Tumpik Lemantak Bintangor

As Salam.

I have been going back to Bintangor, a small town near Sarikei for aeons, exactly since I was one year old. And, of all those years, I have never heard people mentioning how famous the Tumpik Lemantak made in Bintangor is. My other half's aunt made her way down to Bintangor town from Sarikei when she has cravings for this particular food. The tumpik made elsewhere is no match for the Bintangor's version, they claimed. However, I found that tumpik is not sold ubiquitously as the akok in Kelantan. Probably, it is more common in Mukah, the Melanau heartland. Tumpik Lemantak is a traditional Melanau food. Another probability is, the tumpik is more commonly prepared at home for own consumption.

Probably anyone out there has recommendations of where good tumpik lemantak can be found apart from Bintangor?

Tumpik generally means pancake. Lemantak is the sago flour, which is processed from the ripo, derived from the sago tree. So, tumpik lemantak is a pancake made of sago. It is not fried, but pan baked.

The famous stall in Bintangor is called by the name of the product is sells, "Tumpik". It is stall number 15 from a row of stalls. To be sure of the correct one, the stall is owned by Hj Abang Saini bin Abang Bantin. His name can be found on the sign board hanging at the entrance of the shop.

The front of the stall no 15, "Tumpik" stall.

To find this stall, locate the wet market first. It is along Jalan Teo Kin Ngo. The whole block of stalls, in which stall no 15 or the Tumpik stall is one of them, is next to the wet market. The GPS mapping diagram below would suffice as reference points, to get you to the place. The coordinate of the stall is N2.16995 E111.63641. 

Amazing, that this stall has been featured in a local newspaper. The clippings of the article on this food prepared in this stall was framed up and put out with pride on the glass panels of the food stall by the owner. It ran a full page in the Utusan Sarawak newspaper. 

There are 2 versions of tumpik. The regular one, which is plain sago pancake with shredded coconut. It cost RM2.50 per piece. The "special" version, which has shredded fresh prawns as the stuffing in the middle of the plain tumpik cost RM4.00. Both are eaten together with the "gula apong" or nipah palm sugar to enhance the taste.

The plain version when eaten at the stall. The small bowl contains gula apong dippings.
 Photo Credit: http://kampua4life.blogspot.com/2010/11/bintangors-legendary-tumpik.html

I love the special version, with prawns in it. As Bintangor is located by the river, and prawns comes fresh everyday, the taste of the fresh prawn augurs well with the sago and coconut in the tumpik. Fresh prawns are tastier and "sweeter" than the frozen version sold in hypermarkets. The "special" tumpik is already delicious on its own even without dipping into the gula apong.

For the plain version, it may taste flat or tasteless to most people. To make it tastes better for those with sweet tooth, dip first in the gula apong before eating.

Here are some more photos for those wanting to try this trully Sarawakian traditional food.

Plain Tumpik Lemantak.

Special Tumpik Lemantak with prawn stuffing in the middle.