Kolo Mee @ Sing Hock Hin Cafe 新福兴茶室, Kuching (MOVED)

Location: 109, Jalan Padungan, Kuching, Sarawak (same block with Padungan Hotel)
Business hours: Early morning till 12pm or earlier if sold out

UPDATED ON 30/05/2017: THE KOLO MEE VENDOR HAS RELOCATED. WILL UPDATE ONCE I FOUND HIS NEW LOCATION. 


I was planning to go to Mee Sin Cafe for lunch the other day. As I parked my car quite far distant from Mee Sin so I decided to get nearby to fill my stomach. Since my car was parked in front of Sing Hock Hin Cafe, I walked pass and saw the noodle was only RM2.90. Attracted by the price but sceptical of its taste.




FYI, the price of kolo mee has now increased to RM3.30. However, the soup with noodle set remains unchanged.




This is the kolo mee. My favourite and so far this is my number 1 kolo mee in Kuching. Oh, they use lard so it tastes so aromatic. The noodle is springy and the texture is exactly the type I fond of.




This is the set, a bowl of soup comes with a bowl of noodle. Soup contains pork intestine, pork liver, fish balls, meat balls, fish cake slices, and black fungus. The vendor has mastered the "golden" time to boil the pork liver. It is not overly cooked. The texture is neither rough nor hard. It is bouncy soft and juicy. I like the pork intestine the most. Personal liking, I always opt for pork intestine over liver. The soup is clear but surprisingly tasty.




The noodle, perfect match with the soup. A set of this only RM4.50.




Though the kolo mee is now RM3.30, it is still considered cheaper in the market (others' RM3.50). I noticed this kopitiam is Foochow old folks gather place. I always "eavesdropped" their conversation, well.. their voice quite loud actually. It was quite amusing as they frequently used the "inappropriate" words (something like F*CK in Foochow). Oh my.. Haha.. Please excuse these Foochow old folks, they are difficult to get rid of the habit.

Best Pork Satay in Kuching @Carpenter Street, Kuching

Location: Carpenter Street, Kuching


This place opposite the Siang Ti Temple 上帝庙 at Carpenter Street is famous for its fish ball beancurd soup and pork satay. Satay will be available in the noon after 2pm and normally finish before 4pm. Usually if order a bowl of fish ball beancurd soup will not be sufficient because of its small portion. Should order at least 5 sticks of pork satay as side order.

The famous pork satay is superb tender and succulently juicy. Marinated with dark soy sauce. It is different from chicken satay. The thick peanut sauce is also another highlight, it is the best accompaniment to satay. 

The handmade fish balls with vermicelli soup. The soup base is light but tasty. Grandmas and grandpas' favourite.




Aside pork satay and fish ball soup, you should try its kueh chap and fish porridge too. These are all the signature dishes in Kuching which you should not be missed. Just one street stretches from front to back, you can hunt so many good food here:

Lau Ya Keng Fish Ball Tauhu
Nyan Shin Cafe 源成茶室
Aladin Cafe 神灯
Black Bean Coffee & Tea Company
Kim Joo 锦裕
Ah Yong ABC Ice Kantong @ Wayang Street

Pisang Goreng (Banana Fritter), Stall No. 14 @ Song Kheng Hai

Location: Pandungan, Jalan Song Kheng Hai, 93100 Kuching, Sarawak
Business Hours: Open daily except Chinese New Year Holidays, 11:30am - 6:30pm


Quite sometime ago, I discovered something new at Song Kheng Hai. And, I am getting addicted to it. The "pisang goreng", banana fritter. I know it may seems unexciting to some of you as you cannot expect how special the pisang goreng can be right.. The stall no. 14 is nearby the stall selling the famous gongpia at Song Kheng Hai. No name is given. No menu nor food photo is displayed.  I normally walked pass without giving notice of it.

One day, went there to 'tabao' (takeaway) food for early dinner. Had a glance at the cardboard attached, written "芝麻香蕉糕“translation: sesame banana fritter. Decided to give it a try. Since then, I kept going back there for more.




I bought RM3, RM1 is roughly 4-5 pieces. Taukenio is very generous, she always put in extra pieces. I cannot tell you how delicious it is. You got to try it yourself. I will drool whenever I think of its taste.. The aroma of sesame and the crispiness of the batter after deep dried, really syiok to max. The ripeness of the banana is just right (unlike some vendors used unripe banana which tastes starchy). Even it turns cold, the good taste is still maintained.




They sell also breadfruit fritter. But the banana fritter is still the best. I bought RM3 of banana fritter and RM1 of breadfruit fritter two days ago. I finished RM2 of banana fritter alone. Each bite, I kept amazed at how good taste it is.




