Restoran Pok Din Nasi Kukus & Nasi Ayam

Now that we’re back in Tawau, I would like to introduce to you this restaurant. Not because of its food, but rather the place itself intrigues me. The restaurant is situated on the main junction leading into Fajar Complex area, right beside the De Choice Hotel. This particular lot has seen more changes in terms of renters than me changing my own clothes in a day. This year alone saw the place being rented by 3 different eateries, with the Restoran Pok Din as its most current tenant.

And when I was finally able to check the place out, I do believe that the main problem does not lie with their food. It’s more or less a problem with the parking. I mean, this has got to be one of the most difficult places to find a proper parking nearby, as their backside houses limited parking spaces while the ones in front were almost always full because of other shops that were also occupying the immediate area. Plus, the place is big in size so I do imagine that the rent must be astronomical as well. Food wise, we’d tried out their Nasi Ayam, Nasi Kukus and Rojak Buah. The selection might be a tad small (apart from the ones mentioned above, they only offer Gado-Gado, Rojak Ayam, Sup Tulang and Soto on their current menu) but quality wise everything were very satisfactory (with their Nasi Kukus being delicious and flavourful). My mom commented that the place might not have a good ‘ong’ (luck) but that subject might be open for future debates.

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

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Famous Amos KKIA (KKFoodieVenture #71)

Since there isn’t much of a ‘foodieventure’ going on during my brief stay in KK, I’ve decided to find something interesting while roaming around the Kota Kinabalu International Airport area as I was making my way back to Tawau. No doubt there’s an abundant of food within the large KKIA compound but nothing caught my interest (probably due to the lack of budgeting during said time) until I made my way to the departure area and saw this place. Man, it’s been years since I’d last eaten them so I wasted no time in buying their Baked Brownies slice and Chocolate Fudge with White & Dark Chips soft cookie to go (note that I might got the names wrong here since I can’t seem to recall the lengthy names of said products). The goodies were good in quality as they’d managed to stay intact throughout my journey home. I’d expected the brownie to be moist while the cookie to be a bit hard by the looks of them but they both turned out to be the exact opposite of each other.

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My Pretzels Imago (KK FoodieVenture #70)

Making a short stop to this light snack kiosk is a must for my partner as he really loves My Pretzels ever since he first laid his eyes and tried them out at their Warisan Square branch. Therefore, I have nothing much to add this time around so this review might be a bit shorter than usual. Just so you guys know, they’re located within the sea of food kiosks on the lower ground (LG) floor of Imago shopping mall. My partner had their Chocolate Stix Pretzels (again) and he loves them as always, since he really likes the thick chocolate ganache being generously spread all over the mini pretzels.

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Tako Tao Imago (KK FoodieVenture #69)

So while me and my partner were roaming around the food mecca on the lower ground (LG) floor of Imago shopping mall, a red coloured kiosk (within a sea of stands) had suddenly caught my eyes. I did mention before that I did not fancy takoyaki that much due to the fact that one of the main ingredients happens to be squids. But when I noticed that this particular kiosk provides a few other choices, I quickly made my way towards them and ordered some takoyakis for myself. Other than the usual variety, they also have prawn, unagi, abalone slice and chicken & cheese to choose from. So it was a no brainer for someone who doesn’t like eating seafood (like me) to pick out the latter as their ultimate choice. And you know what? It’s definitely delicious and scrumptious, with a bigger portioning that the ones that I’ve tried in Tawau.

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DelightGO Meet & Chill (KK FoodieVenture #68)

It will not be a complete trip to KK for me if I did not make a pit stop at the ever popular Imago shopping mall at least once. It’s mainly due to the fact that it’s still considered brand spanking new (and I’m drawn to them like a moth to a flame) and there seems to be endless undiscovered food just popping up every time I went there. So it comes as no surprise that this new bakery cum café has entered my food hunting radar. For those of you entering the mall through the main entrance facing KK Times Square, the bakery is visible to your left (and right in front of the Upperstar Restaurant & Bar).

Initially I just went past the place as I was entering the mall. I did give them a glance before moving on and not giving them a second thought afterwards. But as I was making my way out, the sweet smell of the baked goods as well as cakes eventually pulled me into the adorable looking place. Since my tummy was already at its max level by then, I’ve decided to take away some of their mille crepe cakes (which were prettily displayed next to the cashier). It was kind of obvious for me to take on their Chocolate Mille Crepe cake (which tasted very smooth and not too sweet, just the way I like it) but it was out-of-my-character to choose the Durian Mille Crepe cake as well since I did not like (or could not to be precise) eating durian that much (yup I know, it’s my loss). I guess I was attracted to the sweet smell and cute looking cake that I’d eventually found myself finishing them up at our hotel. And I must say that I like it a lot. They’d managed to blend the durian pulp (it is called a pulp?) into its layers nicely and the result was something not too overpowering especially with the durian involved and was evenly sweetened.

