Brunei is a thriving country that is slowly starting to make its mark as a tourist destination in Asia.  Tourists go out of their way to cross the border to enter Brunei Darussalam to explore this wonderful country and have a bit of rest and relaxation in comfortable hotels like the Orchid Garden Bandar Seri Begawan Hotel.  This hotel is located in a strategic section of the city close to both leisure and business destinations.

After visiting numerous tourist attractions in Brunei like majestic mosques and interesting floating villages like Kampong Ayer, visitors must not pass up the opportunity to go on a food trip of different local delicacies that this prosperous country can offer.

Dishes that are served in Brunei are quite similar to the kinds of food that are offered in neighboring countries like Singapore and Malaysia.  Because of this, local Brunei cuisine is said to be a melting pot of sorts or a fusion of the different dishes of the surrounding countries.  You can have a Malay breakfast then enjoy extremely tasty Indian food for lunch and end your day with delicious Chinese food for Dinner.  This is how you can make the most out of your food tripping in Brunei.  There are a lot of spicy flavors and there in a regular sit-down meal, it is normal to have both rice and noodles.

If you would like to try some local food in Brunei then you need not look far as delicacies can be found in food stalls and in traditional restaurants in shopping centers.  But there is this one particular local delicacy in Brunei that all visitors must be adventurous enough to try.  I am actually referring to Ambuyat.

This ambuyat is a delicacy that is said to be unique to the eating lifestyle of Bruneians and is usually taken during lunch time.   Locals would also tell you that this is perhaps the most popular among Brunei’s delicacies and this has been a favorite in the country for so many years already. I would have to warn you, thought, that a lot of foreigners would find the taste and the texture to be a little bit on the weird side.

Ambuyat is tasteless and has an appearance and consistency similar to glue or your regular school paste. This is made from sago, a product of Rumbia trees.  The process involves pouring a measured amount of hot water to sago and mixing the concoction until it becomes fluffy.  It is considered ready to be served once it attains a glue-like texture similar to porridge.  As it is best served hot, be careful when you sample ambuyat because I am sure you would not want to burn your tongue.

Because of its thick consistency, the ambuyat is eaten with the use of eating instruments called candas which are wooden or bamboo sticks that are joined at one end (v shape).  These candas were invented because there were no other eating utensils available in the jungle when the ambuyat was invented.  It also seemed fit to eat the sticky ambuyat using these wooden sticks.  These candas are dipped in the mixture to scoop out a serving.  Ambuyat can also be twirled around the candas.  Even if it is bland, the fun part of eating ambuyat is when you get to dip it in a special thick and hot sauce called cacah before chewing and swallowing it.   Cacah, an integral part of any ambuyat feast, is usually made from local ingredients like fruits called pidada, binja or other ingredients including cencalu, which is a concoction made from fermented shrimps.  Cacah is commonly sour but can be made a little spicy by adding chili.

Since ambuyat is very famous in Brunei, the locals were able to put together different ways to eat it aside from simply dipping it in tasty cacah.  There are an assortment of other side dishes are also served together with ambuyat and one example is a dish called pais wherein the meat is wrapped in banana leaves and cooked under direct fire.  One can also try eating ambuyat together with a kind of dried fish soup called Tahai and Lalap which is a kind of seasoned meat that was deep fried.

According to one of the locals who I got to chat with during my stay in Brunei, ambuyat feasts are always enjoyed by Bruneian families.  This is because the sticky ambuyat is believed to strengthen relationships and make the family ties grow stronger.  The ambuyat feast is also a form of bonding activity for families and friends because even if each person dines using his or her own plate, everyone gets to dip the canda in one big bowl of ambuyat and enjoy every single sticky bite together.

Posted in Brunei, Food

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