Culinary ties that bind
Of the many things that unify malaysians, food holds major sway, and enterprising foodies are playing a big role by helping people in the peninsula get familiar with dishes of Sabah and Sarawak.
FOOD is an integral part of Malaysian culture and is another element that binds our multiracial nation.
The passion and pride we feel for our varied cuisines know no bounds.
In conjunction with Malaysia Day, we turn the spotlight on the food of Sabah and Sarawak along with the individuals who are providing people in the Klang Valley the chance to savour these dishes.
Preserving food heritage
Sofya Yusuf, born in Kuching, Sarawak, was inspired by just one thing to open her restaurant after she moved to Kuala Lumpur in 2009.
“I could not find any Sarawakian food to my liking over here,” the 42-year-old said with a laugh.
She has been operating her family-owned restaurant SALTED in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, for the past six years with her husband, Karel Loong, serving authentic dishes from her home state.
The menu is simple, focusing on six Sarawakian dishes — Sarawak laksa, kolo mee, bihun belacan, tomato mee, mee jawa and kacang ma with rice.
“I had considered expanding my menu, but I was not sure of the reception from locals here.”
“There are a few I would love to introduce, such as kuih penyaram made with gula apong (palm sugar from Sarawak) and kuih tongkol
that is sometimes called bongkol,
depending on where you are from,” Sofya revealed.
One can find a representation of the whole nation among her customers — Sarawakians, Sabahans and people from the peninsula.
Sofya provided a glimpse of her driven personality when she explained that the lack of desserts on her menu was because she felt the need to master them first, as she was not the type of person to do things halfway.
She has high standards to uphold since her cooking often receives heaps of praise from her family and friends when she shares her dishes at potluck gatherings.
“I have to make large portions at one go because of the length of time it takes to prepare the food,” she elaborated.
The praises gave Sofya the push to operate a modest food kiosk in a restaurant in Bandar Utama (Petaling Jaya, Selangor) in 2015, which eventually led to her opening the restaurant in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.
SALTED is often jam-packed with customers during lunchtime because the restaurant operates for only four-and-a-half hours a day. It opens at 10am.
On the personal front, Sofya keeps her Sarawakian roots alive by communicating with her children in the dialect of her hometown, besides making sure they are familiar with Sarawakian food.
She still makes it a point to visit Sarawak with her children at least twice a year and they often spend their school holidays there.
Sabah’s fish star
Having spent almost 10 years working in Sabah, Nicholas Chia Ee Howe is no stranger to the culture there.
After leaving the corporate banking industry, he moved to Sabah in his 20s when a job opportunity came up to venture into the fish farming industry.
Today, he has poured his expertise and experience gained in the Land Below the Wind into his restaurant in Selangor.
Sabah Keratang Restaurant in Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya in Selangor, specialises in dishes featuring the Sabah giant grouper fish.
Chia said his customers found his prices reasonable, ranging from RM39 to RM70.
“I have a direct supply of this fish from Lahad Datu in Sabah, which is why I can serve it in my restaurant at such prices,” he said.
The supplies are flown fresh to him every two weeks, or anytime he requests for it, and each trip brings about 700kg of the fish.
According to Chia, the fish farm that supplies to him uses a Japanese quick-freezing method which sees the fish vacuum-packed and frozen solid within 30 minutes.
He noted that the stark difference between the imported fish and those farmed in the peninsula was due to the pristine waters in Sabah as well as the type of feed used by farmers there.
“Our fish fillets have a firmer texture and are white in colour.
“This is because we are able to reduce the blood clots in the fish by our quick-freezing method,” he said.
Customers can enjoy the Sabah giant grouper fish prepared in various ways, such as steamed, stirfried, cooked in clay pot or Penang asam style.
Chia said he had faced numerous challenges over the years since starting his restaurant business, such as increase of raw ingredients’ prices and inflation.
A more recent challenge, said the Kuala Lumpur native, was the 5% government tax on seafood exported out of Sabah, implemented at the end of last year.
But he stands firm on the ingredient that is the star of his menu.
“Even though we are able to get the same type of fish from suppliers here at a lower cost, I will never compromise by using any other option and will only use fish from Sabah,” he said.
