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Culinary Delights

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In terms of food, Sarawak has many of its own unique and delicious specialties. Sarawakian specialties include Umai, a traditional Melanau dish that is a spicy salad of raw marinated fish, lime and shallots and a popular Iban delicacy called Pansoh Manok, which is chicken cooked in rice wine in bamboo. They also use the same technique to cook fish. There are also two popular types of crispy jungle fern called midin and paku pakis.

Some of the finest seafood can be savoured in Sarawak. Local fish comes prepared in a wide range of ways - steamed, fried, baked, curried, grilled or with sambal - a mild, spicy mixture of Malay origin, made up of onions, dried chillies, candlenuts and belacan (prawn paste). Crabs, prawns, lobsters, clams, squids, oysters and bamboo clams are equally plentiful and fresh.

Dining outlets which include coffee shops, food centres, as well as restaurants. Five-star hotels in Kuching and Miri have fine dining outlets offering both western and oriental cuisine. The open-air hawker stalls offer the most scrumptious food at amazingly low prices. You can even treat yourself to dinner under a canopy of stars on a river cruise.

The Sunday market, which starts from Saturday afternoon and lasts till Sunday is a very busy fruit and vegetable market, where many local producers offer tropical produce for sale. In the evening you can sample local fare at the many stalls which offer delightful local dishes.

Shopping
Shopping in Sarawak can be a highly pleasurable experience. From one end to the other Sarawak has much to offer the visitor. Popular local items include totems, bead necklaces, intricately woven baskets, masks and woven products. A few items, especially antiques, require permission from the local government before they can be taken out of the country.


Kuching is probably the best area to shop for local artefacts. There is also an open air market which sells almost everything under the sun situated North bound of Kuching City, at the open air parking lots of Jalan Rubber & Jalan Nanas. It only operates during weekends from Friday evening to Sunday evening. In Miri, Pasar Utama and Pasar Tamu, wild and jungle products markets offer opportunities to mingle with the locals and savour local delicacies.

In Lembangan Market in Sibu, considered one of the most vibrant night markets in the state, you will get a real state of the State. Over 700 stalls along the river offer all kinds of local delicacies and jungle produce including flying foxes, squirrels, snakes, fruits and ferns and lots more.