Joe Sun ~ Food&Coffee Co

Hey hey peeps.... Happy rainy day and happy beautiful Saturday. It's been reaaaaaaaally long since my last post ☺️ 

Nevertheless, today hubby & I decide to head over a newly open cafe in Damai Plaza - Joe Sun Food & Coffee Co. In Cantonese, Joe Sun means Good Morning 🌞 it's name alone is very inviting and the interior design is visibly done ~ black and white. 

The moment we step into this cafe, we were greeted by warm and friendly smile from floor staffs. Service alone earns 2 thumbs up 👍🏻👍🏻 from us.

After carefully studying their menu - they have quite a selection to choose from and all looks so delicious - that we decide to choose "Mantou Canapés" RM13 and "Sweet Potato Salad with Turkey Ham"RM12. As for drinks, hubby immediately decide to try o their Affogato (which he fell in love with after having one from a cafe in Melaka - Backlane Coffee in Jonker Street)... and my usual - latte. Joe Sun's coffee is nicely brewed.

Backlane Coffee - Jonker Street

Joe Sun serve Mantou Canapés first and latter later. I was having second thought when hubby offer a small bite of his deep fried mantou because they always if not always 😆 comes with excessive oily... not the case with this mantou from Joe Sun! Nicely deep fried while maintaining the fragrant of mantou / sweetness of sugar from flour & chicken was layered with cheese sauce. Next few bites after first starts to feel greasy from the cheese sauce, we agree that it's better to be shared among 2 or 3 person. It might be better if the chicken was seasoned heavier and grilled before topping up with cheese sauce.

Mantou Canapés 

Next up is my salad. Now I actually goggled the word 'salad' after took a look at my salad. Somehow, this pass as a salad but to me, it's way too little lettuces in mine. There's was only 5! and the veg was wilted, lost its shape as if it's only serve as plate/food bottom layering. Mashed potatoes was nicely serve as there were mixture of texture with some cubed potatoes and finely mashed potatoes. However, I find it over seasoned with lemon juice so it's a bit to tart for me. 

Sweet Potato Salad with Turkey Ham

Verdict (overall) : 3 out of 5

Service : 5 out of 5

Food : 3 out of 5

Value : 3 out of 5

Address : Joe Sun Coffee & Food Co

Lot 47-0, Damai Plaza Phase 4

Luyang

88000 Kota Kinabalu

Available on Instagram and Facebook

Opening hours : Mon - Sun 7 am - 10pm

Ah Wong's Mixed Fish @ Kedai Kopi Yun Yu

阿黄鱼雜粉 @ Kedai Kopi Yun Yu 

Everyone knows how Sabah is so well known by its fresh fish and seafood. Hence there's many to choose from when it comes to fresh seafood especially fish noddles and fish related produce. Which one offers the best fish noodles you'd asked, it will all come down to your personal preference.

Today for instance, I'm going to introduce Kedai Kopi Yun Yu in Taman Foh Sang. This shop has been in operation for years serving very delicious homemade breads - Roti Khawin and still does serves one of the best Roti Khawin and Kopi O' in town. 

Recently year, they have a new tenant serving fish noodles by the name 阿黄鱼雜粉 - Ah Wong's Fish Noddles. 

Ah Wong opens from 6am till 3 pm daily but please be early during weekends - to avoid disappointment. Once most ingredients finishes, hungry diners will be dissapointed. This place can be very crowded during breakfast and lunch. 

It's hard to find food outlet that doesn't uses any MSG (ajinomoto) in their food now but all diners, you may be assured by Ah Wong! They do not use any MSG but made their soups from genuine ingredients from vegitables and fish+chicken bones. Two thumbs up for Ah Wong!

They have varieties of fresh ingredients to choose from; fresh fish slice, fish paste, fish balls, fish noodles, fish tofu and fish heads. Those whom prefers fried version, they have fried fish tofu, fried fish cakes, fried fish slice and fried stuffed tofu with minced fish. I think they have special ingredients from time to time like fried fish skins for example. 

Upon orders, do specify which type of noodle you want; they have mihun - rice vercimili, kueh teow - flat rice noodle or egg noodle. All available in soupy or dry (kon low) version.

This has become one of my hubby's fave breakfast place. We always come in and order fish paste egg noodle in soup (RM 6 per bowl) for hubby and fresh fish mix mihun (RM6 per bowl) for myself. 

They serves laksa too. I tried once (forgot to take some photos then) it was not bad. The laksa soup is just nice. 

Omma's Oven MOVED

'Wholesome is awesome'

We had a lovely evening in Omma's Oven, Lintas. I've always been a bread addict...chemically gluten addict! This cafe is what I've been waiting for! Exact hit! I could spend whole evening here, if they allow.

