Best of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah -Part 1

I have been to every state in Malaysia including Kelantan. Which state in Malaysia offers you the best experience of travelling ? Food heaven state definitely will belong to Penang. Most of my friends will ask me why are you going Sabah instead of somewhere else like Thailand or Taiwan since the airplane ticket price not much difference and I would reply them because Kota Kinabalu (KK) has it all from seafood, islands ,mountain and so much more! This post will added some of my holiday pictures.

The pictures were taken by me on my first visit when I flew from Miri to KK. The sunset was taken at Tanjung Aru beach. Those rivers looks like from Geography text books right? =D

Let's get back to food hunting ! Adeline's relatives brought us here to try this Yee Fung Laksa and was known as Sarawak laksa. I have been craving this since I went to National Service and my friends introduced this to me in Kuching. What made it so different between this laksa and the Penang version? Actually Sarawak laksa is more toward to curry version or spicy and the Penang version is more to sour. This laksa was not spicy and was not oily but one of the best one is still in Miri, Sarawak. Adeline's tried their ngau chap and she said it was good but she forget to take picture.

As you know KK cost of living is higher than KL and eating around the town wasn't cheap either. For large bowl cost about RM7 and small is about RM5.50.

The main entrance of the Kedai Kopi Yee Fung and is located at Jalan Gaya, which is the Sunday market street. This was our breakfast before heading to Mount Kinabalu for the 1-day tour.

While waiting for our tour bus, guess what I spotted ? An illegal jetty right in front of Wisma Sabah! There are 3 tourists going for a island tour or something but I didn't see them wearing life jackets. I managed to take picture while they were shaking hands. LOL.

On our way to Mount Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Spring. You can see the Mount Kinabalu from KK if the weather is good. You can see Mount Kinabalu in the middle of the picture and of course it's the highest one. The tour guide pointed out to us XD

Some random shot from the bus on the way up. Majority of the people inside the bus were Koreans and only both of us are Malaysians. So I was considered as a tourist also I guess. haha

The bus stopped us somewhere near the village and all the tourists went down the bus and took pictures of the mountain. Got 1 aunty holding an iPad to take picture of herself by using the front camera. Looks amazing right?

This tour included us one meal before we head into the hotspring so we had our meal at Poring town which is located outside the entrance of the hot spring. This picture was taken last year but this time that suspension bridge is off-limits to tourists. You can no longer walk on the suspension bridge anymore because they have builded a new concrete bridge further down which cannot see the beautiful stream from the river.

There is another canopy walk inside the hot spring. Something like Taman Negara? You have to walk 800meters up to reach the top and the total journey was approximately an hour. We didn't know we had to walk so long and we wore slippers. Oh no! One of the tourists asked the tour guide why the forest floor was wet and did it rain the day before? In my mind, my first thought was they never been into jungle. Another tourist wore high heels (wedges! Guys cannot differentiate female shoes! XD) hiking into the jungle! I was like this aunty so "GENG" than us wearing slippers. LMAO

Before I joined this tour and I had been searching for a Raflessia tour online and calling the Sabah Tourism Board to confirm whether there is a flower blooming around the mountain or not. To see this biggest flower in the world and was only found in South East Asia you have to pay another RM20 to see but no touching. I asked most of my Sabahan friends or Adeline's relative and they have never seen this flower before. There are flies flying around the flower and surprisingly no smells maybe because it was day 5 of blooming I guess. 

 While calling the hotline, a funny conversation took place.... 

Me                             :    Hi, can I know whether there is Raflessia blooming in the forest?

Sabah Tourism Board :   Let me check with the other authority first and give me a second sir.

Me                             :   Okay.

Sabah Tourism Board :  There is Raflessia blooming at Poring near the hot spring. You have to confirm  again with the Poring centre.

Me                             :    Hi, can I know whether there is Raflessia blooming in the forest?

Poring                       :    Sir, there is some villager put the flower spotted sign by the road side but I don't know whether they have the flower or not! 

