The covid news today is dire, both in Malaysia and in the UK.

There's a lot to worry about, and not a massive amount to look forward to.

But there's always food.

I don't mean that flippantly. Seriously, all food is comfort food at the moment.

Today we investigated the Curry House on Carpenter Street. They passed the dosa test with flying colours (a nice crispy "pancake", coconut chutney, tasty dahl, and a velvety clove-scented curry). (No photos. After all, this is standard fare in Malaysia. It would be like photographing egg on toast.)

Over the last week or so, we've also been back to Verinice, which has become one of my favourite eateries.


And Verinice is close to Earthlings, so you can try out some more of their extensive coffee range. (I had a South American blend this time. Lately, we've also had wine from South America, and chocolate from South America. This continent figured enticingly on our Big OE plans, but I'm starting to wonder if these treats are the closest we're ever going to get...)

Talking of coffee, we finally got round to visiting Kopicut at the weekend:


I had long been put off because I thought it was a barber's... And truth to tell, having read bits and pieces on the internet, I'm still not sure... Anyway, they'll do you a reasonable "premium" coffee for a not-especially-premium price, so that can't be bad.

And picking up the chocolate theme again, this was a first for us, but definitely merits repetition:


Sea salt and fleur de sel are actually not quite the same, but never mind...

We acquired our sea salt chocolate from Mady's Organic and Natural Food Store, a great new discovery tucked away in the Green Heights Mall.

And while you're in that neck of the woods, you can check out Wonderboom. They have a really nice, airy space, and a very interesting brunch menu (that's my smashed avocado and poached eggs on sourdough at the top).



Green Heights has a good Everrise supermarket, but it was Vivacity's Everrise that produced this little gem:


If you've lived any length of time in Kuching, you'll know that cheese is not its strong point. The varieties are limited, and it's pretty expensive. This wonderful little package of slightly smelly deliciousness comes straight from France, and cost just MYR 20 (GBP 4). We have been eking it out over various wine and beer sessions, because we never know when we'll see its like again...

Last but not least, we had a walk down memory lane at the weekend in the shape of a visit to Pondok Jawa, an Indonesian resto on Jalan Padungan. This was my nasi kuning, and jolly nice it was too:


Let's be honest. We're all miserable. We all feel under siege. We all feel this has gone on, and on, and on, and our courage is starting to fail us.

But let's at least eat and drink, even if we can't be merry.