but the ingredients were pathetic. They use chicken breast meat to replace pork meat. No more fish balls. Only veges and chicken meat. I was quite disappointed honestly.





Foochow Noodles Soup. Same ingredients.




They are famous with the big prawn noodles soup too. But the price is really steep. Better ask them for pricing before you confirm the order. If you are not keen to have noodles for lunch, you can try their ginger pork rice too.

After blogging this post, I suddenly miss the Foochow cuisine at Rock City Cafe. Gonna have it tomorrow!

Yun Jia Chin Cafe 云嘉晋食堂 @BDC, Kuching

Location: Lot 957, Ground Floor, BDC Commercial Centre, Jalan Stutong, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak (Opposite Ayam Mahkota, same row with 100% Discount Store).


Every time I went to BDC for grocery, I would pass by this coffee shop. The fittings of the shop doesn't look 'alluring'. But there always have numbers of customer sitting there. I was curious what they were having. Had a peek at the food they ordered. A bowl of soup and a plate of rice. One day as my bro and I couldn't decide where to have lunch, I suggested this coffee shop. No harm to try out a new place. But it turned out a surprise to us. Since then this coffee shop has been our favourite lunch spot for months. The dishes taste nice and the price is very reasonable too.







Stir-fried cangkuk manis (sweet leaf in English) with egg. I prefer this dish served with some gravy which you can savour the fragrant leaf juice and egg.




This is my bro's favourite dish, stir-fried kailan with stewed pork slices (can food). 芥兰炒红烧扣肉. It is a perfect combination, but I would not recommend to have it often.




The bitter gourd with salted egg. Slurp.. Look at the egg york. It looks so appetizing.




This is the soup of the day. Lotus root soup. Usually the regular customers will order this soup and have it with rice. The pork meat has been boiled long hours, it is tenderly soft. Just dip the meat with soy chilli sauce.




Sweet & sour fish.




Kung pao chicken 宫保鸡丁. I like this dish because of its cashew nuts.




Another soup of the day, bitter gourd soup. Also my favourite soup.




Normally we order 3 - 4 dishes, the bill summed up below RM40 for 2 person. The cheapest was RM20 for two, depends on the dishes you ordered.

The coffee shop also has other stalls selling kolo mee, laksa, chicken rice, and porridge. I have tried the kolo mee and laksa, not bad too! Note: they are only open from early morning till noon around 1.30pm.

Burger Babi Bakar @Stutong Baru, Kuching

Location: Lorong 17/17F Jalan Stutong Baru off Jalan Stampin Baru, 93350 Kuching.
Business Hours: Monday - Friday 7pm - 11pm; Off on Saturdays and Sundays.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Burger-BABI-BAKAR-435762963227150/


The week after we had the fried wanton, we went to visit Stutong Baru again for the famous pork burger. Along the road, you will notice a wooden board stated Burger Babi Bakar. Just drive in the junction where the board directed. Look on your right hand side. If you notice there are cars parked in front of a yellow coloured house, then that's the right place.




The Menu:




This is my bro's order, pork patty + ham + egg + cheese + cabbage.




This is my order. I went to the most expensive one, which has included all the ingredients: pork patty, ham, bacon, egg, cabbage, and cheese. The bacon is crispy, I like their patty. But the burger is too huge, I couldn't have every layer in a bite. So I had to have it individually.




They also sell deep fried pork skin in pack. Check out their Facebook page for more details. Please take note that they are open during weekdays only. Don't go on Saturday and Sunday.

Famous Fried Wanton @Stutong Baru 八点地炸云吞, Kuching

Location: Stutong Baru (八点地). It is on the road side, can be noticed easily as there are many cars parked in front of the house.
Business hours: Not sure. But definitely available after 7pm.
Visit their Facebook page click here.


This place is introduced by my friend, she highly recommended their fried wanton to me. Crispy skin, super crunchy, and big portion. There also got the famous pork burger within the same area too, which I'm going to blog in the next post. The fried wanton place is actually operating business outside a single storey detached house. When you look for the house selling fried wanton along the way, you would pass one a house selling spicy noodles 麻辣面. The house selling fried wanton is just opposite a block of shop lot.  




The lady boss takes the order for fried wanton, tomato noodles and tomato kueh tiaw. I was quite mazed on my first visit. There were dirty plates, bowls and bottles left unattended on tables. And only two people are handling all these works. We sat there but the waste on the table wasn't clear and clean by anyone. Looking at the two bosses, both were extremely busy and emotionless. Feel rather burdened to interrupt them. Luckily my bro bumped into a friend who is "veteran" at this place. He told us it is self-service. Order your food with the boss first. Go and get the drinks from the chiller, then get your glasses, straws, chilli sauce, chopsticks, forks and spoons from the table next to the chiller. Sit and wait.




