MING FENG HAO: PORRIDGE AND MORE

In Kuching, porridge or congee is consumed not only during breakfast but anytime of the day be it lunch, tea, dinner or supper. Just before the city around an area called One TJ is a popular spot in which some Kuchingites go to for some light dim sum and congee. They are known for their many types of congee in which includes chicken, fish and pork in a casual kopitiam setting.

Ming Feng Hao also offers siew mai and chee cheong fan in their dim sum menu. Not to mention some other refreshing desserts such as the gui ling gao. Today we decided to try their fish and pork porridge, the 2 most ordered types in Kuching.

Presentation was good with scallions, soy sauce and pepper sprinkled on top with a generous heap of small crispy iu char kueh bits on top. The congees have a unique and perfect texture to them, the type that you would want to expect from a congee. Super fine rice bits and a smooth and slightly thick consistency.

The pork congee had full of flavour and sweetness from the pork essence and meat cooked with it. The fish congee tasted great too and was tummy warming, the kind of meal you would want to have on a cold weather. The ginger slices in it brought the flavours of the fish well. When eaten with the crispy bits of iu char kueh, you get a party of textures and taste in your mouth. 

You can choose to order a side dish for your congee as well. They had century eggs, pickles and braised peanuts. We went for braised peanuts. It had a really good softness to it that was still able to hold its form, and it was packed full of flavour with the right amount of sweetness. This condiment accompanied the congees really well.

If you are a dim sum and congee fan, we would definitely recommend you give this place a try. Their congee is a must to order when you dine here.





Ming Feng Hao opens daily except Tuesdays from 9am to 2pm and 6pm to 9.30pm.




Ming Feng HaoGr Fl. 383B (Sl/22),

Jln. Stutong Star Point Angle, 

93350 Kuching, Malaysia.

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RAINFOREST GARDEN CAFE: CAFE EPISODES

The great thing about Kuching is that it's an ever developing city. There's bound to be something new almost every month whether it's a trend, event, eatery etc. One of the amazing things here in Kuching is that you can find just so many new cafes and eateries opening each year. Each one of them has something different to offer.

Today, we'll be adventuring to a pretty new spot in town, with a very interesting concept - dining in a forest like atmosphere with a pottery shop just beside. Its name is Rainforest Garden Cafe.

This has an open air hawker food centre like setting, with individual food stalls inside offering a different variety of food. They have local food, drinks station, western, breakfast sets and also a durian food stall selling all types of desserts made with durian. This cafe is also filled with hipster chairs, wooden tables, and around the stalls are cement bricks and some pottery art. A really interesting place for nature lovers.

We came here during the night, and decided to try some of the local delicacies here. They have lots of local stir-fry dishes here, we decided to go with the cantonese kueh tiaw. Also, we also decided to try the local drink, White Lady. White Lady basically compromises of different types of fruits, all in one bowl, topped with syrup and milk on shaved ice. This White Lady was definitely a stunner as it came in a big portion, piled with a heap of shaved ice, and on the bottom were all the different fruits such as longan, mango, papaya and even nata de coco. For this drink, they did not used syrup, but instead a puree of fresh mango. When mixed together, tasted so refreshing and delicious. It tasted really fresh and was not too sweet either.

The cantonese kueh tiaw was not too bad as well. It had a nice wok flavour to it, with the right amount of heat put to it when stir fried. The gravy was flavourful, and wasn't too starchy. It had chicken strips, vegetables, processed crab meat and fish balls in it. The kueh tiaw was seasoned and fried well adding that extra flavour to this dish that is always the most important element when making cantonese kueh tiaw.

Besides noodle dishes, they also had other interesting delicacies such as corned beef fried rice, thai fried rice and even their drinks section had a durian shake and soursop shake too. There's also many more interesting items on the menu.

Here at the durian stall, they have all sorts of durian gelato, as well as fried durian. There are durians fried in spring rolls, snow fried durian, durian crepes and even durian pancakes.

Rainforest Garden Cafe is definitely an interesting place to dine at, especially for nature lovers when you just want to relax and have something with a nice cosy and foresty ambience. If you have not been to Rainforest Garden Cafe, this is a new place you would definitely want to give a try.




Rainforest Garden Cafe opens daily from 6am till 11pm


Rainforest Garden Cafe
Lot 774, Block 226, 
5th Mile, Penrissen Road, 
93250, Kuching, Sarawak.

