BRUNEI Beyond the Stereotypes
“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.
