Our 2014

It's been an eventful year. It's been a long one that paradoxically has gone quickly. It was our first full year in Brunei, and this new year marks the half way point. We are no longer the newbies but still a long way off from the lifers. The year has been marked with various visits to Ripas, and to the mechanics.... but also with several trips around the area on planes, boats and automobiles.

New children's menu at the Radisson

There aren't that many ways to entertain a child in Brunei but eating comes very close to top of the locals' favourite things to do, and Sofia has never been a stranger to some makanan. And when it's combined a bit of swimming, she's pretty happy! 

Mothers' Day Brunei Style

On Sunday we celebrated the UK mothers' day as best we could: with an English afternoon tea at the Empire hotel, Jerudong.

Not chicken and rice

Some of the great things about Borneo are the weather and the amount of various seafood available. Even better is combining the two - every day can be a BBQ day!

Mango fish

Mango fish has become one of our most favourite local dishes. It is a delicious marriage between hot chillies, tangy green mangos and sweetness of chilly sauce. And it seems to be a bit like spag bol - each chef has their own recipe. First we were introduced to this dish at the yacht club in Brunei but since then we've understood how their kitchen caters for the western tastes - their fish comes with the sweet mango, for instance. There's also a difference in portion sizes; occasionally it comes in small deep fried bits with the garnish, other times it's served as a whole fish (obvious challenge for 1-2 diners...). 

This time around we sampled the recipe at Apollo seafood centre in Miri, a local Chinese favourite with plastic chairs and cheep and cheerful feel to it. But don't be fooled by its appearances: the food is guaranteed to be fresh, as it is cooked to order once you've made your pick from the various fish and crab tanks. They don't really have a menu, just day's offer, and cooking suggestions. Our mango fish was made of red snapper. The other dishes of our copious dinner consisted of "wet" butter prawns and squids, amongst other things. I had heard of wet noodles before but never wet prawns - but the owner was very personable and proud of his kitchen, and was happy to explain different options. He even made some more suggestions for our next visit. He insisted on cooking some Sarawak specialty of bamboo hearts in a mild curry sauce which was delicious. I'm sure he told us the name of the dish but there was a slight language barrier with his accent.... One thing I didn't like was vegetables cooked in sambal - but then again I have realised I don't like sambal with so far one exception at the Miri boat club.

And I'm happy to say that this mango fish made it to the top of our list.

All in all, a great night finished by another Miri favourite, lemongrass martini