Borneo Deli

Fresh pork sausages from Borneo Deli. Borneo Deli's link sausages are not tied and the ends are left open.

There is a deli in KK! Our one and only, with freshly made pork sausages, cheeses, fine Italian dressings and oils, wines and many other foodstuff all in one store.

When I was young(ger), there were two small delis (although at that time they were not called delis), Fah Hing and Huat Lee, both located on Gaya Street. That was where you get mayo, olives, ham, canned herrings, those western things. Of course now we have Merdeka and Tong Hing Supermarkets, but whenever I need to cook for a western dinner party, I go crazy running everywhere because these supermarkets just aren't well-stocked. Merdeka, especially, where I always shop because it's near my house, has gone down in its variety of imported foods. Even the choice of local foodstuff has gone down. I recently searched for Tastie Breadcrumbs to make pork schnitzels but they only had Japanese panko which is twice the price of Tastie's crumbs. And yesterday I couldn't find any Aunt Jemima pancake flour. Don't even get me started on their breads, meat (minced beef very fatty) or choice of imported potato chips (Oregon Fresh?? Sucks). But this is not a grouse post, no. I still prefer Merdeka to Giant or Servay even though I complain each time I shop there. So if you see me scrowling down the aisle, be understanding.

Shan had me and a number of food bloggers over to Coffee Bean for the launching and tasting of their December drinks and I committed a big flogger sin--I didn't bring my camera. Hey, I thought I was just there to relax and drink. But anyway, I met Andrew, the proprietor of Coffee Bean, and he was really nice and amicable especially when we talked about food and travel, he being also a graduate of a Canadian uni. Round about Christmas, I got a call from Andrew's (who was away skiing) staff about a package for me to be picked up at Borneo Deli.

I picked Yi up from Louis' where she's learning the ropes and we sped to 1 Borneo, up in Kingfisher. The place is so far I needed to plan my schedule just to go there. And guess what? I forgot my camera again! So yesterday when Yi made a trip to 1 Borneo, she took the pictures you see here with her new Nikon D90. You can see that the dslr pics have a more mellow and elegant look while photos of the sausages taken using my Lumix are less classy but still pretty okay.



Borneo Deli is a beautiful shop next to--guess--CoffeeBean, 1 Borneo. When you step inside, you could be anywhere in some deli in some western country except that there are no jambons hanging from the ceiling. But anyway, I had a fine time choosing some cheeses and snacks, not too many because we couldn't keep these things too long in the car while we shopped in 1 Borneo. That's what you need to remember, shop first and then check Borneo Deli out on the way out. It's on the ground floor, to the left of the building in the front. It is hidden by a large renovation partition of the store in front of it so you may need to ask at the information counter.

Borneo Deli's prices are very reasonable. A 400g of Bonomi (made in Italy, mind you) lady fingers cost only RM11.20 and their fresh sausages are RM40 per kg. I hope Andrew's not reading this, but I think that's the cheapest so far for fresh sausages. Borneo Deli is able to keep its prices reasonable because it has a wholesale link. Here's what we carried home, in a beautiful green bag. Well, a brown green bag.











The package was 4 packets of sausages! (Thanks, Andrew.) We couldn't tell which was what because the sausages weren't labeled. Of the 4 types of sausages, we liked the paler types because they had just the right amount of herbs while the red sausages were spicier which detracted the flavor of the meat. While we think the sausages were great in terms of flavor, the texture could be smoother. I also like sausages to have a slight bouncy bite, as per those we ate in Brisbane but maybe that's only expected from bratwursts and not English or Italian-type sausages.

Next time you venture out to 1 Borneo, remember to check out Borneo Deli, next to Coffee Bean. I am already planning to get some Lindt chocolates on my next trip there, and chow on it with a cuppa from Coffee Bean.

Borneo Deli & Wine Shop
Lot G-813A, Ground Floor, 1 Borneo Hypermall
Tel/Fax: (088) 485 933, www.borneodeli.com