Kopitiam Icon · Grilled Glutinous Rice

Pulut Panggang

Photo: Mdsheth1986 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Mei Fang, opened in 1953 by a couple who first sold pulut panggang from a wooden house on the Tutong riverbank, now turns out around 400 pieces a day at 60 cents each — and they are usually sold out by 11am.

Pulut panggang is glutinous rice steamed in coconut milk, spooned around a spicy sambal filling of shrimp or beef, wrapped in banana or pandan leaf, and grilled until the leaf chars and the rice turns fragrant and faintly smoky. Pekan Tutong's kopitiams, especially Mei Fang Cafe and Puteh Restaurant, are considered the best source in the country.

Why it's made this way: Tutong's kopitiams have refined this snack for generations, turning what is a common treat elsewhere in the Malay world into a specific reason Bruneians travel to this one town.