Goat Heaven Cafe - Roti Bakar Teloq Meleleh

Okay you guys, stop laughing! But you have to admit that the name of the eatery can be considered as creative, since I can assure you that you’ll definitely remember them now right? And I said stop laughing already (chuckled…). Now in all seriousness, the place is shared by two food sellers (probably for rent purposes) so do not be confused if the sign at the outside of the eatery stated Roti Bakar Teloq Meleleh instead. The latter was from a popular Peninsular Malaysia originated franchise and apart from this one at Gaya Commercial Centre (it’s at the far end of the single row shops) there’s another one in the Fajar Complex area.

Me and my partner decided to stop by the place mainly because we’d gone to the Insmark Supermarket (that are next to it) and had gotten curious about this small establishment.

Now the food can be divided into two; the food from Goat Heaven Café (yes, I just loved typing that one out) and from the Roti Bakar stall. From the café, we’d ordered their Nasi Goreng Kampung and Nasi Goreng Daging. Funnily, the food came out almost exactly the same, apart from the anchovies (to highlight my ‘kampung’ order of course) and chunks of beef (for my partner’s ‘daging’). But despite that, the same-but-different fried rice was actually pretty tasty. It reminded me of kampong styled cooking for some reason. We’d also decided to share an order of the Egg Sausage sandwich from the Roti Bakar stall and even though I fairly like it, the chilli sauce can use a bit of toning down since it overwhelmed the dish. You literally tasted the chilli sauce and nothing else.

** Current status – Has been closed (as of July 2017) 

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Siang Siang Noodles & Coffee House

This is another food joint in Tawau that I’ve noticed for years but never actually got the chance to try them out yet. Well, that obviously changed when my partner dragged me and my mom into the eatery recently because he was in need of something different to munched on after the Hari Raya celebrations have died out. Their eatery’s location can be considered as strategic as well, what with it being in the middle of the Fajar Complex and right next to the Digi Main Customer Centre (the only one in Tawau so there’s no way for you to mistaken them for another Digi office).

Since it is our first time there, it took me a while to decide the food that I wanted to eat since to my delight, they have most of my favourite items on the menu (but do take note that the menu was not very extensive – yet). And despite their name, they did not just have noodles and coffees on their menu. Eventually I decided to tried out their Nasi Lemak Sambal (pretty good I must say – very Chinese version of the dish), mom decided on having their Nasi Goreng Lalap Ayam (mom said that the sambal was nice – which can be translated as ‘not too spicy’) while my partner ordered their Nasi Ayam Special (he said he picked that one out solely because of the bento box – but the taste was okay as well, nothing too great though). Obviously since they also had desserts and cakes on the menu, it would be a crime on my part should I ignored that so I’ve tried out their swiss rolls, mainly their Oreo and Marble Chocolate Cheese variety and I’m absolutely in love with them. The swiss rolls were soft (I think they’d produced their own cakes which was great) and not overly sweet which is also a major plus for me.

** Current status – Has been closed (as of December 2017) 

Updated on 17/10/2016 - Me and my family came recently and have a go at their Fried Mee Hoon (okay at best) and their namesake Siang Siang Pan Mian (my sister loved it!). But I've also tried out their Portuguese Egg Tart and it's a bit disappointing (it tasted bland and the egg filling was very little)

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Telaga Indah Cafe

The first time I got wind of the term ‘shell out’ was when I was brought to this relatively new restaurant during a breaking fast early dinner by my dear partner. Like I’ve said in my previous post, we’d decided to stick mainly to bazaars as our prime source for food during this year’s fasting month for some ‘personal reasons’ (and yes, it has got something to do with ‘health’ and ‘wealth’ – or maybe the lack of them). For your info, the eatery is located right beside a newly opened Telaga Indah Hotel (a refurbished budget hotel) and in close proximity to the Tawau Terminal Bus and the infamous KFC Empire branch (trust me, everyone in Tawau knows where that is at).

I admit that I was curious when my partner sprouted out the term ‘shell out’ at me. But I was also a bit dismayed when I discovered that the ‘shell out’ involves mainly seafood (which if you’d paid enough attention to my earlier posts, I’m not really a fan of) but I’d decided to ‘soldiered on’ for my partner’s sake since he’d been very enthusiastic about it. The place offers 4 main sets for the ‘shell out’ menu (the differences lies within the choices of seafood that you would preferred – the rice, drinks and vegetable soup were otherwise included in all sets) and my partner decided to picked out the menu with a fish dish (Sweet & Sour Fish), a prawn dish (Butter Prawns), a clam dish (Boiled Clams) and a vegetable dish (Sayur Sawi Tumis). Nothing too mind blowing about the dishes though, everything was just so-so in taste. And I don’t know about you guys but I’m not the messy type when it comes to eating so the whole ‘shell out’ scene does not appeal to me that much (because they usually spread out everything on a wide piece of paper so you guys can share the food). But if you also have the same preferences as me, then do not worry since the place also provides other types of cook-to-order dishes.

