There are tea restaurants all over the street, just like in China, the food is delicious
Beef offal noodles cost 16 yuan. The environment is average, with old decoration and no air conditioning, so it's hot and stuffy. However, the taste is still delicious, similar to Chaoshan flavor.
There are many shops on Gaya Street, all run by Chinese people, which is okay.
A small street stall A food stall-like atmosphere Extremely friendly and welcoming service We ordered a few signature dishes: ✅ The beef laksa was chewy, with generous portions of tender beef. The laksa was a bit bland, I personally prefer a stronger flavor. ✅ Penang fried kway teow, which is just wide noodles with egg and bean sprouts. Delicious! Malaysian fried noodles are all great! ✅ Three-color milk tea: Make sure to mix thoroughly before drinking. The first few sips are fragrant and sweet, and super delicious, but once the ice melts, the flavor is almost gone. It lasts a very short time! Try removing the ice beforehand or drinking quickly. PS: Chinese is available, and online payment is accepted. ☕️ Kinabalu Coffee Shop 📍 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia #MalaysianFood #AwesomeSnacks #LocalFood #KotaKinabaluTravel
As a non-picky, honest foodie, after 19 meals in 5 days in Kota Kinabalu, I was genuinely annoyed by these two restaurants 🙅 Publicly condemned! From Gaya Street to Tanjung Aru to Papar Town 🤤 The further down the list, the better the food! ⭐ ❌Lucy's Kitchen (Tanjung Aru): The food in the picture is 77 MYR, which isn't expensive, but the service was incredibly slow and they even missed some orders. The satay skewers took 40 minutes to arrive and were still lukewarm. I'll give it 1 star for the sea view. ❌Da Jia Lai Seafood Restaurant: I had oysters, and they were terrible. Oysters the size of a palm in the tank were 10 MYR each, fishy, smelly, dry, and hard—like chewing on a rag. The soft-shell crab was lukewarm, probably from a previous batch that hadn't been properly reheated and was a bit sour. The salted egg yolk crab was okay, but it was visibly not cleaned properly, and the stir-fried rice noodles were also slightly sour. We ordered the wrong dish and received the wrong food. One star for the commendable Mongolian chicken and dry butter prawns, plus the great air conditioning. The most expensive meal cost 270 MYR. ⭐⭐ ✔ 48 Street Brothers: A popular durian shop on Gaya Street. There was still a queue at 10 PM. Prices start at 28 MYR/kg. The durians are very sweet, but the price of 40 MYR is outrageous. ✔ Jalan Segama, Segama Durian Street: Two stars for the emotionally engaging durian-selling shouts. Many varieties of durian are available, starting at 8 MYR/kg. If you don't know much about durians, I suggest buying the cheaper local ones. We bought what was supposedly "Red Prawn" for 55 MYR, but it was so ripe it tasted bitter. The shopkeeper said that's just how it is. When we got to the last rotten segment, we asked the shopkeeper to give us a cheaper replacement. After several bad replacements, they angrily refunded us 10 MYR. ⭐⭐⭐ ✔ Kinabalu Coffee Shop: Very crowded. Find your own seat. Queuing to order and waiting to be cleaned takes a while. Two people, 45 MYR. Laksa was good, but the kuey teow wasn't as good as in Penang. The chicken feet were boneless and delicious. 3.5 stars, just too hot. ✔ Xin Ji Bak Kut Teh: The bak kut teh includes pork belly, meatballs, and pork offal. It has a strong medicinal flavor and doesn't come with fried dough sticks. They also have a dry pot version, somewhat similar to braised pork. Served quickly, the overall taste is okay, 3.5 stars, but the price is touristy at 173 MYR. ✔ Yi Feng Tea House: The fan is very cool. The claypot chicken rice is average, but everything else is quite good. Don't try the sour and astringent pear juice. The bill was only 58 MYR, so I'll give it 3.5 stars. ✔ Boost: Locals line up for this smoothie. They have fruit and vegetable series. 3.5 stars, not bad, but the paper straws are a downside—they're hard to suck up and the liquid gets soggy quickly. ✔ Yuan Tea House: 3 stars for innovative dishes. The air conditioning is great. They have a wide variety of drinks, including soy milk jelly, milk tea, barley water, and a mojito without any filling, all of which are delicious. The Nasi Lemak was too spicy and not very tasty. The mushroom sauce chicken cutlet was quite tender but a bit heavy. ✔ Shangri-La Sunset Bar: Opens at 5 PM with walk-in service. Minimum charge is 48 MYR per person. You can choose from basic drinks, carbonated beverages, and 3 mocktails. The complimentary welcome drink was okay, but the potato chips were a bit brittle. 