In my heart, like that also can? Really "zadou"                      

After searching online, calling all the hotline and finally we took a taxi to the town to double confirm again with the tour operators. Walking around the town asking few of the tour operators and one of the tour told us that there was Raflessia blooming at hot spring which the flower was already day 4. This means that in another 3 days the flower will die off. Adeline and I decided to join the tour and this tour operator looks professional. If you told them that you are Malaysians then you will eligible for some discounts. 

The tour hasn't end yet after the Rafflesia. In the bus, Adeline ate the Loh Mai Chee her uncle bought for us to eat in case we do not have enough to eat during the journey. It is also from Kedai Kopi Yee Fung. The Loh  Mai Chee in Sabah is bigger in size than the ones I bought in Kampar. The Loh Mai Chee form Kampar is smaller and softer. It was Adeline's first time eating it and it tasted like apom balik for her. She likes it.

The bus also stopped by the roadside stalls in Nabalu Town on the way back. There the Koreans went crazy over durians. We asked the stall operator what durians were those but they did not know. Jungle durians XD The smell of the durian was not strong and the Korean family we befriended seem to love eating the durians a lot! Crystal Pineapples (real pineapples, edible ok? :P 'Sui Jing' aka crystal) were sold there as well. I wanted to ask the stall operator to help me cut and put in the polystyrene box but there wasn't enough time so I didn't end up buying.

Recap/ Food in this post:

• Yee Fung laksa/ Sarawak laksa
• Ngau Chap
• Loh Mai Chee
• Durian
• Crystal Pineapple

Kedai Kopi Fook Yuen @ Damai Plaza, Kota Kinabalu

Good news for bread lovers and tea lovers ! In this coffee shop you can get the best Teh-C and Roti Kahwin (Coconut spread/ kaya with butter) in KK, Sabah. I had this before previous trip at Fook Yuen at Asia City branch opposite Cititel Express. The drinks at that branch was not as good compared to the first outlet at Damai Plaza and the Roti Kahwin tasted good at both branches.  

 The softness of the bread and the thick butter together with the kaya combination tasted so great. In my own opinion, this bread softness was so much better than the one in PappaRich, Klang Valley.

Hot Teh-C cost RM1.90 and Teh-C Ice cost RM2.50. I'm a big fan of tea. I can really taste the tea with the smoothness of the milk of their Teh-C.

This is "San Yuk Pau", which is pork pau, are sold at the same row as Fook Yuen. There are 5 coffee shops on the same row right opposite and beside each other so you can try out a lot food there including this San Yuk Pao. I don't really like this Pao in KL because for me it was too salty when I ate it but this is very different version of it. After eating it was just nice for my stomach and not too full.

The coffee shop is located at that red umbrella and remember to sit according to the color of the chairs and tables because there are other coffee shops around Fook Yuen. It is a covered area so it is not too hot. 

This Yau Char Kuey for hi-tea session. I forgot the price but we ordered only one piece and it was not the ordinary size we have in KL. It is considered huge and looks like a butterfly if you view it from the top. This is from a coffee shop opposite Kedai Kopi Tenom which is the same row and it is easily spotted.

Don't underestimate the texture of this fried noodle and this noodle is called Tuaran Mee (RM7.50) . Is is yee mee? It is fried yee mee. It is very hard to describe but the taste was nice (Adeline: Awesome ah!) You should try this and this is located at Kedai Kopi Tenom .You can order over to Fook Yuen to eat and this is one of the Adeline's favorite food in KK. 

Direction 

                                     View Larger Map

 Address

Damai Plaza PH.4 .Jalan Damai, Luyang

Kota Kinabalu Sabah, 88300.

Tel

088-232794

                                                                          

     Business Hours

Tuesday - Sunday (7.30am- 1am).

Branches

Damai Plaza (Main), Kolombong, Karamunsing Capital, Asia City (Next to Cititel Hotel) and Gaya Street.

Website

Featured in Lonely Planet 

Sizzlers Restaurant at Damansara Heights

Happy 2013 !