** Current status – Still in operation (as of July 2016) 

Updated on 05/05/2017 - We've dropped by recently and tried out their ala carte dishes this time. The Nasi Goreng USA and Nasi Lalap Ayam were good but not great.

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My Ramadhan Food Quest 2016 - Rice Edition

Yeah I know I’m late in posting this but better late than never right? And besides, we’re still within the Syawal month so it’s all good. For this year's Ramadhan, me and my family (my partner included) has decided to buy most of our food for breaking fast from the numerous Ramadhan bazaars that has been sprouting out like mushrooms after a rain all around Tawau. And for some reason, I have this personal ‘quest’ to find (and eat) as many rice based dishes (since they seems to be a wide variety of them this year and also the fact that I absolutely loved them) as I can possibly find throughout the fasting month. And I’m (somewhat) proud to say I have accomplished my ‘mission’ successfully. So without further ado, I present to you My 10 Most Wanted Rice Dishes in Tawau list…

Nasi Kukus

~ Price range is around RM5.50 – RM6.00 and is mostly available in the Sabindo Bazaar & Fujimart Bazaar.

~ The one that I’ve bought was from the infamous Nasi Kukus Hj Taki – which was still pretty good but lacking in terms of portion size 

Nasi Lalap

~ Price range is around RM4.00 – RM6.00 and is available in almost all of the bazaars in town.

~ It has 2 main dishes – it’s either fried chicken or fish with some side vegetables (usually boiled) and a sambal.

Nasi Kerabu

~ Price range is around RM5.00 – RM8.00 and is mostly available in the Sabindo Bazaar & Fujimart Bazaar (and this year I’ve seen A LOT of these around).

~ The price usually depends on the other sides dishes that you want with your rice set (the usuals being Stuffed Chillies and Salted Fish, just to name a few)

Nasi Dagang

~ Price range is around RM6.00 – RM8.00 and is mostly available in the Sabindo Bazaar & Fujimart Bazaar.

~ Not really a huge fan because the main dish is fish (Ikan Tongkol) but I do love the texture of the rice and the gravy.

Nasi Kandar

~ Price range is around RM6.00 and is only available in the Fujimart Bazaar.

~ This got me confused a bit since the Nasi Kandar that I’ve eaten before does not looked like this one (it’s more similar to Nasi Kukus but with side curry gravy) 

Nasi Ayam

~ Price range is around RM4.50 – RM5.00 and is mostly available in the Sabindo Bazaar, Fujimart Bazaar & MARA Bazaar.

~ I picked out this Nasi Ayam Hainan to highlight the differences between what I consider the real chicken rice with the usual types of chicken (like this one) as oppose to the ones with Ayam Goreng Berempah.

Nasi Kuning

~ Price range is around RM4.00 – RM7.00 and is available in almost all of the bazaars in town.

~ This dish can be considered as one of the staple foods in Tawau (with a variety of ingredients) and one of the most popular one is by Restoran Hj Tamrin (unfortunately this one is from a different vendor – sorry folks!)

Nasi Lemak

~ Price range is around RM1.00 – RM5.00 and is available in almost all of the bazaars in town.

~ My personal favourite version actually came from a lone stall that has been selling the stuff for years by the roadside of Kampung Muhibbah & in front of Taman Univilla (a popular vendor even during non-fasting month)

Nasi Tomato

~ Price range is around RM7.00 and is only available in the Sabindo Bazaar

~ The Nasi Tomato came from a popular hang out place in town called De Leepaq Café. I loved the dish but personally think that it’s on the expensive side for a dish similar (in terms of sides) to that of a Nasi Briyani.

Nasi Briyani

~ Price range is around RM5.00 – RM7.00 and is mostly available in the Sabindo Bazaar & Fujimart Bazaar.

~ The Nasi Briyani that I’ve bought was probably one of a handful that does not originated from a well-established Indian restaurant in Tawau. Although lacking in terms of side dishes, the gravy was really delicious (as the vendor was this sweet old lady from India)

So until we meet again next year (I hoped)? Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri everyone

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