Mamak Cafe

No offence to the eatery but I initially thought that (judging by their name) that it would be a typical Indian ‘mamak’ restaurant. As it turns out, it was actually a Chinese owned café that provides various local cuisines. My mom was the one that suggested we go to the eatery at Taman Da Hua 3 (formerly occupied by DD Bear Cafe) as we’d already ordered from them several times through the food delivery app, Morefun. We’d ordered something that we haven’t tried yet via delivery which was the Mix Vegetables Rice (for my mum) as well as the Chicken Congee (my stomach was not in a ‘good place’ at said time so I opted for something easier for my tummy). My mum said that her dish was quite good while mine was surprisingly very flavourful and scrumptious. I wouldn’t mind ordering the dish again in the future as it was definitely worth every penny (well… not that it was expensive to begin with). We’ve also tried out their other dishes before such as their Fish Sauce Fried Meehoon and Salted Fish Fried Rice and both were tasty as well although slightly oily.

** Current status – Has been closed (as of April 2021) 

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Uncle Pepper (Keningau FoodieVenture #4)

My posts on my semi-foodie trip to Keningau ends with this eatery (for now at least). As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I’ve been diligently looking up places to eat (from the ever trusted Google) while I was there and had found out that this place is very popular amongst locals. And as luck would have it, it was coincidentally only a short distance from our hotel, which was a major plus for us (since my partner was so not in the mood to drive that night).

As we walked towards the Fortune Shopping Centre (again… it was more of a commercial area than an actual shopping centre & it was just a 5 minute walk from our hotel) where the eatery is visible via the main road, we saw quite a number of people came and went; authenticating the popularity of said place. We decided to sit at their al fresco area (hence why I don’t have any pics of their interior – sorry folks!) and was served by a friendly waitress in no time.

Now, I’ve read some comments online about their somewhat tardy service but fortunately everything went on smoothly when we were there. The western fusion café has some intriguing menu items, such as my partner’s Cornbeef Fried Rice (which he said was simple and delish) and an assortment of desserts like the Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door Nutty cake that I’d ordered (guess who’s a fan of Guns N’ Roses huh?). The latter was also good and palatable but a tad too long in the fridge has harden its exterior texture (well, harder than it was supposed to be at least).  But I do see why the place has garnered attention from the locals as they do served a variety of delicious food while also having that chilled vibe going on; a very good place to dine and just relaxed with your friends and family.

*Sorry for the not-so-clear menu though, as the laminated menu has seen its fair share of usage thus has loosen up a bit

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Keningau Burger Bakar (Keningau FoodieVenture #3)

Obviously our trip to Keningau will not be complete without my partner whining about where to find some burgers to eat. Fortunately for him, this place came popping up in our Google search for local burgers so we wasted no time in Waze-ing ourselves to their location at Datun Commercial Complex (and I’m also very proud to say that we are not too old for technology yet - hahaha). Oh and they also have a stall just outside of the Keningau Mall so you can also go there for added convenience.

Judging from the atmosphere when we finally made our way there, the place is definitely a prime place for youngsters to hang out (but quite a few families were spotted as well). And it does surprise me a little when I saw that they do have other typical restaurant dishes within their menu other than their namesake. But since it is called the Keningau Burger Bakar, we were more interested to order their BurgerTAR beef burger and Chicken Nemo Burger instead. My partner was only interested in tasting their burger so he ordered his ala carte while I got a bit greedy and ordered their combo set. Needless to say, both burgers were superb in taste. I think one of the things that contributed to the burger’s overall taste was their blackpepper (or is it BBQ?) sauce, since it doesn’t overwhelmed the whole dish. But I was expecting to have a true chicken patty instead of a boneless chicken thigh inside my burger but it was still very good and juicy. I definitely recommend this place to all burger lovers to try at least once if you’re in town.  

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Best Friend Cafe (Keningau FoodieVenture #2)

When we first arrived at Keningau, it was already around 3pm so we decided to take our late lunch at an eatery just next to our hotel. Mind you, there were actually quite a number of restaurants very close to the Sento Hotel proximity (within the Adnan Shopping Complex) but we decided upon this one mainly because it was on the same row as said hotel (yup, we were that lazy to even crossed the street).

Since we’d arrive well over lunchtime, they were already running out of their pre-cooked dishes so we decided to just order something. And I was amused when we were presented with a folder file menu to look through. Unfortunately, even though the menu was quite extensive (I mean… just look at the thickness of the folder on the pictures below) not all of the dishes were available for ordering. So after some of our initial choices were ‘rejected’, we finally settled upon their Nasi Goreng Cinta and Mee Goreng Chicken Boxing. I do like the fact that the cook is really creative in combining elements that usually didn’t go together such as adding sprinkles in a savoury dish as well as putting noodles and fries in one plate. But taste wise the food were just okay in my opinion. Delicious but nothing too memorable I’m afraid.

