The Outsider’s Insider’s guide to Kopitiams.

Join us on this voyage through time, as we trace the evolution of Southeast Asian baking, from Antonio Pigafetta’s accounts of traditional Southeast Asian cakes, to Hainanese ovens culminating in the modern kitchen, where the joy of savoring cakes fresh from the oven is a shared luxury embraced by generations.

Join Annie Mehra Cannon, world-traveller, global foodie and now confirmed Kuching lover and local on a deeply personal voyage of discovery through the delights of the first purveyors of produce in the city.

Kuching’s application to become a Creative City of Gastronomy came with a narrative report, telling the story of Kuching’s food culture and systems, from the landscape that created them to the people that keep it alive. This report won a Gourmand award in 2022 for ‘Best Free Publication’, alongside two other creative cities – Usuki City in Japan and Phetchaburi in Thailand. Now it has made the shortlist for a second, this time in the special category: Best 25 for Silk Road Food Culture, which includes publications on the maritime Silk Road spice routes, of which Sarawak forms an important part.

Read our award-winning narrative report here.

Kuching City will soon break ground on a fabulous new building. Currently slated for completion in 2025, this project will revitalise Kuching’s first municipal pool, turning it into a family water fun park. It will reclaim the site of one of Kuching’s oldest restaurants, one of the only structures purpose-built by the City Architect. It will convert a disused car park into a gleaming new gastronomy centre, to celebrate Kuching’s designation as a Creative City. It will rejuvenate one of Kuching’s heritage areas, inspiring people back into the city centre. That is the idea at least.