Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, 2008 – w w w . x e .s . c x

Kota Kinabalu: Food Guide

Kedai Kopi City @ Gaya Street

Tuaran Mee is a special dish that originates from the town of Tuaran, a town not far from KK City. I was told that Tuaran Mee comes in a few varieties – e.g. soup based or in thick sauced. At Kedai Kopi City, they serve Tuaran Mee fried with Chinese Wine. If you like the taste of Chinese Wine, this dish is highly recommended as it’s extremely aromatic.

The other recommendation is their “Wat Tan Ho” (Chinese style fried noodles). I’ve not tried it myself so please don’t beat me up if you don’t find it tasty.

You should also check out their menu. It comes in Chinese and in Engrish.

“Hua Dan Ho” is actually “Wat Tan Ho” and Mee Tuara Wong Jio. Nice..you don’t need to go to China or Japan to read Engrish.

Related Link:
Kedai Kopi City | Gourmet Borneo

Just across Kedai Kopi City, there’s a stall selling “baked buns”. It’s not bad.

Little Italy

When you think of Kota Kinabalu food, the last thing you probably think about is Italy food. But in KK City, there is one famous Italian restaurant by the name Little Italy. When I was there, it was filled with locals and foreigners alike. The place was packed too.

Their loyalty card – comes with Google search keywords!

The 4 of us ordered pasta and pizza. I was told that their tomato based pasta is excellent. I got myself a meat ball spaghetti which tasted good. The other recommendation is their marina spaghetti. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to try that.

Pizza on the other hand is thin crusted and yummy. But it too a little bit time to arrive as the pizza is baked on the spot. Nevertheless, their service comes with a smile – excellent.

Map

Little Italy
Ground Floor, Hotel Capital,
Jalan Haji Saman
88813 Kota Kinabalu
Sabah
Tel: (6088) 232231

Kota Kinabalu Part II: Gaya Street Sunday Market

Gaya Street Sunday Market, as the name explains, is a market held every Sunday. It features local handicrafts, food, plants and even animals.
Actually more than that, they sell
candy floss

mosquitoes repellent plants

grass

tshirts

Looks like Julius the Monkey from Paul Frank.
dogs

The cage is soooo small!
fishes.

Damn, Check out the size of the sucker fish on the bottom.
They also have massages by the blind

and a handicraft store which plays music using their wares.

I saw a man dancing in front of a music stall.

He looks like the d00d from Kennysia’s Kuching Shuffler!.

Kota Kinabalu Part II: KK -> Poring Hot Springs -> Kundasang -> Kinabalu National Park -> KK

Continued from here

We stopped by Pine Resort at Kundasang, a countryside town located at the foothill of Mount Kinabalu. Pine Resort is located up a hill hence it’s a good place to check out the scenery. Many climbers stay in Kundasang before they embark on their journey to Mount Kinabalu. Perhaps the notable bit of Kundasang is the War Memorial, which was built to remember the 2,000 plus Australians and British prisoners who died during World War II.

After lunch, we stooped by the Kinabalu National Park. We drove to the entrance where everyone would enter to climb Mount Kinabalu.

What a name..

At that time, many people had just finished their climb to the peak of Mt Kinabalu. Most people looked extremely exhausted.

We took some pictures and walked some trails before heading home.

Best record so far – 2 hours 39 minutes to reach the peak of Mount Kinabalu!

“Snake Hill” Trail.

Took this picture while standing on a cliff. Can you see a waterfall?
We stopped by a coffee shop for a break. The shop is divided into two parts, one part being the convenient store and the other part being the coffee shop.

Place your cover charge to enter the toilet on the left box.

I spotted one pastry by the name “Biskut Pising” that they were selling. It’s made of banana and it’s green! I tried it. It tasted like crap. Too sweet and too dry.

An hour later, we reached KK City. A one day trip is indeed tiring. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend that one especially photographers drive out of KK City to experience the nature.

On a bridge – the river is almost covering the bridge!

Kota Kinabalu Part II: KK -> Poring Hot Springs -> Kundasang -> Kinabalu National Park -> KK

The journey to Poring Hot Spring is a long and tedious one. As I’ve said earlier, we had to go narrow and windy 2 lanes roads to get to these places.

We also had to go through

Bad visibility,

Slow lorries,

Accidents,

The road was probably built up on a mountain as most of the time we can see a ravine next to us. Further, throughout the journey, Mount Kinabalu is visible.

