Mee Jawa Kuah Unta (Mee Jawa with Camel Gravy)

mee jawa unta stall

This is Bahgia 9 Cafe, one of the food stalls at the Civic Center which offers a rather unique dish…

mee jawa unta sign

…Mee Jawa with Camel Gravy. Camel meat and ostrich meat for that
matter, is not rare over here – there are a couple of industries
offering meat products from these animals as an alternative to…well,
chicken.

mee jawa unta pot

The nice ladies at the stall were kind enough to show me the camel
gravy (kuah unta) from which they make their Mee Jawa Kuah Unta with.
It comes in a steaming pot with camel meat. The gravy is made by
simmering the camel meat with various spices (they didn’t reveal which
ones exactly) overnight.

mee jawa unta served

We all ordered a dish of the Mee Jawa (noodles cooked Indonesian
style with a distinctive spicy gravy) – this is what it looks like.

mee jawa unta egg

The Mee Jawa with Camel is good…I can’t say that my palate is
sophisticated enough to detect camel meat in the gravy, but I can tell
you that it’s good Mee Jawa. The place has some righteous satay too.

The night before Christmas…

xmas eve04 cc

I was told about this event at Civic Center on Christmas Eve – I
wasn’t sure what it was (didn’t ask) but I thought, wtf, two of my
close friends from high school are going, and they will just be in
Kuching until Sunday.

xmas eve04 choir

Little did I know the horrors that will await me there…it…pains me…to recollect the torture I was forced to endure…

xmas eve04 noodles

I was so shaken by the nature of this event, this Church Christmas dinner
that Diana had to fill my plate while I was still recovering from the
terrifying choir-dressed-as-angels-complete-with-halo hymn assault. It
was not what I expected…either I was already tripping, or this is a
real Christian church organized dinner. I had a dreadful feeling it was
the latter.

xmas eve04 soup

My suspicions were confirmed when the pastor asked the congregation
to rise for a prayer. “I trust no alcohol is going to be served with
dinner?”, I whispered to Diana. Rhetorical question. “Sorry”, she said,
flashing a smile. Ting Chuan quipped, “I would have faked a stomachache
and stayed at home if I knew it was going to be like this” from my
other side. Amen, brother! πŸ˜‰

xmas eve04 pork

The dishes kept coming out amidst choir refrains, a rendition of the
birth of the greatest politician the world has ever seen in more than
two millennia, and sermons. And lots of prayer sessions, naturally.

xmas eve04 mixed

I had to seek refuge from all this, so me and Loon went out to talk about stuff. I got to know him several years
ago and haven’t seen him since. I nearly couldn’t recognize him coz he
cropped his long hair short. I found out that during that time period,
it turns out that we now share the same interests. We found out that we
have mutual contacts too, it’s a wonder I didn’t bump into him before
since he also works in Kuching.

xmas eve04 chicken

This is the chicken dish. I know, the tablecloth does not look very
presentable at this point, but you should have seen it later during the
night, when Ting Chuan spilled my drink across the table and overturned
the chili saucer. Heh! That reminded me of the Winnie Ha jellyfish
incident, OMG that was so funny. Still remember that, mate? Always
cracks me up when I think about it. πŸ™‚

xmas eve04 chicken close

My friends were kind enough to keep some food for me during the long sojourns to the toilets…

xmas eve04 fish

…and the last dish was served out.

xmas eve04 gift

…followed by a door gift. To be honest, it wasn’t that bad, since
our table is seated with mutual acquaintances of about the same age.
It’s great to meet up with everyone again. It’s been at least a year
since I last saw my friends.

xmas eve04 daph loon
This is Daphne and Loon. Daphne is Diana’s sister, which is how I got
to know her back in high school and Loon has been with Daphne for six
(!) years.

xmas eve04 photo
L-R: Ting Chuan, Huai Bin (me), Diana
Now, this is the three of us – much love, yo. They probably know more
about my *cough* indiscretions *cough* combined than any other people.
I probably should get them killed lest they blackmail me. πŸ˜‰
Kidding…love you guys.

Ting Chuan is one of my best buddies…I’ve known him since primary school.
Diana is one of my ex gfs and probably my closest female friend. Thanks
for all the concern and support about my dependency. That goes out to
everyone out there!

Jesus, where is all this coming from? Could it be something I took? πŸ˜‰

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