Restoran Madeena Bistro

Nope, sorry folks but I still did not manage to visit any new eateries during this RMCO period so here’s another one of my previously-visited-but-not-yet-posted entries.

Personally, I was quite impressed with the initiative taken by several bigger Indian Muslim restaurants to broaden their existing menu to include other non-typical-Indian cuisine; this place included. Located on a prime spot within the locally popular Kubota Sentral commercial area (they’re right beside the Tealive branch), they’d also added several Western dishes, local snacks as well as uncommon Malay cuisine such as the Nasi Arab Ayam that I had (which was available daily). Granted, it does look (a lot) like the Nasi Briyani but the taste really does differ (slightly) to the latter and it was actually quite delicious. My partner was not as adventurous that day and requested instead for their Roti Banjir. He was happy with the very generous amount of kuah kari but the overall taste was just okay to him (because he said that he’d tasted a better version of the food elsewhere). But we did drop by again from time to time for a no frills minum petang so do try them out for yourselves and see what you think.  

** Current status – Still in operation (as of June 2020) 

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Piano Cafe

As I was typing this, the Prime Minister has just announced that starting from 10^th Jun 2020 until 31^st August 2020; the government has decided to further relax the CMCO and now introduced the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO). So that is actually good news for restaurant owners nationwide since they now can open their eateries freely (but while still following the required SOP of course). And that also means that I might be able to give you guys some fresh reviews in the not too distant future (yippee!).

But in the mean time, here’s another eatery that I’ve actually wanted to write about for the longest time but kept getting held back by something else. I’ve actually been to this place not long after it was just opened so I do not know whether they still have the same menu items, but all I can say was that the food was very satisfactory. Located on the ground floor of the newly built building at the entrance to Taman Poh San at Jalan Masjid (where the Yamaha Music School resides now), the cosy café (with a cute looking white piano to boot) provides mostly Western food and desserts. Me and my partner had chosen their Black Pepper Chicken Rice and Honey Mustard Grilled Dory Fish Chop as our lunch and both were very flavourful. I also can’t resist trying out their Cake of the Day (which was the Chocolate Indulgence Cake I believe) and it was also good; not too sweet and not too rich. The place also has a special corner for children as well as plenty of reading materials for casual diners so do give them a try if you’re within the area. Oh but I do need to mention that it may take sometime for them to prepare your food (since they lacked staff when we were there) so this might not be the suitable place for you should you’re in a hurry.

** Current status – Still in operation (as of June 2020) 

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Ancient Taste

Disclaimer: The following visit was done way before the Movement Control Order (MCO) started so rest assured that no rules/SOP were broken  as I’m currently doing my part by staying put at home (well, most of the time anyway after the CMCO was being implemented). And as far as I know, the eatery was still open for business before the MCO.      

Yup it’s official guys! I’m just too lazy to do a special Hari Raya entry this year (and I blame it all on the CMCO + the never-ending public holidays). So here I am digging through my collection of my previous visits to eateries around Tawau just for you guys. Now I know for a fact that this Non-Halal Chinese cuisine eatery (located within the Perdana Jaya commercial area, on the row facing/nearest to the Bataras Hypermarket) has stayed open during the MCO/CMCO period but of course for take aways only. And before the MCO, the place was regularly packed with patrons so me and my mom were rather surprised to see the lack of people when we were there one evening. I guess we just hit the timing jackpot during said time huh?

Most of their food consist of noodles-based dishes (particularly panmian aka pan mee) so my mom opted for one of only two rice dishes that were available at that time which was the Chicken Legs with Rice (yup, no typing error there folks). My mom did say that the chicken legs were succulent but she doesn’t really fancy the strong smell and taste of the herbal infused broth. I had their Fried Homemade Moonlight Noodles and was surprise to find that the noodles were not too bad and was pretty tasty despite my initial dislike for panmian. I also really like the semi Chinese dynasty setting of the eatery as it brings out a certain ‘historical’ mood.        

** Current status – Still in operation (as of June 2020) 

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