Sarawak Quarantine Food

Here is a run-down of the food I was given during my time in quarantine in Kuching.  I don't consider myself to be a particularly picky eater, but there are some things that I quite dislike. I will also note that this food was provided free of charge by the government, so was obviously never going to be gourmet stuff. 

Breakfast

The basic composition of breakfast was some fried noodles or rice + some egg (omelette or hard-boiled) + a small bread roll/muffin/pastry. Like this:

The exception to this was getting a couple of dim sum style meals:

and nasi lemak on a couple of occasions:

It wasn't the best nasi lemak, but I love nasi lemak, so I was really happy with this.

I also got a western-style breakfast once:

This wasn't great, but it was something different. I was grateful for the larger than normal amount of protein in the meal.

Breakfast was easily the best meal of the day. The portions were about the size I would normally have for breakfast and every single meal was at least ok (edible). Some of the breakfasts were quite nice. There was this garlic fried rice one morning that I would actually go out and pay money for. I usually scoffed down everything at breakfast because I knew that lunch and dinner were going to be a crapshoot.

Lunch and Dinner

Lunch and dinner were basically the same, and consisted of a protein (usually chicken or fish) + some vegetables + some rice + fruit. Like this:

The rice came in a generous-sized portions. This was the one constant in all the post-breakfast meals, and was actually pretty tasty when warm. I think white rice gets a bad rap among the health-conscious in Western countries. Sure, it's not super nutritious and it has a high glycemic index, but in general, populations where it is a staple seem to do okay, health-wise. I find it to be very comforting, so I wasn't going to complain about eating it twice a day.

The vegetables were generally okay. It would have been great to get a slightly bigger portion of them, but for the most part, they were fine. There was also a wide range of vegetables, which included some local vegetables that I don't know the names of. There was one that is like bamboo that was pretty good. The only downside to the variety of vegetables is the inclusion of bean sprouts (which is a reasonable, I just happen to hate them); and bitter gourd/melon. Including bitter gourd (on multiple occasions) is puzzling, because it is super bitter and quite an acquired taste.

The fruit was fine as well. Everything was all pretty fresh for the most part. I enjoyed it when I got melon or orange. I ate apple the first few times I got it, but after that:

Apples have to be the most boring fruit in the world. I kept them all and they are currently sitting at the bottom of the fridge (I am hoping my brother will eat them).

The protein component of lunch and dinner was very hit and miss (usually miss). The main protein offerings were:

- Curry. This was the best outcome, as it ranged from mediocre to really good. There were some weak-ass thin curries that were lacking in flavour, but these were still edible and serviceable enough to flavour the rice. The best curries were genuine delicious, with a deep curry and meat flavour and a satisfying amount of fat sitting on top. This curry was one of the best things I ate:

- Sweet and sour chicken or fish. This was could be fried or non-fried before being coated with sweet and sour sauce. While it did taste good on occasion, the sweet and sour stuff was mostly fairly bad. The sauce usually had too strong a flavour of the sweet or sour and not enough of other stuff (like tomato sauce or fruit juice or whatever they used to make it). This was one of the better sweet and sour meals:

- Fish or chicken in some kind of other non-sweet and sour sauce. The chicken was generally decent and the fish was usually pretty bad. Fish that has been deep fried and coated with sauce is mostly edible, fish that was not fried but sort of stewed (thereby releasing fish oil into the sauce) is probably okay for some people when warm. It is absolutely foul when it is cold, and there is a layer of cold fish oil coating everything. This was the worst meal I had:

This was some kind of fish curry (I think). The flesh to bone ratio was not that high and I had the delight of having to deal with some scaly bits. Of course, it was cold when I got it, so it was like sucking tiny bits of cod liver oil covered fish off of scales and bones. I tried to eat it for a bit, but I nearly hurled, so I gave up on that.

- Deep-fried chicken or fish. This was the best fish, because it was crunchy and not super fishy. All of these were competently fried and didn't taste too bad when they were cold. The only downside to this option is that there was not enough sauce to accompany the rice. Fried chicken:

All in all, lunches and dinners were okay. I kind of wish there weren't meals that were adversely affected by being eaten cold, especially when meals were often delivered early. I can understand the lack of a consistent delivery time, as the staff probably had a lot to get through and wanted to deliver them all by the promised time (12 noon for lunch and 5.30pm for dinner). However, this meant that sometimes lunch would arrive at 10.45 and dinner at 4.15. You can't really make the choice to wait until later, as there was no way to heat up food. So I basically ate everything as soon as it arrived. 

Finally, the portion sizes were a little lacking when it came to the protein component of the meal. A lot of the fish and chicken was quite bony. This is fine, I am not one those folk who can only eat boneless chicken breast and fish fillets. However, if the food is quite bony, then it means there is less that you can eat. A pile of ribs looks like a lot, but you are really only eating half of what's there. There just wasn't enough meat included in these meals. Once again, I get it, the food is paid for with tax money and protein is expensive. Also, I have higher caloric requirements than your average Malaysian person and can't expect the government to budget calories for a 90kg dude. It just sucked to be hungry a good chunk of the time and have to rely on rationing the outside supplies I got sent.

Drinks

All meals were accompanied by a Yeo's brand drink, usually jasmine tea or soya bean milk. I did get ice-lemon tea a couple of times, but not after the first few days (maybe they ran out). Here is the range of drinks:

Room service

On a couple of occasions, the food was so bad I decided to supplement with room service. I got a burger and brownie both times. 

They were good. The brownie even came with a couple of macarons on top, which tasted fine.

Wrapping up

My biggest piece of food-related advice to anyone who is going to be quarantining in Sarawak (and intends on eating the food provided) is to let your quarantine hotel know your dietary preferences. Halfway through my stay, I told my hotel that I didn't like eating the fish, and they noted that down. I still got served some fish, but I probably avoided other fish meals. Also, eat your meals as soon as you can, as sometimes the meals taste a lot worse when cold. You could try to survive off of what is provided, but unless you have low caloric requirements, you will probably be hungry quite a lot. I tried to hold off ordering other food for as long as I could, but it is probably better for your well-being to eat the stuff you want to eat (especially since, you know, there is the whole thing of not having freedom of movement and the mental health risks that come along with that.)