Kuching City is renowned for its Sarawak laksa – a popular dish of vermicelli noodle, drenched in a bowl of aromatic spicy soup base simmered of prawn heads, sambal belacan, coconut milk, herbs and spices.

Situated at Jalan Ban Hock, Choon Hui Cafe is an old-school coffee shop serving one of the best laksa’s in Kuching! It is usually fully-packed during breakfast time. Do come early if you don’t wanna wait. Otherwise though, you can get a seat in around 20-30 minutes, if you’re lucky

Jam-packed coffee shop with the by-standers waiting for their turn to the limited seats available.

Choon Hui Cafe serves Kolo Mee…

Lonely Planet described the Bla Bla Bla Restaurant as “One of Borneo’s most stylish restaurants. Expect tasty fusion food in a cool/indoor dining area that you access by traversing stepping stones across a carp pool under the watchful eye of a Buddha…”

Tucked in the middle of the busy streets just before the Jalan Tabuan – Jalan Bang Hock roundabout, Kuching’s Bla Bla Bla Restaurant is the place to go for a out-of-the-ordinary dinner.

Bla Bla Bla is recommended by many Kuching locals as well as patrons alike.

A little sneak preview of what’s inside the restaurant. The cushion pillows and huggables makes you feel like home.

I bet you’ve seen and stole a lot of plants off from farms and barns on the Facebook. But have you seen the real world version of Barn Buddy, Farm Town, Farmville and all?

Well, let me bring you to this quiet little Bintangor town of Borneo Sarawak (30 minutes drive from Sibu town) to witness part of the largest crop fields in the state.

If you’re in Sibu and you’re looking for something different, other than those same old coffee shops, you can actually take a ride to the Tua Pek Kong Temple in Sibu.

No, I’m not asking you to worship the Gods, but right beside the temple, there’s a block of revamped building that houses Sibu’s finest lounge and cafe. The lounge is located at Jalan Chew Geok Lin. The once antique building looks great now after major refurbishment works.

The building is owned by Wah Tat Holdings. The lounge is closed in the morning, nothing’s happening there during daytime…but when the sun goes down…

Mary and I were having a getaway in Kuching last week. We were enroute Lundu town, about 100km away from Kuching for its picturesque Sematan beach. The town sat close to the border of Kalimantan, Indonesia. But our journey were cut short, or rather, unsuccessful where we had to make a U-turn back to Kuching City due to bad weather, and as darkness closed in, we dare not venture into the unfamiliar territory.

There are no lights nor residence for as long as the eyes could see and the terrain is rough. Wrong timing for a trip like this…but we could still afford to stop for a HDR photography session.

Read also: The Best Laksa in Kuching: Choon Hui Cafe

After that long, 8 hours journey from Sibu, the first thing that comes to our mind once we’ve reached Kuching City is FOOD! We’ve yet to take any solid meals since we left early in the morning at 6 a.m. I’m nursing a sorethroat and any hot, deep fried finger food at the rest stop is prohibited by Mary.

It’s freaking hot and humid here in Kuching, a scorching 38 degree celcius sunshine is burning our skin off. Sitting under the lowly covered zinc roof food court isn’t such a good idea, but the food must be good enough to be able to lure us here! Many thanks to Mary’s brother-in-law, Francis, for bringing us around Kuching to hunt for their best foods.

Kuching Open Air Food Court. Not the orange concrete building.

Another stretch of the food court, which only opens at night.

Inside the food court. The ceiling is made of the old asbestos board and the roof structures made of wood, which is abundant in the timberland of Borneo.

The famous Sin Kwang Heng Kuching open air market Sio Bee (Siu Mai – 烧卖). So famous it’s even being “exported” to Miri! But you gotta try the fresh ones here.

Laksa. Although I’m nursing a sorethroat, but die die I’ve to order laksa, because I’m in Kuching! They said Kuching laksa’s the best in the whole of Sarawak. But, I have other ideas, I would say Miri has the best laksa – and it’s at Jalan Krokop 10 just beside the Krokop Wet Market.

We also went to the place where they serve the best Laksa in Kuching at 3rd Mile, Golden Arch. Also, disappointingly, not as good as Miri’s.

Kolo Mee. This is the best kolo mee I’ve had for years. They “saturate” the noodle with their “Char Siew” (BBQ) oil, which brings about the addictive aromatic fragrance to their kolo mee. Although it’s a bit too oily and certainly not good for the health conscious bunch.

Kuching Rojak. I know this is not the best rojak in Kuching. Nevermind that, cause Bintangor has the best Rojak in Sarawak.

Nothing beats this cool and refreshing 五味汤 (5-flavor syrup) on a hot sunny day. It’s a mixture of 5 (sometimes 6) different Chinese herbs in a sweet syrup with a scoop of blended ice on top. Perfectly cooled me down after a bowl of hot laksa.

Bb had her favorite ABC.

This concludes my first day in Kuching City. Stay tuned for more stories from the Cat City!