Where and what to eat
Labuan is known for fresh seafood at reasonable prices. It also has four local desserts that are rarely sold anywhere else: coconut pudding, lamban, punjung and jelurut.
Seafood
Seafood restaurants are spread across the island and offer a wide range of dishes. Hotels and restaurants in the town centre serve both local and international food, including Malay, Chinese and Western cooking.
The four local desserts
- Coconut pudding. Made from steamed coconut water and jelly. Rarely found outside Labuan.
- Lamban. Sweetened steamed rice wrapped in coconut leaves, similar in form to a Chinese rice dumpling.
- Punjung. A small, bite-sized sweet made from rice flour.
- Jelurut. A dessert made from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk.
Source: Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
Before you order
Prices are not published on this site unless verified and dated. Seafood is usually sold by weight at the market rate, so confirm the price per kilogram before ordering, particularly for crab.
Ambuyat: The Bruneian Sago Dish
Ambuyat is a sago-based dish from the Brunei-Malay tradition, eaten with a two-pronged bamboo fork and a sour dipping sauce. It is not seafood, and it is the most distinctive thing on the island’s menus.
What it is
Ambuyat is made from sago starch worked with hot water into a thick, translucent, deliberately bland staple. The dish is not the ambuyat itself but the combination: you pick it up with a bamboo fork called a chandas, dip it in a sour sauce, and eat it with the side dishes served alongside.
Why it is on Labuan
Labuan was part of the Brunei Sultanate before the British period, and the island’s water village residents descend from fisherfolk, sailors and traders from neighbouring Brunei. Ambuyat belongs to that same tradition, as do three of the four local sweets: lamban, punjung and jelurut.
Source: Brunei ancestry of the water village communities and the local sweets from Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
Eating it for the first time
- Do not chew it. Ambuyat is swallowed, not chewed, and trying to chew it is where most first attempts go wrong.
- The starch carries no flavour of its own. Everything comes from the dipping sauce and the sides.
- Twist the bamboo fork to lift a portion, dip, then swallow in one.
- It is a communal dish. Ordering it for one person misses the point of it.
Where to find it
Ambuyat is prepared to order and is not on every menu. Ask at your hotel which restaurants are serving it this week rather than turning up somewhere expecting it.
| Base | Sago starch |
|---|---|
| Eaten with | A bamboo fork (chandas) and a sour dipping sauce |
| Tradition | Brunei-Malay |
| Note | Swallowed, not chewed. A communal dish. |
Anjung Ikan Bakar Grilled Fish Stalls
Anjung Ketam Crab Stalls
Chinese Cuisine in Labuan
Chinese cooking is one of the three main styles available on the island, alongside Malay and Western, and it is closely tied to the seafood trade.
What is available
Hotels and restaurants in the town centre serve a range of local and international food, with Western, Malay and Chinese among the cooking styles you will find. Chinese restaurants on Labuan lean heavily towards seafood, which is what the island does best.
Source: Range of cooking styles available from Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
The community behind it
Labuan has a long-established Chinese community. The displays at Labuan Museum cover the main communities living here and their traditions.
Ordering
Seafood at a Chinese restaurant is sold the same way it is everywhere on the island: by weight, at the market rate. Confirm the price per kilogram before ordering.
Around the festivals
Chinese New Year changes what is open and what is served. Check before travelling around it.
| Strength | Seafood |
|---|---|
| Community | Long-established |
Coconut Pudding: A Labuan Speciality
A light dessert made from steamed coconut water and jelly. It is rarely sold anywhere outside Labuan.
What it is
Coconut pudding is made from steamed coconut water and jelly. It is rarely found outside Labuan, which makes it one of the few dishes you can only eat here.
Where to find it
Look for it at the Labuan Weekend Tamu and at local shops and seafood restaurants. It is made fresh rather than sold packaged, so availability varies.
Source: Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
Ikan Bakar (Charcoal-Grilled Fish)
Ikan bakar is fish grilled over charcoal, usually marinated and served with sambal. It is the most reliable order on any Labuan seafood menu.
What it is
Ikan bakar means grilled fish. The fish is marinated, cooked over charcoal, and served with sambal and rice. It appears on seafood menus across the island, and it is the dish to order when you want the freshness of Labuan’s seafood without the price and effort of crab.
Source: Seafood availability and price reputation from Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
How to order it
Confirm the price per kilogram before you order. Seafood on Labuan is normally sold by weight at the market rate of the day, and the bill is set once the fish or crab is weighed. Asking first is normal here and no one will think it rude.