This mainly covers my first post in 2013 and all hail to the new year! More food on the way to our tummy and prayfully nothing, or nowhere is getting any wider or bigger. Muahaha. No, I'm not kidding. *fingers crossed*

Sizzlers Restaurant came to our mind (my mind, specifically) when I browsed through the Groupon website for cheap dirt deals for food and strategically located restaurants (drive-able with GPS and some men driving LOL) and voila, Sizzlers came to an agreement for the other 5 of my friends. Although I had to say that I am a zero clue fella with directions in Damansara area, PLUS with the rest of my friends, but we took the risk and bought it.

Tyng and Andrew went through lots of trouble trying to get hold of the people in charge of the restaurant for a simple booking and according to them, it took more than 10 calls within a three-week period just to hold them down to write down their names and contact number. Which was a sad, sad customer service despite being busy at all times. Taking down a name, date for booking and contact number only requires you to spare less than 5 minutes with your (already) paid customers with a simple courteous decency reply and they can't seem to do it right even making more calls than needed to go to a toilet.

Anyway, to keep that aside and to the food, we managed to get an afternoon, brunch/lunch meet up with all 6 of us, rendezvous at Tyng's house with a two-car convoy. Setting off from Bukit Jalil area to Damansara took us 30-40 minutes, which was well, okay I guess with it saying the first time luck on us that we didn't get lost. Whee!

The groupon deals we took were two sets of 3 main dishes with salad, soup of the day and lasagna. Each groupon deal costs RM39, for three people. Main dishes were open to either pizza or pasta selections.

Notice their chairs being all fancy dandy. I guess having a luxury furniture store next to this restaurant helps with all the interior deco. Lol

I'm half guessing that guy is the big boss. *wink wink*

Tastefully decorated with lush decoration and gives the impression of fine dining, walking in to this restaurant gives a warm yet exclusive touch to it.

The 3 idiots. :D

Outside is adorned with their latest promotions.

Since they had a bar inside the restaurant, having outdoor drinking sessions during happy hour is a good thing too, not to mention the place is quiet and rather refreshing after a day's rain.

Current promotion. But according to my friend, their ala-carte dishes don't come cheap either.

Upon entrance

Promotional and menu greetings before you step into the entrance.

The entrance

We started off with fresh salads. As you can see, it combines fresh lettuce, onions, cherry tomatoes, olive with cod liver oil as flavor. It tastes rather weird, because I never liked cod liver oil, not in emulsion but oil based in the salads just gives it an awkward start.

Each person is served a bowl of mushroom soup, which you can see, watery and tasteless. Pretty much an instant powder mushroom soup with too much of water.

Milkshakes on the other hand was rather good. The taste of the pure chocolate is there and there are no signs of powdery taste to it, which gives it a welcoming start. This is chocolate milkshake and it costs RM7.90. Drinks are not included in the deal so we have to order separately for drinks.

Seen here with strawberry milkshake. Tyng said it was fine.

The garlic breads are fine too, which I was pleased about. The crunch is there and the flavoring of the garlic is not overpowering. Served hot and from the oven, make sure you savor it when you still see the smoke.

We were served first with Margherita Pizza; a combination of chicken ham, peppers, olive, mozzarella cheese and parsley leaves

The 2nd pizza we ordered was Hawaiian Pizza, a combination of pineapples, olives, peppers, mozzarella cheese and also parsley leaves.

The third pizza we had was the Seafood Marinara pizza, which was a little more luxe of ingredients as they used squids, prawns, olive, peppers, mozzarella cheese and parsley leaves. Now, do you see any difference in them? Pretty much all the similar except the main ingredients that sets them apart, right? Yep, that's what I think too. The taste were all the same too, which came to a disappointment again after the salad and the soup of the day.

As for the pasta selection, we were first served with Bolognese pasta and truth to be told, despite its lack of food presentation and the overuse of parsley leaves, this dish is the winning dish as compared to any of the dishes served to us that day. The taste is good, very balanced with the sauce and the chicken pieces in it, very flavorful indeed.

Chicken Lasagna. This looked sad to you, ain't it? The lasagna I made the other day has a better outlook and taste to this. The lasagna sheets were overcooked, too soft, the paste is too watery and you can barely taste any cream sauce in it.

