Sago Grubs
One week was not enough.
Seven days sampling (mostly) Dayak cuisine, in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak State of Malaysia, and situated on the third largest island in the world, was merely a taster. It was an insight into another world of South East Asian gastronomy, this time through the palates of Borneo’s ethnic heritage. Kuching had been recognised (by UNESCO) as a ‘Creative City of Gastronomy’, in 2021, and is the first city in Malaysia to receive such an accolade.
I just had to go and see for myself.
Over four decades I have sampled local Malay, Indian and Chinese cuisines, on peninsula Malaysia. So some Sarawakian ingredients had already become familiar to me, most especially during my seven years living in rural peninsula Malaysia (Perak) near Malay kampongs (villages). Those familiar food items include the green oval bean petai (aka stink bean, because of the bean’s unusual smell, and mentioned so sublimely in Graham McEune’s book ‘Up Country’), the heavily scented balachan (fermented shrimp paste), tempoyak (fermented durian - aka The King of Fruits), and the sharp but pleasant taste of Tapai (fermented rice). Other foodstuffs, like Sago Grubs, were entirely new to me. They were different, exciting in their own ways.
As it turned out, Kuching was simply the best place to find a great number of restaurants, and cafes, serving reasonably authentic Dayak cuisine, both to curious newbies like me, and to the gastronomic cognoscenti. Here are three that I sampled.
Pinggai
That first day, more than ready for lunch, I had struck lucky. By chance, I’d discovered a local cafe called ‘Pinggai’ (‘plate’ in the Dayak-Iban languages). It was conveniently down Kuching’s Carpenter Street, and close to Hotel Borneo (where I was staying). That Dayak cafe has been run by two Iban sisters, Cynthia Rendong Banda, and Ellis Sebai, who had mentioned (in an interview with Dayak Daily) that…
“Our signature dishes are influenced by traditional Dayak flavour, which comes from Iban and Bidayuh culinary style of cooking. Dayak food is very subtle and honestly, very hard to cook, thus it is a challenge to acquire the exact taste,”
My Bidayuh companion and Kuching guide (who knew about these things), suggested that I try the ‘Fragrant Red Rice’ (Beras Merah in Malay) planted mainly by the Bidayuh community in Sarawak), the Dayak ethnic chicken ‘Ayam pansuh’ (chicken and tapioca leaves cooked in a bamboo tube), Midin (local edible ‘fiddlehead’ fern) salad and ‘Daun Empasak Goreng’ (fried Tapioca leaves) as an overall introduction to Sarawak’s ethnic cuisine. From the very first fork-full of these exciting new tastes, I was hooked.
Obviously, I wanted more.
Lepau
As it turned out, Kuching proffered some other places revealing ethnic Sarawakian cuisine. After an extensive Google search, one name had shot forward. It was that of the restaurant ‘Lepau’ (meaning ’farm hut’ in the ethnic Kayan language). Why? Because, in 2018, that restaurant had won the ‘Best innovative ethnic restaurant award’ at the 20th Malaysian Tourism Awards, and the ‘Sarawak culinary excellence award’ at the Nyamai Sarawak Gastronomy Awards ceremony, in 2023. I really did have to go and sample their food myself. The Lapau restaurant, incidentally, is run by Livan Lah, and can be found along Ban Hock Road, Kuching.
Over a couple of visits to that exquisite restaurant, the two of us were very happy to taste, firstly, Baby Pink (the pink syrup drink known in Indonesia as Ayer Bandong) with Longan; Deep Fried Sago Grubs (a delicacy); Kantan (Torch Ginger) Mixed Chilies, and Tampoyak (salted, fermented durian flesh) with Fish soup.
On the second visit we dined on Terung Asam Salai Soup (or soup made with a yellow, sour, eggplant, combined with dried, salted fish); Cangkuk (an indigenous sweet leafy vegetable) cooked with Egg; Fish Umai (sliced raw fish with a mixture of onions, chillies, vinegar, salt and lime juice); Jungle Tree bark drink (aka bakas); Pandan (leaf) and Lemongrass (stalk) drink, the Dayak red Bario rice wrapped in a Itun Sip leaf, and Tapai (mixed local yeast with glutinous rice, fermented) served with Ice-Cream.
The JollyPit Bar and Grill
Down Kuching’s Wayang Street, there was ‘The JollyPit Bar and Grill’, conveniently close to the Borneo Hotel. I had gorged on large Bar B Qued prawns, fairly stuffed with the pungent and pleasantly spicy ‘Sambal Blachan prawns’. It was at once tangy, sour and spicy. On the second occasion I tried, and was pleasantly surprised by, the ‘Jellyfish Umai’.
According to Wikipedia….
“Umai is a popular traditional native dish of the Melanau people in Sarawak, Malaysia, which is usually eaten by fishermen. Umai is a dish of sliced raw fish with a mixture of onions, chillies, vinegar, salt and lime juice.” In my case, the dish was jellyfish instead of regular fish.
In its blurb, JollyPit asked us to…
“Explore the rich flavours of Dayak cuisine and dive into the unique tastes of Borneo with our new menu items. From the smoky aromas of Manuk Pansuh to the zesty freshness of Umai, every dish tells a story of tradition and flavour.
Elsewhere in Kuching I did try both Kolo Mee and Sarawak laksa, but what I really, really wanted was to visit a local market. I had a deep desire to peruse the local offerings, oh, and grab some fresh balachan and fresh (green) pepper to use at home, (I’d already bought Black and White pepper corms for cooking).
While the pepper vine is thought to originate from Kerala, and is known to have been used across India from at least 2000 BC, it is believed that the Chinese introduced pepper cultivation to the island of Borneo at the end of the 18th century, and cultivation increased from 1856. Chillis, on the other hand, had most probably arrived in Malacca via Portuguese ships, back in the 1500s.
As I mentioned at the beginning, a single week was not enough in Kuching, Sarawak. But it was a good opportunity to whet my appetite and, quite literally, give me food for intensive thought.
