Welcome Seafood Restaurant 大茄來海鲜餐廳 @Asia City, Kota Kinabalu

Address: Ground Floor, G-15 - G-18 , Asia City , Jalan Coastal , Kota Kinabalu , 88000 Kota Kinabalu , Sabah, 88000, Malaysia.
Business Hours: Monday - Sunday 12:00pm - 12:00am 
Tel: +60 88-447 866 


If you are seafood lover, the best choice to settle dinner in KK is Welcome Seafood Restaurant. The seafood is fresh and the price is reasonable. My first visit was in May last year, blogged it here.

Steamed white prawns (RM21) is my favourite, I have it only to go with rice.




Sweet corn crab meat soup (RM15). The soup was really thick, generous ingredients. However, the taste wasn't up to my liking.




Ceylon spinach stir-fried with fermented bean curd paste (RM12). I like this dish too, it tastes good as the strong aroma of fermented bean curd blends well with ceylon spinach.




Steamed sea snails (RM18). Always taking longer time for this dish to be served. Anyway, worth the wait. Tastes heavenly good when dip it with the fermented bean curd paste.




4 dishes, 2 bowls of rice and 2 glasses of drinks, the bill costs around RM78. Quite delighted as I was estimating about RM120.


The map to Welcome Seafood Restaurant:

Kedai Kopi Houng Kee 鴻記茶餐室, Kota Kinabalu

Address: 1, Lorong Pokok Kayu Manis 2, Luyang Commercial Centre, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Business hours: Monday - Sunday (7:00am - 2:30pm)


After we attended Sunday service, we took a Grab car to Houng Kee Restaurant for its mixed fish soup. I have been to Sin Houng Kee 新鴻記 (now called Kedai Kopi Jiang Yu Zai) last year, this time I brought my mum to its original root. Many years ago, this place was very famous and always packed. The first time I visited here, it was full house. Their fish soup was really impressed me.




They not only have fish slice, fish cake and fish ball, which are pretty common in the market. They have the exotic ingredients such as fish skin, fish belly, fish lips, and fish bladder.




They have 3 types of soup base: salted vege, Tom Yam and bitter gourd. I asked for the sour soup base, salted vege.  The ingredients of this bowl of mixed fish beehoon contained fish rolls, fish cake, fish ball and fried fish. The soup was sourish and didn't have the fishy taste at all. Despite we were still full after the pork innards noodle from Kedai Kopi Wah Juan, we still managed to finish this bowl of mixed fish soup.




The map to Houng Kee Restaurant:

Pork Innards Noodles 猪杂面 @Wah Juan Coffee Shop 華園茶室, Kota Kinabalu

Address: Jalan Lee Thau Sang, Pekan Tanjung Aru, 88100 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Business hours: 8:00am - 10:30am (could be finished earlier if on high demand)


On April fool, I spent a night in KK together with my mum before flying off to Taiwan the next day. We stayed at Pekan Tanjung Aru, passed by this Wah Juan Coffee Shop that I recalled it's the shop I ever visited with my colleagues on company trip in 2010. The pork innards noodles did give me a big impression.

We went there around 8:45am. The shop was packed. Quite a few customers standing waiting to get a seat, and we were one of them. Have to aim and wait patiently for the customers to end their chat and finish their drinks. I don't usually like to visit this sort of shop which requires you to wait for a table. Since I have been wanting to have it again, I insisted to wait.

Finally we got the table. I placed my order with the taukenio instead of the lady staff. The table next to ours placed their order with the staff. They came later than us but the food served earlier than us. Though I was quite unpleased with it but nothing I can do. At least the taukenio still remembered my order.







Roughly waited 20 minutes. Finally we can savour our pork innards noodle. They always serve a bowl of soup along with the noodles. The soup was flavourful. And the chilli sauce also specially formulated, a good match to dip with the pork innards.




The noodle is mushy, similar to our Foochow kampua, it's not chewy type. Guess the elderly will appreciate this kind of noodle. The noodle is not to my liking but I did really enjoy eating the pork innards. It was braised until tenderly soft, easy to chew. The flavour of spices penetrated thoroughly in every piece of the organs.

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I thought the long wait would take more than an hour, but 20-30 minutes of waiting time is still acceptable for me (as long as I don't have to wait under the hot sun).