The same goes to the Beef Lasagna, the same sad fate both of them have. Everyone agrees with me, except Andrew which he doesn't take beef.

Green Curry Pasta! Boy, this is pipping hot!crazy with the green chillies and cili padi. Never attempt a single bite into this if you're not a spicy tolerant person!

Carbonara, which looks rather okay but the taste is bad as expected. The thickness of the cream is there but the taste war has lost it big time.

All in all, I didn't really had a good tasting experience in this restaurant. I'm sorry for being harsh on this but even if its a deal food must not be served blandly as we are the first customers who actually paid FIRST to savor your food. And if you do notice, almost 80% of the food served were garnished with parsley leaves, as if there isn't anything else to serve about to make the food looked presentable. Instead, we felt like throwing so much of the parsley actually made all of the dishes looked boring.

But their decorations of the restaurant does give it a seemingly good, chic place to be. If you're head on around Damansara area, perhaps you can consider their Bolognese Pasta or have a drink or two with your friends.

They have wi-fi but their connection was so terrible that a simple log-in to Facebook felt dreadful.

Sizzlers Restaurant

Lot B-0-3, Semantan Suites, Block B, No. 10, Jalan Semantan, Damansara Heights
Kuala Lumpur 50490

Contact Number: 03-2011 3335 or 016-918 1948: 11am – midnight


Cheers and have a happy 2013!


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Tokyo Pasta Mario in 313@Somerset

Hi guys. Ever since I hit the maximum photo upload quota, I feel very lazy to blog because it took a longer time to complete a blog post. It has become a hassle of some sort. If you guys have any simpler photo host to recommend, please let my friends and I know. I am using Flickr and it is a pain.

Anyway this is the Singapore post which got delayed.

My family and I went to 313@Somerset and ate in this shop called Tokyo Pasta Mario. Sounds like a n arcade game no?

You can choose to sit at the counter or you can look for more tables and chairs at the back. At the back, there's a long table. That was where I sat.

Look at this HUGE plate on display. The plates on the left are the regular sizes.

I took the menu for everyone! XD On the bottom left corner, you can see the Spicy Choice and the notice that says their curry contains pork.

There is curry for everyone. You can choose the level of spiciness for your curry. There are 5 types of spicy: Normal Hot, Extra Hot, Very Hot, Super Hot, Monster Hot. All of us chose Normal Hot.

Once you order, you'll get the familiar UFO. When it blinks or flickers red, it means your dishes are ready to be collected.

Fish Fillet Curry,  S$ 8.80

This is Fish Fillet Curry. It costs S$ 8.80. It was nice and all-meat. However I don't really fancy the salad dressing. The salad dressing did not taste like thousand island and was very sour for me.

Chicken Katsu Curry,  S$ 9.80

The next dish is Chicken Katsu Curry. It costs S$ 9.80. The fried chicken is not oily and done just nice. Juicy meat with yummy rice! Om nom nom! The curry got salty for me after awhile but it is alright when eaten with rice and the chicken meat. There is pork inside the curry so it is not halal.

Cheese Chicken Katsu Curry,  S$ 10.80

My cousin ordered Cheese Chicken Katsu Curry. It costs S$ 10.80. When it came to the table with Chicken Katsu Curry, we could not differentiate which was with cheese. We decided to taste the meat from each dish but it both tasted the same and we could not taste the cheese! Both of the dishes tasted the same so we just chose a plate and got on with eating.

Pork Katsu Curry,  S$ 9.80

The Pork Katsu Curry costs S$ 9.80. My dad said it was nice.

Cheese Omelette Curry,  S$ 9.80

My sister ordered Cheese Omelette Curry. It also costs S$ 9.80. This dish has only pork meat in the curry. She finished eating all the curry on her plate.

Address: 

313@Somerset,

313 Orchard Road,

#05-01/ 02/ 03,

Singapore 238895
(Food Republic, Stall 24)

Directions:

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Contact number: +65 6509 6643