3 stars for the view. ✔ Secret Recipe: Since the Chinese branch is closed, this is the only place to eat here. They have a wide variety of cakes. The red velvet yogurt and chocolate cakes were good, but the two durian cakes were a bit disappointing because they weren't thawed. Four cakes cost 55 MYR. Service charge applies for dine-in. ✔ Old Town: The famous Old Town. The white coffee and other drinks are quite sweet. Remember to tell them if you don't like sweet things. ✔ ZUS Coffee: Luckin Coffee Malaysia - Buy one get one free with a Malaysian SIM card registration. Prices are 10-15 MYR per serving. The Spanish Latte and Coconut Latte are good. ✔Pakopi: A local tea and coffee shop. A large cup costs 4-7 MYR. The salty coffee was quite unique. The charcoal-roasted coffee and milk tea are the usual flavors. ✔Snow Tea House: Traveled a long way for ice cream. Two large servings cost 34 MYR, too much for four people. The tea series is more recommended as it's not overly sweet. ✔Sheng Yuan Tea House: A hearty breakfast for 58 MYR. Boiled eggs are made to order. Locals eat here, but it's quite far. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ✔Shi Quan Shi Mei: The first seafood meal was amazing. Arrived early and didn't queue. The seafood was very fresh. A table for 230 MYR is incredibly good value. The only thing I didn't like was the Assam fish fillets and braised pork belly recommended by the diners at the next table. The Assam had a sweet, sour, spicy, and curry flavor, which was appetizing but I didn't really like the Southeast Asian taste. ✔ Leslie Cafe: We were still queuing at 9 PM for our last meal. The food was pretty good, and they even had free durian ice cream. We were too tired to eat seafood, so we ordered tofu, fish maw soup, cream chicken, and pork ribs. The best dish was the tofu, which tasted like egg tofu with braised pork. It was a good deal at 99 Malaysian Ringgit. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ✔ Kota Kinabalu Central Market: 4.5 stars! It deserves it! 0.5 stars are deducted because most stalls only accept cash and the environment is poor. This place gets the highest score thanks to other vendors. The market has all kinds of seafood: tiger prawns 80-100 Malaysian Ringgit / blue crabs 15-20 Malaysian Ringgit (restaurant prices 220/33 Malaysian Ringgit), and shredded vegetables 2 Malaysian Ringgit. After shopping, we went to stall number 29 on the second floor of the market to have four dishes cooked for 44 baht, and the ingredients cost 110 baht. The black pepper sweet and spicy crab was incredibly delicious with rice, and my companion said it was the freshest seafood we'd ever had. The market was a bit damp and fishy, and there were even rats around. Please share any other restaurants you should avoid! #2025VisaFreeCountries #SoloTravelDestinations #PlacesYouGetAskedAboutOnWeekend #WeekendGetaways #RelaxingPlaces
There are tea restaurants all over the street, just like in China, the food is delicious
Beef offal noodles cost 16 yuan. The environment is average, with old decoration and no air conditioning, so it's hot and stuffy. However, the taste is still delicious, similar to Chaoshan flavor.
There are many shops on Gaya Street, all run by Chinese people, which is okay.
A small street stall A food stall-like atmosphere Extremely friendly and welcoming service We ordered a few signature dishes: ✅ The beef laksa was chewy, with generous portions of tender beef. The laksa was a bit bland, I personally prefer a stronger flavor. ✅ Penang fried kway teow, which is just wide noodles with egg and bean sprouts. Delicious! Malaysian fried noodles are all great! ✅ Three-color milk tea: Make sure to mix thoroughly before drinking. The first few sips are fragrant and sweet, and super delicious, but once the ice melts, the flavor is almost gone. It lasts a very short time! Try removing the ice beforehand or drinking quickly. PS: Chinese is available, and online payment is accepted. ☕️ Kinabalu Coffee Shop 📍 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia #MalaysianFood #AwesomeSnacks #LocalFood #KotaKinabaluTravel
As a non-picky, honest foodie, after 19 meals in 5 days in Kota Kinabalu, I was genuinely annoyed by these two restaurants 🙅 Publicly condemned! From Gaya Street to Tanjung Aru to Papar Town 🤤 The further down the list, the better the food! ⭐ ❌Lucy's Kitchen (Tanjung Aru): The food in the picture is 77 MYR, which isn't expensive, but the service was incredibly slow and they even missed some orders. The satay skewers took 40 minutes to arrive and were still lukewarm. I'll give it 1 star for the sea view. ❌Da Jia Lai Seafood Restaurant: I had oysters, and they were terrible. Oysters the size of a palm in the tank were 10 MYR each, fishy, smelly, dry, and hard—like chewing on a rag. The soft-shell crab was lukewarm, probably from a previous batch that hadn't been properly reheated and was a bit sour. The salted egg yolk crab was okay, but it was visibly not cleaned properly, and the stir-fried rice noodles were also slightly sour. We ordered the wrong dish and received the wrong food. One star for the commendable Mongolian chicken and dry butter prawns, plus the great air conditioning. The most expensive meal cost 270 MYR. ⭐⭐ ✔ 48 Street Brothers: A popular durian shop on Gaya Street. There was still a queue at 10 PM. Prices start at 28 MYR/kg. The durians are very sweet, but the price of 40 MYR