Top 10 Food to Eat in Kota Kinabalu

My home town is Kota Kinabalu, located in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. I'm fortunate enough to be able to grew up in this beautiful land surrounded by the beautiful beaches and rainforest, the best of the both! I will get into more of what to see and do in other post, we are here to talk about food today! Food industry in Kota Kinabalu, in short KK as we called it, has grown so much over the past few decades. Since I have moved away from home for more than 10 years, exposed to all other great food around the world, KK food still have a spot in my heart. So I have short listed the 10 food you should try when you're in Kota Kinabalu in no particular order.

1.  Sang Nyuk Mee 生肉面 @ Sinsuran Kim Hing Lee 金兴利茶室 :
   
   
   
   
   This store is the best of them all in my opinion, it's one of the oldest too. It's a very popular dish in town, translated to raw pork noodle literally. But fear not, it's thinly sliced pork served in hot pork flavoured broth. Aside from the choice of what type of noodles you want, you too have the choice of ordering the noodle in wet or dry form. Wet being the noodles soaked in the broth and dry being the noodles stirred in dark soy sauce and pork lard (soup is served separated in differed bowl). I like it in wet form as the noodles will have more flavour being soaked in the broth.
2. Dumplings two way 水饺、锅贴 @ Kedai Kopi New Mui Vui Hiltop 永健成茶室
   
   
   These pork dumplings come in pan-fried or poached style, they are just delish! There's something different that I can't really point out but the dumplings here in KK , they are just different. You can't really find the same elsewhere and I find myself preferring this restaurant's dumplings (they serve other stuff too like grilled fish, squid and noodles).
3. Coconut Pudding @ Road Side Stall in Tuaran
   
   Needed I say more, it's iced cold coconut pudding in a coconut! It's not your usual store bought coconut pudding, it doesn't taste that coconut milk like but more to a coconut water refreshing taste. They make them in a plastic cup too for convenience purpose but make sure you get the one made in fresh coconut, it's more flavourful (and environmentally friendly!). Their other speciality is grilled coconut. You can find them on the way to Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort (there's a whole road of them with few stalls selling the same or similar stuff).
4. Beef Noodle @ Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap 家香牛什 
   
   If you love beef then this is the place to be for you. You have the choices of different parts of beef to serve with your noodle. The beef are so tender and the beefy broth, it is jammed pack with flavour along with the sweetness of daikon/raddish/white carrot some would call it. The restaurant make their own chilli sauce and they are perfect match with the noodle if you're a fan of spiciness. 
5. Roast Pork/BBQ Pork/Chicken Rice 烧肉/叉烧/烧鸡饭@ Kedai Kopi Gunung Emas 金嶺茶餐室 
   
   A man run this business since the 80s if I'm not mistaken. I'm a loyal customer of his since I was little, visiting his restaurant almost every Sunday with my family growing up. Until now, no one else beat him! If you don't know which to choose, don't choose, just order "campur-campur" which in malay it means mix-mix, you will get all three of the roast pork, BBQ pork and chicken platter to go with your rice (and remember their chilli and ginger sauce). You can also ask for their "char sau sauce" which is the essence/ sauce from the BBQ pork, it's amazing with the rice. Trust me, you won't regret it! There will be the dreadful queue for dine in and take away formed everyday except when it's close. So, make sure you be there as early as 11-11.30am as products are limited everyday and it won't last long.
6. Seafood Tom Yam Noodle @ Fatt Kee Hilltop 發记鱼雜专卖店
   
   Popular with their tomato soup seafood noodle, I prefer the one with a kick, the tom yam flavour! It's not exactly the same taste with Thai style tom yam, a KK style tom yam I would say, the soup is thicker and more sour and less spicy. Serve with fresh fish fillets or fried fish fillets or prawns (your choice), you can also choose to have the tom yam soup serve in a different bowl with the noodle.
7. Kaya Toast @ Fong Ip Cafe 冯業
   
   This is a great place to have breakfast or tea time as they serve a wide variety of food and drinks. But the kaya (a paste made from coconut milk and egg) toast is one of the most ordered items from the menu. Soft toasted bread (did I mention they bake their own bread?) with butter and kaya, great combination! I guess that is why they get the name "Roti Kahwin", marriage bread in translation.
8. Fish Paste Noodle 鱼滑面@ Kuo Min Restaurant 国民茶室  
   
   Fish paste doesn't really sound appealing but don't be fool. It's basically seasoned fish paste made to a shape similar to fish balls just not a perfect round shape. It is the smoothest fish paste ever and the flavour is on point! The best way to order (in my opinion) is to order the dry noodle with dark soy sauce along with a bowl of fish paste unless you prefer your noodle soaked in the soup together with your fish paste.
9. Seafood @ Welcome Seafood Restaurant 大茄来海鲜餐廳 
   
   How can you not have seafood in a land so close to the sea. Kota Kinabalu offers a huge variety of seafood from salt water fish to mantis shrimp! This restaurant is like a mini aquarium offering all kinds of live seafood. You can go around and pick what seafood you want and there's always a few way to prepare them, just ask them for suggestion or spot what's popular and feast away!
10. Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 @ Sin Kee Bak Kut Teh  新记肉骨茶 
    
    A hearty food that requires sharing because sharing is caring and in this way you can order more dishes, win win! The broth is great with rice and the soup is bottomless, they will refill the soup when it's low. You can also order the main broth with pork knuckle, pork belly or any part you would like. The pork balls are awesome by the way. The meat are so tender that it just comes apart when you bite them. Perfect comfort food especially when the weather is cooler.

Bonus: If you ever have the moment of getting sick of Asian food and craving for something that is not Asian, there are a few nice western restaurants around but this is the must go!

Little Italy Restaurant

Authentic Italian restaurant and located in the city centre. Everything is made from scratch, even with their pasta and pizza dough. A great variety of Italian food for you here with great services from the staff. I dare to say this is one of the great contender for the best Italian restaurant in Malaysia and it's in Kota Kinabalu. 

Love,

Carol