Semi-hiatus

Sorry dear readers for the hiatus. Both of us are kinda busy, EMQ is busy with her studies/intern..whatever term you call it.. Tsa's computer had been acting up; it even crashed when uploading photos and so on.

Will be updating soon.

QQ Ice

Unable to tolerate the ultra hot sizzling weather of Sandakan? Quench your thirst easily at QQ Ice! This is my survival kit here because I get so hot and thirsty all the time and just wanted to look for something nice but not too expensive. However nowadays I limit myself with the amount of cups I drink per week because of the fear of my health.....but that's just me! (if you are in Sandakan for just 1 week, WHY NOT SPAM DRINK :p)

Anyways back to the point. QQ Ice is located at one of the corners in the centre of Mile 4 Indah (Head towards inside Indah's roundabout and spin your way~ and there you will see it)

Variety of drinks with pearls
Asides from the original Pearl (Milky) Tea, you can have your pearls with other teas or drinks such as Red Tea, Green Tea, Ice Blended drinks, Juices. Or you can even order any type of drinks with added black jelly, magic jelly, etc.. Play with the combination!

I still like my rm2.50 Pearl Tea best
The pearl is not sweet and chewy enough for me. It's not easy to find a nice big cup of Pearl Tea with only rm2.50 outside of Sandakan.. (i think)

Ps ; I do prefer Pearl Tea here over Cool City :p



-emq-

Pulut panggang

Hari Raya was around the corner and the annual Bazaar Ramadhan is up ; which is a good opportunity to grab malay delicacies!

Here I introduce you to Pulut Panggang.

Pulut panggang is a traditional malay snack made from glutinous rice flavoured with coconut milk and it is filled with coconut flesh and shrimp (it might varies, depending on the stall) and barbequed to perfection.

Tear off the banana leaf; and you get to see the glutinous rice.
(it does look like a banana in this pic, just different colour...if you get what I meant)

I never heard about chicken and beef flavour but I finally get to taste it the other day at the Bazaar Ramadhan. I was expecting it to have meat, but no, instead of meat, it is just coconut flesh in chicken curry and beef curry. Disappointed with no meat at 1st, but I'm wrong. I actually like the taste of the curry. Chicken curry and beef curry do tasted differently. That one stall offers shrimp too. Their shrimp flavour is the normal ones; the common flavour.

The shrimp filling with coconut flesh

Pulut panggang is very filling because of the glutinous rice. It is pretty cheap and it taste great! It's only 50 cent per roll/stick.Now, if you ask where do I get it, I'm not sure to be honest. There are a lot of stall selling them during the bazaar. I guess you can get it in malay markets. I never see them in malay eateries; or maybe I just missed it.

-Tsa-

Kedai Kopi 2020

Located in Bandaraya Kim Fung Mile 4, you can hardly miss this shop located at one of the corners of the shoplots a few blocks behind the Supermarket. I also believe that the owner of this shop is a strong believer of feng shui because you can spot a whole lot of charms and fengshui decorative items,..quite an interesting collection ^^, well as long as they work! - since this shop has been doing quite well since years ago judging from the amount of people who eats there every time i pass by.

Specialty of the shop? I am not too sure but my own family members recommended their fried noodle (wet) to me. But I myself am not a frequent customer of this shop because of certain reasons.

Sap Chao Min ( wet-style fried noodles)
As you can see, the style is pretty different from the typical well known Sandakan Sap Chao dishes. Here they used ingredients such as tomato so the sauce tastes slightly sour. I guess some do prefer their Sap Chao like that, but personally at the end of the day I will prefer to eat the usual Sandakan style Sap Chao.

Sap Chao Dai Fun (wet-style fried kuey teow)
Also, one serving of this costs about rm10 (or more, i forgot because this was last year) - which is also one of the main reasons why i don't frequent this shop that much. They do have a reason for charging so much, due to the big fresh prawns, fishes and other fresh ingredients used...but still, i personally think that it's not that worthy, at least not all the time.

-emq-

Ba Lin

Ba Lin is one of the very very few places in Sandakan where you can drink cocktails or alcoholic drinks in a quiet and peaceful environment (without loud music, people dancing and flirting around, smoke, and no perv people). SOOOooo anyways, Ba Lin is located in town, straight down from the clock tower roundabout and pass the second fountain roundabout in town. It is located on top of NAK Hotel.


