One of the favourite pastimes of Malaysians is eating!  With the endless variety of delicious temptations available day or night in Terengganu, your taste buds may need to work overtime to savour it all.  The cuisine of Terengganu, is distinctively memorable for its fresh ingredients, inimitable spices and unique flavour.

Keropok

Made of fish which is ground to a paste then mixed with sago before it is steamed and later deep fried. It is the snack instead of a proper meal and sometimes is served as the snack before meal.It can be eaten either when it is steamed or deep fried, both give different taste. The long chewy ones are called Keropok Lekor while the thin crispy are called Keropok Keping, means slice. Both the keropok is usually eaten with chili dip. Keropok is easily found elsewhere in Kuala Terengganu, from the stalls beside the road to restaurants or market. If you wish to bring home some, go to the Central Market for dried keropok or fresh in Seberang Takir or Losong which is famous with Losong Museum and its keropok.

Nasi Dagang

Nasi Dagang is a rice specialty of Terengganu. Literally the ‘trader’s rice’ which is said is the rice that was eaten by trader on their business journey. Nasi Dagang is, perhaps the most representing food for Terengganu. The dish is mixes of rice and glutinous rich with coconut milk added once it is cooked. The rice is eaten with tuna curry and light vegetable pickles. Satay Slices of beef, goat or chicken meat premarinated in spices and grilled over charcoal on wooden skewers. Served with Ketupat (rice cakes) cucumber, raw onion, and spicy nutty sauce. Nice snack for meat lovers. Costs 40 to 60 cents per stick.

Laksam

A delightful yet simple dish, Laksam is prepared using both wheat and rice flour.  It is quite similar to the western pasta except the wheat and rice flour mixing dough is steamed but not boiled. It is eat with boiled and pureed fish gravy which is mixed with coconut milk.

Laksa Terengganu

This dish consists of white rice noodles, eaten with delicious fish gravy to which coconut milk, tamarind, onions, pounded chilliest, shrimp pastes, bean sprout, long beans and cucumbers are added.  The locals normally eat laksa using their hands.

Sata

Is another fish snack in Terengganu Malay cuisine. It is mixture of pounded fish, shallots and ginger wrapped in banana leaf, pierce of few by one single bamboo stick then barbecue over low fire.

Otak-otak

This is a fish based delicacy of which slices of fish are marinated and soaked in a specially prepared coconut and spice paste, and wrapped in coconut leaf. It is then cooked over charcoal fire.

Lompat Tikam

A sweet cold dessert, it consists of two main parts, both left to cool to become jelly. The first, a solution of rice flour - given its green colour by the pandan leaf - is stirred over a fire until it is cooked. The second, a mixture of coconut milk and rice flour, is heated until it thickens. A generous helping of coconut syrup, poured on top of the jellies, completes the dessert.

Pulut Lepa

Made of glutinous rice and fish, this snack food is prepared over a barbecue. Boiled fish meat is mixed with sliced onions, and dried chilies and coconut. The mixture is cooked until it is dry. This is then used as a filling for the glutinous rice rolls. Wrappings of banana leaf cover the food before it is cooked over the fire.

Nekbat

Is a light dessert made of rice flour and eggs, prepared in a mould over a light fire. When it turns yellow and puffy it is to be eaten with syrup flavoured by pandan leaf.

Ketupat Sotong

Squid stuffed with glutinous rice bathed in a sea of cooked and thick coconut milk. The stuffing is soaked in coconut milk before it is put in the squids.

Akak

Cooked in a mould over a fire, there are two versions of this finger food - the savoury akak berlauk and the sweet akak. The former has a filling of cooked beef, while the latter has a generous dose of sugar as an ingredient

Bronok

Another sweetmeat, sago is put in a boiling solution of sugar with red colouring added in. It is heated until the sago expands, after which it is left to cool. The dessert is coated with shavings of coconut before it is ready to be eaten.