Malay food: Sri Melaka

Status: Serve no pork (serves alcohol)

Venue/landmark: opposite the Evening Food Stall along GSC. Easily recognized by their green signboard.

Time open – close: they have specific open hours for lunch and dinner. Will check this out ASAP.

Basic RM per meal: RM 50+ (2 pax, rice, 2 dishes unless it’s fish, 1 vege, Chinese tea/plain water, tax)

The name is Sri Melaka but the food here are not specifically the Malacca food like asam pedas alone, but a large array of Malay cuisine. They carter to large group and is available on reservation too.

The same goes here, they have variety of seafood, and fish priced according to weight/100 g, fish and season. At first look you may think that the presentation of the food resemble a bit of Chinese since many of their cooks are Chinese.

The last time I went there was in a group, so I’ll just list down what we had:

9 pax, RM 18 per person, which covers:

• Cold / hot Chinese tea or plain/cold water
• Starter: corn and crab soup
• Steamed rice
• Sweet and sour fish fillet (not whole fish, that’ll be a different pricing altogether)
• Sautéed kalian and shiitake in oyster sauce
• Ginger squid
• Soft tofu dish
• Salad prawn
• Lemon chicken
• Fresh fruits

And they all tasted superb! I think it’s pretty decent a price for such fare. Their butter prawns are pretty good too.

I’ll give this place two thumbs up, with compliment to the interior and service.

Malay food: Mawi

Status: Halal

Venue/landmark: KingFisher, end of lot, along with Kodak and Restoran Sri Juara.

Time open – close: 10.00 am – 9.00 pm (Monday - Saturday)

Basic RM per meal: RM 5 (with drinks)

What I like here are their rice and dishes. And their pricing. I think they’re the cheapest Malay restaurant in KingFisher that actually serves pretty decent food. Menu varies daily so it’ll be pointless to describe them one by one except to note down some of my favourites. I’ll go for these when they are available: plain, old sardine, love it when they cook it with eggplant; asam pedas fish; tofu of any kind; sambal eggplant but sometimes a tad too oily and most vege.

Overall, hygiene is fair, good service. And serves pretty decent food. I don’t like the ordered meals though. They charged plain / iced water RM0.20.

No, this restaurant has nothing to do at all with Mawi the artist. NOTHING.

Malay food: Restoran Ibadah Rohani

Status: Halal

Venue/landmark: KingFisher, end of lot, along with Restoran Serai Wangi.

Time open – close: 10.00 am – 9.00 pm (Monday - Friday)

Basic RM per meal: RM 5 (without drinks)

This one opened some time ago early 2008. Every time I went there at 12.30 – 1.00 pm, it’s always crowded (a rare sight in KingFisher’s Malay shop) and they always had no rice dishes left so I can’t comment much on this. But I did try several items on the menu which are quite satisfactory. Service is fair, good hygiene, nice setting. If you look around, you will notice that they have many different lamps hanging on the ceiling and wall. They serve plain/iced water FOC.

1. Nasi Goreng Paprik

It was not specified what but nevertheless I was happy with the content, presentation and price. The paprik came as mixed seafood, chicken and vege, RED in colour (instead of the usual colourless Sabah – style paprik) with heaps of fried rice. It’s too spicy for me that I had tears running down my cheek and positively sniffling by the time I finished it. But don’t rely on this much since my threshold for spicy is below average… ^_^

2. Nasi Goreng Kerabu

For those unfamiliar with the term “kerabu”, it basically refers to mixed vegetable or a form of salad. So this fried rice was prepared with lots of them, including bunga kantan which gave it a zest. Much recommended. Good price, large serving.

3. Nasi Goreng Thai

There’s a subtle taste of tom yum in this one, chicken, egg, dashed with tons of pineapple which made it a savoury meal. Again, thumbs up. Good price, large serving.