This is Jolynn signing off this week's episode on The Makan Post. Stay tuned for more.

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The Makan Post brings to you weekly food adventures, so be sure to catch us every week for new episodes and dont forget to subscribe to us. Just click on the Follow button below. Also, check out our instagram page @themakanpost. Cheers.

themakanpost@gmail.com

MOM'S LAKSA: BREAKFAST EPISODES

Laksa Sarawak, the most popular local dish Sarawakians feast on at almost anytime of the day, is ready to take on this week's episode on The Makan Post. Laksa Sarawak is consumed for breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner and supper, which makes it the most consumed dish as well here in Sarawak. One of the famous spots in Kuching to get a delicious bowl of this goodness is Mom's Laksa Kafe.

There are currently 2 branches of Mom's Laksa here in Kuching. Today, we went for the one closer to town, located at Jalan Haji Taha.

Besides laksa, they do have small stalls selling other local delicacies such as mee jawa, satay, rojak, sotong kangkung and belachan bi hun.

Their drinks were a little bit on the sweet side so be sure to ask for less sweet upon ordering. Here we have the Teh C Special, but with the usage of normal sugar syrup compared to the original gula melaka syrup.

This was their regular bowl of laksa.

The broth was glistening and was very thick. Fresh prawns with egg and generous chicken strips were placed on the top.

The broth, which is the most important component of the dish, was really thick and packed full of flavour from the shrimp paste. It had a spiciness that was just right to bring out the savoury flavours of the dish, but not overpowering. It was seasoned well and it's richness can just be seen by pouring it out from the spoon. It leaves you wanting more after each bite.

The prawns were springy and fresh, along with the crisp beansprouts and generous amount of chicken. Overall, it was a very balanced serving of everything in this dish.

For those who love laksa, perhaps a special would be the better portion for you. A regular sized laksa would leave you wanting more.




Mom's laksa opens daily from 6am to 6pm.

Ground Floor, 
Sublot No 2 Of Lot 2145 Section 65, 
Kuching Town Land District
Jalan Haji Taha,
93400 Kuching, Malaysia.

This is Jolynn signing off this week's episode on The Makan Post. Stay tuned for more.

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The Makan Post brings to you weekly food adventures, so be sure to catch us every week for new episodes and dont forget to subscribe to us. Just click on the Follow button below. Also, check out our instagram page @themakanpost. Cheers.

themakanpost@gmail.com

TEASE BY JASE'S TEA ROOM: CAFE EPISODES

Today in Kuching, hipster cafes seem to be popping out everywhere and can be found at almost any street. It's definitely the in-thing and also something you wouldn't want to miss when in Kuching. From the quality of their espressos, the ambience of the cafe, accompanied by  soft bossa nova music, to the cheesecakes, pies and not to forget, hipster lightings for that insta-worthy shot, cafes here are a must try.

Previously on The Makan Post, we adventured to a cafe in town called Coffee Obsession. Today, we adventure to a cafe selling interesting savoury snacks as well, previously located at 101, Jalan Tun Jugah, now at Icom Square, recently moved, it's non-other than Tease by Jase's Tea Room.

A cozy yet spacious environment in this cafe, with high ceilings, comfy sofas and high stools. Here, they have A4 sized colouring papers with colouring materials.

And yes, they would love to have your art work as well after colouring.



They even have fun props, perfect for your selfies and wefies. Each table has a few in a small cup, each with different types of them.

Known for their teas, they have a wide range of teas to choose from, and all their tea leaves are located behind the counter. After selecting your tea, the loose tea leaves are then brewed in a small pot before serving to customers.



The not to miss drinks here are definitely one of their specialities, the ice-cream and milk series. There are ice vanilla chocolate, ice chocolate, ice hazelnut chocolate and many more, all topped up with a scoop of ice cream on top.
Here's how tasty it looks.

This is the ice vanilla chocolate. Cold milk poured in a glass filled with ice cubes drizzled in chocolate syrup and topped off with vanilla ice cream on top, further drizzled with more chocolate syrup. The ice chocolate comes with chocolate ice cream instead.
It was creamy and very refreshing. The taste of the milk and chocolate was not that sweet and when eaten with the ice cream, balanced the whole thing very well. The ice hazelnut chocolate had a rich hazelnut flavour to it as well. It was a great combination with the chocolate syrup and the ice cream.

