Restaurants in Kuching
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A
Top Spot Food Court
The double entendre definitely holds true. This excellent rooftop plaza has acres of tables and a good variety of stalls. Order anything from abalone to banana prawns or numerous varieties of fish, and chase it down with a cold bottle of Tiger. To get here, climb the stairs leading from Jln Padungan to Tapanga restaurant, and keep heading upstairs from there.
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Bla Bla Bla
Spiffier than a pimp’s outfit, Bla Bla Bla brings a splash of Hollywood to Kuching. The tasty fusion food is anything but ‘blah’, and patrons will adore the koi pond and golden Buddhas.
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C
Junk
The coolest car-boot sale you’ll ever see, Junk is filled to the brim with…well…junk. But it’s all so very chic – when you walk in you’ll think, ‘Did Amelie explode in here?’ A favourite among Malaysian celebs, Bla Bla Bla’s sister restaurant offers superb sophisticated Western food with an Italian bias. A word to the wise: don’t set your watch by any of the wall clocks…
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a-ha Café
a-ha wouldn’t look at all out of place in any cosmopolitan European capital, and the emphasis is firmly on healthy eating, with organic produce, all-natural ingredients and no MSG or artificial additives, plus a special ‘healthy heart’ menu. Whether you treat yourself to Norwegian salmon, ostrich steak or deer kebabs, or just pop in for a fruit ’n’ vegetable smoothie, a-ha is a rare treat with virtually zero guilt factor. Wi-fi available.
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Chinese Food Stalls
Start your day with a brilliant, old-school Kuching breakfast. Note that Chinese locals refer to this hawker centre as Lau Ya Keng in Hokkien.
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Life Café
This atmospheric little tea house/Chinese eatery offers a wide range of mostly Chinese dishes, including several good vegetarian choices.
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Zhun San Yen Vegetarian Food Centre
If you find yourself on the east end of town in need of simple vegetarian food, this buffet-style restaurant is a decent choice.
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Little Lebanon
Borneo’s only Arabic restaurant sits in an elegant breezeway overlooking colourful Jln India. Belly dancing music wafts through the air as contented customers slurp some muddy Turkish coffee and dip their pita pillows into freshly mashed hummus. Swing by in the evenings for flavourful puffs on a sheesha pipe – there’s celery and cherry, but mint is the best.
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Benson Seafood
Ignore the aircraft hangar ambiance and concentrate on the wonderful fresh Chinese seafood at this giant riverside eatery. The oyster omelettes are enough to make us want to hop the next plane back to Kuching and the midin (jungle fern) stir fried with belacan (shrimp paste) is a Sarawak classic.
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Oriental Park
Many Kuching Chinese start their day with a bowl of mee sup (ramen-style egg noodles in soup). This friendly little place does a brilliant version of this dish, complete with savoury bits of pork in a wonderfully rich soup. You can order this as jooi mee in Hokkien.
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Living Room
Living Room completes Kuching’s trendy triumvirate of fusion eats. The menu mixes the top noshes at Junk and Bla Bla Bla and guests dine in breezy open-air salas. You will no doubt find yourself wondering where you are: is this Borneo, Bali or Barcelona?
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Green Hill Corner
Several stalls here crank out a variety of noodle and rice dishes, including a brilliant plate of kway teow goreng (fried rice noodles). The problem is that the chef who makes this dish only shows up when he damn well feels like it.
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Min Joa
The signature dish at this cramped, popular Chinatown noodle house won't be to everyone's liking: noodles with pork entrails. We tried it and found it surprisingly tasty and rich. Just ask for mee sup.
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Gallery Café
What's not to like about a place that serves proper coffee in cool air-con surroundings, along with simple sandwiches and a good selection of desserts, with free wi-fi thrown in for good measure?
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Sin Mei Café
If you're staying in one of the Chinese cheapies nearby, you'll find this friendly little kedai kopi to be a great spot for your morning congee, noodles or toast and eggs.
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Hawker Centre
The best hawker centre in town, with both Malay and Chinese sections, is in the west end of town near Kuching Mosque (locals sometimes refer to this as the ‘open-air market’).
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See Good Food Centre
Follow the crowds of locals here to try Sarawak specialities such as lobster in pepper sauce, midin (crispy jungle fern) and ambol (bamboo or finger clam).
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Bing
Bing is a stylish, dimly lit café in the heart of the Jln Padungan nightlife zone. It's equally good for an afternoon cuppa or an evening tipple. Wi-fi on premises.
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Black Bean Coffee & Tea Company
Serving fresh, fair-trade coffee, this quaint cafe, housed in a converted Chinese shophouse, strikes the guiltless balance between Starbucks and Sarawak.
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Chin Sa Barbeque Specialist
Eat in or take away at this popular Jln Padungan barbecue joint, where savoury chicken or pork slices over rice are the speciality of the house.
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Riverside Food & Drink Hawker Stalls
What could be better than an evening constitutional along the river followed by a fresh fruit juice and a few sticks of satay?
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Tao
Tao serves a variety of Malaysian and pan-Asian fare in a setting that seems more Bali than Borneo.
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Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
This popular chain coffee shop offers free wi-fi and air-con surroundings.
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Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
This popular chain coffee shop offers free wi-fi and air-con surroundings.
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Hawker Centre
The best hawker centre in town, with both Malay and Chinese sections, is in the west end of town near Kuching Mosque (locals sometimes refer to this as the ‘open-air market’).
reviewed