23 December 2019
Everyone in my travel group enjoys seafood and we chose to end our visit to Kuching with a seafood dinner at Top Spot Food Court. The food court is actually located on the roof of a 6 storey car park along Jalan Padungan in Kuching. Although it is located on the roof top, the stalls and eating areas are under shelter.
There are dozens of seafood stalls and Ling Loong Seafood stall is one the stalls that visitors raved about. This operator has 2 stalls at Top Spot Food Court: Stall 6 and Stall 33.
Our guide cum van driver named Brandon called and made reservations for us at a Stall No. 6.
Since we had to be at the airport for our flight home later in the evening, we arrived at about 4 PM for drinks and an early dinner. We were probably the first visitors for dinner that day.
Although we could have ordered from the menu, it is best to go see and pick the fresh seafood items that were displayed on ice or kept in cooler boxes. The fresh seafood is sold by weight. After selecting the items, they are weighed in front of us and method of cooking can be discussed and agreed.
We wanted to order mud crabs but we were too early. The stock had not arrived yet. Fortunately, the local lobsters were available at 150 MYR per kg.
We ordered 3 medium sized lobsters with a combined weight of 1.92 kg. The lady suggested that the lobsters be grilled, served with salt and black pepper.
We also ordered large tiger prawns, to be cooked with spring onions, garlic and butter.
In addition to prawns from the sea, Sarawak is also a good place to saviour the river prawns. These are fresh water prawns that have large heads, thick short bodies and long blue pincers. Local fishermen fished them out from the local rivers with a fishing line and tiny hook.
The staff at Ling Loong suggested cooking these river prawns with clams in a sweet and sour tamarind curry. Yummy.
For the fish dish, one of the best fish to eat at a seafood restaurant in Kuching is the highly prized Red Garoupa. This fish has delicate texture and is best eaten steamed.
The staff serving us was friendly and could recommends some of the locals’ favourite dish.
One must-try vegetable dish in Kuching is the midin.
The midin fern is a variety of the Fiddlehead fern and is only found in Sarawak. Only the curly young and delicate shoots are harvested and eaten.
We ordered 2 plates of the midin fern. One plate was stir-fried with sambal belacan (spicy) and the other was just stir-fried with garlic (non-spicy). When cooked, it has a slippery texture similar to that of kangkong but chewier. I was glad my travelling companions, who are tasting this dish for the first time, enjoyed the dish.
Another local speciality is the crispy oyster pancake. This dish is different from the oyster omelette served in West Malaysia and Singapore. The paper thin dough, with juicy fresh oysters on top, is fried till crispy. Personally, I preferred the version back home.
Overall, we had a wonderful seafood feast at Top Spot Food Court. Although the cooking could be better, our meal was definitely value for money.
Taking a famous line from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies, “I’ll be back!”
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