For the past 34 years, crowds have flocked to the Kuching South City Council to experience the delicacies available at the Kuching Food Festival. The food festival becomes a ground of unique and creative arrays every year. But among the attractive, colourful, and brightly lit stalls are some older ones that have been a part of the event for many years.
Decade-long service to the food fest
This year’s Kuching Food Festival is especially crowded, with people flocking to the communal area after a two-year hiatus.
During these days, the festival venue, which is normally dark, is now decked with brightly lit, colourful signboards.
The communal site is alive with chatters and music. Each stall competes to be the best by introducing clever, innovative, and creative cuisines.
However, among these new stalls are many that have been at the Kuching Food Festival for over a decade. Some of them date back even two decades.
These stalls usually stand out on their own. Though it isn’t brightly lit, its brand name is well-known.
These are the few foods that most people would think of while thinking about going to the Kuching Food Festival.
“Taiwan sausages, fried milk, oh chien (oyster omelette)” are just a few of the foods that are associated with the festival.
Taiwan sausages
Hoon Teck Choi has been taking part in the festival since 1999. By introducing the famed Taiwan sausages of the Kuching Food Festival, he is one of the reasons why the street snack has become synonymous with the event.
With nearly 30 years of experience in the food industry, Hoon knew he had to introduce his favourite Taiwan snack to Kuching, Sarawak.
The 51-year-old said he enjoyed it during his studies in Taiwan in the mid-1990s and that the positive feedback he received from the crowd motivated him to continue.
He now operates a number of stalls under the name “Double Dragon,” the name of the Malaysian company from which he acquired the sausages.
This year, Hoon also sells pork skewers and otak-otak in addition to Taiwan sausages.
With the variety, there are long lines at his stalls for the quick and easy, juicy and soft street snack.
Although working for weeks at the Kuching Food Festival can be exhausting, he hopes to keep serving visitors with mouthwatering food.
Fried milk
When we first heard about fried milk, we couldn’t imagine it being possible. How does frying turn something liquid into a solid?
Made famous in Taiwan, many people started to sell it at the Kuching Food Festival. Several stalls sold the snack at one point.
Chang Hui Chung and her friend, who had previously sold the snack, made the decision to bring it back to Kuching Food Festival this year. Fried milk, she said, is a classic Cantonese delicacy.
“This snack is golden on the outside and white on the inside; crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The crispy crust envelopes the rich dairy,” she said.
Chang, a self-taught baker and cook, opened her fried milk stall with her friends in 2012.
“Just a few of our close friends decided at random to set up a stall here. That was the beginning of our fried milk adventure.”
Throughout the decade, Chang and her friends have brought the unique dessert to the festival to satisfy their loyal customers.
According to Chang, this year’s festival has the most visitors compared to previous years.
“Probably because, following the pandemic, I believe 2022 is livelier. But seeing a crowd of people once a year, making memories with the festival’s unique food — this is a good feeling,” she said.
Oyster omelette
O chien, or oyster omelette, is a favourite local dish that consists of a crispy base with a chewy oyster on it.
The combination of crispy and chewy is satisfying, as two very different textures dance in the mouth.
Though it is common outside of the Kuching Food Festival, it is one of the old must-haves for the festivalgoers.
Lawrence Chua, the man behind his stall’s wok, said that he and his family had been selling oyster omelette at the festival since 2003.
“We continue to sell each year in order to keep my existing customers satisfied. Furthermore, working here serves as a part-time job, providing me with extra income,” said the 43-year-old.
Chua, who has a culinary background, said that cooking has always been his passion.
“I enjoy cooking and trying new foods.”
Thus, he had introduced a new menu at his stall — fried oyster roll, where instead of the usual flat oyster omelette, it is in a roll form.
“This piqued the interest of many new and returning customers. The positive feedback is a personal achievement for me,” he added.