Taste of Sarawak
Opening a Sarawakian restaurant has been one of Venice Lai’s biggest achievements, as she recounts the difficulties she had to face to get to where she is today.
As the owner of Fatty Kampua Sarawakian House in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, while balancing the commitments of her beauty salon business, it is clear that Lai is a very determined woman.
Originally from Miri in Sarawak, the 46-year-old came to the Malaysian capital to further her studies.
Lai remembered that when she first arrived, she was bombarded with questions regarding her upbringing in the Land of the Hornbills.
“People would ask me about where I stayed and how I travelled to school.
“It was also a struggle for me to secure a job in the beginning,” she said.
In 2018, Lai was inspired to start a restaurant with a business partner, serving authentic Sarawakian food focusing on dishes originating from Sibu, Miri and Kuching.
However, they decided to part ways a year later, which left her with a menu of recipes that she was unfamiliar with.
“I had to start from scratch, redesigned the entire menu and took it upon myself to study every single recipe, familiarising myself with ingredients and methods of preparation,” Lai recalled.
“It was not easy, going through it one by one. Every spare moment I had away from work was spent redesigning the menu.
“The Covid-19 pandemic was another challenge for me, but here we are,” she said.
Despite not being involved in the physical cooking, Lai keeps a watchful eye on the kitchen.
She makes weekly checks to ensure the taste and quality of the food served.
“I don’t cook because the iron wok is too heavy for me to lift,” she joked.
Describing her restaurant’s menu, Lai said: “There are 52 different dishes and nearly 80% of them are of Foochow origin.”
Chief among them is the kampua mee dish which is light and springy noodles mixed in soy sauce (or chilli if the customer prefers it) with various toppings.
Lai has retained the names of food the way they are known in Fuzhou, China, such as pien nik which is a translation of the word wantan (mini dumplings).
She notes that many of her Sarawakian customers are of Iban heritage.
“They are working here and often drop by on weekends to enjoy authentic Sarawakian food, just like what I envisioned when I opened the restaurant,” she said.
Lai also makes it a point to hire the disadvantaged and those who have been discriminated against.
She then takes it upon herself to train and guide them in their jobs, many of whom she considers family.
Upholding parents’ legacy
Seafood has always been a highlight when one travels to Sabah.
Fortunately for us in the Klang Valley, there is authentic Sabahstyle ikan bakar (grilled fish) to be found in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.
Restoran Ikan Bakar Semporna, owned by Fatimah Salleh, has been serving the freshest seafood for the past four years.
As its name suggests, the seafood is brought in from Semporna, which is Fatimah’s birthplace.
“My parents had their own ikan bakar restaurant in Semporna, so I learned the trade and this helped me when opening my restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
“After my mother passed away, my father felt it was time to close their restaurant as it was too much for him to handle on his own,” she recalled.
Growing up as the second oldest in a family of nine, Fatimah felt it was her duty to continue her family’s business rather than let it end with her parents.
“I started my own ikan bakar
business by operating a small stall in front of the flats where I stayed, and did that for more than a yearand-a-half.
“It was actually my father who suggested that I open a stall as it was his wish that one of his children would continue the family business,” she said.
It was just over a year later that her father passed away too.
Fatimah felt a personal responsibility to fulfil her father’s wish.
Three years later, she expanded her stall business by moving into two shoplots in Metro Prima Kepong, where she continues to serve a variety of dishes that highlight the culinary identity of Sabah.
She said that in her home state, seafood is grilled plain with only a light honey glaze on top.
“In Sabah, we don’t marinate our seafood with any chili or sambal
like how it is often done here.
“We just add a bit of honey and grill the seafood for 10 minutes.”
Fatimah also highlighted that it is common for Sabahans to eat the dishes with ubi kayu (cassava) instead of rice.
She said her customers were pleased with the variety of seafood and vegetables available at her restaurant, such as ikan belawis and latok (a type of algae) which are usually only found in Sabah.
“Wehavea latok farm in Sabah, and we are proud to be one of the first people to own one.
“Latok is normally found wild in the ocean but through our farm, we are able to maintain the freshness and quality of the latok.
“We can clean it properly to remove the sand that often gets stuck in it.
“We also supply latok in the peninsula.
“Even the squid we use, known as sotong katak, is bigger than the common sotong panjang,” Fatimah added.