Nishiki @ Kota Kinabalu (II)

Hey, do you know that Nishiki is also a very famous 400 year-old market in Kyoto? I was surfing the net looking up places of interest in Kyoto, hopefully if all goes well, we'd be walking along this market come November. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Anyway, back to KK's Nishiki, we had dinner here with KT and KH the last night of their stay in KK. They already had Sabah seafood for the past few days so let them have Japanese seafood for a change.

The only reason for coming to Nishiki....

Leanne's sole reason for going into any Japanese restaurant...

Something to go with the sake...

more for the sake...

Lucky us the wagyu promotion was on...yumzz..

The most disappointing dish of the evening...my goreng pisang has crispier batter :p

This was like homemade, coarse texture but very rich with a strong green tea flavor and not overly sweet. I like it.

KT picked up the tab but he said Citibank paid for this lovely meal, thank you.

Hana @ City Mall

Keshia wanted to celebrate her birthday with a Japanese dinner at Nishiki. I remember seeing a Japanese restaurant in City Mall a while back. I convinced her to try this new Japanese venue and she was happy as long as it is Japanese. So here we are in Hana at City Mall. Very easy to find as it is right across from Big Apple Donuts and Old Town Kopitiam.

We ordered a dish of sushi first before everything else and decided we were better off in Nishiki as far as raw seafood was concerned.  So we went for the sets and cooked dishes and was pleasantly surprised as we found the food to be pretty good. Service was fast and efficient even with a near full house.

 

Ebi (prawn) tempura @RM18. Very fresh prawns with a thin, light and crisp batter. A winner.

I enjoyed the Yasai (veggie) tempura @RM1o very much.

Especially this fresh shiitaki tempura.

The birthday girl's choice. Chicken teriyaki set @RM16.

Unagi set @Rm 28.

This Amiyaki Gyu Don@RM18 is voted the set of the night. There were about 5 pieces of reasonably sized slivers of beef. Grilled lightly with a most inviting smoky scent and according to Bryan, the owner of this winning dish, very tender and tasty but he never offer to share...*sigh* 

He just held them up to show us...*sigh*.

We had a beef teriyaki @RM20 and saba steak @RM19 too. And some side dishes from the 'Train', yes, they have the self service tram too. I don't remember why I didn't take any pictures of these dishes...most probably distracted by the Gyu Don and also the speed the food was devoured didn't leave any room for focusing. 

All the sets came with the usual pickles, chawan mushi and miso soup.

 

The dinner ended on a sweet note with this complimentary dessert.

I wouldn't mind coming back here again when we want some simple Japanese dishes. Will try their noodle dishes the next time.

If you are not a sashimi fan, this would be a great Japanese joint.

Beringgis Seafood Restaurant, Papar

Daniel recommended this restaurant that is nestled next to the Taiwan Restaurant (which is famous for its pork trotter and fried roti canai) along the road to Papar. There are only a few restaurants we go to when craving for seafood and I have featured most of them, I think. This one is a new one so here goes:

Ambience-wise, we, especially hubby love the rustic wooden deco and airiness of this place. That's one reason why we have been here twice in the last month.

Distance-wise, it is about the same as Tuaran, about 30km from Kota Kinabalu.

Taste-wise, some dishes we had were good, some were not.

Soft shell crabs in batter RM25

Our favorite. Can you see the crab meat?? Very fresh and well done but apparently not available all the time.

Butter prawns RM40

Done so well that the shell was crispy enough to be eaten yet the prawn's flesh was done just right, moist and soft. 

This talapia was perfectly steamed in a very simple, light but tasty soy sauce. RM34

Not bad but don't think we will order this again. RM25 for a couple of clams...

I like this claypot with local tofu. RM15 

But the rest of the clan preferred this sizzling Japanese tofu hot plate. RM18

Peas sprouts sauteed with garlic, perfectly done. RM15

These were some of the dishes that we had and don't recommend.

Look is deceiving here. Three words. Bland, bland and bland. I still can't figured out how this good looking kung po sauce can be so bland and even the squids were bland. RM18

This talapia was steamed with a spicy sauce which I think came out of a bottle of thai chilli sauce. A definite no no. Too super sweet.

Price-wise, can't beat Welcome but cheaper than Gaya Sport and others. An order of a fish, a 1/2 kg prawn dish, a tofu dish, a veg., a shell dish and an extra dish came up to about RM160

Chow Mein for Dave

Special delivery!! Don't these look familiar and bring you down memory lane (Tamparuli's lane to be exact)? Haven't had a chance to visit Tamparuli for a long while, so I made a special tapau (take-away) order to Kedai Yun Kee through Mui Fung. The noodle hasn't change much as far as packaging is concerned.

OK, let's open it...

 

Hah, what's on the news? Oh good, we've got the cartoon page!!