The map to Wah Juan Coffee Shop:

Restoran Seng Hing 成興茶餐室 @Sinsuran, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Address: Block G, Lot 10, Sinsuran 2, Sinsuran Complex, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Business hours: Monday - Sunday 6:00am - 4:30pm


After the pork noodles at Kim Hing Lee, we made our move to Restoran Seng Hing. It is just a few steps from Kim Hing Lee. As told by my friend's cousin, tuaran mee is available at here too. We don't have to travel far to Tuaran town on purpose. My stomach is 100% full, my friend and her husband still half full as they shared the pork noodles.








They have quite a number of dishes that look appealing. As recommended by my friend's cousin, aside from Tuaran Mee, we also ordered another signature dish, Tom Yam soup. I was quite skeptical of this tom yam soup at first, never thought of having tom yam in other places than Thailand before.




The famous Tuaran Mee is here. Different from my expectation. It's quite dry, the wok-fried aroma is strong too.. or should I say the charred smell is overwhelmed? The noodle itself is harder to chew, not oily. There's another type of noodles originated from Tamparuli town. Tuaran town has Tuaran Mee, Tamparuli has Tamparuli Mee. If got chance to travel KK again, we would want to try it out too. Overall, tuaran mee tastes quite good. Honestly speaking, I can't really appreciate good food when my stomach is in full state.




This is one of their signature dish, Tom Yam. As I mentioned, I was skeptical at first. But I was surprised after tasted the soup. Their tom yam has greater lemongrass aroma, and the higher level of sourness is a plus too. The coconut milk is thick but the aroma is suppressed by lemongrass. The portion is pretty generous and the fish chunks are quite big in size too. I don't know how much this meal costs. My friend's cousin foot the bill.




The map to Restoran Seng Hing:

Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee 金興利茶室 @Sinsuran, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Address: Lot 9, Lorong Sinsuran 3, Sinsuran, 88800 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Business hours: Monday - Sunday 6:00am - 2:30pm


On the day leaving KK, my friend's cousin came to fetch us for breakfast. As she's married to a local, she knows better where to have the best local food. We came to Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee for its famous pork noodles. Pork noodles is ubiquitous in Sabah, the best highlight of this dish is its thinness of the pork slice. Each slice is evenly thin and smooth, the soup is exceptionally tasty, and the bowl of dry noodles is full of lard aroma. No exaggeration of how tasty it is, it's a must-try dish in Sabah.




Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee started in 1982, they are the first shop selling pork noodles in KK.




The set of pork noodles, one bowl of soup with pork meat slices, liver and intestine. The presentation may look unattractive, but taste will not disappoint you. This is the only dish that impressed me during the entire KK trip.




The thinness of pork slice and liver.

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The shop is manned by the owner's daughter now. When I walked to the counter for payment, she asked me where I am from. She told me her one and only disciple is trading the recipe for monetary purpose. There's one pork noodles shop newly opened in Kuching, very popular nowadays. Their recipe is also learnt from her disciple. If got chance to visit, I would like to make comparison of it.


The map to Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee:

Kedai Kopi Fatt Kee 發記茶餐室 @Ang's Hotel, Kota Kinabalu

Address: Jalan Haji Saman, Pusat Bandar Kota Kinabalu, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Business hours: Monday - Sunday (5:00pm - 11:00pm)


After returning from Mount Kinabalu climb, I was exhausted to max. As I didn't sleep for 24 hours, I took a nap for short while before we head out for dinner. Refreshed after that, but my leg muscles aching to max level. Could barely walk, still wanted to try out the chicken wings at Kedai Kopi Fatt Kee.

We got there around 10pm. It was supper time, and we were just about to have our late dinner. Oh, half dinner actually. Amazing Borneo provided buffet meal at Balsam Buffet Restaurant after the climb. We had some of it before they sent us back to hotel.




We asked the staff for recommendations. She recommended this dish, herbal pork leg. The pork leg was braised with herbs. The herbal aroma was really intense. The meat was soft, contained thick layer of fat but not oily.




Among all the dishes, this stewed winter melon soup tastes the most ordinary.




Stir-fried baby kailan with oyster sauce. We wanted to have the Sabah vegetable, cangkuk manis. But it was not available.




Oyster sauce chicken wings, this is one of their signature dishes too. I think my bro would like this chicken wing because of its oyster sauce. It's quite salty for me.




