MY PONTIAN GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE: EATING BURASAK AND LEPAT LUI

   10th MARCH 2024    ~ After the breakfast at Kopi Tenggek [READ HERE], the next mission was to find Burasak and Lepat Lui for our gastronomic adventure in Pontian. The traditional food which belonged to the Bugis ethnic, was not something that I got to eat every day. 

The place I knew selling both food items was Selera Tradisi Catering, located right in the heart of Pontian town. When we arrived there at about 3:30 p.m., unfortunately, we could only buy one piece of fish of the Asam Pedas dish and had to opt for its Chicken Rendang instead.

You could also get Ketupat all year round here, not only for Eid.

Glad Mr. Ridwan Wahid and Puan Suhaila, as well as their daughter, liked the food. Or perhaps they were extremely hungry as it was already past lunch time.

We stopped by at Dataran Pontian to observe the scenic view as well as to take photos at the prominent landmark there. And that should conclude the trip to Pontian this time, and I am still hoping to get back to the most southern tip of the Asia continent one day.

HUNTING FOR "BURASAK" AT "PASAR TANI" (FARMER'S MARKET)

I decided to go the extra mile in search of a special breakfast on a Saturday morning. The only place I know where "Burasak" is sold is at the Pasar Tani [translate: Farmer's Market] in Larkin. Besides, I have not set foot at the market for a long time, even before the COVID-19 pandemic started.

THE PERMANENT DAILY MARKET

I just found out there was this permanent Farmer's Market before reaching the usual spot. I decided to stop by and have a look. The market was smaller, with less stalls operating. I got to find out this market operates every day, except Tuesday.

Visitors still needed to get their temperature checked before entering the premise. I could see (most) people were wearing their face masks.

It was a proper market with roof and electricity, and for one thing, the place was clean.

Unfortunately, I could not find the sought after "Burasak" so I had to go to the other Farmer's market which was just nearby.

THE WEEKLY FARMER'S MARKET

It was unusually easy to find a parking spot here. The reason: Singaporeans were not here as the border is not opened yet. I guess I was quite early as there were not many people and there was almost no queue at the temperature check counter.

longer queue as I was going home

I saw the stall selling "burasak" right at the side of the entrance, to my delight. Basically, my mission was accomplished. And I ended up buying "Lepat Lui", "Rendang Daging", "Sambal Petai" and "Botok-botok Telur Ikan". 😀

The hardest part was to tell myself not to stop by the nursery and buy more plants. I already have too many to take care of at home.

I will have to come here again when the craving for "Burasak" surfaces again. The danger is that there is always the tendency to buy other items, especially food, from the stalls.

FINALLY GETTING MY BURASAK ON THE 27th DAY OF EID

19th JUNE 2020 ~ I was at Puan Jainah's [an ex-colleague of SMK Taman Universiti] house in Mutiara Rini to get the anchovies I ordered a long time ago but was invited to come into the house. The hosts were kind enough to serve me Burasak and its accompanying dishes and eventually my craving for this particular food was sated.

Burasak is a traditional cuisine of Bugis people and it is something that I could not easily get at my place. I used to go to Pasar Tani [something like a morning market held once a week] just to buy Burasak and another type of food called Lepat Lui, and the market has ceased operation since the spread of COVID-19 virus.

Thanks Puan Jainah and family for the hospitality and it still felt very much like Eid, even it was already the 27th day. Looking forward to eating more authentic Tawau food soon at their house. 😀

MY MAKASSAR GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE - "COTO MAKASSAR"

Another traditional food of Makassar in my list was "Coto Makassar". From the name, it is similar to our local "soto". However, "Coto Makassar" is eaten with "ketupat". [rice boiled in woven coconut leaves]. In Makassar, "ketupat" is common. It can be found every day at restaurants (and the hotel's cafe too), together with "burasak" [rice boiled in banana leaves]. I think they call it "buras" there. I found that they were using other kind of leaves for the "ketupat" as it was much harder than the usual ones.

Other differences would be the soup comes in smaller bowl and the gravy is much thicker and rich with spices. I was sweating after eating but it was really delicious. And there was no "bergedil" [fried minced potato and meat] to accompany the soup. But I was not complaining.

other local food sold there

MY VERDICT: definitely a must-eat local dish when you are in Makassar. I don't mind going back there again just for the food.