Eating in Kuching

Coffee, see, and tea, oh!

Coffee and tea in hawker centres and kopitiam goes from 60 cents to RM3 per cup/glass, a steep discount on Starbucks prices, but you'll need to learn the lingo to get what you want. If you order just kopi (the Malay word for "coffee") or teh (Hokkien for "tea") in Kuching, it will definitely be served with a heaped spoonful of sugar, and more often than not with a squirt of sweet condensed milk. Kopi-C or teh-C substitutes unsweetened evaporated milk, while kopi-O or teh-O makes sure it's served with no milk. To get rid of the sugar, you need to ask for it kosong ("plain"), but if you want a cup of thick black coffee, you need to ask for kopi-O kaw! If you want your drink cold, just add a peng to the end of the drink name, eg. kopi-O-peng, teh-peng, teh-C-peng, Milo-peng etc. and it will be served with ice. There's a special thing about Teh-C. If you request for teh-C-special, you'll get a Teh-C with 'gula apong' (coconut sugar) or sometimes with a little bit of honey. Some eating place come with different portion of drinks, such as Small, Big/Large and Jumbo. Choose based on your appetite. The bigger the portion, the more expensive the drinks.