First and foremost...

Thank you so much for visiting this humble blog of mine. I'll try to give you guys some good reviews on the local food & sceneries especially from my hometown (yay Tawau, Sabah) so please bear with me ok 😊

Oh and just so you guys know before proceeding...

a) I never travel abroad - so you won't be seeing any posts outside of our beloved country (yet!)

b) I take all of my pictures with my smartphone - so no professionally taken photos here as well (sad but true)

c) I dined using my own moolah - so my comments are somewhat unbias (for now)

d) I have this ongoing problem with my internet at home so I can only go online at work (the 'perks' of living at the bottom of a hill)- so I'm sorry beforehand for any comments that cannot be reply timely (my bad)

e) I don't mind if you guys wanted to use any of my pictures - just as long as you credit this blog as well ok 👍

Also due to my own carelessness, I've accidentally deleted most of the photos that I've uploaded to Google Album Archive a few years back. Thankfully I found a way to recover most of them (but not all I'm afraid) albeit in a much lower resolution & quality. So if you're viewing my past posts and there seems to be missing photos from them, I do apologized beforehand for that. I'll try to update them with newer photos should I drop by said places again in the future. So sorry folks... 😢😢😢

So here goes nothing...

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The Kelapa House

I've seen quite a few local businesses (more specifically within the food industry) had to bow out and has to be taken over by some other restaurateur as of late, and this one was no exception. The formerly The Palm Restaurant(just to recap, they're located at the backside of T2 @ Apas commercial area, right next to Starbucks) is now known as The Kelapa House (yes, it is literally just a translation of the former) so the menu has now been revamped. This time around the menu were more Malay than fusion and I'm all for it. We've tried their Nasi Goreng Abu, Sate Ayam and some Telur Dadar Bawang (my hubby has a peculiar appetite that particular day so...) and all were pretty tasty. Maybe we will come back and try something else from the menu in the future. 

** Current status - Still in operation (as of Oct 2024) 

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Chawan Kopitiam

After rebranding themselves with a catchier name (they're formerly a branch of the locally popular Teatime cafe), this eatery (located at the Fajar Complex area, directly facing the CIMB Bank main office) can't seem to get back their 'former glory' as lesser patrons can be seen dropping by said establishment. And it's a shame since the food that we'd tried out were pretty good. But then again it is understandable since competition is very stiff within the area. So far we have tried their Nasi Lemak Ayam Penyet, Mee Mamak Rendang Chicken and my mum's favorite the Claypot Yee Mee and all were flavourful and commendable. 

** Current status - Still in operation (as of Oct 2024) 

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La Doux Patisseries

Although I actually haven't had the pleasure of dining in this patisserie slash cafe at Garden City, (on the same row as a Dozo branch) yet, I did bought a couple of their products a few times and I must say that I'm impressed. It's not everyday that you could see a high end, high quality French types of pastries and cakes, especially in Tawau. Mind you the price might be on the 'premium' side but I personally thought that is was worth it. So far I've tried their Pain Au Chocolate, Chocolate Eclair, Chocolate Tart and Dark Chocolate Mango Yuzu Mousse and all were definitely decadent and tasty. But what I was most impressed by was their Wholemeal Oat bread as it was huge for its price. And you could also ordered western food should you wanted to eat something savoury in house. 

** Current status - Still in operation (as of Oct 2024) 

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Eean Cafe

Also known as Nasi Payau Takada, this is actually the first time that I've encountered an eatery with 2 names. My hubby has seen them being promoted on Tiktok a couple of times so we decided to give them a go recently at Plaza Damai, Jalan Damai (they're right in front of Damai Suites, a soon-to-be-open budget hotel and not that far off from the Tabung Haji office). Since my hubby is a fan of payau, he'd ordered himself their Nasi Goreng Payau but got a bit disappointed with the bland taste of said dish. I've ordered their Nasi Ayam Bakar Sambal Ijo and I like the fact that the chicken was cooked throughout and the sambal was spicy. But hubby dearest absolutely loved their Watermelon Juice so it was all good in the end (I guess). 

** Current status - Still in operation (as of Oct 2024) 

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Reena Bakes

I was so into my back-to-back workload that lo and behold, it's already October. And since the viral dessert Cake in Bowl has been making its rounds here in Tawau as of late (with almost all bakery & sweet shops creating their own versions of the aforementioned), I might as well join the bandwagon. 

So I decided to try out the Reena Bakes version of said dessert, since it did promote its version as 'less sweet'. Located within Fajar Complex (right behind the Bakso Senario branch), it is also when I realized that social media is definitely not a reliable source for genuine reviews, as the cake in question was still sweet as hell (even for a self-proclaimed choco lover like me). But I do like the fact that they did at least tried to balanced the overly sweetness with a slightly salty based cake and sour cream cheese. My hubby tried their Pista Cheese in a Cup and it was just okay I guess as I'm not really a fan of cheese (which seems to overpower the pistachios tastes). They also have a variety of other cakes, pastries and desserts to choose from should you have a severe sweet tooth. Oh and it is worth mentioning that most of their desserts (other than the ones that you could see within the glass display) are on baked-to-order basis so waiting is unavoidable. 

** Current status - Still in operation (as of Oct 2024) 

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Umami Garden

Me and hubby dearest frequented this place (located at Jalan Sungai Tanjong, right in front of a badminton & futsal court) but it only occurred to me just recently that I have not reviewed them yet. Yup, sometimes you can be that absent-minded.. And it was a shame as well since there were some pretty good stalls that had already closed down. 

Going back a few years ago, the eatery was originally a steamboat restaurant before it converted into a regular Chinese restaurant and now a food court with a regular  restaurant and several outsourced stalls. And it does help that they'd also fully renovated the place into the modern, lovely hangout place that it is now. Most recently there's an authentic Indonesian food stall that had opened which we had tried out and was delicious. But we'd also previously tried a bunch of other food such as fried rice, satays, grilled chickens, grilled beef skewers, ramens and so on. And if none of the stalls piqued your interest then you can also order regular restaurant food via the sole drinking station (since the owner of the eatery also owns both the drinks and main restaurant). A great hangout place for large groups of people too since the restaurant is huge. 

** Current status - Still in operation (as of August 2024) 

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