You will usually pick the fish from a display. If you do not recognise it, ask which is best today rather than choosing by name. Whatever came in that morning is the right answer.
What comes with it
Sambal is standard and can be genuinely hot. Ask for it on the side if you are unsure. Rice, kangkung or another simple vegetable dish rounds the meal out.
Also try
Mud crab for the headline dish, udang galah for prawns, and ambuyat for something that is not seafood at all.
| What | Fish marinated and grilled over charcoal |
|---|---|
| With | Sambal and rice |
| Sold | By weight. Confirm the price first. |
Jelurut: A Rice Flour and Coconut Milk Dessert
A dessert made from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk. It is the richest of Labuan’s four local sweets.
What it is
Jelurut is made from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk. Like lamban and punjung, it is a Brunei-Malay sweet that is still made locally in Labuan.
Source: Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
Kampung Nagalang Seafood Restaurant
Kopitiam Breakfast in Labuan
A kopitiam is a traditional coffee shop. Breakfast there is the cheapest and most local meal of the day, and the town centre is walkable enough to make it easy.
What a kopitiam is
Kopitiam means coffee shop, from the Malay kopi and the Hokkien tiam. They are open-fronted, functional and busy early. Ordering is done at the table or the counter, and the coffee comes strong and sweet unless you say otherwise.
Ordering coffee
Kopitiam coffee has its own vocabulary, used across Malaysia. Learning four words covers most situations.
| Order | What you get |
|---|---|
| Kopi | Coffee with condensed milk. Sweet by default. |
| Kopi O | Black coffee with sugar, no milk. |
| Kopi C | Coffee with evaporated milk and sugar. |
| Kosong | Added to any of the above: no sugar. |
Why breakfast here works on Labuan
The town centre is compact and one of the most pedestrian-friendly in Malaysia, so a kopitiam breakfast fits naturally before a day out. It also costs a fraction of a hotel breakfast.
Source: Town centre walkability from Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
The local sweets
Labuan’s four local desserts, coconut pudding, lamban, punjung and jelurut, are made fresh rather than packaged. The Weekend Tamu on Saturdays and Sundays is the most reliable place to find them.
Individual kopitiam names and opening hours are not published here because they could not be verified from a current source. Most open early and close in the afternoon rather than the evening.
| What | Traditional coffee shop |
|---|---|
| Best | Early morning |
| Learn | Kopi, Kopi O, Kopi C, kosong |
Lamban: Sweetened Steamed Rice in Coconut Leaves
Sweetened steamed rice wrapped in coconut leaves. It is similar in form to a Chinese rice dumpling.
What it is
Lamban is sweetened steamed rice wrapped in coconut leaves, similar in form to a Chinese rice dumpling. It is one of the four local sweets Labuan is known for, along with coconut pudding, punjung and jelurut.
Source: Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
Mr Crab Seafood & Steamboat Restaurant
Punjung: A Rice Flour Sweet
A small, bite-sized sweet made from rice flour, and one of the four local desserts most associated with Labuan.
What it is
Punjung is a bite-sized sweet made from rice flour. It is usually eaten alongside Labuan’s other local desserts rather than on its own.
Source: Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
Udang Galah (Giant Freshwater Prawns)
Udang galah are giant freshwater prawns, large enough to be served one or two per person and usually grilled or cooked in butter.
What they are
Udang galah are giant freshwater prawns. They are big, which is the point: portions are counted in pieces rather than scooped. They appear alongside crab and fish on Labuan’s seafood menus.
How they are ordered
Confirm the price per kilogram before you order. Seafood on Labuan is normally sold by weight at the market rate of the day, and the bill is set once the fish or crab is weighed. Asking first is normal here and no one will think it rude.
Prawns this size are expensive relative to the rest of a seafood order, so the weight question matters more here than almost anywhere on the menu. Agree the price and the number of pieces before the kitchen starts.
Source: Seafood context from Tourism Malaysia, Labuan Map & Guide (updated December 2023).
Ordering well
- One or two pieces per person is normally enough alongside other dishes.
- Grilled keeps the flavour of the prawn. Butter and cheese preparations bury it.
- The head holds most of the flavour, and locals eat it. Try it before deciding.
| What | Giant freshwater prawns |
|---|---|
| Portion | Usually one or two pieces per person |
| Sold | By weight. Agree the price and piece count first. |