Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh, KK

We were broght to this place on our last day in KK. Our KK relative told us that this is one of the most popular bat kut teh shop in town. We came around 5.30pm, by the time we finish our meal, all tables were fully occupied.Location : Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu town center
Rating : Fairly good

Review
I think the best part about the bak kut teh here is the variety of cuts and delicate portion, so that it offers patrons choices. The soup is alright, but it made me thirsty after the meal (suspected msg). The rib is well cooked, as in the meat is tender.For those who loves pork trotter, this bowl should not be missed. But then again, it is not like it melts in your mouth. Probably more suitable for those that prefer more substance.

The waiters brought all sorts of meats for us to choose. Because we kept quiet, he kept delivering bowl after bowl of different meats and cuts. Pork intestines are one of the many types they offer.If you like chinese yellow wine in cooking, this may be something interesting for you. Pork liver and stomach in chinese yellow wine. The soup is supposed to be nourishing.

Shame to say that the meat I enjoyed most was actually processed meat - pork balls.

The food in general is fairly good, except for:

• the soup makes you thirsty
• the owner is stingy with the soup too

Otherwise, it would be interesting to have a bak kut teh meal with variety in texture and taste.

Fresh soft bread by Fook Yuen @ Damai Plaza

Coconut jam and butter bread. What's so special about it? I guess nothing beats the taste of fresh food, and in this case, freshly baked white-fluffy bread.

Location : Damai Plaza, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Rating : Great

Review
I am not really a bread person, but Ben's aunts have been raving about this place. And before our order came, Aunt Har purposely brought me to the back of the shop to see for myself, what makes the bread here so special.

I see that they bake their own bread and ensured their products stayed fresh. There is a dedicated staff that focussed purely on spreading and making the breads. Butter were pre-cut thinly and in a cooler to maintain its freshness and texture. Generous spread of coconut jam and butter to match the thick bread. The simple look to fool any unaware sceptic like myself. Ben, the ever bread lover, was the first to make the move. The coconut jam and butter looked plain. I assume the craze over these bread is exclusive to bread lovers. Not me. That is until I place my fingers on the bread. They were so soft and fluffy that they were simply moulded to touch and yet not losing its springiness. It wasn't the taste but the texture. Soft warm bread that melts in your mouth. Damn! I am hooked too. But that is not all that Damai Plaza offers. I was initially attracted by the stall's location, which is situated right in the middle of the walkway between the rows of shop. And more unusual is that, they actually assign a name for this walkway, as if it is a road or lane. I wonder if I was hungry. The noodle came and I thought it tasted great. Chinese like to say that it is cooked with strong flame, making the noodles fragrant with the "qi" of the wok. Difficult to understand? You need to taste a good fried noodles to understand this. The flame really has got to be very very strong. That's why some stalls (like this one) sell fried noodles using charcoal. Not because they cannot afford gas or outdated, but gas flame is limited to a certain degree. I can't help noticing this lady busy pan frying dumplings. She didn't stop replacing the dumplings in the pan. And then there were so many of them busy wrapping up raw dumplings. I can't help it. Must try this!And I have no regrets. They are good. The aroma of marinated meat is just appropriately portioned that you just want more of it, after each bite.Then there is also pan meen (handmade noodles). The difference from our normal pan meen lies with the noodles itself. They were pre-fried before being cooked in soup. So this is like a combination of yee meen and pan meen. Confusing? Doesn't matter. More important is that if offers aromatic yee meen in pan meen's substance/texture. Still confused? So am I. The tea here is also famous. Why? Beats me. I find it smooth but wouldn't say that it is special. But I have to respect them for their professionalism. The take-away packaging is so well done, that fast food chains are not as considerate as they are. See... No more worries about spilling your drinks.

This is definitely a great place to come back again. Gotta make sure I come with empty stomach to cover all these and more. Nyum.. nyum..

Quickie : Fairy Hotel at Kundasang

Staying in Kundasang is great. The fresh cool air and quiet evenings. But looking for some decent food might be a bit troublesome if you are not familiar with the place. The first time I went with Ben, we made do with our own cooking and simple lunch/dinner. But this round, we brought his parents, sister, cousin and aunt. All women except for his dad. So you can imagine how standards of food has to be heightened to suit these ladies. Luckily, the restaurant beneath Fairy Hotel offered us some comfort.