They have a wide variety of cakes here as well. One of the best selling one was the yoghurt mango cake.

It was layers of sponge cake, filled with cream and mango chunks in between each layer, and topped with generous slices of mango on top. It was delicious and light. The sponge cake was fluffy and soft, and each bite had many chunks of mango. The cream brought the whole cake together well, adding that slight creamy sweetness to every bite.

Something from their finger foods, fish tempura nuggets. This was served hot and fresh, with juicy insides and with the outside, crispy.

They have other snacks such as wings and pizzas. For those wanting something heavier, their soft shell crab man tou is something that many recommend. They also have burgers, sandwiches and many more.

Another cafe you would want to give a try in Kuching. They are open for all day dining  offering brunch as well.


Opening hours: 
Everyday from 11:00 am - 11:00 pm

Tease by Jase's Tea Room

AT110 Block A, 
Icom Square, 
Jalan Pending, 
93450 Kuching, Malaysia.

Contact no.: 0168608282 or 0168943332


Facebook page: www.facebook.com/jasestearoom/

This is Jolynn signing off this week's episode on The Makan Post. Stay tuned for more.

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The Makan Post brings to you weekly food adventures, so be sure to catch us every week for new episodes and dont forget to subscribe to us. Just click on the Follow button below. Also, check out our instagram page @themakanpost. Cheers.

themakanpost@gmail.com

NYAN SHIN CAFE: BREAKFAST EPISODES

We all have that one breakfast place where our family has been going to for the past generation. One where your mom or dad went as a child now he or she is bringing you. For me, it was my dad's dad who brought him there when he was a kid, and now he brings us for as long as I can remember to it. I don't know how true that is. But I just can't imagine my dad as a child.

Anyway, used to be every Sunday morning but he got concerned about the health of eating noodles every week and well now we go there whenever we feel nostalgic, which is every two to three weeks. Which upsets me since we have been donwgraded to semi-regulars, they used to reserve a parking space just for us in front of their shop, but now we have to find a space like common folk. I mean, a parking space, A PARKING SPACE. But the lady there though still remembers our orders every time, she sees us and ask how we are and then goes into a string of our regular meal.

It's well known to a certain group of people, like me, their parents were regulars and now so are they. I mean their noodle is that good till like two set of generations would be regulars. I mean it's not even a competition to every other mee stall but I have to proclaim right now that they are the best. I know it's probably cause I'm biased, since I've been going as long as I can remember and my taste buds and brain now just compares every other noodle I ever had to it but it's so true. Ask my brother.

It's a small shop, with I think less than ten tables, so when it's full, you got to wait. They sell hakka mee, or whichever type of noodles you prefer, regular mee, kueh tiaw, bee hoon, with a choice of pork, chicken, beef (taiwanese style) and mutton. I always have pork with mee, it's making me water right now thinking about it. And then we'll have a bowl of dumplings and our drinks.

It's a family operated restaurant, the brother cooks the food, sister takes the orders, the two girls working at the counter are cousins, I can never remember which one belongs to which sibling and they hired some other people, some who I've know since I was kid, that serves the drinks or your meal.

Their noodles are handmade. The guy cooking the noodles is the one that makes it.With a certain taste to it that differentiate itself from all other mee. I can taste a certain tangy sensation on my tongue whenvever I eat it, I don't know what the ingredients are to the mee but it's delicious, and then there's the minced pork and char siu they put on top, like every other kolo mee.

 I love it when I mix the mee with the onion oil and the fried shallots, the condensation flies in front of your face and the smell just overwhelms your senses. The noodle is just tossed with the meat and the oil and shallots, and you take a huge bite with your chopsticks. And it's heaven, everything makes sense in the world and you're as happy as clown. I cannot forget the taste of it till the day I die, honestly the best noodles in the entire world.

The dumplings are seasoned well, and so is the soup. There's the onion oil and shallots in as well. I like drinking the soup, but I eat the dumplings with the noodle together.

There's always going to be a queue because it's not a very big shop, but I think it's worth the wait. It's not a very big wait anyways, and another thing, the noodles run out pretty fast and they close like at 11.30 am, also because of it's location on carpenter street, finding parking space is a hassle. But like I said, it's worth it.

