Brunei food: ambuyat, nasi katok, soto and the Gadong night market

Ambuyat: the sago national dish

Ambuyat is Brunei's national dish and the one meal to plan. It is made from the starch of the sago palm's trunk mixed with water into a thick, translucent paste, and it comes to the table sticky and steaming in a shared bowl. You eat it with a candas, a V-shaped bamboo stick whose two prongs are joined at one end: twirl a mouthful round the tips, dip it in cacah, a sour and spicy sauce, and swallow it without chewing. The taste is in the dip and the side dishes of meat and vegetables served around it.

Three places in the capital make it an occasion. De' Hayat Cafe, better known as Soto Pabo, is a riverside restaurant at Simpang 228, Kg Pintu Malim, facing Kampong Ayer and the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha Bridge; its ambuyat set is among its customers' favourites, and the terrace catches the sunset. Teratak Setiawan, a small lodge in the Kampong Ayer water village, serves a private ambuyat meal with its host, Abu, and a spread of side dishes; Brunei Tourism lists it as an experience booked through local agents. Aminah Arif, one of the best-known names for ambuyat, is in Kiulap, at Unit 2-3, Block B, Bangunan Hj Abd Rahman, Simpang 88. None of the three posts its ambuyat price online.

Ambuyat is a dish to share; order a set for the table. Our Bandar Seri Begawan guide fits Soto Pabo into the city day, between the Malay Technology Museum and the waterfront.

Nasi katok, soto and the everyday plates

Nasi katok is what Brunei eats when it is hungry and in a hurry: a portion of rice, a piece of fried chicken and a spoonful of sambal, the chilli dip, wrapped to take away. Nasi means rice and katok means knock, from the days when customers knocked on the seller's door to order. Brunei Tourism gives its price as BND 1 a pack, and that is what makes it the national snack; stalls sell it at the Sumbangsih Mulia food court in Beribi and, as rice topped with chicken and sambal, at Gadong night market.

Brunei Tourism describes soto in Brunei as typically beef-based: a broth of beef bones and meat boiled for hours, poured over noodles and meat and finished at the table with fried shallots, spring onions, coriander, lime and sambal; some bowls are topped with fried beef lung. Gagawi, at B10, Semporna Complex, Batu Bersurat in Gadong, is the city's soto specialist, and Soto Pabo's own soto is the dish that made its name.

Between those, the everyday menu is Malay, Indian and Chinese. At MasterChef in Gadong, an Indian-Malay café, roti kosong with cheese is BND 1.40, dosai kosong, the plain South Indian pancake, BND 1.40, chicken biryani BND 5.00 and mee goreng with chicken, fried noodles, BND 4.50, with tea at BND 1.00 and iced tea at BND 1.20. For a biryani with more ceremony, Seri Damai in Kiulap cooks Pakistani food: its Saat Raang is biryani rice with chicken tikka, naan and mint sauce, best with masala chai. Seven Sporks Gadong lists rice plates with chicken at BND 6 or selected beef or salmon dishes at BND 8.

The Chinese side of the table is noodles and bread. Kolo mee, egg noodles with toppings, is on most Chinese menus in Brunei; Ching Nam Hong, a Hainanese family restaurant open since 1952 in the Warisan Complex at Simpang 5, Gadong, tops it with its own fish slices, fish cake (yu wat) and fish balls. Brunei Tourism lists it among the non-halal restaurants. For breakfast, Borneo Kopitiam in Gadong toasts roti kuning kawin, soft bread with pandan jam and butter, for BND 1, and Chop Jing Chew on Jalan Gadong has baked roti kuning since 1946.

Kuih, kelupis and wajid: the snacks

Bruneians love rice flour, and the snack tables of every market show it. Penyaram, nicknamed kuih UFO for its flying-saucer shape, is a fried cake of rice or corn flour and coconut milk with a domed middle. Celurut, also spelt selurut, is a soft steamed cake of rice and sago in a cone of rolled coconut leaf. Kueh koci, glutinous rice balls filled with coconut and palm sugar, and kueh lenggang, a green pandan crepe rolled round grated coconut, sit beside them. Buy a few to share with tea in the afternoon.