4. Nasi Goreng Kampung

The names doesn’t imply much but I like this simple fried rice of anchovy, kangkung, egg and chili. The belacan taste was there, to make it more savoury. But troublesome to pick out the onions and chili. (2 things that I don’t consume directly, as in their original form)

5. Lemon Kitchai

This one I regretted ordering. There’s this weird taste in this drink that I can’t pinpoint what but it’s not worth it. I’ve to down some water to wash out the taste. Really not my taste…

Malay food: Faezah Super

Status: Halal

Venue/landmark: Ground floor, Centre Point, just opposite PizzaHut.

Time open – close: 10.00 am – 9.00 pm

Basic RM per meal: RM 6.00 (Rice + 1 meat dish + 1 vege dish + drink)

You can see their signboards from miles away, above the mountain of food they piled up beneath it. Mountain as in really a lot of variety of food to pick from, served buffet style. From a huge seafood platter of deep fried prawns and crabs, assorted meat dishes to loads of vegetables and kerabu (a variant of salad), pick your choice. My first visit left me gaping and then unsatisfied because I could not fit everything on my plate. They charge you by types and amount of food taken. Free sitting, anywhere, everywhere. Free soup, like any Sabahan local eatery, is served along so need not be bothered much with gravy.

Aside from the normal drinks, there is also coconut drink served right in the coconut itself.

It’s kinda troublesome to write all since their menu varies from day to day. I’d just list what like then. Their soft tofu dish is excellent, chunks of large tofu in soup or stir – fry oyster sauce along with vegetables; then there is the deep – fried large prawn (careful, they charge you by the size you pick so price may vary from RM4 – 10 per prawn); fried chicken with mayonnaise; pak choy in oyster sauce; stir – fry mix vegetables; chili mango; hinava; Chinese style egg bean curd… take your pick and these are only a few out of the many they have.

Hygiene… close one eye and you’ll be fine. Maybe...

Masak - masak Melayu ~ Ayam Masak Merah – cheat, Seri Aji (Perencah Masak Merah) Modified Version

As the title and recipe implied, this is the cheat version of Ayam Masak Merah recipe as I use instant powdered paste in this recipe. The cheat idea came from my situation in Sikuati where we did not a blender in hand and I’ve to cook something fast and easy for 5 people.

KingFisher food situation… no, we ain’t starving but we are starving…

Yippee! Kohinoo has opened a branch in Kingfisher (KF). Finally that crappy Hana branch closes down for good (their sushi sucks, unlike their other branch in CityMall). So for Indian cuisine lover, this is good news since Kohinoo, albeit expensive, offered some of the best Indian cuisine in Sabah.

Which brought up this topic, KF shops, or more specifically the Malay eateries there. There is just something wrong with them, or maybe it’s lack of luck, or just plainly too expensive for the crap they offered, but throughout my 4 years stay here in Sabah, I’ve seen too many management changes in one lot while the Mamak next door continues to thrive, of course. And the Chinese shops too.

Actually I’m very biased in this article because, well, I’m not exactly too fond of KF Malay food, with the exceptions of a very few like Mawi and Sri Juara. And Mamak food. But I got good reasons for it. In the first place, like I mentioned above, the price is not worth the crap they give you, some offered lousy services where the waitresses glared at you when you mention that they are giving a tad too small a portion and tossed your food around sloppily on the plate, the hygiene… well, I regret peeking into their kitchen since it totally robbed me off my appetite; the floor stained with years worth of crap; the trash send out whiffs from time to time, the lighting set off suspicious glow of the suspicious thing on your plate, the interior a pain for your eyes, and the list goes on…

Amazingly, aside from the Mamak stall that thrives like anything thanks to their cheap food and numerous wide - screen TVs, the Chinese shops managed to stay open for many years and a few more cropping up. There’s one explanation provided by a Chinese friend of mine for this “phenomena”, as compared to Malay shop which charged RM 3.50 for rice with (usually meager) 1 meat dish and 1 vege dish, a Chinese shop will charge you the same for any 3 dishes accompanying the rice so more of the Chinese eat out compared to Malay.

