By D’Drift Team
MUKAH, July 10: Sarawak’s sago worms have wriggled their way on top of some sushi at a Japanese restaurant in Bintulu.
Sushi Tie, run by two young managers from Sibu — Hann and Jeffery — is the first restaurant to fuse traditional Sarawak and Japanese cuisines.
Only for two days, on May 30 and 31 this year, they offered a special menu of sushi topped with fried Gunkan sago worms, which they called ‘Collagen Sushi’.
Those courageous enough to take on the challenge to sample the quirky delicacy would be rewarded with a RM20 cash voucher.
It was a hit, said Hann and Jeffery. They only reserved about 200 sago worms for the challenge event before the Gawai Dayak celebration, and their limited stock was sold out instantly.
Eager to try out the menu, DayakDaily called the restaurant two weeks before the D’Drift 2022 trip to reserve some live sago worm sushi.
The restaurant was kind to accept the booking and prepared some sago worm dishes even though they are not for sale at the moment. Besides the collagen-filled sushi, we were also served ramen and salad with the squirming worms.
When asked whether they would continue to serve the Collagen Sushi or any sago worm dishes in the restaurant, Hann said they would consider only if they could secure a constant supply of worms.
“Because of limited supply, we cannot put it on the permanent menu. We had to look for the worms high and low, and we only managed to get one contact, a local.
“Even then, the seller cannot catch so many sago worms daily. If we can find some more, we will organise the challenge again,” he told the D’Drift Team.
Meanwhile, Chris Bishop of DayakDaily had his fill of a dozen sago worms. “It’s crunchy, creamy and simply delicious,” he exclaimed.
Of course, sago worm sushi was not the only food worth eating at Sushi Tie. On their menu, we noticed another sushi — a fusion of Chinese and Japanese.
The ‘KNS sushi’ — a combination of diced century eggs, seaweed and rice — is DayakDaily-approved and recommended.
Hann also pointed out that two more of their bestsellers, the Dragon Nuts Roll and Cheesy Chicken Roll, are also unusual recipes that the chefs had come up with according to local tastebuds.
For their next exclusive, Jeffery revealed only two words: “salmon series”. Looking at how creative the restaurant can be with its foods, Sushi Tie customers would be fascinated by the new menu yet again.
10 Sarawak exotic fruits in the Melanau language
The rooms of Lamin Dana Cultural Lodge are named after ten exotic fruits of Sarawak in the Melanau language.
The ones the D’Drift Team stayed in were called ‘bie’nyuk’ and ‘pelengaso’. Bie’nyuk refers to white mango or ‘buah binjai’ in the Malay language.
As for pelengaso, Lamin Dana resident manager Andrea James said it is a rare fruit with little to no record of it online. “We’re not sure too of the name in Malay or English,” she said.
The other eight rooms are called ‘pa’ngin’, ‘te’tuan’, ‘lemeket’, ‘regeing’, ‘butit’, ‘plutan’, ‘pedada’, and ‘dabai’.
Respectively, they mean wild mango or ‘buah bambangan’, yellow wild durian, wild rambutan or ‘buah sibau’, orange jungle durian, tiny wild rambutans, cempedak, black olive, and mangrove apple.
Lamin Dana, which means ‘traditional house’, is a hidden gem nestled among 200 wooden stilt houses in the Melanau village of Kampung Tellian.
Also known as the House of the Living Legend, it is the historical heart of Mukah as the people piously preserve the fascinating heritage, history and culture of the ancient Melanau tribe — the ancient Jerunai burial poles and hanging coffins.
The D’Drift Team reached Lamin Dana at about 5pm today, coming down from Bintulu. We will stay here for the night before we take off to a national park near Lubok Antu tomorrow morning.
It will be a six-hour drive back, so we are hitting the sack early tonight! — DayakDaily
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Travelogue, Day 2 – Engkilili’s century-old red temple — ‘1/15 Fraction Company’
Travelogue, Day 3 – Let Sibu Street Art be world-renowned like Penang’s
Travelogue, Day 4 – Found in Tatau: Any guesses on what these trees are called?
Travelogue, Day 5 – Checking up on wild boar Robin, and testing Jendela’s WiFi Hotspot in rural areas
Travelogue Day 6 – Four-hour intense ‘bull ride’ to Lusong Laku
Travelogue, Day 8 – Japan, South Korea use manganese slag by-product to build roads, but Malaysia calls it waste
Travelogue, Day 9 – ‘Karau’ the sweet boy from Batang Ai National Park HQ
Travelogue, Day 10 – ‘Kopi o’, ‘kopi o peng’ in Tatau, Samalaju cost RM2.50, most expensive so far this trip
