Mini guide to eating in Sarawak, Borneo

Laksa is one of Malaysia’s most beloved dishes (along with a couple of the other entries on this list), and it’s essential to eat your fill of it. A dish from the Peranakan cuisine (a combination of Chinese and Malay cuisines), it is a rich noodle soup, enhanced with the characteristic aroma of dried shrimp, and in the case of the Sarawak laksa, thick with fresh seafood, too. It has a particular punch thanks to those aforementioned Sarawak peppercorns, and it comes topped with those tiny calamansi limes. It’s basically a bowl that says “here is all that is good to eat in Sarawak”. It’s a little lighter, a little less creamy than other laksas, but no less satisfying, filling, or likely to stain your clothes (I speak from bitter experience).

An excellent Sarawak laksa can be found in an unnamed restaurant on Carpenter Street opposite the temple in Kuching.

It would be a crime to visit Malaysia and not eat as much satay as is possible. These addictive, sticky skewers of meat (usually beef or chicken) are grilled over hot charcoal just about everywhere in Malaysia. You’ll find them in restaurants, on street food stalls, and even, it turns out, on aeroplanes. The Malaysia Airlines business class service offers its very own famous ‘satay trolley’ which is wheeled around for passengers and it’s just as good as the stuff served on the ground. The satay is, it turns out, grilled in exactly the same way as it is in a restaurant before it gets on board with the airline crew, and that means over a real charcoal grill manned by expert grillers (one person I spoke to had been working there for 6 years). It’s then finished before serving on the plane. Such is the Malaysian dedication to satay!

The wonderfully exotic sounding jungle ferns are native to Sarawak and are very much like the fiddlehead ferns one finds in America. Picked when small and with their heads unfurled, they have a crisp texture like samphire and a fresh, vegetal flavour. I ate them stir fried with garlic, with torch ginger flowers, with onions and just relatively plain, which allowed their bright, fresh flavour to stand out. They go with anything, basically. They’re also super-refreshing, which is a huge bonus in a hot country, and they feel like eating a plate of goodness. A particularly good example can be found at the Telang Usan Hotel, where it’s possible to take a cooking class to learn how to prep them like a pro.

This is the most famous of Malay breakfast dishes, and a national dish of Malaysia. In fact it would be almost impossible to take breakfast somewhere without coming across it. Rice is cooked in pandan leaves with coconut milk, then served with tiny dried anchovies, like salty fish crisps, twisted and mildly uninviting until tasted. Balking at the idea of fried fish for breakfast? Just give them a go and you’ll realise they’re the equivalent of seasoning with salt, just with the requisite Malaysian fish-funked spin on things. Fried peanuts come too, along with slices of cucumber, hard-boiled egg, and a lamb (or prawn) curry. Last but not least, there is sambal - Malaysia’s fierce (and I do mean fierce) chilli paste. Sambal belacan seems most ubiquitous, consisting of of dried chillies pounded with shrimp paste (the belacan) then preserved with salt and lime juice. It’s a wonderful condiment, but not to be underestimated!

Of course there is much more to the food of Sarawak, but it beyond the scope of this guide. Is there is one thing to remember, it is that the Malaysian table is a generous one, so go hungry, tuck in, try everything. You won’t have any regrets.