‘So if you (critics) have any issues with the Mayor, put them aside. Come face to face with the Mayor. Don’t go around criticising a festival that is loved by so many Kuchingites.’
– Kuching South City Mayor, Datuk Wee Hong.
HAVE you ever eaten shoes before? I have — at this year’s Kuching Festival Food Fair which takes place at the MBKS Community Hall in Kuching.
Actually, my friends, they were not real shoes but pancakes.
But they really looked like baby’s shoes and were beautifully covered with colourful sweets and ice-cream.
Three of us shared the sweet treat— my nephew’s wife, Terisa, his daughter, Angel and I.
A few days later, I was reminded of the pancakes when I saw a grandniece’s shoes. They looked like the pancakes we ate at the Kuching Festival.
Such pancakes were not the only unique offerings at the month-long Kuching Festival which opened from July 25 and ends today.
My nephew, Ah Kiong, invited me to follow him as he and his family went food hunting at the festival recently. Even though I am not a big eater, it was an invitation that was too good to turn down.
Since seeing is believing, I had to visit the fest again after a lapse of many years to relive its wonders as highlighted by many netizens and food lovers. I was not disappointed.
The festival this year features 330 food stalls. According to Kuching South City Mayor, Datuk Wee Hong Seng, the number is consistent with previous years and the stalls were chosen from a pool of 776 applications.
Going with Ah Kiong saved me the trouble of personally driving there and looking for an appropriate parking space. He parked his four-wheel drive expertly on the sidewalk a distance away from the festival ground and we all walked there.
That night, the festival ground was brightly lit with colourful lights and the tantalising smell of food filled the air. There were people everywhere.
My nephew, his wife, daughter and I began our food hunt by checking the stalls on one side first before inspecting those on the opposite side.
Queues at certain stalls were long while business was quiet for some stalls. When I stopped to buy fried mee at a stall, my nephew laughed at me and asked, “Why fried mee?”
I was hungry that evening and I thought fried mee, not pancakes, was good for satisfying my hunger.
Ah Kiong bought for all of us Muar prawn ‘otak-otak’ (prawn meat blended with spices and wrapped in banana leaf and grilled), ‘bak chang’ (glutinous rice filled with various ingredients including pork and wrapped up in bamboo leaves), soft ice-cream and fried ‘kueh tiaw’ (a type of noodles).
He also bought mixed ‘shawarma’ (meat cut into thin slices, stacked in an inverted cone and roasted on a slow-turning vertical spit), ‘umai chicken feet’ (chicken feet marinated with lime juice and mixed with onions, chillies and other seasonings) and twisted potatoes.
After we had bought all we wanted, we looked for an empty table where we could sit to enjoy our food. We purchased our drinks from a passing vendor.
The food and drinks are not cheap. You really need to bring a lot of money with you to enjoy your visit to the Kuching Festival.
Ah Kiong, his wife and daughter also tried their luck at the plush claw machines which had been installed at the festival ground. There were other game stalls there, too.
Ah Kiong ‘caught’ a Stitch plush toy while his wife ‘captured’ a capybara plush toy and his daughter went home with two capybara plush toys. It was a successful ‘fishing trip’ for the trio at the plush claw machines.
‘Catching’ the plush toys was not easy; it really depended on luck. I also tried to grab and retrieve a prize but Lady Luck did not smile at me that night. Anyway, I went home smiling because Ah Kiong gave me the Stitch plush toy he ‘caught’.
By the time we left the MBKS Community Hall, Ah Kiong had spent around RM300 on the food and entertainment.
He considered the money well spent because we, the Liong family, had a wonderful time together at the Kuching Festival, enjoying delicious food and creating memories for a lifetime.
Do you know that Datuk Wee Hong Seng hopes the Kuching Festival Food Fair will attract more than 100,000 visitors in a single day before the festival ends today? He revealed that the festival had recorded more than 90,000 visitors on one day this year.
My friends, if you have not visited the food fair or want to visit it again, today’s the last day for you to do so. Good luck!
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune. The writer can be reached at adelinel888@gmail.com.