Poring Hot Spring, as the name suggest, is a hot spring located 3 hours away from KK. I read from somewhere that it was once a Japanese styled hot tubs during the Second World War.

I was looking forward to it as I’ve never been to a hot spring in Malaysia before. The one I visited in Japan was quite interesting and I presumed that it would be the same in Malaysia.

Throughout our journey, we passed by many local villages. The interesting bit is that almost each corner there is a church serving these villages. And all the signboards are identical – except for the name of the church.

Amitaa…aaa Haleluyaaahh

The other common sight is dogs – they are everywhere! Cats are pretty rare as they are eaten by dogs for breakfast.

We stopped by one place by the name Pekan Nabalu for a break. It’s a small town with stalls lined along the streets and even have a section for local handicrafts. We bought some pineapples and bananas. The pineapples look like hand grenades. Perhaps in the future, those who drop by, please purchase something from them to keep the villagers businesses alive.

Mt Kinabalu in the background!

Banana & “Salak”

Hand grenades

After an hour, we arrived at our first destination, Poring Hot Springs! I got off the car feeling excited – my first visit to a hot spring in Malaysia.

We crossed a river vide a suspension bridge. It was indeed a suspense before I step into the place.

But the place is like a bloody Disneyland! The place was filled with kids running around and many of the hot tubs were filled with kids. I bet they peed into the hot tub!

Fortunately, there are some private hot tubs for hire. Perfect place to do naug…I mean relax.

Other than hot springs, the other attraction of Poring is the Poring Canopy Walk. The walkway is around 40 metres off the ground and it’s identical to the one at Taman Negara Pahang. It turned my legs into jelly.

Perhaps the most acceptable hot springs tub is the tub for feet. My feet are dirty hence it doesn’t matter whether it gets dirtier or not. The temperature of the water is adjustable. All you need to do is to turn on the respective taps.

To be continued..

Kota Kinabalu Part II: Kedai Kopi Fook Yuen

Kedai Kopi Fook Yuen (Fook Yuen Coffeeshop) is located in a centralised hawker centre. Each shop has their own area and this can be seen from the colour of the chairs. Once you step into the centre, you’ll find yourself being tugged (verbally) by waitresses to sit on their area. Nevertheless, you can order food from other restaurants and have it on your table but you’ll find it being packed for takeaway.

After hearing so much about Fook Yuen’s roti kahwin, I finally I got to try this coffee shop. Roti Kahwin is a combination of two toasted bread with cold butter and kaya squeezed in between the toasted bread. It’s commonly available in KK and some parts of Malaysia. Some places plainly call it Roti Bakar (Toasted Bread).

However, I didn’t try their Roti Kahwin. Instead I had their normal bread with a thick slice of cold butter and also kaya squeezed in between. The bread is soft and perfectly moist. I must say it is extremely delicious until I wanted to have it everyday!! YUMMYY!! I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THAT I’VE TRIED!!

The other main but undiscovered attraction is Teh Madras. When I first heard about it, I thought it was some Indian spice tea. The last time I had a tea which sounded Indian i.e. Masala tea @ Mumbai tasted like curry. But the appearance of Madras Tea is pretty intriguing. It has three layers, the bottom, which is also the substantial part, is white (milk), the layer thereafter is brown (tea) and on top, foam. It’s like latte with tea. I tasted extremely well and not sweet at all! Unfortunately, it’s not widely available at Chinese restaurants.

Fried Dumplings (gyoza) is quite popular in KK. But the one at Damai is so-so.

Map

Damai Plaza PH
4 Jalan Damai
Luyang, Kota Kinabalu
Tel: 088-232.794
Opens 7 a.m. – 1.30 a.m
Closed on Mondays

Kota Kinabalu: Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap @ Taman Hilltop

[Note: Last KK trip post!]
Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap is located at Kolam Centre Phase 2, Taman Hilltop. The first thing that caught my attention was the name, “Ngiu Chap”. In most places, it’s spelled and pronounced as “Ngau Chap” which is in Cantonese.

This well known restaurant serves beef brisket noodles. When we arrived, the place was sardine packed. We were fortunate to find a seat inside the shop. Newspaper cutting and a picture of a local celebrity endorsing the Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap lies all over the walls.

I ordered a dried version of their beef brisket noodles. Those who doesn’t know what beef brisket noodles is, beef brisket noodles comes with beef internal organs such as stomach, intestines and not forgetting ligaments. YUMMY!

It took a while for our food to arrive – something you’ll expect from a popular restaurant.