The map to Ang's Hotel, Kedai Kopi Fatt Kee is just lcoated at ground floor.

Keng Wan Hing 瓊萬興 @Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu

Address: 70, Jalan Gaya, Pusat Bandar Kota Kinabalu, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
Business Hours: 5:30am - 5:30pm 


After Yee Fung Laksa, we came to Keng Wan Hing for its famous polo bun (aka pineapple bun). There are a few of coffee shops in KK selling traditional buns. I have been to Kedai Kopi Ban Hing in 2010, not so impressed with the buns. Perhaps grew up with these types of buns, had enough of it. My neighbours in hometown, one has home based bakery selling baked buns and breads, another one selling steamed buns at night market. When I got hungry, always ran to my neighbour's backdoor and get steamed bun.

When we got to Keng Wan Hin, the new batch of polo buns were still in oven. Many locals were having their tea break here and many ordered takeaway too.




The menus and pricing on wall. Got pastries with different fillings, baked buns and steamed buns. Also got economy noodles and rice with dishes too. If you like desserts, you can have red or green bean soup, bubur ubi, and white fungus soup.




Several minutes of waiting later, the freshly baked polo buns in tray finally ready to serve.




We ordered polo bun, egg tart, butter bun and BBQ pork bun. My friends don't really like the polo bun because it has the pineapple jam fillings. It's different from the traditional polo bun. But I quite like this type of polo bun with the fillings. The bun itself is soft and pineapple filling is not overly sweet. I bought one extra for breakfast on the next morning, still taste good after overnight.




The map to Keng Wan Hing:

Kedai Kopi Yee Fung 怡豊茶室 @Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu

Address: 127, Jalan Gaya, Pusat Bandar Kota Kinabalu, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Business Hours: Monday - Friday 6:30am - 6:00pm; Saturday - Sunday 6:30am - 4:00pm


Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslim readers who happened to read this post! I just done visiting my Malay friend not long ago. So contented, had a lot of steamed cakes, Raya goodies, curry, and beef rendang. Came home with a full stomach. 

Better continue my last post of June before the time hits 12am. Ok, that day after we had our breakfast at Kedai Kopi Jiang Yu Zai, we walked to Gaya Street. It's not too far from Bandaran Berjaya actually. Gaya Street is the street gathered all the popular foods in KK. We planned to visit the shop selling famous pineapple bun.  




Walking along the street, we passed by Kedai Kopi Yee Fung. We noticed this shop is surprisingly packed. Checked out the signboard, my friend said this is the shop selling laksa which their friend highly recommended. We decided to order a bowl of laksa to try it out despite we were still full after the fish soup.







Their signature dishess are laksa, claypot chicken rice and ngau chap.




We ordered laksa and then later we wanted to try out their ngau chap too. Their laksa is different from Sarawak laksa. The soup is creamer and the fragrance of coconut milk also stronger, its taste is much more like Singapore's Katong Laksa. I am not used to this type of laksa though, still prefer the Sarawak version. My friends felt the same.




Their ngau chap is not our cup of tea too. The taste was not as great as the one I had in Kuching. The smell of beef is quite intense, advisably to have it with chili sauce.




The sambal sauce for laksa.





The map to Kedai Kopi Yee Fung:

Welcome Seafood Restaurant 大茄来海鲜餐廳 @Asia City, Kota Kianbalu

Address: Ground Floor, G-15 - G-18 , Asia City , Jalan Coastal , Kota Kinabalu , 88000 Kota Kinabalu , Sabah, 88000, Malaysia.
Business Hours: Monday - Sunday 12:00pm - 12:00am 
Tel: +60 88-447 866


It's a must to have seafood in KK. The night before our mountain climbing, we had our dinner at Welcome Seafood Restaurant. Based on the reviews online, the price was reasonable and the food quality was highly recommended by other tourists and the locals too. There's another Welcome Seafood Restaurant at Penampang, that's their main branch. My friend's cousin was planning to bring us to the Penampang branch, but the place was not so accessible after the heavy pour so we decided to stick to Asia City branch instead.

First time here, I was quite amazed at the size of this restaurant. They occupied nearly the whole block of ground floor. There are two sections with green and red colour tables. Section with green tables is classified as halal, and section with red tables is non-halal.




