INGREDIENTS with unfamiliar names pop up at Borneo Restaurant & Bar in Bangsar.

Engkabang butter is shaved over pasta, and there’s janggut duyung (mermaid’s beard), or seaweed, tucked under the Hinava, a ceviche-like dish of the Kadazandusun people.

I was intrigued by the sweet-sour keranji (tamarind plum) dip served with the Borneo Satay, and the nutty dabai (olive) dip I tried with the Fried Pork.

It’s good to know that these ingredients can still be sourced from the rainforest and waters of Sabah and Sarawak.

The Hinava makes for a piquant appetiser. Slices of raw snapper, cured on a Himalayan salt block, are marinated in lime juice, ginger and sesame oil. They are laid over a bed of black janggut duyung – crunchy threads of seaweed that remind me of fatt choy. Grapefruit gives a sweet, juicy lift.

The Engkabang Pasta is delicious, tossed in an egg-white sauce with eringi mushrooms and generously topped with fried cangkuk manis leaves. The al dente pasta picks up the natural sweetness of the vegetable, which is also known as sayur manis or mani cai in Hokkien.

Flakes of engkabang butter over the pasta endow it with a mellow, nutty taste. The butter is made from the oil of the seeds of the engkabang flower, which blooms every four to five years.

The Kong Pia is a flat bun with a pork or onion filling baked in a huge tandoor, at least in Sitiawan, where I once lined up to buy it. There is a large Foochow community in Sibu, Kuching and Sandakan.

At Borneo, the bun is sliced and fried, and served with minced pork and salted fish topped with a raw egg on a hotplate. Stirring aromas waft up as the egg is mixed into the filling, which goes superbly with the crispy bun.

Another Foochow dish is the Fried Pork, following an old family recipe belonging to Borneo’s consultant chef, Emily Chak.

Olive-fed pork is marinated with red fermented bean curd (nam yue) and fried. It goes so well with a fragrant wild-stem ginger dip. This dish is popular in Sandakan.

The wild-stem ginger also makes an appearance in the Ayam Pansuh, a traditional Dayak delicacy. Usually, a whole bird is marinated with local herbs, stuffed into a bamboo stick together with tapioca leaves, and cooked over a fire.

At Borneo, the dish is deconstructed. Two dumplings are filled with minced chicken, century egg and chicken pieces, and cooked with wild-stem ginger and Iban herbs. Poured over is a lovely chicken broth, and boiled and pounded tapioca leaves are served on the side.

The dumplings burst with flavour, with an added punch from the century egg. I enjoyed the pieces of organic chicken steeped in the broth, as well as the tapioca leaves.

You can’t leave the restaurant without having a taste of the awesome Borneo Satay. Dark and moist olive-fed pork is marinated with gula apong (palm sugar) and spices from Sarawak, and paired with the complex keranji dip.

If you order the Olive Pork Kolo Mee, you will get two sticks of the satay, along with fried pork. The fresh egg noodles are tossed in pork lard and onion oil, and finished with fried minced pork and crunchy lard bits.

We loved the Belacan Noodles, cooked in a light, spicy sauce with a kick from fermented shrimp. It is much like Mee Siam, but with subtler flavours. It comes with century egg, brown squid, cucumber strips and a great sambal belacan.

According to Chak, the fermented shrimp, similar to cincalok, is available only once a year.

Lekor Sarawak is a lighter version of the east coast snack. The fish fritters, made with ikan kembong, taste fresh.

On a previous visit, we had the Terubok Roe and Seafood Cucur. The salt-cured roe is mixed into a batter of squid and prawns. I picked up nuances of salted fish in it, too.

The roe is also used in the sweet, winey dressing for the accompanying salad of onions, pineapple, cucumber and purple cabbage.

The Apam Balik with Mango Ice Cream and Mango Rosettes is the perfect sweet ending to lunch.

I haven’t had tuak yet, so I’ll be back for the tuak flight, which showcases six kinds.

Borneo Restaurant & Bar is located at No. 11, Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur. It can be reached at 03-2859-0490. – October 12, 2019.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.