Fish noodle is one of my favorite noodle dishes ever, and being situated by the coast with access to great ocean haul and a knack for making the best out of these sea bounty, it’s not secret that Kota Kinabalu offers some of the best seafood noodle restaurants.
jewel garupa soup, with kanlau mian on the side
A few weeks ago, during one of my now almost routine visit to this East Malaysian city, we got the opportunity to check out one of the more “hidden” fish noodle restaurants by the name of Notung Kusan Cafe, sometimes also known as Seafood Ah Huat.
The restaurant has just recently moved from a household set up to a proper shop lot situated at Dongongan, just a stone’s throw away from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Do check to make sure you’re not routing to their old location if you decided to visit this place (use the GPS info below).
Notung Kusan Cafe Mihun Soup, Kota Kinabalu
There are a few options to choose from when it comes to noodle, we picked kon lou mee (dry noodle), to go with fresh fish slices, jewel garupa was available so we went for that. There’s also fish stomach, fish egg, and fish head if that’s what you crave.
The portion for two pax (RM 35) was huge and came with loads of thick cut super fresh fish fillet that’s cooked so the texture was just right – soft, almost crumpling on first bite but not in an “unfresh” sort of way. I really love it.
The tomato soup base was quite subtle, but takes on the sweetness of seafood itself, a plus point if you ask me. The dry noodle too was properly seasoned and I thought compliment the seafood quite well.
super fresh chunky fish fillet, awesome fish skin too
I think this has just became my favorite fish noodle place in KK right now, they open from morning till around lunch time, and I’ve heard that they may close whenever there’s no fresh fish or when owner goes out fishing. Do try to call in to avoid disappointment.
For availability, Fatt Kee is the one to go, they’re pretty good and open all the time.
Most everyone knows that Kota Kinabalu, being located by the crystal clear and beautiful South China Sea, is famous for seafood when it comes to .. well, food. One of the ways to enjoy this sea bounty without having to bring a crowd to a seafood restaurant is by heading to one the few fish noodle restaurants in the city.
Today, we look at one of the more famous shops – Restoran Wan Wan.
Wan Wan fish noodle, Kota Kinabalu
Wan Wan is located at Bundusan, some 15 minutes away from the city center, which coincidentally, is also nearby another one of my favorite seafood restaurants – the original branch of Welcome Seafood.
Parking isn’t an issue in this part of tow, and being only some 12 mins away from airport, it’s not a bad idea for pre-flight meal, which was what I did.
Wan Wan runs a bit of a self-service kinda operations. While you do get to order from the server and have the food served to your table, you do have to get condiments and cutlery DIY style.
home made noodle with chunky fish fillet
For lunch, I chose jewel garupa with extra fish skin to go with their version of dry noodle.
The fish were certainly worthy to be labeled “KK standard”, fresh, succulent, and certainly super fresh tasting. At Wan Wan they do it super thick cuts too, which I thought retains more of the fish’s own juiciness. The “kan lou” noodle was springy and makes for good companion to the seafood for sure. Soup was packed with seafood sweetness, with very minor tomato note, quite different the stronger tasting Fatt Kee, but rather nice in its own way.
For those who likes it spicy, there’s tomyam soup base, and of course there are prawns, and quite a few other choices of fish to choose, there’s even fish paste noodle too.
jewel garupa is always one of my favorites
If you love fish noodle and likes your fish chunky, this is certainly a place to check out.
Address: Wan Wan Fish Noodle Lorong Bundusan, Hsk Industrial Centre, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah GPS: 5.924120, 116.092525 Tel: 088-716 698 Hours: 6:30 am to 2:30 pm, close on Tuesdays
One of the cool things about being slightly known for food is that I get a lot of recommendations to check out food outlets others find delicious, Ivy Sekinchan is one such places introduced by one of my futsal friends who are well aware of my love for fish noodle (particularly how often I ended up at B & Best)
Ivy Sekinchan fish noodle, Taman Bukit Anggerik
Ivy Sekinchan is located at Cheras, or more specifically, Taman Bukit Anggerik. This is quite a “remote” part of Cheras that doesn’t draw much crowd from people who does not stay within the postcode. The good thing about these sort of places is that you do get a stress-free parking situation, I guess…
While B & Best, or indeed Fatt Kee in Kota Kinabalu has quite a big menu, the offering at Ivy Sekinchan is a simple one-page affair. You get to choose from several types of fish ball noodle (in curry, dry, soup), grouper, dragon grouper, or giant garupa fish noodle, and fish head too (menu at bottom).
dragon garupa fish noodle soup
I had myself a bowl of dragon garupa with kuih teow (RM 22). The portion of fresh fish was quite generous, and was actually rather fresh and delicious. The soup base was quite strong tasting, if a little too salty. Cilantro, spring onion, tomato, and some fried shallots make up the rest of the ingredients.
A more than competent bowl of fish noodle for sure, but I’d like them to tone down the salt next time if that’s possible (or perhaps have it with dry noodle)
Hakka noodle if fish isn’t your thing
If fish noodle isn’t your thing, apparently the Hakka noodle here is worthy of a meal as well. Instead of wantan they have fish ball soup on the side, but you do still get the typical shredded pork on dry noodle as with any hakka noodle places (like the one at Pudu).
Many of you may be familiar with my affinity with fish noodle. Fresh seafood in an easy to consume, single serving format that fills the stomach with healthy ingredients in a tasty way, what more can we ask for?
Well, a few of you have suggested that I should check out Little Eat Stall and what they have to offer in this space, so I did.
Little Eat Stall, Pudu
Little Eat Stall is located at Jalan Beruang in Pudu. It is technically a road side stall under zinc roof, but seating area is rather hygienic and somewhat comfortable if not a little too warm under our weather.
The stall serves a variety of different dishes on different days. And since I’ve only had their fish noodle, this is what I’ll concentrate on. The fish noodle is available on Friday and weekends.
garupa fish meat noodle soup
Unlike the huge variety of fish and other seafood available at B & Best, my favorite fish noodle place in PJ, Little Eat Stall offers usually just garupa or tiger garupa in either fillet or fish head format, with single type of clear soup. And these come with mihun, no yellow noodle or kuih teow or anything like that.
What they lack in option was more than made up in quality. I thought the fish was super fresh, and the soup base with that dash of rice wine was so good I left an empty bowl by the end of the meal. The choice of vege they include in the dish was definitely a plus as well.
makes for great comfort food
Simply put, this is now my favorite fish noodle, or rather fish mihun place in the city. Do give it a try if you’re a fan of this dish, but one thing you’ll need to be at least mentally prepare for is the wait time.. The place is called 等记 in Mandarin. I’ll leave it to you to find out what that means, literally.
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