As expected, a bowl of home made chilli lies on the table for patrons. The owners have claimed that their chilli is super spicy and even have a special counter with the words “SUPER HOT!” to sell their super hot chilli.

nomnomnomnomnom

After taking my first bite, I notice that their meat and internal organs were a little bit tough but their beef balls were quite tasty.

However, I find that there’s too much artificial flavouring in the soup. I know because I’m quite sensitive to artificial flavouring. My throat gets tighten up and my heart beat increases dramatically. Note to everyone, cut down on the soup.

Kota Kinabalu: Salut Zoo @ Salut Seafood Restaurant

Outside Salut Seafood Restaurant lays “Salut Zoo”. It’s not a proper zoo but it’s actually few cages with some common animals like snakes, monkeys and monitor lizards. I wonder if they were kept as umm…foood ?

Kota Kinablu: Sabah Court Houses

Finally, a break from food related entries.

We dropped by Sabah Court House to check out the court. Sabah Court House houses the magistrate court, sessions court and high court of Kota Kinabalu.

On the front gate lies a notice informing that the night courts starts from 6am and ends at 8pm. A night court session is usually held in the evening to hear traffic cases.
I was quite surprised that they hold night courts. Another court in Malaysia which has this practice is the Kuala Lumpur High Court. In most of the Malaysian courts, Court sessions start at 9a.m (in practice, they rarely start at 9am sharp).

In a language that I dont understand..
I guess one of the reasons they have night courts is to reduce the amount of people in Court in the morning (hence more parking space!).

design so lousy..kekekek
We roamed freely around the Court and even managed to get to the backyard. While walking around the empty court, we saw one notice board with three (3) pictures of a face of a little girl. It’s a composite photo of the recent missing girl, Sharlinie in 3 different appearances, bald, with tudong and with hair.

Sharlinie has been missing since she was allegedly taken away while playing at her local playground since January 2008. Many fear that she will suffer the same fate as Nurin Jazlin, who was found sexually assaulted and dead in a bag.
Upon my return to Kuala Lumpur, I found out that the composite pictures were created by wahdi. Great job wahdi!
Related Links:
the story begins: Take note of this entry!
In Memory of Nurin Jazlin – Blog set up by Nurin Jazlin’s uncle
Nurin Jazlin – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Corpse Was Nurin Jazlin Jazimin! The Story of A Missing Child! at Weddings, Celebrity Gossips & Personals @ Syokkahwin.com

Kota Kinabalu: Dott’s Egg Tarts

One of the things I don’t see in Kuala Lumpur is small retails selling egg tarts solely. I’ve almost been a big fan of egg tarts and I would order egg tarts whenever I go for dimsum.

Took this when it was closed 😛

While walking around Warisan Square, I bought a piece of egg tart from a small shop by the name Dotts Egg Tarts. Each egg tart costs RM1.10 – quite expensive for KK standard. However, it’s well worth it. Although it’s not freshly out from the oven, the egg custard was still warm and soft. The egg custard was sweet and extremely delicious. I wanted another one when I finished the first one!!!

Soon I realised that Dotts Egg Tart is a chain selling egg tarts. In fact, there are many other shops that sell only egg tarts! This is something that I would recommend Klang Valley entrepreneurs to venture in.

Kota Kinabalu: Port View Seafood Village

Our first dinner was at Port View Seafood Village, a well known restaurant for tourists. It’s located along the beach in Kota Kinabalu City. We were told that the food there is good but a little bit pricey.
After sitting down, a lady came to serve us. We wanted to eat fish..
Me: What fish do you have?

Lady: “Lou pan” and “Chat sing Pan”..

I know that “chat sing pan” (literally means “seven stars fish”) is quite expensive. However, at that time, I forgot the Chinese names of the cheaper fishes. Hence…

Me: How much is “lou pan”? For 2 person..

Lady: oh, around RM200
Me: O_O ok..how about “chat sing pan”??
Lady: About RM15 per 100 gram.
Me: Aahh..ok.. 1 steamed “chat sing pan” please.

We ordered a dish of vegetables to complement our fish. It took a long time for the fish to come.

The fish came and we ate. The fish was fresh from the aquarium. I didn’t know until I was told later but nevertheless it was good. It’s best to eat fresh fish steamed as from there, one can taste the freshness of it.

But when the bill came…RM90 for “chat sing pan”!!! What the fish!!?!? RM90 FOR FRESHNESS??? I GIVE FRESH FART RM90 CAN??? THIS IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE FISH I’VE EVAAAA EATTEEEENNNN$@$!!1111