So there…

Kudat town of Kudat… Kudat of Sabah… Sikuati of Matunggong… Kudat, Sikuati, Matunggong…

I think some part of my article is pretty confusing, like the relation between Sikuati, Kota Marudu and Kudat, especially without the intro to Kudat district so here goes.

As you can see from the image, Kudat and Kota Marudu are districts of Sabah. Matunggong then is one of the divisions of Kudat district, and Sikuati is a town within Matunggong.

Ok, another confusing statement here. Kudat town, is a town in Kudat district. Get it? In Kudat district there’s a town called Kudat, its administrative town.

Never mind, further info on Wikipedia webpage.

Anyway, Kudat town is the most developed part of Kudat district, with more schools, shops, banks, small hotels, markets, eateries, a hypermarket, better housing areas and a health office, to name a few. This is where we usually shopped for groceries such as canned goods and seafood, and lunched. Then there’s the Marina Golf Resort for more comfort and luxury, the Sidek Esplanade to frolic at night for light supper and fresh sea breeze and an elaborate Chinese temple.

Marina Golf Resort.

Majority of the population is Rungus so the main attractions centered around the Rungus longhouse where they offer home – stay program. There’s also the beadwork center (bead crafts is one of the traditional Rungus crafts), gong making factory and a honeybee farm in Matunggong, along the way to Kudat town.

Honeybee farm in Matunggong (requires an entrance fee).

Scary: though they numb the bees with smoke, some may buzz around you.

The display honey combs container.

Fresh honey from the comb: the workers cut out chunks from this honey comb and we chewed it like chewing gum as we sucked the fresh honey.

Bottled honey sold at the farm.

Some of the mini gongs made and sold at the gong – making factory.

Another attraction is the Tip of Borneo in Tg. Simpang Mengayau, the northernmost point on the island of Borneo where supposedly you can see the outline of Philippine island and enjoy some coconut drink. Some Bajau and Rungus people lived along the beach here and sold dried fish and pretty seashells to visiting tourists.

Due to time constrain, I could not explore further the fact that Kudat offers a variety of fresh and cheap seafood so maybe next time I’ll do so. Until then, that’s all on Kudat.

My Kudat days: culture shock. Still in Kudat…

My last stay in Papar is nothing to be compared to the one in Sikuati. The gap is way too huge. It’s an eye – opener and also I was hit by culture shocks, lots of them.

So here goes.

The village where we carried out our research project on hypertension was Kg. Rampai. At first glance this picture shows you a very tranquil village; azure sky, swaying coconut tree, lush paddy fields, friendly villagers. That was, before we had to trudge through sloshy, muddy paddy field to reach some of the houses, panting through the hill climbs, all bang – up in the bus during the rough trip on the pothole – filled and uneven road, chased by dogs and walking around in the dark when evening came as there are no street lights. Then came the part when you enter the houses where the stairs and plank floor creaked with your body weight, animal litters scattered on the floor, the dilapidated roof and wall seemed as if it’s gonna collapse soon, houses sometimes indistinguishable from the woodshed, no pipe system (most relied on the rain water collection and gravity feed system) and more dogs which freaked the hell out of our Muslim companions.The view of Kg. Rampai Vinilai, Kudat, Sabah.

So the dinner at KFC after that was a treat to us all.

This one shows the condition in a house with a case of undernutrition child in Kg Barambangan, Kudat, Sabah.

Some villages still rely on well as water source, like the one here in Tg. Kapur. The one below here is not for drinking purpose however, due to the fact that it’s dug too near to the sea.

A well shared by many houses, Tg. Kapur, Kudat, Sabah.

We joined one of the Aedes mosquito surveillance activities, also in Tg. Kapur. The pictures depict the housing conditions there.

The backyard of a house in Tg. Kapur, Kudat, Sabah.

