Kota Kinabalu Food Guide

I was in Kota Kinabalu few months ago for a short break. It was also time for me to venture to the streets to try new Kota Kinabalu hawker food!

Jin Jin Seafood Restaurant @ Taman Hilltop

Jin Jin Seafood Restaurant is well known for its fish noodles. It does not taste like the normal fish noodles we have back at home. The soup is sour and their serving is massive! When ordering, you have a choice of deep fried fish or steamed. Their serving of fish meat was generous. You can also opt for fresh milk in your soup. I heard that fresh milk makes the soup tastier.

Overall, the meal was great! Almost wiped the entire bowl clean.

However, the price is quite steep. It was around RM10 per bowl. Drinks on the other hand was terrible. Don’t ever order their Nescafe.

Map

Restoran Beaufort

Sabah has various Chinese hawker dishes which are not available in the Klang Valley and one of them is the Beaufort noodles.

Finally I managed to try the famous Beaufort noodles at Restoran Beaufort. It comes in dry and wet version. The latter’s portion is huge where the former was in reasonable size.

This Beaufort noodles come with thick egg noodles, vegetables and roasted pork.


The wet version is similar to our Cantonese fried noodles (Wat Tan Hor) but it is quite tasteless.


Fried version was mediocre. Nothing to shout about.

Notwithstanding the mediocrity of this noodles, Restoran Beaufort was packed with people. I guess the noodles is an acquired taste.

If you would like to have a taste of Beaufort noodles, you can head to Restoran Beaufort located at the map below:-

Map

Fook Yuen @ the City

My all time favourite place in KK is Fook Yuen, well known for their roti kahwin. I wrote a review about Fook Yuen @ Damai some time ago.

I just found out that Fook Yuen opened an outlet in the city. It looks like an Old Town outlet and it fact it is next to Old Town. I initially thought it was part of Old Town. Their signboard is not very visible!

Unfortunately, the roti kahwin and coffee here are terrible. It doesn’t taste as good as the ones they have at Damai. I wouldn’t recommend this place if it’s the first time you’re trying Fook Yuen.


Original Fook Yuen Roti Kahwin


Teh Madras at Fook Yuen. It’s basically 2 layered tea.

Map

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

Related Links:
PRECIOUS PEA: KK Day 1 (Part 1) – Hotel + Afternoon Tea
The Star – Great toast