Location: Less than 2km outside Kinabalu Park, Kundasang
Rating: Fair

Review
The food we ordered or actually they offered are simple home dishes. But it was fair to say that they all looked good and taste alright.
We had lime chicken. They looked good, but I couldn't really feel the texture of the chicken meat. A bit too much flour and lil' substance of meat, maybe.

The mixed vege is good. Good in the sense that they are fresh and colourful. You know how dietitian kept promoting eat veges with variety of colours is good for our vitamins/minerals needs.

The stir fry wild mushroom was ordinary to me. I can't say they taste great as I feel that they lack mushroom-y aroma.

Lastly, we had deep fried tofu in minced meat sauce. I had imagined something more colourful, but taste wise it was fair.

Well.. Like I said, at least something decent. You haven't heard the amount of complaints I get on the first night's dinner. All I can say is that, I am glad we found this restaurant.

Port View in Kota Kinabalu (Part II)

Been to my previous post on Port View (Kota Kinabalu) at Port View Seafood Village? Well this is Part 2, as I went to Port View again. And yes, this is again courtesy of Ben's relative. It's really generous and kind of them to bring us to such high end makan (Malay for eating) place.

So for this round, it is not so much of rating or review but more of introducing some other seafood that they offer.

Steamed Kampung Chicken The taste of the meat is tender with substance, and comes with a tinge of saltiness. A very Cantonese like dish. Ok, ok... I know, this is not seafood. Next then..

Buttered Egg Prawn
There were no big-fresh sea/salt water prawns that day, so Ben's relative ordered buttered egg tiger prawns. These are cultured prawns, so the taste may not be as sweet and the texture not as "teeth-bouncing" (according to Ben). That's why it is ok to cook them in some stronger gravy/taste. Nevertheless, to me, they taste just as great.

Sashimi Giant Sea Asparagus (a.k.a. Elephant Trunk Molusk)

Everyone said the taste is sweet and the texture really nice to chew, but I have no idea as I am not allowed to take raw food due to my pregnancy (oops... I've spilt it out).

Steamed Flower Face Garoupa in Soy Sauce

According to Ben's relative, this is a rare type of Garoupa. The meat is sweet and very packed in texture. A great dish, and the price, just as great :P

Jung Jai Qi (Little Pot of Shark Fins)

Wou... This is no ordinary shark fins soup. The little pot is loaded with dried scallop. Sweet...

Steamed Oyster with Garlic

Thank goodness they decided to have the oyster steamed, or I would not be able to try this dish too, if they were to have it raw. I love the texture and natural salty/sweet taste of the oyster. Garlic and a squeeze of lime brought out the seafood's natural aroma. Exquisite!

Just a snapshot of the many many type of seafood you can choose from the stairs of tanks. Care for some culinary adventure? You might find something you have not seen before.

Kedai Kopi Hilltop

I read about this from a beautiful site - http://eatingasia.typepad.com/. I have fallen in love with their photos, writings and ventures. Knowing I will be going to Kota Kinabalu, I took the chance to check out their blogs for info. This is one of the shop they went. There were no address given, just a telephone number for me to call. When I called up, the "tauke nio" (lady boss) could not give me a full address. She kept giving me some names and landmarks that I (not being a Sabahan) do not know. The only name that she kept repeating was Jalan Lintas (Lintas Road). Equipped with a map of KK, we cruised along Jalan Lintas and all other related roads for 3 times. Now Lintas Road is one of the major roads, so it is not a short distance. It took us 1 hour and yet we still failed to find the place. After numerous calls and getting very late (about 11+pm), we gave up and turned to Jalan Bunga Ulam Raja to head back to town centre. And there it was - Kedai Kopi Hilltop!