There were many tourists from China and Korea. Lobsters, crabs, prawns, scallops, clams, squids, groupers, etc. Big lobster, RM380 per kg.




Everyone is busy to choose their plate of seafood.




The menu is here. We stood here for minutes to place our order. The waiter and waitress were busy serving the foreign customers first.




The vegetables menu.




That black lobster is rare. Tiger prawn RM220 per kg.. make sure you bring enough of $$ or credit card.




We ordered 7 dishes. The portion was just right for 5 of us. Can't remember how much is the bill. But the price is reasonable, if not mistaken it's about RM190++.

White clam soup




Sabah cangkuk manis. This is a must try dish in Sabah. It's different kind of cangkuk manis compared to other places in Malaysia. In Sarawak, you must try midin. In Sabah, you must try cangkuk manis.




Steamed white prawns. This is my favourite. I never liked prawns until I had the steamed prawns at Salut Seafood Restaurant many years ago.




Mongolian chicken




Butter prawns, we didn't order the tiger prawns.




Steamed sea snails




Garlic scallops




Map to Welcome Seafood Restaurant at Asia City:




There's another famous place for seafood named Suang Tain Seafood, but be careful of the price they charge. As it's tourist attraction, they are notorious for being overpriced.

Welcome Seafood Restaurant has a website. If you want to make a reservation, or a view of their menu, please visit here.

Kedai Kopi Jiang Yu Zai 姜鱼仔 @Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Address: 5A, Jalan Bandaran Berjaya, Bandaran Berjaya, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Business hours:  Sunday - Monday 7:00am - 2:00pm

Kedai Kopi Jiang Yu Zai is formerly known as Kedai Kopi Sin Houng Kee 新鸿记. I shortlisted a few of the famous foods in Kota Kinabalu before hand, the fish soup is the one we should not be missed. Years ago, I'd tried the one at Kedai Kopi Houng Kee 鸿记, located at Luyang Commercial Centre. I missed it a lot, the tomato soup and fresh fish ingredients. This time I decided to try out Sin Houng Kee as it is nearer to our hotel. 

We used Uber and Grab for the ease of mobilisation in KK. I have to say, Grab's drivers in KK are much better than Uber's, in terms of car quality. I used 3 times of Uber, 3 times of Grab. Experience of Grab, we sat in cars like Toyota Avanza, Suzuki Swift, and Mitshubishi Triton. Whereas Uber, we had Perodua Viva, Proton Saga, and Perodua Viva. Ok, that's for your reference. But in terms of charges, Uber is cheaper. 


Kedai Kopi Sin Houng Kee took us sometime to search its location. We were dropped off by the driver at wrong spot, we had to rely on our own GPS to look for it. Passed through the lane, we were puzzled. Thought this should be the location, but we didn't see any Kedai Kopi Sin Houng Kee's signboard but Kedai Kopi Jiang Yu Zai. Walked to this coffee shop, my friend was intended to ask for direction. I saw the menu on the wall stated "Sin Houng Kee". Ok, this is Kedai Kopi Sin Houng Kee originally. Don't know why they changed the name. Anyway, the time we went there was around 9:30am. Still got plenty of seats.




This is the menu on wall with the name of Sin Houng Kee that helped me to identify the shop. You can choose the different parts of fish as ingredients, choices like fish eggs, fish skin, deep-fried fish slices, fish slices, fish balls, and fish stomach. Other ingredients, they have sea snail slices and fried wanton. I chose mixed fish soup "鱼什粉麵", consists of all the ingredients in one bowl.




The open kitchen is clean and hygienic. 




This is my bowl of fish soup. Tastes good but it is not up to my expectation. I didn't have the lost-and-found feeling like "this is it!". May be the soup wasn't hot enough. Nevertheless, this is also another good option. We all liked its soup base, tangy and appetizing. My friends like their deep-fried fish slices too.




There's another place in KK which is famous for its fish soup too, called Kedai Kopi Wan Wan. Unfortunately, the location is quite far from our hotel. Maybe reserve it for my next visit. I still feel like having the steamed prawns at Salut Seafood Restaurant. The previous trip, I managed to have seafood at Welcome Seafood Restaurant at Asia City. The prawn size is so much bigger, but I still prefer the steamed prawns at Salut. Next, will blog the seafood we had at Welcome Seafood Restaurant. Stay tuned.


The map to Kedai Kopi Jiang Yu Zai: