vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
Posts tagged Kota Kinabalu
Pyramid Shaped Hainan Chicken Rice @ Wiya Coffee Restoran
Jan 9th
Do you know how many shapes chicken rice can take in Malaysia? As far as I know there are three with the most common one served in a semi-spherical or bowl shaped. We can all agree there’s nothing fancy about this. In Melaka, their chicken rice is available in the shape of a ping pong sized ball, which is something quite special for Northern Malaysians. Then in East Malaysia specifically Sabah in the town of Kota Kinabalu, the Hainan Chicken Rice at Wiya Coffee Restoran is served in a pyramid shape!
But before I claim pyramid shaped chicken rice is only available in KK, luckily I did some research first and found that it is also available in Singapore’s Boon Tong Kee. Phew, I saved myself from embarrassment there lol.
When KampungBoyCityGal and us went to KK, Wiya’s chicken rice was on our must-try list just because of the pyramid shaped rice alone. I honestly didn’t know it existed until we researched for the food in KK. When it comes to uniqueness, this pyramid shaped rice takes the cake. But the shape aside, the rice was nothing special really.
Ocean Seafood Village Restaurant @ Kota Kinabalu – Live Seafood Tanks!
Dec 24th
I just remembered these photos taken during my trip to Kota Kinabalu. It was a seafood dinner me and SL took together with KampungBoyCityGal at Ocean Village Seafood Restaurant (海王城海鮮村).
But before I continue, first let me just say that the food wasn’t spectacular and the price was very expensive, mainly because the restaurant is to cater to tourists mostly. I don’t think any Sabahan with the right mind would want to dine there and get chopped like us lol.
Then again, this post isn’t really about the food nor the prices. It’s about visiting perhaps one of the largest and most awesome seafood restaurant with the most live seafood on display in Malaysia. If you thought Bali Hai‘s display of seafood was impressive, wait till you see Ocean Seafood Village’s.
A large prawn statue greets the customers at the entrance of Ocean Seafood Village Restaurant.
Once we stepped into the restaurant, instead of making orders we made way to the live seafood area like kids who couldn’t wait to go to the playground. Our jaws literally dropped looking at the arrays of aquarium tanks housing the countless live seafood ranging from prawns to clams and fish.
The front rows mainly housed live prawns, mantis prawns at the middle, fishes at the back and clams on the side with crabs crawling around on the ground.
These red colored tiger prawns price increase ten bucks for every upsize: RM20 each for small, RM30 for medium and RM40 for large. Pricey? Oh yes, certainly. But do keep in mind that even the smallest prawns are at least twice the length of an average adult’s finger.
Mee Tuaran Goreng @ Seng Hing Restaurant, Kota Kinabalu
May 4th
Mee Tuaran, a special kind of fried noodle has always been the hawker food I wanted to try in Sabah. To me, this hawker dish’s reputation in Sabah is equivalent to Char Koay Teow in Penang, or Kolo Mee in Sarawak. But since I wasn’t able to go all the way to Tuaran to try the authentic ones, I had to settle for those in Kota Kinabalu – hoping that they would be as good.
Seng Hing Restaurant at Sinsuran 2 was recommended by the locals for their Mee Tuaran Goreng (Fried Mee Tuaran) and Tom Yam Noodles. Lucky for us, the coffee shop was only 5 minutes’ walk away from our hotel so we had our breakfast there before heading to Gaya Street’s Sunday Market.
The Mee Tuaran @ RM5 (if not mistaken) was worth my long anticipation. I don’t know the exact words to describe it but it tasted somewhere between Wantan Mee (of the light soya sauce) and Sarawak Kolo Mee. The noodles was springy, with generous toppings of roasted pork and slices of fried egg rolls (thanks to the clarification of a Sabahan, I thought they were fish cakes initially) Click here to continue reading >
Kota Kinabalu Trip Day 2 Part 2 – Dinner at Luyang and Old Village Seafood Restaurant
Apr 25th
By the time we reached our hotel after returning from whitewater rafting, it was already 8.30pm and KampungboyCitygal was waiting for us for dinner.
Not sure where to go, we asked Lavender Lodge’s owner to recommend us some seafood restaurants which the locals usually patronize. And Salut, Luyang and Gayang were suggested.
After considering time and cost factor, we decided to give Luyang Seafood Restaurant at Luyang (yes, the restaurant has the same name as the location) a try because it was the nearest and also the cheapest via taxi (RM12). Other places like Salut and Gayang would have taken at least 40 minutes to reach and the taxi wanted to charge us a whopping RM120!
I think we were unlucky to reach at Luyang quite late because most of the seafood like prawns and clams were finished. Not even a single clam or prawn was left lol. We were only left with fish and crab, which Luyang Restaurant was famous for.
Our first dish was Spicy and Sour Crabs @ RM28/kg for the female mud crabs.
I had quite high expectation in this dish actually, since it was supposed to be Luyang’s signature dish. Looks wise it was already a winner but I felt it the crabs weren’t anywhere spectacular.
The gravy, initially quite tasty turned jelly like after being left cold and the crab meats always stuck to the shell, making the peeling even more difficult. At one point we were so frustrated with all the hard work peeling the crabs (and so little flesh!) we wanted to stop eating altogether lol.
After a disappointing first dish, things started to look up with the arrival of Braised Garoupa in Claypot – RM25 if not mistaken. The Garoupa was meaty and flavorful, really nice especially when it was still warm. Click here to continue reading >
