Kyspeaks.com

It was a span of almost half a year since my last work trip to Kota Kinabalu, and I believe anyone would know that this was due to the Covid-19 lock down (2020, what a year huh?).

I had only two meals to dine out on this stopover, dinner was at one of my favorite restaurants in KK – Tung Fong Seafood, and for next day’s lunch, I met up with Ben and was introduced to this new-ish fish noodle place by the name of GK Fish Soup.

fresh fish head vs fried fish ‘lam’

The operation has only been around for about 7 months, it is located about 10 minutes away from city center and can be slightly tricky to find – but if you thought you end up at light industrial area with lots of car workshops, then you’ve reached the right place.

Menu is a simple one page affair – you get to have fish filet, lam ikan (fish stomach), sirip ikan (tails), mix ikan, or kepala ikan (fish head) either fried, or fresh. Soup base can be either peria (bitter gourd), tomato, hamchoi (salted vege), or tomyam.

Ben had fresh fish head and I ordered fried fish stomach with tomato soup, partly due to us being late in arrival (almost noon) and ran out of other options. The seafood were prepared just right, and of top quality, something that I now came to expect at this part of Malaysia. The soup too was packed with flavor and I especially enjoyed the cili paste that was served alongside. This was a good departure as some of the other places often serve subpar condiment (looking at you, Fatt Kee), or have it ultra limited (hello Madam Ing).

GK fish soup, plenty of social distancing

Priced at RM 10 – 18, it offers rather good value. There’s plenty of seafood in a bowl, but portion of meehun can be a bit on the low side, which suits me but not everyone. I am going to come back here again for sure.

Address:
GK Fish Soup
23, Lorong Nosoob Jaya 1,
Taman Nosoob Jaya,
88200 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
GPS: 5.931134, 116.075720

Last Friday was a semi-working day sandwiched Hari Raya and the weekends, the sort of Friday that isn’t at all black. Since traffic would be relatively light, my ex-colleagues decided to drive down all the way to KL and meet me for lunch.

The initial plan was for Wong Meng Kei Siu Yoke at Pudu, but we decided to go for Ngau Kei Beef Noodle at Tengkat Tong Shin instead after discovering the siu yoke place was off fort he day.

Ngau Kei is in operation for decades

I was still in college the last time I had beef noodle from Ngau Kei, no prize for guessing how long ago that was. While many new restaurants such as Bermuda and Onion has sprung up around the area, the old Ngau Kei is still exactly the same as the first time I dined there, the stall itself and a few tables by the corridor under zinc roof.

For lunch, I ordered a mixed beef with dried noodle while my slightly less adventurous friends asked for beef balls soup with dried noodle. I tried to ask for an extra bowl of beef tendon, but unfortunately there wasn’t any stock available, so tragic!

beef noodle, yum

Since it was a rather busy Friday lunch session, we had to wait for quite a while before food was served. The beef noodle itself though, was very fine and blends perfectly with the ground meat. The soup was light but sweet, the beef balls firm, while the tripe and meat were tender and very tasty. The entire thing tasted just as well as I remember.

Ngau Kei is walking distance from Lowyat and Bukit Bintang

Our four bowls of noodle and three glasses of iced tea came to RM 21.50. Five bucks for a bowl of very tasty beef noodle, I can do this everyday!

Address:
Tengkat Tong Shin,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.145360, 101.706630