The Thousand Dollar Fish

Last Friday, my friend called me and invited me try this special fish from Sarawak. My usual response is like "What so special about this fish?!!" and he told me it's a rare fish and I should try it. And so I went.

You see, I'm not really a fish person. I can't differentiate between a patin or a siakap. The only thing I can tell is - that's not a shark! Usually I just eat whatever fish that is served to me but of course I hate small fishes or those with lots of tiny bones. I'll tell you why - when I was young, I got choked by fish bones many times and I could still remember the old tales where I should swallow lots of rice after that to get rid of the bones that choked me. After that I got paranoid of fishes for some years.

The claypot sharksfin soup that is put to boil bowl by bowl in front of us and then fresh and juicy beansprouts is added into the pot.

The tender and juicy wagyu beef steak.

Actually I was just there to try the fish but ended up eating the full course dinner which ended after 7 or 8 courses later with a big pot of "sang har loh mee"! You should have seen that pot. It was humongous! And that was my first time having loh mee for dessert!

Steamed Empurau

This is the highlight of the dinner. We had the "empurau" (Tar Trambroides) or in mandarin they called it the "wang bu liau" (unforgettable). After tasting the fish and knowing how much it cost, I can understand why the name "unforgettable" is derived. The empurau is the most sought after freshwater fish in Sarawak and it's exotic because of its natural habitat which is in the swift, clear, rocky-bottomed streams, in a up-land zone of the river system.

It was certainly a special fish as its meat is tender and smooth. On the palate, the meat had some berries like taste. A quick google reveals that the natural food of the fish is parts of plants, leaves, fruits and flowers. No wonder the meat tasted so good. The fish is best to be steamed. I never know the prices of fish and I thought the most expensive fish I've ever eaten was the "Sultan fish" but no... This unforgettable can leave you RM1000 poorer per kilogram. I almost choked! Do you know I can buy a new phone with a kg of that fish?!!

You can also read about it in Rubberseeds' post about this "Golden Fish".

That's a little education on fish for the weekend. I learnt a new fish!