You can opt to have your drink on the open air top floor, enjoying the night sea breeze and night sky. If you are as lucky as me, you might even be able to witness beautiful lightning before you actually get too scared of being strike by it that you eventually move down one floor

Open air~
However, from what they told me that time, you need to spend above a certain amount to be able to enjoy those nice couches, but for poor students like me, we only get to sit on tall unstable chairs TT, with an overly romantic dim lighting that i eventually got annoyed with because i couldn't read the menu TT

Downstairs
Better chairs at least, better lighting

Didn't take really good pictures of the place due to poor lighting and lousy camera

Cocktail menu

Mocktail menu for those who are driving :)

Midori Colada
A blend of Midori Melon liquer, white rum, pineapple juice and coconut milk.


Mojito
A slightly sourly sweet drink with a combination of white rum, lime juice, sugar, soda water and mint leaves.

I do prefer the Midori Colada because I am not a fan of sour taste ^^

Planter's Punch
A very refreshing mocktail

Planter's Punch is actually a classic rum drink but the non-alcoholic version of it is common as well. It is made with a mixture of frozen peaches with freshly brewed floral tea

-emq-

Sim Sim Floating Eateries 2

This place was previously mentioned, and you can check it out here ! I would just like to further introduce this place not only as a restaurant but also as a place for you to buy any types of seafood available in the nearby sea.

Newly built pathway outside
It does look alot nicer but..they could have cleaned d water instead/also -.-

I did not know this is a kampung ^^;;

Hoi Sin Gao
Seafood wonton, this is also quite nice and you can order one whole bowl of it to share~

Nice and compact filling :D

Other than the food, just at the side of this restaurant, they sell seafood freshly caught from the sea (they fish on a daily basis from morning till somewhere around noon or after so they are damn fresh!), if you are able to reach there early you can even wait for the little boat to come and bring even fresher fishes and handpick your fish right away! (not like the fishes they have there aren't fresh heh, most of them are still alive)

Sa Bak

Fei Lo - Scallop
Mind you these little things are painful to clean TT, need patience

Prawns
boxes of them!

Bigger fishes such as Chuk Chim (for making fishball) , eel, etc

Sharks
Dont flame me for these if you are protective-of-sharks type of person, I'm just taking pictures and show you what are the types of fishes you can find there ^^

Other than those that you've seen, there are also normal fishes that all the housewives, mothers, grandmothers cook at home and also alot of stingrays (ikan pari) for delicious ikan bakar and curry.

Useful tips in picking a fresh fish: Red gills are better, check the eyes-cloudy eyes are no good, harden meat/body is no good also..of course, a jumping fish will be the freshest

Man cleaning sharks

Man chopping and cleaning fish for customers
Such service is included, no extra charges!

Dunno what fish meat used to make salted fish

-emq-

Mile 4 Market Tau Fu Fa

Tau Fu Fa is a cantonese name for soybean custard/beancurd/douhua. For all that dont know, it's basically like a soft tofu, usually eaten with either sugar water or soybean. In places like Sichuan they eat it with chili oil and soysauce (don't ask, i have no idea does it how it taste like TT).

In Malaysia itself, it is usually eaten with clear sugar syrup, black sugar syrup or soybean milk. As for Sandakan itself (or at least this store here itself), it is served with or without the clear sugar syrup.

This is the near perfect tau fu fa that you can find in Sandakan Mile 4 market (Pasar Kim Fung). I have been eating it since i was a little kid and it is only after I have been tau fu fa deprived, and tried other tau fu fa that i can finally appreciate how smooth and fresh this tau fu fa really is.

This store also sells other chinese desserts such as..................... (i'll get back to you once i remembered ^^;;)

Tau Fu Fa

This stall is located next to the char siew, and siew yuk in Mile 4 market.
It is kept warm in this huge container and you can either eat it there warm
or dapao it and bring it home and serve it chilled :D
Or, you can dapao it home and serve it with evaporated milk :P

Dapao-ed Tau Fu Fa

Alternatively, you can bring your own container and dapao the Tau Fu Fa
It's healthier because plastic bags aren't that good for storing hot food.