This one is from a fogging activity in a water village, Kg Landung Ayang. The houses may seem crappy from outside but upon entering you’ll be surprise to see the sound system set – ups. They will at least have a karaoke system. The house with the grandest set – up is easily recognized as they would be playing music at full blast, which we passed off as a joke “song dedication for the whole village”.

The houses here are referred collectively as the "kampung air" @ water village since houses are built on platforms on seashore.

There was this remark made wryly by an officer regarding these villages: “it is difficult to determine the poverty line in Sabah sometimes, you’ll be thrown off balance when you see the sound system set ups in the houses and the undeclared lands they own in contrast of their income, housing conditions and undernutrition children.” Which is sadly, mostly true. And I leave the rest to your ponder.

My Kudat days: Water shortage!!! (I’m still here… in Kudat…)

Water shortage!!!

On our 2^nd week stay in Sikuati, we experienced the two of the most dreaded situations, water shortage and rainy season. Sounds ironic, doesn’t it? Lemme explain…

As the intro goes, the water supply to Sikuati and Kudat comes from Kota Marudu, the neighbouring district through some complicated underground pipe system. When it rains heavily, the water pressure in these pipes increases which makes them prone to bursting so during the rainy season the pipes are usually shut off which in turn shut off the water supply to Sikuati and Kudat.

So during the season where there should be abundance of water, we have water shortage instead.

And crappy food. Since our water supply would be provided from the rain water collection from Surabaya restaurant, our landlord (plus we couldn’t cook) so in return for their kindness, we have to eat at least once there where they served the saltiest, most oily food ever (I take back some of my praises…). To make it worse, their cutleries and wares were so oily that the drinks served were often contaminated from the oily cups, glasses and spoons. God bless us, no one suffered from the dreaded diarrhea which was another dreaded situation during water shortage. We also thank God for Singgah Rasa, another Malay restaurant nearby which served better fares and had clean wares.

For nearly 2 weeks we suffered and bear, living with each shower using only 2 large bottles of mineral water equivalent to 3 liters before we found one company that sold water (for RM40 they would fill up the main conservation tank). Another irony to this is that as soon as we filled our tank with the murky brown water of unknown origin, the water supply was resumed on the next day. But for safety measure, the bus during the weekly returns to UMS was always loaded with empty bottles to be re – filled with fresh, clean water.

My Kudat days: the first Kudat stint…

My dreaded day has come. The day when we all would be shuttled off to one of the remote areas in Sabah; Sikuati town in Kudat. No, it’s not the rural part that threw me off but it’s the dustiness of the place since I have this skin allergy towards dust which in turn, turn me into a dust – free – environment freak.

The dismal of the situation is much weighted by the thick layer of dust on the hostel floor and furniture. So our first day… crap. Enough of these. The room’s finally clean and the house spick and span after much effort, so to cut the story short since this is not the main reason I’m typing off here.

So now I happily declare that although daunted by the state of the house and the distance from Kota Kinabalu (>300 km!), Sikuati is actually live - able. There’s the fresh market operating from morning to evening selling all sorts of my fav veges and fresh village produce, mini marts selling necessities and 4 Malay restaurants identified. I’ll live.

The fun part yet to be told, is that our group brought with us portable stove, a wok and 2 rice - cookers along with other cooking utensils. So in our first week we are already experimenting some stuffs such as nasi goreng tom yam, pucuk manis with egg, sardine cooked with soy sauce, siew pak choy in oyster sauce and brinjal in chili paste. One guy even fizzed up our simple dinner with this fizzly punch made from canned pineapple and 7 – up.

What more, the kindly aunty operating the Surabaya restaurant below our house gave us special students price, gave us free ice for our homemade drinks and let us took our food and drinks with their cutleries to our class ^_^ Life is looking good here.

So actually I’m kind of looking forward to it. Maybe from time to time I’ll write more on Sikuati, Kudat.