Mother and child reunion…

We loved the Sarawak ethnic/Dayak delights at this place that they called Anak Borneo (Child of Borneo) so much that we kept going back again and again but for reasons unknown, not very long after it started, much to our disappointment, it called it a day.

If I am not wrong, one of the partners opened another place along those same lines and called it Mak Borneo (Mother of Borneo). It was sharing its premises with a pub and it seemed that they did not open that early, probably to cater to those people who would drop by the watering hole later in the night to eat, drink and be merry. I was in the vicinity once, not too early – the people were just getting started but nobody paid any attention to me. No one asked me to take a seat or what I wanted to eat – nothing, stone cold silence all round. Of course I left the place right away and never went back.

Eventually, I heard that they had opened their own place here…

…but before I could go and check it out, disaster struck! Because of the pandemic, for nearly two long years, I never got to drop by until yesterday, Sunday. I asked my girl if she would like to go out for lunch and she did so off we went.

Much to my delight, the place was very open, not air-conditioned (wifi is available for anybody thus inclined) and there were a lot of fans, left, right and centre so even though it was a very sunny and hot afternoon, we were quite comfortable and did not feel the heat at all.

I saw one of the boys cleaning the barbecue grill…

…before putting the ikan keli (catfish)…

…obviously marinated with kunyit (turmeric), over the hot burning charcoal to cook and serve to us once it was ready…

Yes, I did order that (RM25.00) and yes, it was very nice.

They gave two types of chili dip with the fish – the chili soy sauce (left) was all right, nothing to get excited about but the chili belacan (dried prawn paste) on the right was simply out of this world. It was so very nice but super spicy. Both dips are available for sale in bottles at the shop and I would have bought the latter if it had not been so blisteringly spicy.

This is their barbecued pork or babi tunu (RM16.00)…

…and I would give it my two thumbs up! It certainly was as good as it looked!

If I am not wrong, they also cook these delightful lokans (RM11.00)…

…on the barbecue grill after which they will open up the clams and add the seasonings and the garnishing prior to serving them.

This was the pansoh babi (RM28.00)…

…the pork in bamboo tubes placed beside hot burning charcoal to cook. Yes, this was very good too.

We loved both the vegetable dishes that we ordered – the midin with langkau (ethnic rice wine)/belacan (RM11.00)…

…as well as the daun ubi gosok, the mashed tapioca leaves (RM8.00)…

…and we had rice (RM2.00)…

…with all the aforementioned dishes. I really loved their ceramic plates, made to look like the Dayak matted woven basket/tray, so ingenious, so appropriate and so beautiful!

I just had a small bottle of drinking water (RM1.50) while my missus had a glass of teh C (tea with evaporated milk), RM3.00 and my girl asked for their fresh coconut water (RM5.00)…

All in all, the total came up to RM113.50. No, it was not cheap but considering how much we enjoyed all the dishes, it truly was value for money. We certainly would go back there again to check out the other items that they have in their very extensive menu.

I did not buy their tuak (ethnic rice wine)…

…this time around. The regular is selling for RM22.00 a bottle, the pandan RM25.00 and the apple RM30.00. I may pick up a bottle or two the next time we drop by here.

MAK BORNEO (2.301301, 111.843548) is located at No, 21, Ground Floor in the block of shops behind Nam Heong Ipoh/Kim Hock Premier Food Court, Lorong 4D, off Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai (formerly Jalan Pedada).