Kedai Kopi Keong Sang

My mom has been pestering me to have our breakfast here for awhile now but I kept avoiding the place due to one particular problem… their parking. Since they’re located in the corner of a packed industrial area (namely the Hua Dat Industrial complex, the area on the left side of the Tawau Lama/ Batu 3 Jalan Apas junction) getting any parking space near their eatery was just impossible regardless of the time (they’re mainly open from morning to the evenings). So as I was just entertaining my mom’s request one morning to drive by the area (with zero expectations mind you), another patron coincidentally made their way out of the place. Yup, luck was on our side that day.

Now this place is very well known especially to Chinese Tawaurians (heck, even my aunties from KK talked about them before) so they have successfully expand their business from just one shop to two now. And we can easily see why since their menu was pretty extensive as far as breakfast & lunch was concern. They have everything from pre-cooked meals, cook-to-order ones, assorted bakery goods, a variety of Chinese buns (aka pao) and dim sums and several stalls for chicken rice and noodles. We decided to try out their Chicken Rice and we loved it. My mom was particularly impressed to see some eggs and peanuts being added to the dish. I’ve also heard some favourable reviews regarding their egg tarts so I decided to give them a go as well. It wasn’t overly sweet and the crust was deliciously crunchy. My mom cannot resist bringing home some paos as well afterwards and she loved those as well. Two things that I need to note here were that some of the buns and dim sums might contain pork and the eatery is also home to the King Pao (imagine a pao the size of a birthday cake) so do check them out should you’re interested.

** Current status – Still in operation (as of Dec 2018) 

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Cafe 3 Puteri Fajar

Honestly I have no idea whether this place is the same eatery that had formerly opened at Eastern Plaza (due to their identical names) but what I can say for certain was that the owner seems to be a different person altogether (or a relative maybe?). Me and my mum had been driving passed them often at Fajar Complex (they’re right in front of Ikan Goreng TNT) so we decided to finally try them out for lunch one day.

We did note that the menu was somewhat similar to that of its namesake so we decided upon their Nasi Goreng Ayam Penyet (since they seem to be promoting them quite a bit within the cafe) and Nasi Sayur Campur (obviously my mom’s choice). All I can say is that the former came out looking nothing like the ones that I had in Eastern Plaza (or did I just remember them wrongly?). Still, the dish has its own merit and was delicious. But I do wish that they added more of that tasty ‘rempah’ on top of the succulent chicken though. My mom was satisfied with her go to dish but commented that it was so-so at best in terms of taste.

** Current status – Has been closed (as of April 2019) 

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Sushi King Tawau

Yup, as of the middle of 2018, Tawaurians are rejoicing to the fact that we FINALLY have our own branch of the aforementioned. Now I can smugly walk passed the franchise in KK as I’ve done so with McD (yeah I’m petty like that ;-)). By the way, they’re located at the 1Arena BDC commercial centre, on the same row as the Arteasan café.

Like any other big name franchise that came to town, the first few weeks were quite hectic. Meaning, you’ll see tons of people literary lining up outside of said premise as if there was a huge sale going on. So me and my family decided to wait for the eager crowd to dispense before deciding on dining there one day. On the kaiten sushi was obviously my weakness so I wasted no time in getting myself my usual favourites plus some newly added Hanjuku Cheese Cake and the Chawanmushi. My parents were not too keen on sushi so they opted instead for their set meal and bento. Since I never actually ordered one myself before, I was a bit taken aback by the rather small portioning of said dishes. Is it supposed to be like that? At the time I’ve also tried out one of their promotional dessert (Brownies & Marshmallow I think) which tasted okay but nothing to shout about.  

** Current status – Still in operation (as of Dec 2018) 

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