Seriously smooth and slippery Tau Fu Fa

Just as a comparison, have you ever heard of the Funny Mountain Soybean curd that is located in Ipoh?

Funny Mountain
Packed with human beeline all the time and is recognized by the 2 stripy green umbrellas located outside of the shop

Dapao-ed Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fa!
Sorry for the ugly image of it, the car ride was bumpy ^^;;

It is really famous and it got featured in the newspaper but personally after tasting it, I still think that this Sandakan Tau Fu Fa is smoother in comparison. Now don't flame me Ipoh people, I am just stating what my mouth registered :P. Nowww, anyone is welcomed to fly to Sandakan and try this soybean curd and if you still think that the one in Ipoh is smoother offfff course I will let you win hehe

-EMQ-

UFO tarts

Sandakan speciality:

(UFO from Kelly Bakery)

UFO, or ngau si dui (cow dung cake), or there might be some other names that you call it. We've talked about it here and here. Nothing comprehensive; have yet to really look for it - too busy, or
our timing are always off. There are quite a number of places offering this piece of delicacy. You can mostly find them at old coffee shops which sells breads, cakes and pastry items.

UFO cake/tarts or whatever you describe it is actually a thin piece of cake with some pastry cream on top and topped with meringue ( Egg whites ). The process is not as easy as it seems (or maybe it is) So it is somehow savoury and sweet at the same time. Soft and fluffy sponge cake with smooth pastry cream and light meringue. How great is that. Despite all the things I've said, I am unable to provide all the locations where this little jewel can be found, thus;I shall update on locations of UFO next time, or you can just ask us- we know some of them.

Never did I know that our own Sandakan only pastry managed to make it overseas. Yes, over sea. There is this lady selling UFO tarts in Singapore.For more information, head to her site =)

The Boss Fast Food & Juice House

I do not intend to criticize but this is by far the worst place I've ever been to for tea. Literally 'tea' as it is usually referred as yum cha by locals and chinese. The Boss Fast Food & Juice House is located at Indah, just behind Hong Leong Bank (the ex- A&W location), opposite Parkwell Supermarket. It is pretty noticeable cause the signboard is black and the text is in red. Striking.

Went there a couple days ago with some friends around 4pm. We do not want to have anything heavy hence plan to order some snacks, but the price for the among is not that worth it, and in the end we ordered the following :

Salted Plum Drink
This is the worst salted plum I've ever drank. I don't know, it seems that this is just a cup of salt water with some ice and the plum we saw is for decoration. Like seriously. My friend did not touch it after the first sip.

Plain Water
Yes, a normal sky juice. I'm not sure of the taste, but the cup is obviously so dirty that your mind would tell you that it is dangerous to drink this. You might not notice it but the bottom and the sides of the cup is dirty and yellow. Too lazy to scrub the cup?

Lime Juice
What can ever go wrong with this simple beverage? Wrong. Despite having so much of it in the glass, I hardly tasted any lime. Okay, it might be exaggerating, there are SOME taste.

French Fries
Believe it or not, this thing cost us RM3. Like seriously, that portion. Hotel rates are not even at that standard whereby this portion charged at the price. The fries are not being fried 'properly' it is soft and not even hot when served. Terrible.

I went to this place before and you can read about it here and it was decent during that time and I am not sure what happened with the kitchen. Staff wise, I do not enjoy their service. Their rice items used to be average. I'm not sure about it now. But if you ask me will I come again? It's obvious.Although I MIGHT, come back to try out their cooked dishes.

Rating.. how to rate?

1 Nation Restaurant Sdn Bhd

Face it, who doesn't like to indulge with desserts especially after dinner. Desserts are so wonderful where it suits every single age group. And so, we went to this place to try out their ABC.

ABC is Ais Batu Campur or sometimes known as Ais Kacang Which literally means mixed ice. Mixed ice is a simple desserts where the main ingredients are shaved ice,milk (condensed milk), palm sugar(gula melaka), or sometimes syrup. Traditionally, just like the name it is just shaved ice and beans but now,the condiments ranged from various jellies to ice creams, syrups and fruits. Basically it is something that can be mixed with almost anything.