Here we are - the famous Tamparuli chow mein (fried noodle). David, this is all yours. Enjoy!

As for myself, a little presentation doesn't hurt. It still retained its shape of the packaging even when placed on a serving plate...

Toss and rearrange the noodle a little and serve with some chilli padi crushed in lime and soy sauce... a feast.

David, one of these days, I promise I will go to the shop and do a proper post.

Jo

Baba & Nyonya Recipes Curry House, Penampang

Curry Fish Head
We have frequented this place since end of last year. Come here so often that the boss always has a big grin whenever he sees us. Always wanted to blog it but somehow other posts got in the way and this was shelved.
Brought Heather here the moment she touched down in KK for the last CNY holiday and she loved it although we only had snacks.
During CNY we brought Mui Fung and we ordered 2 fishhead dishes - curry and asam as we were so hungry after 'working' so hard building 'the great wall of China' ;p
The curry fish head turned out too spicy with the curry powder overpowering all other ingredients. And I think it was totally outshone by the next dish.

Asam (tamarind) Fish Head

We keep coming back for this. The sauce is out of this world - with the perfect balance of sweet, salty, sour, chili hot and a blend of all the bunga kantan (ginger flower), lemongrass, duan kesum and minty flavours infused. Had to have second helping of rice just for the gravy. Blogging this makes me drool...

Over the many visits to this joint we tried many different dishes. Some we love and some we don't - like this steamed fishhead with soy sauce. The sauce way too salty and fish overcooked. K can do better at home.

Petai and ikan billies (anchovies) sambal. Tasty but a little too oily.

Gong Bao Sotong (squid). Nicely done with the sotong cooked just right, very tender but the sauce is not the expected fiery hot and spicy of gong bao's. Still tasty nonetheless.

Pucuk pakis with sambal belacan and dried shrimps.

Fried Meehoon (rice vermicelli) with sayur manis ( Sabah veg.) RM6.oo

This is very good. Very simple ingredients but done perfectly. A must-have for Don, Bryan and Leanne.

Cendol RM3.00

Saved the best for last - my favourite!! This is exactly the way I like it - coarsely shaved ice piled on top of the pandan-flavoured cendol and boiled red beans. Generously drenched in thick gula melaka syrup (palm sugar) and thick santan (coconut milk). Slurp! Love it. Will be back for more.

Although this is presently my favourite hound, there is this one detail that bugs me... I am not usually very fussy but the sticky plastic sheet (for protection?) they have over the batik tablecloth freak me out. I wanted to lift it up and fold it to one corner but it was thumbtacked to the table!! Why can't they just leave the lovely tablecloth alone? I had to do a complete wipe down before I dare place my hands on it. Sound rather obsessive but it just made me feel so sticky all over and I can't eat comfortably. When I mentioned this to the boss, he said they are going to change that. Hope that will happen soon.

Block E, Lot 34, ground floor, Grand Millenium Plaza, Jalan Lintas, Penampang. It is located the along the Donggongon highway. If coming from Lido along the Lintas highway towards KK international airport, turn left onto the Donggongon Highway at the Kepayan Ridge traffic light. The CKS Hypermarket is on the left. Turn in. The Krishna Curry House is next door.
Dishes come in s, m, l portions and prices except for desserts, breakfast and snacks.

It opens daily for breakfast (very good nasi lemak too), lunch, dinner and snacks until 10pm.

Jo

Lolo's 80th Birthday @ Royal China

Celebrated my father-in-law's 80th birthday last week, twice. One on the actual day itself and another a few days later when we managed to gather most of the clan together. Royal China (Tai Tung) was chosen not so much for its food but for the amenities it provides like ample car park, private rooms and lift.

Started with a four seasons combo appetiser. Only managed to grab one nori roll as everyone was hungry. That's always the case with the first course.

Shark's fin soup with crab meat.

Stewed pork trotter served with some soft buns. Very nicely done.

Steamed Grouper with four treasures, I found two only - slivers of mushroom and Chinese sausage.

Baked prawns with spicy coconut floss.

Braised mixed vegetables (enoki, shiitaki and button mushroom and sea cucumber too) with fermented bean curd.

Long life noodle, a must for birthdays.

Don took this shoot using my camera and commented that the cam is no good because it showed all the gravy smudges on the side of the bowl. Perfect imperfection (or the other way round)?? I said, 'Clean up before a shot!'

Dried longan with pumpkin and snow fungus for dessert.

Eaten together with these pancakes and jelly.

And the birthday cake of course.

With a few of his grand-daughters,

and grandsons

but not quite the whole clan...

Budding photographer

Happy birthday, lolo!!!

As I mentioned we chose the restaurant not for its culinary fame so we really didn't expect anything spectacular but much to our delight the food was quite good especially the pork trotters.

Maybe this is much like life, where there is no expectation, lovely surprises sping up at most turns.

Jo