Thanks to a friend's recommendation, we basically decide to go on the same day of discovery to real live the goodness. 

This is a small unit that sell wholesome bread that always has something inside. Extended bread menu like 'cranberry+poppy' 'pumpkin seed+fig' 'walnut+prune' 'apricot+almond' and well promoted 'sunset treasure' which is a Japanese style bun with stuffing creamy cream cheese, tangy apricots and earthy red beans. 

I tried cranberry+poppy and hubby ordered apricot+cheese, both taste fabulous. You have to go over and try it for yourself to believe me. On dining in, you can choose to add on butter @RM1 or olive oil+balsamic vinegar @RM1. 

While serves more of organic tea, the variety is quite limited to that and coffee. Keep our finger cross and hope the drink menu will expand. 

They have 3 types of loaves at the moment:- 'olive+herbs' 'walnut rye' and the ever family favorite 'basic wholemeal'. This series has no added sugar, eggs and milk so you can ease your worries on food allergies. 

All of their productions has no artificial coloring, emulsifier, preservatives, improves or softener. 

OMMA'S OVEN moved to new location

- opposite Kedai Kopi 10

Beyond Veggie by Secret Recipe

Gone are the days of predictable vegetarian lasagnes and stuffed peppers- try out fresh ideas with Beyond Veggie by Secret Recipe.

This is not some conventional veggie restaurant, more of a veggie fusion coming from this part of the world. They serves from Red Wine Vercemillie (Taiwan) to Thai style fried flat noodles (Thailand) to Nasi Goreng Kampung (Malaysia?) to Veggie based pizza. We give Thai style fried flat noodles and Tom Yam Noodle our first time.

Now, don't you go comparing the original Pad Tai that u had in your local Thai restaurant. 

Here in Beyond Veggie, they serve their noodle with superior ingredients like Shibu-Ji Mushrooms, zucchini, yellow and red bell peppers. At the side, they thoughtfully add in 1 skewer of mushrooms stalk satay, some Acar, and a few crackers. The satay is well marinated while the Acar tasted like the ones made by our grandmother. 

Hubby ordered Tom Yam Noodle. It's more of Tom Yam Spegethy with a lot of vegetables and it's not overly spicy. I'd say it taste more like Curry Laksa because of the added coconut milk. 

Worth a try

Beaufort Sipitang 一日游

Aramaiti! Happy Harvest Festival to all! Any plan for this Kaamatan? Same question, asked again and again for over a month before the Day itself. MIL is coming-to-town so we cancel our trip back to Tenom. Hubby suggested Sipitang Satay! Off we go. 

Sipitang is a town, district and also a parliament constituency located in the interior division of Sabah, east Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It is the closest town in Sabah to the Sarawak border, and is 44 kilometers south of Beaufort and 144 kilometers south of Kota Kinabalu, the state capital.

You may go all the way to Sipitang then pitstop Beaufort on your way back KK, we pitstop-ing Beaufort, on our way up (or down) to Sipitang. You will definitely pass by Beaufort town anyways. 

Along the way to Beaufort, there's paddy field, Palm Plantations and 'kerangaus' Kerbau(s) and Banggau(s)! Some weird new words hubby created and we laugh till ‘tu pat tong’ (Hakka) = tummy cramps. 

Hubby has quite some memorable childhood in Beaufort’s small town and on their old train. Hubby (family holiday trip) used to take their train from Beaufort down to KK during school holiday. 

Even though just a train ride, it is an anticipated journey especially for a kampong boy like him (he loves to refer himself as the kampong boy). They used to have couple of old aunties carrying rattan baskets selling sweets, chips, some pickled mango, ‘corn on the cob’ – boiled corn or commonly known jagung rebus. Maybe due to upgrading progress and cleanliness of the station, unauthorized ‘hawk-ing’ is prohibited.

Travellers may find themselves here for one of several reasons: to whitewater-raft the Padas River, to catch or arriving on the train to/from Tenom.

Ok, if you still remember how our old KTM train is (when I say old, give and take some design from the 80s to 90s), then it resemble something like that. I heard that there’s 2 types of train – the local and special cabin for tourist. Apart from the fare, special cabin was supposed to be more comfy. Has yet to have the chance, but I will try it one day. Maybe just a short trip from Beaufort to Tenom perhaps.

There is famous Beaufort Noodle but we had not digest from our breakfast so we will try it another day. If you are wondering where you should be heading to for a good plate of Beaufort Noodle, you may try Kedai Kopi Kim Fah. It’s the first before they start branching in KK.

