Kota Kinabalu has always been known for their seafood, undoubtedly due to its location as well as the local’s preference in how they get their protein. Since I’m a fan of fish noodle in general, I do make it a mission to try the various offerings they have on this North Borneo town.
One of the latest places I got a chance to check out was Mdm Ing Fish Noodle at Jalan Penampang.
Madam Ing fish noodle, Kota Kinabalu
The restaurant is located about 15 minutes away from town by car, so you would definitely need a ride to get there. Parking isn’t an overly complex exercise at the area, much like most places at KK. However, on weekends, there’s usually a crowd so locating a table may require a bit of patience.
Mdm Ing offers quite a variety of ingredients and choices revolving around fish, you can have it with fish slice, fish innards, fish stomach, roe, skin, fish head, fish tail, fish face, mouth, and more.. yes, fish face! The prices range from RM 10 to RM 26 and up, if you go crazy with it.
They serve garupa, red snapper, tabong, and kakap fish. As for soup base, you get to choose between tomato with salted vege and tofu, bitter gourd, with milk, or clear soup. Then of course there’s yur choice of mee, meehun, mee suah, or kuih teow.
mdm Ing fish noodle with salted vege and tofu soup
I had mine with fish slices in salted vegetable and tofu soup. The bowl comes with quite a generous amount of fish and a couple slices of fish cake soaked in the soup base that reminds me of salted vege/tofu soup that mom used to make.
The seafood was fresh, but the thing that stood out from other such outlets in KK was the sambal at Mdm Ing. It carries quite a bit more kick, and with a squeeze of limau kasturi it was also very refreshing.
garupa fish fillet, and their “sambal”
I think I do owe it to myself to try some of the more exotic ingredients when this place has to offer on my next visit.
Thanks Yann May for being my ride there!
You can also check out Fatt Kee and TaukeFish if you’re into fish noodle at Kota Kinabalu.
Address: Madam Ing Fish Noodle 29-34, Jalan Penampang, Towering Industry Centre, 88200 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah GPS: 5.930958, 116.085221 Tel: 016-831 8726
It is somewhat of a fashionable thing to be talking about the negative things about the various social media channels that are popular these days, such as how you only view the highlights of your friends, and how that elevate the whole “grass is greener on the other side” mentality and so forth.
However, like many things in life, if you use it right, great things can come out of it.
Delicious Curry House, Kota Kinabalu
Case in point – I got to know about both about Delicious Curry House from my instagram connection, a fellow user who hailed from Sabah and have since moved to Klang Valley some years back. Additionally, my makan buddy at Kota Kinabalu too, is someone I got to know from the same channel.
Who said it’s all negative? 😀
Anyway, Delicious Curry House is situated about 15 mins or so from the town center at Taman Ridgeview, a small commercial area that is pretty quiet in the evening (translation – easy to find parking).
The menu is not overly large, but covers a decent selection of dishes that includes seafood, vegetables, poultry, both in spicy or non-spicy forms.
paku pakis, squid with lime, asam prawn, bitter gourd with salted egg
For the two of us, we ordered four dishes (obviously too much).
The asam curry prawns (RM 32) was one of my favorites of the night, the broth was flavorful and packs a punch in terms of spiciness. If you love asam pedas, you’d find this version satisfying, especially with KK quality prawns.
Thai style steamed squid (RM 18) provides another jolt to our senses with its lime, garlic, and chili padi ingredients. The huge squid was of course, fresh and juicy.
four dishes was a bit much for two pax
For greens, I took the advise from fellow instagramfriend and went for their salted egg bitter gourd (RM 13.80), and a paku pakis (RM 13.80, sometimes ‘branded’ as Sabah vege).
These two are some of my favorite vegetables so they obviously did not disappoint. I thought the portion was a bit too big though for two pax, and maybe the paku pakis dish was just a tad too oily. Those bitter gourd would also make for perfect snack to go with beer.
Overall the dinner was super satisfying and offers rather decent value. Would not hesitate to go back there again.
Address: Delicious Curry House 63, Lorong Austral 10, Taman Ridgeview, 88200 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah GPS: 5.942390, 116.069935 Tel: 088-319 777
On my previous trip to Kota Kinabalu, I was feeling a little bit under the weather due to a bout of not entirely moderate case of flu. My KK buddy was kind enough to take me to some comforting food fit for my condition – Seafood Porridge at Foh Sang.
How Lee Coffee Shop Seafood Porridge
The operation is located at How Lee Coffee Shop by the shop lots at Foh Sang that’s packed with quite a few other restaurants that aren’t short of customers during dinner time. After a couple rounds of circling the premise, we found a parking spot, and another few minutes of waiting, we finally landed on a table for two.
At this place, the star is their seafood porridge, but you can also have them with chicken, pork, scallop, crab, fish fillet, or prawns. Additionally, this is also a full fledge “tai chao” operation, so you get to order a pretty good selection of accompanying side dishes, or even have rice or noodle if porridge isn’t your calling for the night.
seafood porridge, choi sum, asam chicken, salted egg
For dinner, we ordered a standard bowl of seafood porridge with a salted egg, a plate of deep fried asam chicken, and a portion of choi sam for fiber and vitamin.
The porridge was certainly top notch, and as expected of any seafood dishes, the quality was top notch and super fresh. The vegetable was probably produce from kundasang, crunchy and sweet. However, the asam chicken was perhaps a little too over fried for my liking, the slight bitter after taste didn’t really do it for me.
wholesome dinner especially when you’re under the weather
Overall dinner came to about RM 60+ for the two of us, I’d say that’s decent value for the quality of seafood we got. Will not hesitate to go again.
Address: Seafood Porridge How Lee Coffee Shop No. S-26, Lorong Mawas 1, Jalan Kolam, Taman Foh Sang, Luyang, Kota Kinabalu 88300 Sabah GPS: 5.957661, 116.088143 Tel: 016-839 1938
Part of my responsibilities at work involves traveling to Kota Kinabalu at Sabah. That’s mighty fine by me since it is probably my top 3 cities in Malaysia, the other two being Penang and KL.
Kota Kinabalu has it all, crystal clear ocean minutes away from the city, Mount Kinabalu, rich local culture, and just maybe too many Chinese and Korean tourists these days.
Ah Chee Tom Yam, at Kota Kinabalu
Anyway, since I happen to be at KK more often these days, I make it a point to explore the local food offerings. On my last trip, as I was looking for lunch options upon checking in the hotel, I found Ah Chee Tom Yam by chance.
Ah Chee Tom Yam is located just a few doors’ down from the famous Wiya Chicken Rice, the restaurant offers a rather simple menu with a choice of tomyam prawn meehun, Sarawak laksa with prawn, Prawn mee with rice wine, and Thai style chicken feet.
Ah Chee Tom Yam – meehun with fresh prawns
For obvious reasons, I tried the Tomyam meehun, which comes with 5 pieces of fresh tasting saltwater prawns properly peeled and cooked just right. Most importantly, the tomyam soup was rich and fragrant by without being overly spicy. The star of the bowl though was the prawns, they were sweet and definitely worth the RM 11 or so asking price for a bowl.
If you find yourself in KK town, this is one worthy place for a quick meal, oh, it’s completely pork free too.
Address: Ah Chee Tom Yam Lorong Segama, Pusat Bandar Kota Kinabalu, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah GPS: 5.983448, 116.075227
I’m blessed with many friends who know I love to explore different foods, and it is also from suggestions of these friends that I manage to experience all these different places documented in this spot on the interweb.
But even better than suggestions though, is when friends brought me to the source of food – like during my last work trip to Kota Kinabalu, May picked me up and took me to this place by the name of Sabah Keratang.
Restoran Sabah Keratang, Kota Kinabalu
Keratang is the local name for Giant Garupa – the largest bony fish that offshore Sabah. While there’s a misconception that giant garupa is just normal garupa that grew old and huge, it is actually an entirely separate species of garupa that can grow to half a tonne and has distinctively thicker skin.
Unlike full fledged seafood restaurants like Welcome Seafood, Salut Seafood, New Gaya, or fish noodle places like Fatt Kee, Taukefish, Sabah Keratang wedged itself pretty much right in the middle, offering fish noodle soup, fried rice or noodle with garupa, and a selection of seafood and other dishes to go with rice.
three dishes for two hungry souls
Over the dinner for two, we ordered a garupa soup (RM 30 for small), 3-in-1 seafood (RM 29.50 for small), and vegetable (RM 10) with a couple plates of steamed rice.
The garupa soup was as good as any seafood noodle places, with tomato and salted vegetable tofu soup base that compliments the fatty nature of the garupa meat with its thick skin. Portion was rather healthy as well even though this was a supposed to be a “small” one.
the giant garupa skin, check it out!
The 3-in-1 seafood came with prawns, squid, and of course, giant garupa slices. This turned out to be our favorite dish, the seafood was fresh and super tasty, and while it was slightly on the saltier side, with steamed rice it was perfect. I love it.
As for the vege, it wasn’t anything to shout about, not anywhere near the Kundasang sort of vegetable I enjoy.
Overall though, I thought Sabah Keratang is definitely a worthy place for a meal if you find yourself at Kota Kinabalu.
Address: Sabah Keratang Block J, Sadong Jaya, 74, Jalan Karamunsing, Karamunsing, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah GPS: 5.969263, 116.072061 Tel: 088-253 718