Our destination to try out their ABC

Shaved ice with Fruits
As you can see, there are various types of item in here.
Red bean, corn, longan, papaya, honey dew and water melon
served with condensed milk and strawberry syrup on top while underneath the whole pile of stuff is the palm sugar.
Sweet? It varies as the among of ice is so much, sometimes it is hardly too sweet for anyone. As I said, it depends though.

ABC with Ice cream
Note the huge bowl. It is really so deep and big and to be honest, I did not finish this. It's too much to handle after a great dinner.

As you can see, you can't actually see any fruits. I did not order any fruits in here, hence this is just ABC with jellies and ice cream. Various jellies are found here together with sweet corn and red bean.

Again, I'm sure the size of the ice cream do catch your attention. Yes, instead of 1 scoop which usually most place cater, they serve 2 scoop of ice cream. This is strawberry flavour. However, I don't fancy this ice cream. It's very rough, I can taste the powder in it, very powdery not smooth at all. I hope they can improve over time.

The verdict? Yes, the portion is very big and I bet 1 bowl can be share with 2-3 persons. It's bigger than Restaurant Yum Yum2. Taste wise, I still prefer the latter. It is not to say that this place is bad, it's just that I don't like the ice cream here.

This place don't just serve ABC, they have a lot of choices to choose from, I mean food. 1 Nation Restaurant is located at Prima Jaya, just enter the junction towards Taman Tinosan. It is just located north east (2 o'clock) of Restaurant Yum Yum 2.

I'll rate it 4 over 5.

-Unable to generate a map from google map, Sandakan map is not updated-

-Tsa-

Restaurant Yum Yum 2

Went to this place before, but just that I kinda like this place. The food is fine and the price is too. This place is forever flooded with people. I sort of blogged about this place before. You can read about it here.

Yin Yong
Yin Yong is a popular beverage from Hong Kong. It's actually a mixture of coffee and Hong Kong style milk tea. Unfortunately, I have to say this is the worst Yin Yong I've ever tried. No offence, but yeah, it's my opinion. The tea is too thin, milk is too thick. Coffee..where?

Fish Glue Soup

It's the name from the menu. But dear readers, it is actually fish maw. Fish maw or usually known as yue piu in cantonese. Hence this is the famous yue piu kang (Fish maw thick soup)
This restaurant's fish maw soup is nice. I'd say 8 out of 10. Not bad. I kinda like it.

Fish maw is it's actually the air bladder of the fish to keep it's buoyancy. It's from the fish stomach. As you can see, they put generous amount of fish maw and crab meat of course. It's sweet and just right. I compliment their stock on doing this. Worth trying.

Sweet Corn with Crab Meat Soup
I have to say it is not as nice as their fish glue soup. I think Hawaii served sweet corn soup better. The amount of crab meat is there, it's just the sweet corn, does not made the soup sweet as it should be. It tasted kinda artificial.

Green Apple Chicken Rice
If i ever remember the name correctly, that's what it should be. Green apple sauce! hah! Okay, it's the first time I saw it. Taste? Sort of like Thai-style chicken with green colourings. It taste wonderful nonetheless. Worth trying.

Garlic and Shallots Chicken Rice
Again, if my memory serves me right. The garlic and shallots are fragrant. I like it, but I'd prefer it's not that thick. Too thick for my liking. Garlic are fried to crisp.Shallots are saute till it fragrant. Shallots and garlics are best friend in the vegetable world I think.

Yang Chau Styled Fried Rice
I blogged about this earlier, but yeah, I used to enjoy this dish a lot but it's kinda a let down during this time around. It's tasteless. Yes, it's just like fried rice with egg without any seasoning, so to speak. The previous time I visited, this is very appetizing. Oh well, I think it depends on luck? Still, the prawns are still big and fresh and yes the rice is coated with the wok's 'smell'

Conclusion, again, I'd like to come back to this place again. I ordered a Herbal Chicken, but I've blogged about it and it's still the same. Rich in chinese herbs. Very appetizing. I recommend you to try. The chicken is still juicy and full of flavour. Not to mention their Avocado Juice. It's thick and sinful. It's fattening alright.

In my opinion, it's 4.5 out of 5 for this place.