Weng Fung Bakuteh (Klang) 永丰巴生肉骨茶

Couldn't stop myself from posting this article. I admit I'm not a huge fan of that I'll have it as breakfast, lunch and dinner but I'm a fan. I've tried those in Klang, Batu Tiga, Kapar, Jalan Ipoh, Jalan Duta, somewhere near Petaling Street, the one near DSH... just to name a few. Now I've made my point yahhhh

We revisit one of the usual Bakuteh yesterday. There is a few available in Kk area, but we seems to develope a liking to the soup from Weng Fung Bakuteh. It taste more herbal, not peppery ... So I reckon it's more towards the KL style bakuteh.

They do serve other dishes like salted fish steam pork, Hakkan style wine chicken, dry bakuteh etc

We always order a pot-for-two with everything inside (RM20), rice and vegetable. This visit cost us a total bill of RM 38.50 

They featured a few times in Groupon so some of you might be familiar with. They open up another branch in Iramanis. 

The main reason urges me to post this article is - we-would-not-have-any-revisit after this. They serve our clay pot bakuteh and we noticed a lot (A LOT) of baby cockroaches running around at the base plate (below). 

Those babies were nesting happily in the base but due to the heat of the clay pot, they run out! Some made successful landing on the table and run away! Some hide back inside the base after the temperature reduced! When there's babies, it meant there's more mommy and who know how many is there in their kitchen or storage place! That's is for us! We ain't gonna go there again! Maybe due to placebo effect, I feel that the soup is not as good as it was before. However, this is only apply to me personally and my personal opinion only. These photos was taken with my Iphone4 but you still can make out what it is...should have my DSLR with me

Final verdict? Seriously? You may have different dining experience.

Ambiance:  (partial open-air with fan)
Price:  (value for money)
Food: (towards KL style bakuteh)

Address: Weng Fung (Klang) Bakuteh
Lot 2, Block J, Ground Floor,
88 Market Place, Sri Kepayan,
Lorong Pusat Komersil,
88/1, Jalan Pintas 
88300 Kota Kinabalu
Tel : 016 - 832 1221

Hànôi phô - Metro Town CLOSED

Another Sunday to explore new taste. We have pass by Hànôi Phô numerous time but wasn't appealed to dine in until today. We went over for lunch so we only order 2 main and 1 side.

As starter, we had Hanoi Handmade Spring Rolls - Nèm Hà Nôi (RM7.90 for 6 pcs). 

It's expected that the dish arrangement would be different from what shown in menu but the filling is still totally different from what other Vietnamese spring rolls I've had previously (I've tried Vietnam Kitchen and Little Vietnam). More of the vermicelli rather than pork stuffed with other ingredients like black fungus mushrooms, onion, carrots and some egg (I think).

Next dish serve up is Vietnamese Special Fried Rice (RM8.90). Bland and nothing special...yah, well after tasting it, confirmed it's bland and nothing special of its special fried rice except it's stickier compare to our usual Chinese fried rice and very oily (for me). If it's not because of that-hard-to-see minced pork and cube luncheon meat, I thought it's more like economy fried rice from morning market.

Hubby ordered Rice Vermicelli Chicken Soup Large - Bun Gà (RM10.90) that umm looks more like a bowl of Vietnamese vermicelli. They are very thoughtful as some customers might have some preference on topping, separate the toppings on a small cute serving plate. It is all up to you if you want to add in topping - celery, mint leaves, bean sprout, yellow onion, and chopped bird eye chili. I feel that this is still a decent bowl of vermicelli.

Now, food and drinks, they always serve the latter, later! Shop is full during lunch hour and almost all table had their drinks after their food arrives. The usual drinks we will have is definitely,Vietnamese drip-drip coffee, after all its Vietnamese restaurant. It's a big big disappointment.

We order ours, iced with condensed milk. Upon arrival, condensed milk is pre-mixed with ice. By the time our coffee finished dripping, our cup is full with iced water (no more ice, so our coffee is no longer iced coffee). We have to pour away the iced water (wasting some of the condensed milk) before we pour in our coffee. Mine taste so bitter (cause by lack of condensed milk?) but i prefer my coffee slightly bitter anyways.

Final verdict? There might not be second visit for me.  When you order their noddle, there’s either the usual (Sabah type) vermicelli or traditional Vietnamese Noddle for you. 

Ambiance: 9/10 (Close door - Aircon)
Price: 6/10 (not worth the value)
Food: 5/10
Verdict: Worth trying if you have nothing else to dine in that area

Address: Block E, Ground Floor, 

Lot 8, Metro Town

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Telephone no:- 088-384 258

CLOSED

REPLACED WITH SOCIALIZED CAFE