Kota Kinabalu Restaurants

My original 2004 tip was updated in July 2006

During this business trip, I had quite a few alternatives but chose instead to have dinner at SEDCO two nights in a row. Why? Because in my opinion, it continues to offer the best value for your money. There are more swanky places in KK now, for example by the KK Waterfront, but SEDCO continues to be great because of three reasons:
* Reasonable Pricing,
* Good Variety of seafood that is cooked to perfection,
* Pleasant surroundings-not fancy, but not too down market either.

Here's my original tip written in 2004
There are 4-5 restaurants & stalls serving fresh seafood at SEDCO. Prices were reasonable (as compared to Kuala Lumpur). The seafood here is very fresh, there are a number of "exotic" varieties that I've not seen in other parts of Malaysia.

As the food is still swimming in tanks, you just know that they're fresh!
And of course, the variety makes it, oh so difficult to make your choice !

We selected the largest restaurant, and spent RM169 for a dinner for 3 persons.which I found to be very good value.

There is no extra charge for the cooking.

We had live red lobster cooked in 2 styles-we chose tom yam soup for the lobster head and it was piquant and delicious, and for the tail, we chose it to be fried with butter-coconut - it was a tad too sweet and heavy and masked the freshness somewhat), BBQ large prawns, elephant tusk clams, some steamed rice and soft drinks).

So, what's new? There are fewer stalls now, and the square block is practically dominated by 2 larger restaurants. The price is almost the same at both. The cooking was comparable-both delicious. Differences are subtle- eg. one has red table cloths, the other bright yellow. Don't worry about rain-they have awnings that they can pull out or draw back as necessary.

Hint: Don't choose from the menu. Choose instead from the live / fresh seafood selection. Be bold & ask the price (it's charged by weight) before making your selection.

2004 visit "Elephant Tusk" clams - approx RM15 per plate, lightly steamed with garlic, it is delicious, a bit chewy, but oh, so yummy!

Barbeque large Prawns with chilli, served with tasty piquant home-made chilli sauce-ooh-la-la

Choose the lobster for a special treat, but if you want to taste the freshness, opt for it to be lightly steamed and not fried.

July 2006 visit
Crabs-they come in RM25, 30 and RM40 a kilo. I chose the RM40 a kilo and had no regrets. The larger the crabs, the meatier and sweeter they are! 1 crab was approx 600-650 grams.
Can be cooked in different styles. I enjoyed the tangy butter sauce which brought out the sweetness of the crab flesh. (check out the size of those crab claws in my second pics)
Lobster-there were many varieties and prices. I had mine chopped into large chunks and fried with spring onions and ginger. Mmm, yummy!
Mini Geoduck - RM30 a kilo (see pics), minimum order-1 kilo. Steamed with garlic and shavings of birds eye chili-heavenly! Words cannot begin to describe this delicacy. The normal geoduck is very, very expensive, and KK is one of the few places that serve mini geoduck-which makes this dish affordable.

Kota Kinabalu Hotels

Kota Kinabalu Restaurants

Visiting Kota Kinabalu?

Visiting Kota Kinabalu?

Kota Kinabalu Hotels