Seafood in Sabah is like char kuih teow in Penang or Tomyam in Bangkok, if you find yourself in Kota Kinabalu, it is pretty much compulsory to get yourself to one of the many seafood restaurants and have a meal.
Salut Seafood, located within a prawn farm
On our Mt. Kinabalu trip (more on that soon), we met up with one of my old friends Ben for dinner. On our previous trip we went to New Gaya, so this time around Ben suggested that we head to Salut Seafood, the restaurant located within a prawn farm.
It took us quite a while to get there due to the (un)expectedly rush hour traffic, but alas, we got there in time before sunset. The restaurant is located by the sea and accessible via cars, but if you’re on a tour bus, you’ll be out of luck. This place is built for the locals.
live seafood to choose from, including quite a variety of shellfish
Like most seafood restaurants worth its salt in South East Asia, there’s a good selection of live seafood to choose from. Crabs, prawns, fish, and quite a few types of shellfish can be chose from the live tank to be cooked in the method of the customer’s liking. There’s also a big price list plastered on the wall to remove too many surprises.
haven’t had this type of shellfish since Vietnam
For the three of us, we ordered some live prawns, crabs, shell fish, and sabah vegetable to go with rice.
The prawns and shellfish were steamed, the simplest possible cooking method, this was to preserve the natural sweetness of the seafood. The quality were apparent as the prawn were quite a lot more difficult to peel than the usual “already dead for a couple days” variety.
butter crab, fresh prawns, and “sabah vegetable”
This was also the first time I had the same snail since New Gaya & Hong Hai in Ho Chi Minh City, tasted a bit like a cross between lala & balitong, if you enjoy those, you will enjoy this.
The crab, while properly seasoned and prepared, was not as firm and “full” as I had hoped for, though it was nonetheless an acceptable dish.
great first meal at KK and to catch up with old friend
Then there’s the unique “Sabah vegetable” that you can’t get in Peninsular Malaysia, with its slightly crunchy stem and soft leaves, I always make it a point to order this whenever I’m at KK.
Dinner came to about RM 50+ per person, right around the average for a good seafood meal at KK. We could have kept it a bit cheaper if not for the over ordering, but diet goes to hell when you’re traveling, right?
Thanks Ben!
Address:
Salut Seafood
Jalan Sulaman, Kampung Salut,
89200 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
GPS: 6.103970, 116.160311
Tel: 019-881 8515
Hours: 11:30 am to 9:30 pm
I like snails….but the only ones I recognise are escargots…hehe!
eatwhateatwhere: expand your horizon!
Oh, I do eat different type of snails….I just can’t recognise them and don’t know what they’re called…hehe! ;D
eatwhateatwhere: haha that’s the spirit.
my KK friends/acquaintances can be quite ‘snobbish’ about seafood, heheh. cos they always say they can get better seafood back home compared to the places in kl 😉
Sean: Hahaha, and often they are right.
Ky, the way Cantonese cooked snails is in black bean and garlic sauce to eat. Like the bigger ones but not able to find in San Francisco. Really enjoyed ones in Hong Kong and Taipei and Singapore and Malaysia,
Vickie: Yeah, we eat a lot more sea snails in this part of the world I believe.
ohhhh look at those glistening prawns, uncle! Definitely not dead or frozen wan
immature: it’s already dead, cos it was cooked :X
You’re in KK? Great seafood, fresh and nice. Cheaper in Sandakan though – heading that way too?
suituapui: I was in KK, balik KL already. Sandakan would be interesting, maybe next destination in months/year to come!
I agree! Some of the best seafood we’ve had in Malaysia has been in Sabah.
The Yum List: can’t fault that!
Eat seafood is a must when travel to Sabah 🙂
Choi Yen: definitely!
lovely pictures of mouthwatering food,
Very nice in sabah .
Lokman: yesss.