Umai: The Craving And The Hunting
Jul 24th, 2008 by Clare
The cravings for umai, the local raw fish dish, were so strong that it makes people do crazy things.
Hoi! That fish cannot be eaten lah!
In Mukah, the best place to find everything local is the tamu (market). Huai Bin and I went to the market across the street to hunt for umai after I managed to pry him away from the statue 
Nope! Not umai! Next!
Look Ma, baby stingrays! So cute!
Poor Daddy Stingray! Dying a gruesome death at the hands of human being.
Baby sharks! So adorable!
Umai, umai, where art thou?
After making several phone calls to our walking food directory, the honourable Suituapui, we managed to find our way to this place called Nibong (opposite Dewan Suarah), claimed to serve the best umai in town.
Unfortunately, the place was deserted when we arrived. Apparently there was a party with lots and lots of alcohol involved the night before which lasted till 3am that morning, which explained the empty place.
Me: [thinking] Hmmm! If I jumped into this river and catch a fish to make my own umai…
Huai Bin dialed 911 when I climbed over the railing *sweat*
So we went back to the tamu and asked around. We walked to the other tamu next to the first one to continue our hunt for umai. Turning from a corner, we spotted this at the first stall
Umai Segar (fresh umai)
You can see the stall owner slicing the fish with skills.
Control handsome! Keep cool!
Being the typical kiasu that he is, Huai Bin tried to cut the fish like the guy but almost lost his most important finger (neh, the one used to show off when scolding other drivers on the road one) 
There are 2 types of sambal that go with umai - sambal campur and sambal cecah (jeb)
We bought both and a packet of sago.
Sambal campur consists of thin slivers of raw fish, sliced onions, chilli, salt and calamansi juice.
It is usually accompanied by a bowl of toasted sago pearls
I do not fancy the sago so I ate the umai just like that 
Umai Sambal Cecah (jeb) - dip a forkful of thinly sliced raw fish into the sauce and eat it. Spicy but at the same time delicious! 
This true blue camwhore bitch will definitely post up videos of himself in almost all the situation above so I’m not gonna say much here.
True blue camwhore bitch doing his bimbo pose! *run fast fast*
Does the umai taste better in Mukah than the one in Sibu?
So far I’ve never tasted any good umai in Sibu
Oi, you posted faster than me and using all the photos I haven’t used for my next post. I have to charge you for royalties liaw. :p
Wah wah wah! You said one thing in your comment in the previous post, now you are saying another thing liaw hor! Lesson learnt: Never trust a guy who keeps changing his words! *whistling away*
HB, next time when u go, don’t go with a blogger! U’ll end up fighting for publishing rights. Now if you post the photos, not fresh liao! Stale already!!!…Or go with a blogger without a digital camera - just a handphone with phototaking facility…and even if he posts his photos first, his will not be so nice!!! Get the hint? Hahahahahahahaha!!!!
P.S.: Clare! Didn’t I tell u that they sell freshly made umai at the market. They’d even pack everything in ice for you to take home!…Too bad Nibong was closed! Very nice food there!!!! Drool!!!
We couldn’t find it at first because some people walked so fast, zooming in and out the market without looking properly first! So we walked all the way to Nibong and it wasn’t open. We walked back to the market and found the treasure - umai. Only then ’some people’ diam diam eat the fish! Bwahahahahahaha!!!
where the hell they got so many baby sharks???!!!?!?!?
From the sea, I suppose. Mukah is facing the sea on one side and the river on the other side
And fishing is the main activities here
wah wah wah … I never been to mukah before. I never plan to actually. but it’s nice to know and also to visit the places nearer to home owh … cool
Yeah. Maybe you should lah. A trip to rural areas in Sarawak is so relaxing and fun you know, away from the hustle and bustle of the city like KL or Kuching.