Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The flavours in Chinese cuisine tend to be
muted compared to Malay cooking, and it has
fewer complex spice combinations - the taste
of the primary ingredients is usually foremost.
Another defining aspect of Chinese food is its
heavy reliance on pork and lard, both assidu-
ously avoided by the Malays, though these days some Chinese eateries have deporkified
in order to receive halal certification.
Chinese food stalls often serve up the following dishes:
Malay spices. It can be a bit hard to find in Borneo
but is well worth trying if you get a chance.
Bee hoon
Rice vermicelli (very thin rice noodles)
Bubur
Rice porridge (congee), often garnished with minced chicken or pork; popular for
breakfast
Chicken rice
White rice cooked with chicken stock and served with slices of chicken
breast,
sambal
and cucumber slices
Fish ball soup
Fish balls and stuffed tofu in a broth that's often made from pig bones;
usually made with
tang hoon
(mung bean noodles)
Kam pua mee
Foochow-style thin noodle soaked in pork fat and served with a side of
roast pork; Sibu's signature dish
Kueh chap
Tasty soup made with various spare piggy parts
Kolo mee
Wheat noodles tossed in a mixture of oil and light soy sauce and garnished with
barbecued pork and vegetables; a speciality of the Kuching area
Kueh teow
Wide, flat rice noodles, served stir-fried or in soup
Lok-lok
Deep-fried or boiled skewers of fish, bean curd etc that are eaten with sweet,
sweet-and-sour or satay sauce, or with
belacan
Lui char
Traditional Hakka soup, bitter in taste, made of finely chopped herbs and veget-
ables; served with rice and roasted peanuts
Mee goreng
When this Bahasa Malaysia term appears on a Chinese food stall, it's refer-
ring to Chinese-style fried noodles
Mee sua
Wheat vermicelli; served by the Foochows with chicken and mushrooms in a
large bowl of broth laced with Chinese wine