I strongly recommend you to try it out. Let me know if you like it too ok.

Black Bean Coffee & Tea Company (100% Pure Sarawak Coffee Bean)

Address: No.87, Ewe Hai Street, 93000, Kuching, Sarawak.
Tel: 082-420 290
Click here to their Facebook page

I have brought a few of my friends to this cosy cafe located on Ewe Hai Street. They serve gourmet coffee, brewed with Sarawak coffee beans. 100% pure Saraawak coffee beans. Worth to mention, a cup of cappuccino is only RM5! Limited seats available. You may have to share table with others. But it is good that you can make new friends too. 

The staffs are friendly and cheerful all the time.




The most popular menus hanging on the wall.




Not only coffee, you can have premium grade of Taiwanese tea here too. Coffee or tea? I opt coffee most of the time.






My cappuccino. The cookies tastes great too.







Don't miss out this gem of Kuching. I list it under Must-try list to have in Kuching. If you are a coffee lover, you will agree with me. It tastes real great!

Authentic Foochow Cuisine @ Rock City Cafe 东阁

Location: 2½ Rock Road, Eastmoore Centre, Jalan Rock, Kuching

These years you can easily find Foochow cuisine at almost every coffee shop in Kuching. I am a Foochow myself but I could rarely find any Foochow cuisine here that suits my taste. Even the one I ever introduced before in my blog, New Happy Cafe. I like the taste but not up to 100% yet. I thought this is the best I could find in Kuching. Sometime ago I went to Rock City Cafe which mentioned by my friend before. This is the authentic taste of Foochow cuisine which I have been long searching for.

Aside Foochow style fried noodles, you can find nice kampua and mee sua here too.

This is the stall which I have been patronized frequently. I was addicted to its fried noodles and egg soup for months.




This is fried noodle soup. It is my favourite too. The soup is darker and thick.




My regular order, Foochow fried noodles. The gravy is awesomely tasty. I always finished it till the last spoon. If you want to order this, make sure you tell them "炒面湿的". If you didn't specifically tell them so, they might give you the dry fried noodles.




I can't remember this is fried mee sua or beehoon. Compared to fried noodles, taste rather plain without gravy. 




This is my favourite egg soup. I order this every time to go with my fried noodles. Hundred percent highly recommended. I brought my bro and mum there one time, and now my bro also became their loyal customer.




This is from another stall which selling mee sua mainly. It is not difficult to find chicken tonic soup with mee sua in Kuching, but not Ba Zhen mee sua 八珍面线. I like this Ba Zhen soup too but it is only available on Saturday (if not mistaken). 




Note:  Rock City Cafe closes around 1 - 1:30pm, operates everyday.

Nyan Shin Cafe 源成茶室, Kuching

Location: Carpenter Street, Kuching


Most Kuchingnites should be familiar with this cafe as it is quite "historical". The business has been handed down from generations. Years ago, my friend brought me to Nyan Shin Cafe for her favourite beef noodles. I never had the Hakka handmade noodles before this. Sometime ago, we went back there again (I don't usually go to Carpenter Street for breakfast as the area is notoriously hard to find parking lot). 

I ever had their kolo mee. Indescribably delicious. If you got chance to visit Carpenter Street, don't miss Nyan Shin. There are a number of good shops you can visit along Carpenter Street. There is another shop selling nice kolo mee too, I will introduce it next time.






Mutton noodles. I like the meat a lot, you can chew it effortless.




My friend's Taiwan beef noodles. Spot the pork lard on top? My friend made a special request for it.




Other than Ta Wan Kung, Nyan Shin is another place for nice handmade noodles. Note: Axian.my has introduced them before, click here.

Cha Kueh at Kenyalang Hawker Stalls

Address: Jalan Tan Sri Datuk Amar Sim Kheng Hong, Kampung Kenyalang Park, 93300 Kuching, Sarawak


During my college time, my friends and I always patronized this cha kueh stall. It's different from other cha kueh stall because of its crispiness and egg aroma is much better. I have no interest to try cha kueh elsewhere since then. Cha kueh has two different types, sweet and salty. I normally go for salty taste. But the sweet cha kueh also tasted not bad too.





Cha Kueh with Egg (Salty) and Sweet Cha Kueh. Thumbs-up!

Ah Yong ABC Ice Kantong

Location: Wayang Street Kuching, at the T junction to Main Bazaar.
Business Hours: Monday - Sunday 1.30pm - 5pm

I have been living in Kuching more than 15 years. Never tried this cendol before until last month. What a shame. Haa.. Guess I'm not the only one. I have seen Kenny Sia introduced this stall before in his blog. One fine afternoon, I passed by Wayang Street and saw this stall is operating. Determined to try it. It is always tough to find a parking lot at Main Bazaar. I parked my car approximately two blocks behind.

Menu: ABC with coconut milk, ABC with evaporated milk and ice kantong. Big bowl, small bowl, take away orders have different pricing.




ABC Santan Small Bowl RM2.00. Very refreshing and nice. The ice is coarser as compared to those shaved by machine.




Ah Yong uses the manual ice shaver. Wow... antique




I ordered ice kantong too. Sarsi flavour.. haaa.. couldn't finish the whole stick. It's quite challenging to eat this.




It is a good experience to have ice kacang on road side. If you are touring Kuching Waterfront, do try Ah Yong ABC.

Only in Sarawak

This idea has instilled in my mind for long time after my Penang trip with mum. Penang tourism board has put a lot of efforts on promoting Penang thru its local famous food, authentic Penang food! I enjoyed my food trip a lot. Since then I was thinking what we have in Sarawak can also boost up our tourism industry too. Here I am going to categorize the list of foods which can be found in Sarawak in different region.

My food list will only cover the major cities / towns in Sarawak, a.k.a Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu. Sorry for not being able to cover the rest of the areas: Miri, Sri Aman, Sarikei, Kapit, etc. I think the food is more or less the same. Correct me if I'm wrong, or email me the information which I missed out.

SARAWAK
Bilin / midin / milin - it has different names, perhaps it was because we have different local dialects here. Thus different pronunciations? For those who don't know how does it look like. I derived it online first, will upload a new one next time:



It is a type of jungle fern which can only be found in Sarawak. We Sarawakians love this dish. We normally stir fry it with garlic, some prefer with belacan, some like it with Chinese red wine.

If you plan to visit Sarawak, must include it in your list. It's not possible to export it because its freshness is very short. It turns black after few hours which doesn't look so appetizing.

Umai is a type of dish from Melanau, native in Sarawak. Raw fish thinly sliced, served with shallots, chilies, lime juice. It tastes surprisingly nice. Spicy and sour, syiok!



Tuak is rice wine from Iban / Dayak, native in Sarawak. The alcohol content is high. It's not available in market, but if you visit any long house here, the natives might serve you tuak generously. Be careful, don't over estimate your capability.

Dabai fruit is a type of exotic fruit in Sarawak. Also known as "black olive", taste like avocado. 




Kuching, capital city of Sarawak
Sarawak Laksa
Kolo Mee 哥罗面
Zheng / Cheng
Mattahorn & White Lady
Siobee 烧卖
Sugarcane + Coconut
Tomato Kueh Tiaw
Belacan Bee Hoon
Cha Kueh (Fried Carrot Cake)
Kueh Chap 粿什
Shao Bao 烧包
Bee Pang / Bipang 米香 (Rice Crackers)





O Jian (Oyster Omelette)
3 Layered Tea 三色奶茶
Kek Lapis (Layers Steamed Cake)
Tebaloi / Sago Biscuits 
Dayak Cuisine

Sibu, town of Foochow, where the riches from
Kong pia / kompia / gong pia 光饼 - the bun is quite hard to chew, tasteless but full of sesame aroma. It tastes nice when freshly out from oven. Not many sellers in the market because the oven of making kong pia has to be custom-made.
Kampua 干盘面 - authentic kampua must cook with lard. Normally I like it with dark soy sauce.
Ding Bian Hu 鼎边糊
Zao Cai Bee Hoon 糟菜米粉
River Snails, this only can be found in Rajang river. We normally cook it with ginger and bring it to boil. It's my favourite, too bad it's seasonal.

To eat its flesh, you have to use a toothpick to dig it out.



This is another type of river snails. To eat the flesh, you have to master your sucking skill first.



Salted Crab. This is my family's favourite. I started crave for it when picturing it. It's only available in Sibu and it is seasonal too. Can only be found in market during harvest period. This is not the crab from river or sea, it's a type of crab can be found in rice field. We eat it raw, soak it in lime juice and chilies.



Mee Sua 面线

Chicken Soup Mee Sua 鸡汤面线



Ba Zhen Mee Sua 八珍面线



Foochow Red Wine 红酒

Bintulu, a small town turning into industrial land
Belacan paste 虾膏
Cincalok / Chinchalok / Cencaluk



* This post will be edited from time to time. For easy reference, you may find it at the top menu under the name of "MUST TRY".