The oil-rich sultanate has been ruled over by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the world’s second-longest reigning monarch after Queen Elizabeth II
"How exactly do you eat this?"
A bowl of gelatinous, glutinous starch stared up at me. This though was not just any bowl of starch. This was ambuyat—the national dish of Brunei, made from sago (known locally as ambulung), from the scraped interior trunk of the sago palm.
My delightful hosts Adrian Rahaman and Noorsurainah “Su” Tengah quickly came to my rescue.
A tutorial ensued, and my buddy Ian Tann, in from Singapore, and I, in via direct flight from Manila, were each soon wielding a two-pronged utensil known as a chandas—imagine a cross of chopsticks for beginners and a bamboo fork—to twirl up gooey, bite-sized portions of semi-transparent ambuyat for dipping into a variety of local sauces based on everything from shrimp paste to durian.
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A bowl of noodles in a richly spiced beef broth known as soto, a plate of prawns, small dishes of fish and vegetables, and what is known locally as “gearbox”—or the cooked up “knee” or shin part of a cow!—also filled our table.
Delicious, not dainty, might well have been a descriptor of our meal together at this riverside restaurant named Soto Pabo—after the initials of its entrepreneurial owner Pg Hj Abu Bakar Hj Othman—who stopped by for a quick hello at the end of our dinner.
This would be just one of several special meals and experiences over the course of four days I spent on my second visit to Southeast Asia’s smallest nation by population—officially known as the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace. In Malay, that’s Negara Brunei Darussalam.