Kota Kinabalu offers great street food, seafood markets, delicious mall food and some surprising Western choices.
The food in Malaysia is fantastic. I might even go as far as saying it is the best in Southeast Asia. The curries are delicious and cheap. You can easily pile your plate high with a number of different dishes with rice for the equivalent of £1 – £2. Kota Kinabalu offered more of the great food we had enjoyed in mainland Malaysia.
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Food And Drink In Kota Kinabalu
There are food options to suit every budget in Kota Kinabalu. There are a number of hawkers on the waterfront selling fresh seafood and cheap, Malaysian food is available on every street. The mall food courts are also worth checking out for cheap, delicious food. Kota Kinabalu restaurants offer both Malay and international food.
There are a few bars in the centre but most are on the Waterfront. I didn’t go for a drink there as it seemed expensive.
BB Cafe
BB Cafe is located in the heart of Kota Kinabalu. Small beers were 9 MYR so I parked myself at the bar where I stayed for a few hours. You have to pay to use the toilet which is a bit cheeky when you’re already a paying customer and I am sure they added on a beer to my bill at the end. I thought i’d had 5, maybe 6. They thought I had 7. Who knows? There is live music every night. Map.
Chilli Vanilla
I wasn’t expecting to find a Hungarian restaurant in Kota Kinabalu but that’s what we discovered on the first night. It’s a small restaurant but we were able to get a table. I ordered goulash which came with a side of mashed potatoes and a salad, all washed down with a glass of red wine. It was delicious, much better than I expected. A great choice when you want a break from rice or noodles! Map.
El Centro
Joanna had heard about this place from a friend who had visited recently and given it the thumbs up. As we approached, I realised I had already spotted it earlier but I thought it was just a bar, one I wanted to visit. So, this was a pleasant surprise. What was even better was they were playing ‘Andy Warhol’ by David Bowie as we walked in. The music stayed at a high quality level all night. The beer sets were also cheap (24 MYR for 3 cans of Belgen beer). I already liked this place and I’d not even tasted the food!
Thankfully, the food did not disappoint. I had the ground beef with three-bean chilli tortillas, topped with grilled cheese and they were delicious. I stayed for another set of beer by myself, wishing I’d have discovered this place earlier. Highly recommended. Map.
Nook Cafe
A super-hip coffee shop on a street with other super-hip coffee shops. They serve great coffee here which set us up nice for the day. The food is also supposed to be good. Map.
October Coffee House
This coffee shop is situated on a rather hip street that has a few cool coffee shops and backpacker hostels. We came here just for coffee and it was very good. The food looked interesting too. Nice music creates a perfect coffee-shop ambiance. Map.
Pizza Hut
We had one of our monthly pizza cravings and there was only one choice for takeaway pizza. I went to Pizza Hut after having a few beers nearby. There was a bit of confusion when ordering. I ordered 2 veggie pizzas but I thought I’d ordered a slice as the cost was only 12 MYR for large. There’s no way a large pizza from Pizza Hut would only cost £3, right?
It turned out I had ordered 2 large pizzas that were so big, we could only eat half. The rest we had for breakfast. Map.
Suriah Sabah Food Court
Located on the third floor of the mall, this food court has great views over the South China sea and also offers excellent, affordable food. We came here for breakfast and again for our evening meal. They stop serving at around 9 pm. One stall is entirely vegetarian and is definitely worth checking out. Map.
Upperstar Cafe & Bar Segama
I came here for some beers on our first night in Kota Kinabalu. The prices seemed ok and included service charge and tax. What is says on the menu is what you pay. I tried to order large beers but was told they were all out. I opted for a small beer set. The beers were brought to my table in a bucket of ice. Nice, I thought. However, for the next hour or so, the waitress would not leave me alone. She would come to put my beer on the table, to put it on the beer mat, to top up my beer after EVERY drink I took. It got so annoying. I also noticed other customers were drinking big beers. I decided there and then I had to find a better bar. And I did. I never returned to Upperstar. Map.
Waterfront Seafood Night Market
We didn’t eat here but we did walk through and it was very popular and there was a lot of choice. The fish looked fresh but there are reports of fish being re-grilled. Do your research and choose your fish wisely! Map.