Kelupis is glutinous rice wrapped in a nyirik leaf and steamed; in Bisaya culture it is served at weddings, and it comes plain and sweet or with dried shrimp or anchovies, eaten with a peanut or curry dip. Pulut panggang is the grilled version, its leaf parcel charred over coals. Brunei Tourism's tip for pulut panggang is Mei Fang, a long-standing Chinese restaurant in Tutong, west of the capital, which can sell out by 08:30.

Wajid is sold across Brunei, but wajid Temburong is the one to look for: it is made with beras Jawa, a rice hard to find elsewhere, cooked with coconut milk and sugar to a dark caramel, then wrapped in nyirik leaves and pinned with a sliver of coconut leaf. It is less sticky than ordinary wajid, and a day in the Temburong rainforest is the time to ask for it.

Where to eat in Bandar Seri Begawan

Gadong night market (Simpang 37, Jalan Pasar Gadong) is Brunei's busiest evening stop and the best single place to graze: grilled meat on skewers, rice with chicken and sambal, and a long run of Bruneian snacks, with some dishes from BND 1. It opens from 16:00 to 23:00 every day. Some stalls take cards or cashless payment and others only cash, so carry small notes.

Tamu Kianggeh, on the bank of the Kianggeh River in the centre, is the market for breakfast and homemade food; it opens from 08:00 to 17:30, with a break from 12:00 to 14:00 on Fridays, and takes cash only. On a lucky morning the stallholders play the gulingtangan, a set of brass gongs.

Sumbangsih Mulia Complex on Jalan Perusahaan Beribi, in the Beribi industrial area near Gadong, is a large food court of local stalls with penyaram, celurut, nasi katok and soto under one roof. It opens from 06:00 to 16:00, with a break from 12:00 to 14:00 on Fridays, and takes cash only.

Gagawi (B10, Semporna Complex, Batu Bersurat) serves soto from 10:00 to 19:00 from Monday to Saturday, but only from 14:30 on Fridays, and from 10:00 to 18:00 on Sundays; it takes cash only. Dart, the local ride-hailing app, is the easy way between these places; buses cost about BND 1 a ride but stop at 20:00.

Fridays, Ramadan and drinks

Two rules change when you can eat. Shops and restaurants close from midday to 2 pm on Fridays for prayers, so have an early or a late lunch that day. During Ramadan, eating, drinking and smoking in public in daytime is forbidden, also for non-Muslims, and restaurants serve takeaway or delivery only during fasting hours; eating in your hotel room is allowed. Ramadan's dates move each year with the Islamic calendar, and our festivals guide covers the month and the Hari Raya holiday that ends it.

Ramadan has its own food scene. Ramadan bazaars typically open at 2 pm, Brunei Tourism says, at Gadong night market, the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium and the Royal Regalia Museum car park among others, and sell nasi katok, satay, pais daging (marinated fatty beef) and air gelagah, sugarcane juice, for people to take home and break the fast. Go early, as popular dishes sell out. After sunset many restaurants, Soto Pabo among them, serve set menus for the evening meal.

Alcohol is not sold anywhere in Brunei, so meals come with tea, coffee, juice or iced drinks; our first-trip guide explains what a non-Muslim visitor may bring in and where it may be drunk. Many dishes contain shrimp paste, anchovies, peanuts or coconut, and soto is made with beef stock, so if you have an allergy or do not eat meat, say so when you order.

What a day of meals costs

The two meal models below are per person, at menu prices read on 1 November 2026. The café day uses MasterChef's own food and drink prices. The rice-plate day starts with roti at MasterChef and uses Seven Sporks' food prices for lunch and dinner, with drinks estimated from MasterChef's menu in Gadong.

A night-market dinner of several small dishes, some from BND 1, can replace a café dinner. Bottled water adds about BND 1 a person a day, an estimate at the price of the cheapest drink on MasterChef's menu. Our Brunei trip cost guide adds rooms, transport and a Temburong day.