*FYI, this is the aforementioned (thick) folder file menu

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Rooftop Garden Bar & Grill (Keningau FoodieVenture #1)

Since our stay at the Sento Hotel comes with free breakfasts, me and my partner were pretty happy to have an excuse to drop by their rooftop restaurant. Also the almighty Google has stated that the restaurant is pretty popular locally so we wasted no time in visiting them one morning on the 4^th floor of said hotel. Unfortunately, we got so used to being served buffet style breakfast in other hotels that we were stumped to find their buffet tables only has some hot drinks and plain water (and we’d arrive at around 8am). And since no one greeted us upon entry, we were a bit confused as to what we were supposed to do. It was when my partner asked one of the grumpy staff that we found out that they only offered ala carte style breakfast (well, basically what happen was my partner ask the guy politely and he just point towards a nearby menu list with an annoyed face). I do agree that it was a smart move on behalf of the hotel management, since it can cut unnecessary costs as well as avoiding food wastage especially when they cannot predict the number of patrons per day. But really now, the restaurant staff should at least be trained in hospitality as well and not ignored us like that (or just assumed that we know what to do) .

So we tried their Nasi Lemak, American Breakfast and Mee Hoon Sup during our short stay and all of the dishes were actually quite good and sufficient for an early bite. The latter especially was actually flavourful despite its clear & plain outlook. Other than the aforementioned, they also have Wantan Ho, Fried Mee and Fried Tuaran Mee as the other choices that were available plus free-flowed coffee, tea and plain water for breakfast. 

*FYI... this is part of the Keningau town view that can be seen via the rooftop restaurant

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Outward Vacay: Sento Hotel

Another day, another wedding to attend and this time it was in Keningau. During my heydays I often made a pit-stop at Keningau whenever I rode the express bus to KK (yup, those were the days… of me being stuck in a bus for almost 10 hours) so it was somewhat nostalgic for me. Mind you, the drive to Keningau via the Kalabakan-Nabawan route was somewhat shorter but rougher in terms of (bad) road condition (this is especially true if you are driving a Myvi like us but you won’t have that much of a problem should you drive a 4x4 vehicle instead). Another thing that I noticed about Keningau was that even though it was a relatively small district, it has a lot of roundabouts; a fact that amuses me and my partner greatly.

As there are fairly limited choices of accommodation available (via my trusted hotel booking app) when it comes to Keningau, we have no choice but to look for a hotel using other means and that is when I found out about this hotel while searching in Google. Google comments also indicated that it was one of the top choices for accommodation in Keningau so we decided to just go for it. And thankfully, everything turned out to be great as the hotel is located in a very strategic place, surrounded by shops & food. Situated within the Adnan Shopping Complex (it was more of a commercial area than an actual shopping complex), the modern looking hotel provided a very comfortable and spacious room at a very affordable price. We estimated that such room would probably cost more in KK so we were happy with our double bedding room (as their king size bed rooms were all taken during our stay). A slight problem that we’ve encountered however was regarding their shower; as both the overhead and detachable shower heads turned on simultaneously everytime we took a bath, causing a minor flood in no time. Other great things that I would like to highlight were their not-too-busy public parking spaces (as there were bound to be at least one or two spaces available almost all the time) as well as their no deposit policy. Their staff was also very courteous and approachable, making our stay a pleasant one.

All in all…

Type – Standard Single

Room – 4/5 (their wide room space is what I’m really impressed with)

Price – 4/5 (very affordable – befitting the district I guess)

Service – 4/5 (no problems here as our check in and check out went on smoothly)
Decor – 4/5 (still can be considered as a new accommodation, with an automatic sliding door to boot)

Facilities – 4/5 (at least they do have their own rooftop restaurant and lift)

Location – 4/5 (pretty central and a self sufficient area)

*Here's a look at their lobby area...

... their double bed room...

... the view from our room...

 ... and their current room rates (booking can be made via telephone, email or from their website)

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Kak_Kiah Cake House Centre Point (KK FoodieVenture #116)

Me and my partner were in the mood for something sweet and was looking for somewhere new to get some desserts when we came across this pastry corner on the 4^th floor of the Centre Point mall (yup, it is on the Palm Square to be exact). I have actually read about them a few times from several social media outlets and was a bit surprise to find this (tiny) branch in the mall (as oppose to their other bakery cum café branches outside of KK city). Of course we wasted no time in taking home their Double Chocolate Loaf and Kek Batik to share. Both were pretty good although I preferred the latter better since it has a creamy chocolate ganache as well as a moist texture (which is a rarity since most of the Kek Batik that I’ve tasted before were either too hard or too soggy). We’ll definitely be back to try out some of their other offerings next time. 

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