The Kuching Food Festival is an annual event, and every year, the organisers claim that it is “bigger and better”. I do not attend every year, so I cannot say whether that claim is true. It is the massive crowd and the parking situation that deter me. Futhermore, the food prices are ridiculous. And yet, the queue to buy food is long. Hence, some years, I do not go.
Since Fourth Aunt expressed her interest to go this year, I decided to bring her. "We have to go early," she said, "3 pm". Huh? If everyone went at 3 pm, then wouldn't it just be as crowded? Anyway, Fourth Aunt told me to consider it and to let her know when to pick her up,
I dabbled with Chatgpt and came up with this poster .... heh .... Fourth Aunt was amused. Not only that, she was super excited. She watched some reels of Facebook and knew exactly what she wanted to eat. Hence, our food adventure was practically already planned before we stepped food at the venue.
We reached the festival grounds a little after 3 pm. Parking was abundant, so I took my time to select a spot where I would not be blocked by double-parking cars. Indeed we were so early that the side gates were not opened yet. Lol .... so we looked around the garden a bit ....
And finally decided to walk to the main entrance. Only a handful of stalls were already selling. The majority were still closed and prepping their food. The first stall that we visited was the traditional food stall manned by the local Chinese clan associations. Each clan associations took turns running a dedicated traditional culinary stall for a 3-night rotation to showcase their unique heritage street food and signature delicacies. And we had purposely timed our visit to coincide with the Teochew Association's rotation. It was their second-night selling traditional Teochew delicacies.
When we reached there however, there were only meat rolls and meat dumplings (Bakchang 肉粽) for sale. According to the crew, the kuihs were late! Heh ... so that evening, we returned to this stall a few times to check whether the kuihs had arrived.
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Meat Rolls or Ngohiang 五香, RM8 each
I bought 1 meat roll and 3 meat dumplings to take home. The meat roll, I ate for dinner one night and found it to be quite nice - firm and bouncy and well-seasoned. I ate 1 dumpling for breakfast another day, and thought it was delicious! The glutinous rice inside was not mushy and the filling was very fragrant. I was glad I bought them! They were not cheap at RM10 each so luckily they were yummy.
We walked about ... and then Fourth Aunt bought ....
Potstickers and a fritter
This was a lesser-known stall I suppose .... not sure of the name ... but I ate 2 potstickers and thought they were quite yum ....
The next item we bought was the Musang King Cheese Naan.
Musang King Cheese Naan, RM45
This item was the talk of the town this year. It was sold by Ceylonese Restaurant, a popular eatery in town. The naan was made on the spot and usually there was a long queue to buy. But since we were early, the queue was not there ... so we quickly took the opportunity to buy ....
We quickly found a spot to sit down to savour our naan. The cheese had to be hot so it could be pulled as we ate. Heh. I bought a local brew and sat down to eat. After tasting the naan, I found it to be very yum. The musang king spread was generous and complemented the salty cheese. Usually, I did not like the rubbery cheese used in the naan ... but I found it acceptable in this version with durian. I was glad we bought the naan to try.
1602 Pale Ale
This is the locally brewed craft beer, a proudly-Sarawakian brand; I love their beers. Today I went for Pale Ale, which was really refreshing. Not cheap at RM15 per glass.
We headed back to the Teochew stall. There was a crowd there already and Fourth Aunt managed to grab a packet of peach kuih, mugwort kuih, and sesame ball kuih. The peach kuih was savoury but the mugwort and sesame ball had yam fillings inside. We bought these to take away.
There is a traditional Teochew kuih called 'Wife's Slippers' 媳妇鞋 which Fourth Aunt targeted. But when we got there, it was already sold out. It was basically a bao shaped using the peach kuih mould, and filled with yam paste. The kuih vendors in town do not usually make or sell this kuih. I only know it because my mum sometimes made it in the past when she was younger. I remember asking my mom why was it called 'Wife's Slippers' and she told me it was shaped liked one. Hmn .... Fourth Aunt also aimed for the 无米糕, made popular by the film Dear You, but the kuih was not there yet! It was late!
Our hands were full and Fourth Aunt suggested that we dumped our purchases in the car first. So we did that. Coming back from the car .... I bought Pepsi. The Kuching Festival Limited Edition can of pepsi only sold for RM1 on Mondays, from 5 - 6 pm!
I was glad that the Stinky Tofu stall was already operating because it was on my must-eat list!
Stinky Tofu, RM20
It was very pricey, but since I craved for stinky tofu, I bought it. Seriously, it smelled stinky but did not taste stinky when eaten hot. The pickled cabbage that came with it was very sour. I ate a few tofu and Fourth Aunt ate only 2 pieces, saying that she did not like it. I took the rest home in a container I had brought along. I think I prefer the black Changsha stinky tofu, which had tastier condiments and hence was more satisfying ....
Crispy Duck Rolls, RM24
Seriously expensive, but tasted alright.
Xinjiang lamb skewer, RM15
We both liked the cumin seasoning; the meat was tender, but we disliked the fat they used in some of the chunks ...
Yup, we went back to the Teochew Association stall, where we ordered Oyster omelette or Orh Luak 蚝烙...
We had to wait a while since there were many orders. In front of the Teochew Association stall were 3 tables and they dressed them with red tablecloth. The banquet chairs were also dressed. I supposed the tables were for the clan leaders or clan committees or VIPS or other dignitaries ... but I sat there to take a breather and no one asked me to vacate my seating .... heh ...
Oyster omelette, RM15
Hmn ... Where was the scallion? The taste was ok, the oyster was fresh and the pastry was soft and chewy ....
After we ate the oyster omelette, we went indoors where there were booths set up to sell snacks and confectionery and electronic items and other household goods. Fourth Aunt loved sampling so she enjoyed herself going from booth to booth, trying out the biscuits, peanut butter, avocado milk, nachos and so on .... heh.
By the time we came out from indoors, it started to drizzle. I walked past a stall selling a giant bao and bought it, RM7.50. I have yet to eat it to this day. It is still in my fridge.
And then I walked past this ice-cream stall named Kori-kori, selling NZ-style fruit ice-cream. Hmn ... NZ was my thing ... I had a fondness for NZ having stayed there for 2 years. So I decided to try the passion fruit soft serve ....
Yummy ice-cream, RM14
I enjoyed it a lot; milky, creamy and not sweet at all, made with real passion fruit pulp; both Fouth Aunt and I enjoyed this. It was probably the best thing I ate all night.
And we walked past this roasted pig .... and Fourth Aunt bought a minimum of 200g, RM30.
So little, she exclaimed. The meat was juicy and tasty ... only expensive. Heh.
Back home, Fourth Aunt did her maths and she had spent RM198. Heh. That prompted me to do my calculation as well :
Beer - RM15
Pepsi - 3 cans - RM3
Stinky tofu - RM20
Xinjiang lamb skewer - RM15
BakChang - RM30
NgoHiang - RM8
Ice cream - RM14
Giant bao - RM7.50
I spent RM112.50. Together Fourth Aunt and I had spent RM310.50 at the Kuching Food Festival. Mom thought we were both crazy. Heh. Overall, I loved the vibe - I think generally, festival-goers were a happy lot! The food was generally yummy, just that there were really expensive. Of all the things I bought, Fourth Aunt commented that the beer and the stinky tofu were not worth my money. I would agree with her, no doubt. But hey, what was the price of happiness? Hmn ....
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