I highly recommend this place, if you don't think it's the best mee ever, you suck. I'm joking, it depends on your taste. To each, your own. Regardless, there's no harm in trying it out right? They have a page on tripadvisor, which gives out the location. The link below:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g298309-d3562423-Reviews-Nyan_Shin_Cafe-Kuching_Sarawak.html

Nyan Shin Cafe
Carpenter Street (Blacksmith Road)
Kuching, Sarawak.

Opening hours:
6.30am to 11.30am (or until sold out)
Opens everyday.

This is Sharon signing off this week's episode on The Makan Post. Stay tuned for more.

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The Makan Post brings to you weekly food adventures, so be sure to catch us every week for new episodes and don't forget to subscribe to us. Cheers.

themakanpost@gmail.com

Oriental Park Kolo Mee: Breakfast Episodes

One of the many meals one would have during a typical breakfast here in Kuching is none other than a bowl of Kolo Mee, paired with a nice and refreshing glass of Teh C Peng Special or Kopi Peng Special. Yes, Kopi Peng Special. Here in Sarawak, we can make anything special.

Kolo Mee is one of the most highly consumed breakfast meals here in Kuching. In fact, kolo mee is also consumed during lunch, tea, dinner, supper, you name it.
So what could be a better way than for The Makan Post to kick start our Breakfast Episodes with this amazing and popular local dish: Kolo Mee.

Oriental Park Kolo Mee, one of the most famous Kolo Mee spots here in Kuching, also one of the most talked about kolo mee stall in Kuching, is well known for their char siew also known as roasted pork meat, as well as their authentic bowl of kolo mee. Here we are, about to give this hyped about place a shot.

It’s located in the midst of a few shop houses, I would say it’s actually quite noticable as you would be able to see the many cars parked around it when they’re open. Also, if you are familiar with the old Cathay Cinema, it’s actually just located next to it.

It would be great if you can manage to find a table there, or if not, just be prepared to wait at least 15 minutes or so to get one. If you have been to Noodle Descendants along the streets of Padungan, you would be able to find some similarities in their ordering system. The rules are simple: No walking up to any of the staffs to order, just wait till we come and get your orders.

Wondering who made these famous bowls of kolo mee? It’s this uncle right here. 

Apparently he has been making these for many years as generations from all sorts, young to old, claimed to have been eating these bowls of noodles that were made by him ever since their younger days in school.

We ordered two different varieties to try, one which is the usual original kolo mee and the red sauce kolo mee (red char siew oil).

Mine came with a strand of noodle hanging on the side. 

Decorative don’t you think? Jokes.

As I dug into the bowl of noodle, mixing and tossing them, I noticed that it’s fairly dry, not your typical bowl of kolo mee you normally get outside in most kolo mee stalls where they are served drenched in sauce. For this one, it had totally no sauce or gravy found in it. Upon taking a bite in to these noodles, I noticed that the texture of the noodles are very springy and bouncy, a great perfect kolo mee texture you would want to have. The noodles themselves however, tasted a little more towards the salty side. Actually, they are slightly saltier than average. It was overpowering too as I could only taste the saltiness of it, even though there were small bits of pork lard in it.

I was very curious to have a taste of the char siew, as we heard this place is well-known for it, as the char siew are actually barbequed at their pit located just outside the shop.

The char siew was flavourful, and you could taste the smokiness from it. It did bring some sweetness to balance out the over-powering saltiness from the noodles itself. I would say the char siew was alright, but also, it was nothing much special compared to most char siew found in other kolo mee stalls.

As for the red sauce kolo mee, I expected it to have at least a bit of sauce but it was indeed still sauce-less, and as dry as the original plain kolo mee. The sweetness from the char siew oil did give the noodles a better balance in flavours- the salty and the sweet. The good thing was, it definitely was not coated with a cheap red colouring like some stalls use for this dish, you will be able to tell its sweetness is the type that comes from the juices of the char siew. This dish was a better version than the original kolo mee.

Overall, I would say this place brings just an average kolo mee to my taste buds. Nothing special about it as well, I would have to say I’ve definitely eaten better ones. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure you food lovers would like to give this place a try too as well and see for yourselves. Here are the details below:

Oriental Park Kolo Mee
Jalan Market
(Next to Old Cathay Cinema)
Kuching, Sarawak.

Opens daily from 6am to 1pm. (Might sell out earlier than closing time).

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Cheers.