Food @ KK, Sabah

Just in case you haven't know, I just came back from a short 5 days trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. It was sort of a family trip, but it's Deardo's family trip with me tagging along. All of us in front of some very high end hotel that I totally forgot the name...
Since I'm still a little busy with work and life, I'll start with the makan-makan part in KK first. Just like what I did with my Taipei trip, here comes a list of food we had and I think are worth trying, plus some no-no food.

1. To-die-for Beef Noodles, Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap, Likas
Before I went to Sabah, everything I heard from people are SEAFOOD, SEAFOOD, SEAFOOD... But honestly speaking, the best thing I've had there is this dangerously sinful yet bloodily yummy beef noodles!!!Very simple restaurant with extremely yummy stuff!
Selling at RM7 per bowl, the beef noodles is actually more expensive than those here in KL, but it also comes in bigger portion. Choose any noodles (the mihoon in Sabah are slightly thicker) and you can have them with soup or have it dried. Then you can have it with the beef balls, beef or a variety of innards. For me, I always go for a mixture! Deardo's sister had the Beef Balls Noodles.
My yummilicious Beef Noodles with beef balls, innards, beef and Chinese radish.
The dried version was awesome too!
Always have the noodles with some Super Hot Chili Sauce!
What I especially like about the beef noodles at Kah Hiong is the fact that it has very flavourful soup with some Chinese radish in it (which reminds me of Taiwanese beef noodles). The innards, beef balls and big pieces of beef are basically pretty normal but the pieces of thinly sliced beef are just simply wonderful I went "wow~this is GOOD~!". I especially love the minced beef that comes with the dried noodles but the soup is still better. RM7 per bowl? Totally worth it!
It was soooooooo good we visited the restaurant twice!

2. Gayang Seafood Restaurant
Gayang Seafood is located about 20 minutes drive away from Kota Kinabalu's town itself. We had a great dinner there and went there for early dinner just before we left for the airport on our last day there but we reckon the greatness actually lies on the dishes you choose. Not all dishes are good.The restaurant is like a floating restaurant with a nice view!
Out of so many dishes we tried, only these two are worthy of my recommendation:Steamed or boiled? Prawns are fresh!!!
In KK apparently, they are used to having their prawns boiled and to go with some special sauce that I don't really know what is the content. I have to agree that they are really tasty! You can taste all the freshness in the prawns! They are somehow very crunchy!Butter Gravy Mantis Prawns is bloody good!
The butter gravy mantis prawns we had there are simply unforgettably fresh! See, we had a very bad experience when we first dined here as we had a deep fried mantis prawn that were too oily and all, but this one is just simply satisfying, although I must say, still a bit fattening lar. But ah well, nice food are always unhealthy anywayz!
The deep fried soft shell crabs we had here were a big disappointment. Not crispy and already cold when they were served.

3. Yummy hawker food @ Kedai Kopi Lotus
Having too much of seafood made us sick. So on one of the nights, we decided to have hawker food for dinner. So Kevin brought us to Kedai Kopi Lotus for some SUPER NICE Wo Tip (dumplings), SUPER CHEAP AND YUMMY Siu Yu (BBQ fish), and so-so-only chicken wings and fried noodles. Small kopitiam with loads of treasures...
OMG I love the Wo Tip~~~!!!
Apparently Wo Tip is one of the specialties in KK. As a fan of Wo Tip, I actually waited for days to finally tried these in KK!!! And you know what? They are f**king delicious!!! You know how the common Wo Tip always have very thick skin and are often quite oily? The ones in KK are not like those! They are actually thin and flat dumplings and some part of them are crispy! Best of all, not oily at all! Yay~! :D I was so tempted to order more!!! Oh I'm missing them now... :(Super fresh BBQ Fish.
The BBQ Fish is Deardo's favourite he even said it was the best food he had in KK! I thought it was fresh and bloody cheap! Only RM30 for 1kg of fish!!!Some chicken wings for dinner too.
And oh the crunchy Sabah vege!!!
Look how sun burned I am???
I also tried the Sabah vege and am totally in love with them! It's a bit like Sayur Paku here but the texture isn't so rough lar. Man too bad they cannot be found in KL too, just like the Wo Tip! :(

4. Malay food @ Ligawu Restaurant, Kinabalu Park
Ligawu Restaurant is like the first restaurant located at a tourist spot I tried that is really good! I'M SO FREAKING SERIOUS! You know how those stupid restaurants at tourist spots always serve lousy food to cheat those Mat Salleh who would blindly think they are bloody yummy? Ligawu is amazingly nothing like that...Cozy atmosphere at Ligawu Restaurant.
It's actually located somewhere in the middle of the mountain with a very nice environment. Feels like you're eating in the middle of a jungle, with fresh air and wind blowing. The restaurant itself is classy and we are definitely happy with the food and services.Nasi Lemak and Ligawu Fried Rice, yummy~!
The Nasi Lemak is a bit small in portion for the price of RM18. But man the curry chicken is so damn nice! It's tastes like home cooked one! The Ligawu Fried Rice, also RM18 is more worthy of the price as it comes with pickled vege, keropok, two satays, chicken wing and a fried egg! And I must say it is really not bad! I especially love the satays! Yummeeeyyy~~~!!!
A restaurant at a tourist spot without lousy food and lousy price, Ligawu is definitely worth a visit!

5. Fried Mihoon, Steamed & Toasted bread @ Kedai Kopi Fook Yuen, Damai PointChoose what you want to go with your noodles/rice!
Apparently people will come Q-up for their very famous Steamed and Toasted breads on weekends and I myself witnessed it! Well, to me, they are nice, but not fantastic.The very famous toasts...
My RM1 plate of fried mihoon.
But as a fan of economic fried mihoon, I couldn't resist but to try the ones here since everybody is eating them! I was especially curious about the white coloured mihoon which is apparently with fish sauce. It was actually pretty nice hey! And as economic it is, a plate of fried mihoon only cost me 1 buck! Good deal!

We also tried the famous Sang Yok Mien (Pork Noodles) at Kedai Kopi Jia Xiang. I thought it was nice but not fantastic.
And then another famous Kolo Mee at Kedai Kopi Wah Juan near the airport. It was so packed when we arrived that we had to stand and wait for a table! But man, I really don't understand why is the bowl of noodles with some pieces of pork done in different ways can be so famous... No offend to Sabahans, but to me, this is really not worth the wait...Though I'm not impressed with the food, I'm impressed with their hygiene practices...Unfortunately, I didn't see the same thing in other restaurants in KK...

Overall, KK's food aren't all bad. But most of those that they claim are super yummy and must haves turned out to be some disappointments. They kept saying seafood in Sabah are damn cheap but my experience told me you have to pick the right places and right dishes lar. While I think I wouldn't be going back to Sabah again for no reason, I'll be dying for some beef noodles, Wo Tip and some Sabah vege if I get to visit Sabah again!