Page 212 - The Guide To Sarawak

210 THE FLAVOURS OF SARAWAK
Chinese Food
Chinese fine dining in Sarawak is as sumptuous as anywhere in Malaysia, with a huge variety of exotic ingredients and superb culinary skills, but what gives the state its gastronomic uniqueness
is the fascinating range of hawker-stall and home- cooked Chinese food. Two popular dishes unique to the state are Sarawak laksa and kolo mee. Sarawak
laksa is a rice-vermicelli dish with a spicy nyonya curry soup, topped with prawns, shredded chicken and omelette, served with lime juice and belacan. Kolo mee comprises boiled yellow
egg noodles drenched in lard, with fried shallots and spring onions, topped with slices of char siew (BBQ pork – or chicken in the halal Malay version ).
Other popular hawker dishes include Hainanese
Chicken Rice and an endless array of fried noodle dishes, while Cantonese dim sum can be found in many food courts (and hotels). Rice porridge comes in 2 versions - Teochew and Cantonese, accompanied by small plates of salted egg, pig’s stomach, tofu, salted vegetable and
so on. Among the many filling snacks are yew char koay (deep fried crispy dough-sticks) and bak chang (glutinous rice stuffed
Sarawak laksa, a Chinese-Nyonya fusion dish that has been adopted (and adapted) by every community in the state. It is known locally as “the great Borneo breakfast” - the most popular stalls usually sell-out by mid-morning.