is outrageous. ✔ Jalan Segama, Segama Durian Street: Two stars for the emotionally engaging durian-selling shouts. Many varieties of durian are available, starting at 8 MYR/kg. If you don't know much about durians, I suggest buying the cheaper local ones. We bought what was supposedly "Red Prawn" for 55 MYR, but it was so ripe it tasted bitter. The shopkeeper said that's just how it is. When we got to the last rotten segment, we asked the shopkeeper to give us a cheaper replacement. After several bad replacements, they angrily refunded us 10 MYR. ⭐⭐⭐ ✔ Kinabalu Coffee Shop: Very crowded. Find your own seat. Queuing to order and waiting to be cleaned takes a while. Two people, 45 MYR. Laksa was good, but the kuey teow wasn't as good as in Penang. The chicken feet were boneless and delicious. 3.5 stars, just too hot. ✔ Xin Ji Bak Kut Teh: The bak kut teh includes pork belly, meatballs, and pork offal. It has a strong medicinal flavor and doesn't come with fried dough sticks. They also have a dry pot version, somewhat similar to braised pork. Served quickly, the overall taste is okay, 3.5 stars, but the price is touristy at 173 MYR. ✔ Yi Feng Tea House: The fan is very cool. The claypot chicken rice is average, but everything else is quite good. Don't try the sour and astringent pear juice. The bill was only 58 MYR, so I'll give it 3.5 stars. ✔ Boost: Locals line up for this smoothie. They have fruit and vegetable series. 3.5 stars, not bad, but the paper straws are a downside—they're hard to suck up and the liquid gets soggy quickly. ✔ Yuan Tea House: 3 stars for innovative dishes. The air conditioning is great. They have a wide variety of drinks, including soy milk jelly, milk tea, barley water, and a mojito without any filling, all of which are delicious. The Nasi Lemak was too spicy and not very tasty. The mushroom sauce chicken cutlet was quite tender but a bit heavy. ✔ Shangri-La Sunset Bar: Opens at 5 PM with walk-in service. Minimum charge is 48 MYR per person. You can choose from basic drinks, carbonated beverages, and 3 mocktails. The complimentary welcome drink was okay, but the potato chips were a bit brittle. 3 stars for the view. ✔ Secret Recipe: Since the Chinese branch is closed, this is the only place to eat here. They have a wide variety of cakes. The red velvet yogurt and chocolate cakes were good, but the two durian cakes were a bit disappointing because they weren't thawed. Four cakes cost 55 MYR. Service charge applies for dine-in. ✔ Old Town: The famous Old Town. The white coffee and other drinks are quite sweet. Remember to tell them if you don't like sweet things. ✔ ZUS Coffee: Luckin Coffee Malaysia - Buy one get one free with a Malaysian SIM card registration. Prices are 10-15 MYR per serving. The Spanish Latte and Coconut Latte are good. ✔Pakopi: A local tea and coffee shop. A large cup costs 4-7 MYR. The salty coffee was quite unique. The charcoal-roasted coffee and milk tea are the usual flavors. ✔Snow Tea House: Traveled a long way for ice cream. Two large servings cost 34 MYR, too much for four people. The tea series is more recommended as it's not overly sweet. ✔Sheng Yuan Tea House: A hearty breakfast for 58 MYR. Boiled eggs are made to order. Locals eat here, but it's quite far. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ✔Shi Quan Shi Mei: The first seafood meal was amazing. Arrived early and didn't queue. The seafood was very fresh. A table for 230 MYR is incredibly good value. The only thing I didn't like was the Assam fish fillets and braised pork belly recommended by the diners at the next table. The Assam had a sweet, sour, spicy, and curry flavor, which was appetizing but I didn't really like the Southeast Asian taste. ✔ Leslie Cafe: We were still queuing at 9 PM for our last meal. The food was pretty good, and they even had free durian ice cream. We were too tired to eat seafood, so we ordered tofu, fish maw soup, cream chicken, and pork ribs. The best dish was the tofu, which tasted like egg tofu with braised pork. It was a good deal at 99 Malaysian Ringgit. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ✔ Kota Kinabalu Central Market: 4.5 stars! It deserves it! 0.5 stars are deducted because most stalls only accept cash and the environment is poor. This place gets the highest score thanks to other vendors. The market has all kinds of seafood: tiger prawns 80-100 Malaysian Ringgit / blue crabs 15-20 Malaysian Ringgit (restaurant prices 220/33 Malaysian Ringgit), and shredded vegetables 2 Malaysian Ringgit. After shopping, we went to stall number 29 on the second floor of the market to have four dishes cooked for 44 baht, and the ingredients cost 110 baht. The black pepper sweet and spicy crab was incredibly delicious with rice, and my companion said it was the freshest seafood we'd ever had. The market was a bit damp and fishy, and there were even rats around. Please share any other restaurants you should avoid! #2025VisaFreeCountries #SoloTravelDestinations #PlacesYouGetAskedAboutOnWeekend #WeekendGetaways #RelaxingPlaces