{"id":577,"date":"2010-07-21T09:52:24","date_gmt":"2010-07-21T16:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/?p=577"},"modified":"2010-07-21T09:52:24","modified_gmt":"2010-07-21T16:52:24","slug":"kota-kinabalu-its-all-about-the-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lisaandtony.com\/travelblog\/2010\/07\/21\/kota-kinabalu-its-all-about-the-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Kota Kinabalu – It’s All About the Food"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Hong Kong to Kota Kinabalu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Total Miles Traveled:<\/strong> 30,130 (we passed the 30k mark!<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Kota Kinabalu is the largest city on the Borneo side of Malaysia.\u00a0 While it\u2019s located on the coast, it\u2019s not a city you go to for the sights \u2013 it\u2019s a bit of a concrete jungle that happens to be next to the water.\u00a0 It is, however, a great jumping off point for a lot of different activities:\u00a0 some of the best diving in the world, wildlife spotting in the jungle, orangutans\u2026 AND the best part of all, it has great food.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s start off with some food and drink, shall we? \u00a0The most fun we had was at Ocean Seafood Restaurant, where the menu is a bunch of aquariums from which you choose your prey and then the waiters tell you how you can have it prepared.\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s what we picked to eat, prior to it being cooked:<\/p>\n

\"Spanner<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mantis<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Red<\/a><\/p>\n

And, here they are cooked:<\/p>\n

Spanner Crab with Chili Sauce<\/strong>\u2026 mmm.\u00a0 Large chunks of slightly sweet, delicate meat (worth the effort!).\u00a0 Delicious.<\/p>\n

\"Spanner<\/a><\/p>\n

Deep-fried Mantis Prawn with Roe<\/strong>.\u00a0 Sweet meat much like a lobster.<\/p>\n

\"Deep-fried<\/a><\/p>\n

Steamed Red Grouper<\/strong>. The most expensive dish, steamed with green onion, ginger, and a bit of soy sauce.\u00a0 Super delicate and mild\u2026 awesome.<\/p>\n

\"Steamed<\/a><\/p>\n

Kedai Kopi Fatt Kee<\/strong><\/p>\n

This open-air Chinese restaurant is always packed, even when we showed up at 9pm one night for a late dinner.\u00a0\u00a0 We got winter melon soup (with mushrooms, chicken feet), sauteed sayur manis with garlic (a.k.a. sabah veggie, which is a jungle weed kind of like a cross between broccoli and spinach), and sauteed fish with ginger and onion.\u00a0 Total cost? $8.\u00a0 Love it.<\/p>\n

\"Sauteed<\/a><\/p>\n

Sri Melaka<\/strong><\/p>\n

This restaurant featured nyongyan or Straits Chinese food.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a dish called Watan Ho, which is flat noodles with whitefish, squid,\u00a0prawn, egg, bok choy, and a bunch of goo.<\/p>\n

\"Watan<\/a><\/p>\n

A close up of sayur manis, this time with dried shrimps:<\/p>\n

\"Sayur<\/a><\/p>\n

And Mee Hai Law – a noodle dish with seafood:<\/p>\n

\"Mee<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kota Kinabalu Night Market is a happening place, featuring fresh groceries, seafood, and tons of hawker stalls with a variety of grilled seafood, satay, and other stuff. \u00a0 Here are some photos:<\/p>\n

\"KK<\/a><\/p>\n

\"20100724-P1010968\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"20100724-P1010971\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So, you’ve seen all the food photos – what about drinks? \u00a0Well, they don’t make for very interesting photos, but the one interesting thing we’ve noticed is that all the drinks are super sugary and there are no diet sodas to be found anywhere. \u00a0However, Malaysia has some wonderful fruits (it’s a hot, humid tropical climate). \u00a0 Nearly every restaurant or cafe will offer fresh juices – watermelon, mango, pineapple and really fresh coconut water straight from the source!<\/p>\n

Kota Kinabalu – the city<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those who are interested in how Kota Kinabalu actually looks, here are some photos:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Fishing wharf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Kota<\/a>
Typical city street in Kota Kinabalu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dried<\/a>
Dried goods (lots of seafood) at the market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Central<\/a>
Central market, Kota Kinabalu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Buying<\/a>
Buy your chicken by the pound<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally for the fun photos:<\/p>\n

What this is supposed to mean, we don’t know…<\/p>\n

\"20100723-P1010936\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And, finally, you just might know the next Supermodel and Man Hunk of Sabah… \ud83d\ude09
\n\"Want<\/a><\/p>\n

For all of our photos in Kota Kinabalu, check out the Flickr slideshow:<\/p>\n