Kota Kinabalu Restaurants

After eating all the curry and other Malay food in the city, we were craving for other dishes for a late lunch. We ended up in this restaurant which specializes in grilled meats and other Western delights. It is owned by an Australian couple (hence, the name of the resto), who does the barbecuing themselves.

Ordered their grilled beef sausage plate and an order of fish and chips. The beef sausages were great and was served with caramelized onions and gravy. We also got to pick all the fresh veggies we want for a green salad -- that comes for free whenever you order a grilled item. However, they don't have any real salad dressing but a light mayo. But it was ok, nevertheless. The fish and chips also tasted good, but there were more chips than fish. All in all, we had a good lunch. Satisfied, even though the serving was a bit small than what we expected.

The cost? 25RM for the beef sausages and 15RM for the fish and chips.

I suggest dining al fresco – on the benches by the seaside – not just for the ambience but also so you won’t smell like the barbeque you will be savoring.

Do not attempt to dine here at around 3:00 pm as they do not serve anything to munch on around that time.

I wanted so much to have a late lunch here, especially after seeing the seemingly hearty items on their menu. They also had nice, comfy chairs and my husband wanted to watch the football reply on the TVs all around the restaurant. However, we were informed that they were only serving drinks at that hour. Nope, not even appetizers.

Went to dine next door, instead, at The Aussie Barbeque and Bar, which, by the way, serves great-tasting food.

This place was recommended to us by a hotel manager and we are glad she did.

Restoran Sempelang is a big fast food stall, where you just get a plate of rice from the attendant and then stuff the plate yourself with your choice of any of the dishes in front of you. Just beware of the spice level of almost all the dishes there, especially if you are not used to the authentic Malay food. But almost all of food there tasted great.

For two persons, you can have your tummies full for only 9.50RM.

So what is a live seafood restaurant? No, you don't eat them while still crawling or wriggling. They are just shown to you very much alive and fresh in the aquarium before they are cooked for you. And Portview does this well and at a reasonable price.

Chinese lanterns and decors adorn the high ceiling of this restaurant. It is quite a big place with plenty of tables. Has airconditioned room and an area with sides opened for the sea breeze to come in.

Staff are just ok. Attendants will help you choose the seafood you want from the aquarium and will estimate how many kilos of a particular seafood will be good enough for your group. Just one waitstaff irked us a bit when we dined here. He was rude in replying everytime we asked for something that we need. Apart from that, all the others were happily attending to dining guests.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone visiting Kota Kinabalu.

Favorite Dish: We ate here the deep-fried soft shell crabs and steamed medium-sized prawns. The crabs are my favorite! Really tasty and cooked just right -- shell is crispy enough for you to bite into and the meat is tender.

Half a kilo of the soft shell crabs and the same weight of prawns, plus 2 cups of rice and drinks, will cost you only about 92RM.

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For those wanting a change from Asian food, local food, or seafood, Little Italy provides good quality authentic Italian food. Although this is a Chinese run business, you wont be able to determine that from the food quality, which is very good.

The owner (Mgr) is very different to other Chinese run restaurant staff, due to his efforts to joke, laugh and communicate with tourists. My son had his birthday party there and loved the pizza, spaghetti, calamari and tiramisu. Good selection of basic wines.

Be prepared to wait, since this place gets busy and people will queue outside waiting for a table. The cliente range from Aussie tourists, Chinese families, a few yanks, as well as scruffy back-packers.

Favorite Dish: Calamari, spaghetti marinara, carrot soup. pizza, and tira misu.

There are three entrances to the SEDCO complex. The taxi will stop outside the entrance closest to twin skies seafood restaurant. There are 3 seafood restaurants with fish in tanks, one has red table clothes, one with pink and at the opposite end yellow table clothes.
When you enter twin skies (red table clothes) will run toward you and virtually "bulldoze" you into their restaurant. This cuts out the the two other options instantly.

This restaurant is unscrupulous, they tell the gullible tourists what to order, always starting with lobster, since its the most expensive dish, then adding on clams, tiger prawns, shrimp, etc. If you choose fresh fish grouper/red snapper, sea bass they dont remove one from the tank, instead they will weigh one of the heaviest fish that have been packed in ice at the front of their restaurant.
Advice:
1. Choose your own restaurant.
Dont let the restaurant owners force you to sit at their tables, walk around and choose whichever seafood restaurant you prefer. Compare prices by weight.
2.Choose what you want
If you want crayfish order it, but dont let the restaurant staff tell you what you should order. They will always choose he heaviest fish and suggest more than you can possibily eat.
3. Order fish from the tanks
Don let the staff cook the bigger fish that are stored in ice. Select a live fish from the tank
4. Dont be forced to over-order
Staff will quickly rhyme off all sorts of other seafood produced that you SHOULD HAVE. Order fish, rice and vegetables only. If you want more you can order later. Many tourists could not finish the food they were coerced into ordering.

Basically avoid the restaurant with red table clothes.

Favorite Dish: Grouper, red snapper clams. (suggest steamed not fried)

but fresh fish from ther tank is better. This is a Chinese seafood restaurant

The restaurant is a local stall and the atmostphere is local...

Favorite Dish: Tamparuli is noted for its noodle like so many towns in Sabah which claims its noodle speciality... Besides the Tamparuli noodles (which is more like Hakka noodles in West Malaysia), there are also dumplings and dim sum which are equally good...

If you really looking for quality seafood, this is the place for you to spend your money.
Just pick up the alive seafood in the aquarium and they will cook according to your appetite. There will also be a cultural show at night and the view here is beautiful.