Since then, I've made some Kuching friends during my travels and during my stay in KL.
Shawn, Clare, Alvin
So the moment I touched down, I demanded to be chauffeured straight to have my first dose of favourite drink in Kuching (attainable no where else but here).
I wanted Sio Bi but it was too late when I landed and out of the way, but I managed to have that at the end of the trip, no photos though.
WhiteLady.
Best damn mocktail/smoothie drink in the world.
It's like some sort of fruit juice mix with milk and blended with ice. But the taste was pure heaven.
I don't know where this drink was sold, I just directed to my Kuching friends that I wanted the most famous WhiteLady drink along a row of shops selling all sorts of food. Like of like a mamak place.
We also ordered satay.
Back to the title of this post.
This time I went back to Sarawak for a special trip (stay tune), and since there was no direct flight route to where I wanted to go, I decided to make a couple of days stop in Kuching, catch up with a few friends and eat all the food I've been craving since I left in 2007 before I proceed.
The journey ahead was going to be tough, so I need all the luxury and energy I can consume.
Hence during the first three days, I packed in my entire favourite food and restaurant list and have each of my old and new found friend accompanied me on a rampage of FOOD deluxe extraordinaire.
Next morning, Shawn's mom (Shawn had to work) brought me out for lunch at my favourite laksa and beef noodle shop - Madam Tang's.
When here, if you have only stomach for one serving, then definitely, no doubt at all, go for this. Their beef noodle.
The bowl was served with generous amount of juicy beef tendons and extremely tender meat.
Just looking at it makes me extremely hungry now. Sorry puasa people.
Even the soup was gorgeous.
Of course, if you want to risk it all (most of us don't travel to Kuching every month), then loosen your belt and order another bowl of their special curry laksa with prawns.
They price might come up to RM13 or so per bowl for the 'special', served with beautiful tiger prawns and heads (love the heads and all the brain juice inside!), but believe, it's totally worth it.
Though you might to try this dish first before the beef noodle since the taste of the latter tend to be slightly stronger.
Then at night I met with two of my Kuching readers Derek and Bong at Bla Bla Bla - my favourite 'fine' dining restaurant. (well, it's sort of fine dining, considering Kuching is more of a mamak and hawker food town)
I came here in 2007 and instantly fell in love (with the food la).
Bla Bla Bla was a restaurant that served Asian and Western fusion (by Asian I meant Chinese) cuisine.
It could get a bit dark trying to get your way around the restaurant, bring a torch light if you're afraid of the dark (I'm just kidding, no seriously), or a blinding flash light if you're bringing your SLR to snap food.
All time fav - Cashew Nut Prawns
ostrich rolls - didn't taste as nice as it used to :(
pandan drink!
er... fried tofu? Gosh I can't remember now.
Eating at Bla Bla Bla were like fine dining at a reasonable price. It's always been my dream for the restaurant to open a branch here in KL, though if it's in KL, the price would not be so pretty anymore.
the bunch
Henry, whom I met in Melbourne, and Shawn caught up with us nearing the end of dinner.
Following morning, Bong decided to take a day to drive me out of Kuching to visit the Orang Utans reserve and native long houses (more on that later), together with a new reader, Drekker.
I screamed for Kolo-Mee, and he brought us to 10 miles for the infamous Kuching dish.
Look how that oozed melody.
Derek and his Kolo-Mee.
We had a few types, spicy and non-spicy...
and one with a different type of noodle.
Finally satisfied with fulfilling all my Kuching all longings, I was ready to sample new things. :D
On the third night, I moved to another friend's house to stay. It was closer to town and it was a pent suite in a hotel!!
Grace Balan, currently Senior Writer for Sarawak Tribune. She brought me to Jambu, a quaint heritage bungalow-pub situated next to an uneven open space that's supposedly the parking lot.
Spotted this cat lying on the sofa in the outdoor lounging area.
Jambu was a Spanish-style pub that served great drinks and some tapas.
Nothing fancy with the food but a great place to chill with friends.
I was even given a tour around the 'house', photos of the owners and the house taken back in early 1900s were plastered on the walls. It's like a walk down someone else's memory lane.
Then finally, before my departure to my great journey, we all gathered on the final night for a meal at The Junk.
Surprising, another famous local hangout restaurant for most Kuching socialites and even students.
The Junk was a sister branch of Bla Bla Bla, serving mainly Western Food, and was a combination of pub, bar and restaurants that houses two storeys along the long shoplots.
Walked in and you'd find yourself transported to another realm of Alice in Wonderland - dark and mischievous version.
There were cracks on walls that leaded to another room which would have another hidden passage that led to another alley-like bar. Toilets were hidden among mirrors and plenty of dark corners for dark deeds *eh hem*.
We wanted none of that so we proceeded upstairs where we would have my week-long farewell dinner.
Food here were remarkably amazing. I couldn't remember what I ordered but I knew I loved everyone's dishes more than my own.
starter garlic bread! YUM!
chicken wings were amazing
risotto was amazing
pizza was amazing
lamb shank were amazing
salmon was amazing
If I HAD to name (for your sake, since if ever you visit you probably won't be able to order everything) the dishes that made the most impression.
It would have to be the risotto, the BBQ sauce chicken wings and the salmon (weird cause the presentation really didn't do it justice).
Two more photos for the road (just to make you hungry :p ):
So thus was the end of my Food Rampage in Kuching. Pretty intense huh? Considering this was done in four? days. (Or was it three days?)
thanks Drekker for the group photo
Thanks everyone for bringing me around to try out all the best food in Kuching I could saviour.
Now I have to make do with photos of Kuching food till my next trip to Kuching, perhaps in another three years.
