I’m back once again on work experience, spending a week as a temporary bean to get some more marketing experience under my belt and on my CV. Over the summer I gathered some stories to tell from travelling, especially regarding the seafood centre, Topspot, in Kuching, Malaysia.


During the summer, my family travelled across Malaysia and Borneo, one of the more memorable places being Kuching; the main reason for this being that one of the cheapest and best value meals were at Topspot. While it didn’t seem the most subdued of places, with neon lights and full to the brim with bustling customers, the amount of choice in seafood was incredible with piles of fish and buckets full of live crabs, clams, oysters and other creatures ready to pick and choose from. However if seafood isn’t your thing there’s the somewhat comical sight of a lone fried chicken stand nestled amongst all the seafood stands lining the walls, and countless vegetable based options on each menu.

Placed in a disused top level of a parking lot and featuring mostly plastic furnishings, Topspot is one of the less refined places to eat in when in Kuching, but is by far one of the best meals from my travels.

Dining in the Topspot Seafood Centre was somewhat daunting as the meals had names I couldn’t pronounce and ingredients I didn’t know. I was forced to mainly rely on Trip Advisor and a vague guidebook.

We finally settled on crab, oyster, squid and prawns, all favourites in my family, and the recommended side dish of ‘Belancan Midin’ a local fern (centre). While my brother, forever the sceptic, was reluctant to try the ferns, my love for green vegetables served me well in trying the

unfamiliar dish. Rightly so, as it was one of the best things I ate that summer. The ferns went perfectly with the soft spicy crab we had ordered as they were cooked in a decently spicy chilli sauce.

Other items we tried include: oyster pancake which was interesting to try, but not the most satisfying menu item due to the slightly rubbery texture of the oysters, and fried squid which was overly salty and rather messy with its powdery coating.

The accompaniment of aromatic and spicy garlic prawns and fresh pressed fruit juice all led to a satisfying full stomach and newfound love for Malaysian cuisine.