The boss will take the order for kolo mee and collect payment.




This is the cream soda from Sibu. There are many flavours available too.




This is my bro's tomato kueh tiaw.




The famous fried wanton. I thought it is just the fried wanton. But it is fried wanton in tomato gravy too. Not bad, the wanton skin is very crunchy. Soaking in the tomato gravy, let the skin turns soft, the taste is equally good.




This is the tomato noodles. This one is worth to try too.




Note: As there will be people waiting for their takeaways, do notice who orders food after you.  If the person got their food before you, your order might be missed out. Do remind the boss again.

Halal Handmade Mushroom Chicken Noodles @ Ting's Cafe, Kuching

Location: Jalan Bukit Mata, the shoplots behind Riverside Shopping Complex


Quite sometime ago my Muslim friend kept telling me how good taste the mee merah is. Based on her description with facial expression, I got so tempted to try it out. She told me the owner is a Chinese who converted to Islam. So he can literally speak mandarin. The location is not difficult to locate, it is behind Riverside Shopping Complex, opposite shop is a small convenient store.




The friendly boss with his pony hair. Hehehe.. He will speak Mandarin to you if you are Chinese.




The menu: Chicken chop rice, chicken salad rice, chicken lemon rice, steamed chicken rice, nasi ayam panggang merah, and kolo mee.




The famous kolo mee, handmade mushroom chicken noodles. Undeniably the noodles taste very nice, the texture is the type I love, springy and chewy. But as I don't take salty food for long time, this bowl of noodles is rather too salty for me. The red colour should be the char siew oil.




If you want to bring your friend(s) for halal kolo mee, this place is a good choice. All stall vendors here serve only halal foods.

Rojak Kucei, The Famous Indian Rojak in Kuching

Location: Batu Lintang Hawker Centre, Jalan Batu Lintang, Kuching


This hawker stall, Rojak Kucei is not unfamiliar to Kuchingnites. The Indian rojak and nasi briyani are their speciality. Every time I visited the place during lunch time, the front door always got people lined up. If came late, chicken sold out. Luckily I got the last plate of nasi briyani that day.




The boss has sharp eyes, spotted I'm taking photo.




Nasi briyani, comes with two side dishes. Big portion but I finished it all. I like the rice, but the meat is not my liking. Maybe it is because I don't like breast meat?




The side dish. Fried taufu, long bean fritters and cucumber strips with Indian rojak gravy.




Another side dish, potato curry.




The Indian rojak, contains fried chicken, fried taufu, vegetable fritters, cucumber strips, and bean sprouts. The gravy is sweet though.




The following post, I am going to blog the halal kolo mee for Muslim readers. Stay tuned!

Sawasdee Thai Restaurant @ Summer Mall, Kota Samarahan

Location: Summer Mall Food Court, Jalan Datuk Mohammad Musa, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sawasdee-Thai-Restaurant-396527080531777/


The other day browsing through my Facebook, someone clicked 'like' a page with some Thai food photos. It caught my attention because the Thai dishes look so authentic, and its location is at Summer Mall in Kota Samarahan... at least not too far to reach. I was hoping to try it as soon as possible.. Finally, my mum came to Kuching not long ago, we got the chance to pay a visit. It took us about 30 minutes ride to get there. I don't think I would be able to make frequent visit due to the long distance.

I tried to order as many signature dishes as I can because I don't know when my next visit will be. Mango sticky rice, pineapple fried rice, tom yam soup, green curry chicken, fried marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaf, stir-fried kangkong stems, steamed fish with garlic and lime soup.








Their menus














































Mango Sticky Rice as the side dish.




Thai Green Tea and Tea. My mum likes the green tea I ordered for her.




Thai Pineapple fried rice. Taste ok. The portion is slightly small.




Fried marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaf. Hmm.. doesn't really look appealing.






Stir-fried kangkong stems. This one is special to me, I never seen this in Bangkok. Only the stems, no leaf. But honestly, some are too hard to chew.




Tom yam seafood. I like this soup.




Green curry chicken. This is my favourite among the rest. If I can have it with white rice, would be even better.




The steamed fish with garlic and lime soup. This one looks different from the picture I saw in their Facebook page. They replaced the lime with lemon.  But the fish was fresh, mum enjoyed it very much.




Just realised I didn't try their Phat Thai. We missed out the stir-fried chicken with basil leaf as well. Well, should pay another visit in the future? Total bill summed up around RM120++.  There was another fried rice my bro ordered, as the presentation didn't look attractive (tasted alright) so I didn't snap the picture.