*Sorry for the unflattering picture as I was walking around other places with the cake in tow afterwards

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Choice Restaurant (KK FoodieVenture #67)

Since I was only in KK for approximately 3 days and 2 nights for my cousin’s wedding, there isn’t much of a foodie-venture for me this time around. And most of the places that we did stopped by were repeatedly visited eateries (such as the Fook Yuen Cafe & Bakery) so there isn’t much to tell either. But when I was accompanying my partner to check into his hotel, we did try out the Indian restaurant right next door for some supper (it was already late when he finally arrived in KK so…). The restaurant is located at Jalan Pantai (or within the Gaya Street area) and right next to the Kinabalu Daya Hotel

What annoys me the most about this restaurant was probably the service. Look, I do understand that it was late at night and this is a 24 hours joint (so maybe the waiters were tired and stuff) but it doesn’t excuse the few people left manning the place to ignore us as we’re calling for them to take our orders. We’d pretty much had lost our mood to eat something from their self-proclaimed ‘north and south Indian cuisines’ menu by the time one of the waiters lazily approached us that we just ordered something simple, just so we could fill our bellies quickly and move along. I had their Roti Telur while my partner ate 2 of their Roti Canai and unfortunately there were nothing remarkable about them other than being just okay in tastes. But they did give us 2 types of curries to dip our respected dishes with and both actually faired better than the mains. One of those tasted a bit tangy while the other was more on the spicy side. 

*These were the Roti Canai that my partner had

*And this was my Roti Telur

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Outward Vacay: Kinabalu Daya Hotel

On the same weekend that I was in Kota Kinabalu to attend a wedding, my partner was also in town to finished up some work that he had. His initial plan was to stay at the hotel that I was staying but since they were fully booked, he had no choice but to pick this hotel, which is also located at Gaya Street and only seconds away from my hotel.

It was very unfortunate on his part that he was given a non-refurbished room after checking in. It was totally different from the ones that they were promoting on several booking sites that it literary threw me off when I first open the door. It was so small in size, has dimmed lighting and was very dated looking. I was also very amused to see the bulky TV set sitting inside the room. Better yet, they still had one of those old-school side table switches that I thought had gone extinct since my childhood (scroll down to get the full picture). The bathroom didn’t fare any better, as it felt somewhat icky although acceptably clean. Personally I think that you can get a better room with the price that you’re paying nearby (do note that they’ll also charge you a deposit fee of RM100 upon check in). But on a (slightly) positive note, the hotel lobby does look good (which can give you a false first impression) and the ‘veteran’ receptionists were actually very friendly. But I will not recommend this hotel to you for those reasons alone, unless they had a ridiculously cheap rate or had fully refurbished every single room within its premise.

Next we have…

Type – Standard No Window

Room – 2/5 (you definitely should request for their refurbished rooms upon check in)

Price – 3/5 (their cheapest room is still slightly expensive than other equally levelled hotels nearby)

Service – 4/5 (hats off to the veterans – they definitely knew their stuff)

Décor – 2/5 (they definitely had past their prime)

Facilities – 4/5 (there are a couple of tour agencies, massage services, cafe as well as a money-changing counter attached to the hotel)

Location – 4/5 (they’re also directly facing the Wisma Merdeka mall)

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Outward Vacay: Hotel Sixty3

A lot of unexpected things happened to me this year and one of those was my recent trip to Kota Kinabalu (yup, again). One of my cousins had gotten married during that particular weekend so me and my mom decided to stay at this hotel. Mind you, this hotel is notorious for its ‘almost always full’ reputation especially when booking online. So I felt very lucky to be able to grab a room (the only room that was available on my requested dates) 2 weeks prior to my visit.

Obviously the situation above only intensifies my curiosity. My expectations going into the hotel were pretty high and I must say that they’d definitely delivered. A major plus was the ample space given not only to their rooms, but also their bathroom & showers. Man, my mom was so attached to their huge showers every morning that I needed to do some extra knocking just to get a turn. It might be a bit pricey for someone as budget conscious as myself but I think that they’d totally made up for it with good service and a very strategic location at the end of Gaya Street (right next to the Ambank and in front of the Sabah Tourism Board respectively). The overall décor were pretty sleek and modern, with a whole lot of pictures of KK from back in the day being placed all over the hotel. I was told that the place was formerly a museum so it’s no surprise that their interior structure also includes some internal corridors. Oh and lets not forget the unique complimentary bottled water that my mom almost brought back home with us (which should that happens, will cost me RM22 per bottle as a penalty). Also it’s good to note that they do enforce a deposit of RM200 regardless of the length of your stay (something that had forced me to bashfully run to the ATMs next door during check in).

For ratings…

Type – Super Standard Twin

Room – 4/5 (barely visible scratches here and there but still very comfortable)

Price – 3/5 (a bit pricey but definitely worth it)

Service – 4/5 (you’ll be greeted with smiles all the way and they were also very understanding with my embarrassing ‘plight’ during check in)

Décor – 4/5 (very pleasing to the eyes and chic)

Facilities – 3/5 (I did spotted a local tour agency attached to the hotel lobby)

Location – 4/5 (it’s also right in front of the locally popular Fook Yuen Cafe & Bakery)

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