At the end of December, Meep & I along with 6 cousins & my sis went to Kota Kinabalu (KK) for 3 nights. On our first night, everyone asked Meep what he felt like eating for dinner and he said “Seafood!”.
It is almost as though he knew that KK is quite well known to Bruneians for their seafood. I don’t know it is more because of the prices. Everything is just cheaper in general and with the exchange rate – it becomes a steal to eat seafood or anything in KK.
My cousin in law suggested this “area” for dinner, about 15 min walk from our hotel, Le Meridien.
This place was huge! It has over a dozen different “stalls” showcasing their live seafood or their speciality items. There are seafood stalls, bbq stands, oyster pancake stands and more. We picked Old Village Seafood Restaurant.
After grabbing a table in front of our chosen “stall”. I spent a good 15 minutes just walking around and taking pictures of all kinds of weird looking seafood (some were not very appetising at all).
There is also a large range of vegetables to pick from:
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We ordered a range of bbq items and also an order of delicious fresh oyster pancakes from other stalls~
Here we ordered:
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Cockles RM$25
These were some of the biggest, fattest cockles I have ever had. They were cooked in a spicy salty sauce and really really delicious. Briney, salty and tender.
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Veggie RM$12
I am not sure what veggie this was but it was delicious. The vegetable itself had a silky feel (the leaves) with a nice tender stalk stir fried with a little garlic.
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Steamed Prawns RM$30
The shrimps were a lot smaller than I would have preferred but hey, these were swimming, caught, washed and steamed in less than 15 minutes. Can’t get any fresher than this.
Steamed with green onions and ginger – which actually doesn’t do much for the shrimp but gives off a nice aroma. Shrimps were sweet, tender with a nice crunch from the freshness. They were served with a spicy light soy sauce.
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Spicy Crab RM$35
The crab was quite disappointing. I am a huge fan of crabs and have no problems getting down and dirty. But these were a little small, and was not “sweet” like most bigger crabs filled with roe – making it a little frustrating to pick apart & eat.
It was a bit overdone so the flesh was a little rubbery n stringey. Â The sauce was not bad though; sweet, salty and very spicy. Pretty much the same sauce as the cockles but a lot spicier.
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Steamed Fish RM$72
Fish was good but not great. It was steamed with some ginger, soy, garlic and chili. Then topped with cilantro. It was a little bland and overcooked. Quite upsetting since the fish would have been amazing if it was seasoned a bit more and steamed less.
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Extras:
Rice (RM$12), Peanuts (RM$4), Pickled papaya (RM$4) & Wet towels (RM$5)
Beer (RM$24),2 Â Fresh orange juice (RM$10) & Fresh watermelon juice (RM$5)
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Total Damage: RM$251
Personal rating: 3 out of 5 (Good)
I think we have concluded that the seafood does not get fresher than this; especially since our dinner choices were swimming about happily before we picked it for our dinner.
I was not a fan of how some of the dishes were prepared but can’t argue with the variety, price & quality.
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Old Village Seafood Restaurant
Block C. Sedco Complex,
Kg Air , 88000
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Tel: 6285 6762
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