About two hours after we’ve had our fill with Sarawak laksa, Kenny Sia took us to a hawker centre in Kuching city to try the local kolo mee.
Our tummies were seriously put to the test there.
Not only did we each get our own bowl of kolo mee, we were also tempted with a whole bunch of other local favourites for sharing.
For instance: Rojak, sotong kang kong, siew mai and all kinds of colourful desserts.
They were all very good but I could hardly eat more than two bites of each dish after polishing up my kolo mee. (Remember we had eaten two hours before.)
The kolo mee is sweet! I mean, sort of literally.
It’s tasty but — and I know Kenny will kill me for saying this — I prefer the Singaporeanised version. You know, the Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee franchise?
Kenny says it’s wrong. The kolo mee you get in Singapore has apparently been modified for Singaporean taste buds.
But I like it. Heh. The Singaporean version, that is.
But I shouldn’t compare. The real Kuching kolo mee is nice in a different way. It has a sweet sort of fragrance. It also comes with a dish of vinegar and chilli, which you’re supposed to pour over your noodles. The vinegar is optional but I think the locals all eat it that way.
The vinegar gives the noodles a sourish taste, so the dish becomes sweet and sour and salty all at the same time. Haha. Which is exactly the way I described Sarawak laksa.
Okay, I’m sorry, I really suck at describing food, especially when I can’t remember the taste very much now. It’s been over three weeks.
So, I’m going to distract you with more photos.
The uncle who cooked our kolo mee.
The back of the uncle who cooked our kolo mee.
The uncle’s artistic arrangement of our utensils.
The hawker centre.
We didn’t finish up all the food. I think we only managed half. I felt bad because Kenny had bought so much food for us but I was totally bursting at the seams!
Still, it was great being able to try so much local food. That’s the best part of travelling, isn’t it?
Okay, one of the best.
Other bests include shopping.
Heheh.