Things Bintulu # Fresh Fishes

Now back at Bintulu, my instincts tell me to rush for the fish market. Fresh fishes is synonymous with Bintulu among many others like natural gas, deep water port, timber country, oil palm country and hydro-power. It has a vast expanse of open sea that reaches the coasts of Cambodia and Vietnam to the north, Thailand to the west and Philippines to the east. But more importantly the local Melanaus who are natural fishermen and sailors were once known to send the last of the remaining pirates off the coast of Bintulu and never to return back. Today they go fishing farther offshore and their catches are sold at the popular fish markets in town. All sorts and sizes of deep sea fishes are obtainable at the fish market. Compare to what I get in Kuching, I'll put Bintulu fishes at the 5- star status while Kuching's on the scale of a 3 -star for freshness and varieties of fishes at the market's tables. The types of fishes easily available are pomfret, tuna, red snapper, sharks, sting rays, cuttlefish and prawns.

Fish being dried on the fish market jetty and plank walk.

Note the feather-leaved 'nipah' palms ( Nypa fruticans) that live submerged in water. The leaves are used as palm shingles ( 'atap') and sometimes as cigarette papers and fishing floats. Nypa palms also are useful plants to fight coastal erosion and tsunamis.

My favourite market is the one located at the edge of the village called Kampung Baru. The fish market is built next to the Sebiew River and close to the local fishermen houses.

The houses are very colourfully painted just like their boats due largely to the fact that in open seas, the strong colours of the boats could help indentify them from afar.
Today I decided to buy two young tuna fishes that would be smoked or grilled later at the farm.

Local fishermen's houses are exclusively of timber materials and the posts are practically of the hardest timber in Sarawak called the 'belian'. The belian wood will not rot in water and will last for a lifetime, and may be more.

Grilled Fish

After having a full day's rest at the farm yesterday, my heart itched to see what's going on in Bintulu town. Therefore immediately after sunrise, I drove to town looking for that special thing I miss about Bintulu. I ventured to the fish market at Pasar Utama and bought the first batches of fresh fishes that were laid on the tables. Bintulu is for fresh fishes. I can't find fresh fishes that many and varied in types and sizes in Kuching. Bintulu is for fish lovers like me. I realise now that I can't live without eating fresh fishes. The fishes in Bintulu are so very fresh that we have here want you call 'umai' not unlike the Japanese 'sushi' - a dish of freshly cut fish ( mainly pomfret species) that is mixed with lime or vinegar, slices of onions, chillies and salted vegetables and taken raw after the ingredients are throughly mixed.

Today's menu was something I like to do after having missed it at Kuching. Kuching is a city and I don't have the luxury like in Bintulu where I can collect tons of firewood from the jungle closeby. Today I get to smell grilled fish cooked using jungle wood. Don't need charcoal or microwave. Grilled fresh fishes make my day today.

Raw Fish Menu

Our destination today is Buntal, a fishing village some 3o minutes drive from Kuching city. It's becoming popular as an escapade for fresh fishes especially among the Kuching folks who seldom have the opportunity to buy fishes directly out of the fishermen boats. Well, we were able to buy fishes at source today. No middlemen. On the tables were huge live river crabs neatly tied to keep them in check. Big and small fishes were sold by the village ladies ( while husbands do the fishing) and the prices were much cheaper compared to what you can buy in Kuching city.

A plate of 'Umai' displayed in our garden before the disappearing act.

Well, back from Buntal we were all excited to have the simplest dish of fresh fishes for lunch called 'Umai '. It's a Bintulu Melanau word for raw fish menu , really no cooking needed. I would assume it to be something quite similar to the Japanese 'sushi'. The menu is as follows: Slice fresh fishes into small pieces, mix them with a condiment of chillies, ginger, lime, large onions, salted vegetables and salt and serve it after 30 minutes. From my experience I find that chilling it for about half and hour would be wonderful to the taste buds. Serve raw.

On the way out of the village one could see many makeshift road side stalls selling smoked fishes. I dropped by one to sample a few on the hot barbecue stove. The smoked fishes are mainly small fishes that fit neatly into the organic wrapper made of our local mangrove palm leaves called the 'nipah' ( nypa fruticans).

On the stove too were smoked fish liver and smoked fish roe all sold at RM1 per packet. For my 'ikan pais' -the term the villagers here call smoked fishes I paid RM1 and was glad to savour two small fishes in it on the spot. It tasted good.

Food Shopping in Kuching City

Yesterday I had a field day shopping for food in Kuching City.

First pit stop: The Spring, a newly opened  uptrend mega shopping mall in uptown Kuching, approximately 5 kilometers from down town Kuching. The food court was excitingly decorated and the range of food excellent from local to foreign menus. Here I tried the pasta.

2 nd pit stop: Top Spot, A sea food food court at down town Kuching, within walking distance from all the  major tourist hotels and accomodation. Something special on the menu was a plate of 'midin' which means jungle ferns in the local lingo. Fried with 'belacan'( local prawn paste) it is a culinary delight eaten by the lowly and the high nosed.

3 rd pit stop: Ikan Terubuk market at Satok Road , where the famous ikan terubuk is salted and sold as a must souvenier for tourists from Semenanjung Malaysia.

Below is a cu of the ikan terubuk fish.

When fried, these the terubuk fishes are great appetisers and therefore should only be taken in small portion.