Ever have cravings for meat dumplings and ikan bakar at the same time? Well, Kota Kinabalu apparently has enough people who have this unique combo from time to time to warrant a few of these gyoza + grilled fish restaurants.
Today let’s look at one of the most popular of them – Kedai Kopi New Mui Vui.
Restoran New Mui Vui, Kota Kinabalu
New Mui Vui restaurant is located at Hilltop, some 10 minutes away from the heart of Kota Kinabalu, and a stone’s throw from one of the most popular tomato soup fish noodle in town – Fatt Kee (it’s good, check it out!)
Like many local eateries in this part of the country, service isn’t looked at as an area of emphasis, so don’t take anything personally. Overall however, the restaurant is comfortable enough, and hygiene is passable.
gyoza, seafood fried rice
The restaurant serves gyoza, grilled fish/squid/lamb/beef, fried chicken wings/quails, as well as a fried rice and a selection of different noodle. Do note that your dishes may not come all at the same time. Menu is linked below.
We ordered those dumplings to go with a plate of seafood fried rice, as well as grilled stingray and squid for dinner.
ikan pari bakar, sotong bakar
Those grilled fish and squid were actually pretty good, even though the chili sauce it came with wasn’t much to shout about. Fried rice too was rather delicious, as most seafood ingredients from KK are of rather good quality. The gyoza however, was pretty subpar if you ask me, but if you’re in KK and long for gyoza, this is one of the few places you can get some, so I guess it’s… OK-ish?
Next time I may just have chicken wings instead of gyoza.
Address: New Mui Vui Restaurant 2, Lorong Gunung Ulu Merak 2, Taman Far East, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah GPS: 5.950502, 116.092648 Tel: 013-870 5781
Before we start, I have a confession. I must admit that of the various ASEAN countries I’ve visited (all except Laos & Cambodia), Filipino food is ranked pretty low on the index of cuisine that gets me excited.
That being said, it is always important to keep an open mind, so when my Kota Kinabalu makan buddy suggested that we try Tambayan at Kainang Filipino for dinner, I thought, why not? Maybe 5th time is the charm.
After that initial time, I’ve since returned to the place twice, I’m sort of a convert.
Tortang Talong, Pinakbet, Pork Adobo
Tambayan at Kainang Filipino is located at Api Api Centre, a commercial area at the capital city of Sabah just a short walk away from Marriott & Prominade hotel. The restaurant itself isn’t particularly fancy and usually not overly crowded.
The menu (check the pics below) is pretty extensive for a restaurant this size, there are set meals, noodle, pasta, single rice dish, as well as various cook-to-order dishes separated into different categories of pork, soup, beef, vegetable, seafood, and so on.
dinner for two on different visits
Over the different visits, I’ve tried their pork adobo (RM 12.80), sinigang shrimp (a sour soup, RM 12.80), lechon kawali (crispy pork loin RM 10.80), pinakbet (mixed vege, RM 8.80), ampalaya con carne (stirfry bitter gourd, RM 8.80), and tortang talong (eggplant omelette RM 8.80).
The adobo were quite flavorful, with the sauce carrying a bit of sourish taste that was also rather savory, vege dishes comes with a strong dose of fish sauce and are generally quite well cooked, I enjoyed them quite a bit.
As for crispy pork, I do feel that this is less crunchy and perhaps does not carry that sodium goodness compared to our Chinese siu yok.
However, the dish that I ended up always ordering is that awesome eggplant omelette. It is basically just your basic purple colored eggplant sliced open and have a fried egg engulfing the whole thing, wouldn’t have expected it to taste so good!
with my KK makan buddy
So if you’re at KK and have an open mind to trying out food that’s of lesser popularity in Malaysia, head to Tambayan at Kainang Filipino. You may like it, you may not, but it’ll be a different gastronomical journey nonetheless.
Happy eating!
Address: Tambayan At Kainang Filipino Block 3, Ground Floor, Api-api Centre, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah GPS: 5.975185, 116.070327 Tel: 016-818 2008 Hours: 12.00 pm – 12.00 am
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
