During our recent trip to Kuching Division of Sarawak, we did an exciting self drive day trip from Kuching city to Gunung Gading National Park to see the Rafflesia flower, visited the little towns of Lundu and Sematan before turning back to Kuching city.
The round trip is around 250km and about four hours of driving in total. Quite a packed itinerary, so make sure you are well rested the night before, if you are following us 😁
We started our day with Huang You Liang pork leg rice at Fook Seng kopitiam coffeeshop at Jalan Padungan.
It's a nice uniquely Kuching style of stewed pork leg rice. The Chinese 5-spice flavours were mild, complementing the tender leg's porcine sweetness. Other stewed items like intestines were nice too. Unique to Kuching pork leg rice, it is served with a very tasty curry with vegetables and pork leg.
The coffee at Fook Seng was alright too.
If pork leg rice isn't your thing, you could consider the Sarawak icon kolo mee. Kolo mee is a humble staple of tender crunchy noodles with lard, shallot oil, minced pork, char siew slices and chopped scallion. There are a few kolo mee stalls along Jalan Padungan you can try.
There are several more coffee shops and restaurants along Jalan Padungan for breakfast which I wish to try next time.
Our tummies full, from Kuching, we drove straight to Gunung Gading National Park.
It's a 90km journey taking 1.5 hours using mainly the Pan Borneo Highway.
If you like to see the Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, Gunung Gading National Park is one of the best places in the world to see it.
Rafflesia flowering season falls from November to April but the blooms last only 5 days. So seeing a Rafflesia in its full glory is a matter of good luck.
We missed seeing any Rafflesia in full bloom during this trip (saw only some buds and wilted petals) 🥺 but Gunung Gading National Park is not short of other fascinating things to see.
No worries, it just means that we will be back again as there are so many interesting things to see, do, and eat in the Kuching Division of Sarawak.
To visit Gunung Gading National Park, allow at least 1.5 hours of trail walking time. Register at the Park office and engaging a professional guide is mandatory.
After Gunung Gading National Park, we drove to Lundu Town at the foothills for lunch.
For lunch, we chose Ah Hang Seafood Corner which is a simple hyperlocal zhi char type stall at Lundu's Tua Pek Kong temple.
Another option is Feng Ling which is actually the local favourite, though I actually feel Ah Hang compares very well too.
After lunch at Ah Hang, we visited Uncle Tan's Liberica Coffee Plantation, at the foothills of Gunung Gading, a 5 minute drive from Lundu Town.
Learned about coffee farming, processing, and about Liberica beans, then enjoyed coffee with uncle Tan. If you want to visit him, give him a call and check if he is available ☎️ 019 874 9089.
Then, we drove further west along the Pan Borneo Highway to the seaside town of Sematan (distance 30km and time 30 minutes).
Visited the quaint, century sea facing old wooden shophouses, and learned about its history from locals' stories.
Dinner at Yat Lau coffeeshop.
The food at Yat Lau was good. Ingredients were fresh, dishes were well executed, we enjoyed our meal here.
After dinner in Sematan, we turned back to Kuching.
We were in time for supper!
This trip, we tried another braised pork leg rice known as Cat City Night Food Tai Pan Corner at Jalan Padungan. This stall is now trending on social media.
It was nice and somewhat similar to braised pork leg rice in Singapore. (It doesn't have the unique Kuching feel, such as curry pork leg.)
Obviously, Kuching has many other supper places.
If you are back in Kuching before 10pm and have stomach space, you can check out Lepau which is a pioneer in promoting Dayak cuisine to the world.
Alternatively, you can try Kantin at the Granary which is known for their creations that reflect the cultural diversity of Sarawak. Their dishes combine the best of Dayak, Malay, Chinese, Indian as well as international elements.
Otherwise, you could try the food stalls at Petanak Central Market (hawker centre). We had Fu Yong Stir Fried which is a zhi char stall with local style dishes (quite different from Singapore or Peninsula Malaysia).
61 Chicken Rice stall at Petanak Central Market is good too.
Petanak 34 Kway Chap, I am still craving for another chance to eat it 😂
View from hotel room. Good night gorgeous Kuching!
Can do amazingly much in just one day in Kuching!
There's a lot of other things you can do here, such as walking the historic streets, shop for local art, crafts, and produce such as gula apong, and admire the world class street murals of Kuching.
Come for the Rafflesia, stay for the culture and food, return to Kuching for friends 😁
Written by Tony Boey on 7 Apr 2025
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