Location : Kolam Centre, Jalan Bunga Ulam Raja, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Rating : Quite Good

Review
The first thing we ordered and came was the grilled stingray. The fish is marinated and grilled with spices mixed with little bit of curry powder. How do I find this? Maybe I had too high hopes, it turned out to be ok. Quite good, but I find the spices tasted slightly funny. Then we had grilled sotong (squid) in curry sauce. The squid is really fresh and the curry does not over power the meat. But you have to eat them all (squid+sauce) in 1 scoop in order to get the oomph. Because we were so hungry after such a long search, we ordered a fried seafood bee hoon (rice vermicelli). I noted that bee hoon in KK are slightly thicker. The dish looks normal, but it was actually quite tasty. The bee hoon was cooked with enough heat that makes the noodles absorbed the fragrance of seafood. This is the "sign" that we had been looking for the whole 1 hour!With all these info, hope your search will be less tricky :)

Port View Seafood Village

How can I not go for seafood when I am in Kota Kinabalu? I am sure if you tell anyone about going to KK, they will definitely tell you where to go for seafood. For us, we have the advantage of having locals to bring us. This wasn't what I am used to, as I do not like to owe favours but they weren't really my relatives and I can't really say no either. So I just have to go with the flow.
It was a really grand feast, which made me felt really indebted to this family. They made the orders, and I had the shock of my life when the dishes came one after another.

Location : The Water Front, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Rating : Good

Review
The first dish was 10 inches sea tiger prawns cooked in spiced butter. You may not know how huge is the prawn. Maybe the picture below will give you a clue.

The prawns were so huge and they are so fresh that the meat is sweet and springy. I think the cook managed to ensure that the sauce did not over power the fresh taste of the prawns, which was good.


The second dish was also 10 inches sea tiger prawns. This time, it is fried with soy sauce. Sorry, I can't help it but show off how huge the prawn is.
I love fresh sea prawns being cooked this way as it usually retains the sweetness of the meat. Unfortunately, the cook had poured in a bit too much soy sauce. The dish was slightly too salty. It was still good though. One thing about eating huge seafood is that the meat will be quite chewy, but this was ok.

Next we had some rather exotic food. There is this shark's lower jaw's soft bone stewed in clear sauce. Such a long name, even longer jaw.

By the way, this has to be quite a huge shark. Personally, I do not agree in shark killing but since it has been served, I might as well tell you how it tastes. The texture is rather chewy and jelly like. The bones itself is rather tasteless (at least it has no fishy smell). It took hours of stewing to soften the bones and the cook blend it with clear sauce of mushrooms, garlics and corianders to fused the traces of freshness in them. It seems that this is a delicacy favoured by Hongkies, as it offers medicinal values. Shark bones are rather well known among in chinese medicine as good for bones, spines and joints.

Next we have fresh abalone steamed with garlic topping. If you like garlic, this dish is great as garlic draws out the fresh seafood taste.

I felt that the cook has slightly overcooked this dish. It would have been better if the meat wasn't that chewy.

Then came the fresh sea flower crabs. It is difficult to get live flower crab. The dead ones that are sold in the market are the worst type of seafood as the meat would have disintegrated and bacteria would have spread.

I remember a funny quote by a relative: "The crabs are lining up to go into your stomach". Hehehe... she is such a cute and funny person.

That's why I think it was a great idea to order sea flower crab and it was even greater idea to have it steamed with eggs. Simple yes, but the taste of fresh sea enveloped within your mouth was heavenly!

Finally came an unassuming stew. Now this may look small and simple dish to you, but it is actually the fin lining of a 200kg fish they call it "long dun". "Long dun" is a term for fishes that has lived longer than 10 years and grew so huge that man should swim away and leave it alone. Again, I do not condone killing or eating them. But since it is served... The texture is slightly like beef tendons but tasted very strongly of sea blood. Seafood lovers will love the powerful fragrant and tastes.

Our grand feast was wrapped up with 2 coconut fill of pudding made of coconut meat and juice, blended and frozen. The pudding is naturally sweet and fragrant of coconut. This is a great finale to seal off the feast.

Conclusion

• What is good - The cook knows how not to over power the naturally fresh taste of seafood. All dishes are mildly dressed.
• What is not such a good idea - Extinction of certain species.
• A note of heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Ben's relatives for such a grand feast.