Sandakan - Day 6 (Sandakan Town)

It's our 2nd last day to explore Sandakan food! So we got up a little early and had our brunch at Kedai Kopi Pin Wei. We took a Grab ride from Livingston Hotel to Kedai Kopi Pin Wei - 10 minutes drive (5.6km) (Grab fare - RM 5). This shop is famous for their deep fried pork big noodles. They have dry and soup version. We decided to try both but when the dry noodle came, it looks exactly like the soup version except lesser soup. Their homemade flat noodles are thick unlike Ipoh "hor fun" which has smooth and silky textures.

Our noodles come with deep fried pork, you tiao (fried dough) and spring onions. The serving is quite small which is a good thing for us as we can try other food later. Chili is spicy and best eaten together with the fried pork. Overall, it's okay but not superb. I ordered Teh Madras (3 layer tea) made with evaporated milk which is nice and not too sweet. 

Total bill - RM 16.80

Kedai Kopi Pin Wei

Teh Madras and teh ping (iced milk tea)

Chili sauce

Dry kon lou deep fried pork big noodles - RM 6

Deep fried pork big noodles - RM 6

Address:

Kedai Kopi Pin Wei

Lot 31, Block D,

1 Batu 5, Jalan Utara,

90000 Sandakan,

Sabah, Malaysia

We took a Grab ride to Kedai Yap Syn Kee, 9 minutes drive (5.9km) (Grab fare - RM 6) from Kedai Kopi Pin Wei. We reached there before 12pm and saw the gate is closed. This shop is located at the roadside of Jalan Cecily and it is famous for its "leong fun susu" (grass jelly with evaporated milk). We read some food reviews saying that their grass jelly sell out very quickly. However, we sat outside for half an hour and we only saw two customers. Maybe because we're still under RMCO (recovery movement control order) and the country's border still remain closed to foreign travelers.

The lady wasn't very friendly and speaks only Hakka. They only do takeout business but there's two rows of chairs outside the shop whereby you can sit and drink your packed grass jelly. The gate is closed all the time and they will give you the packed grass jelly in between the grills. We ordered one packet of grass jelly with milk and one packet of grass jelly. You can add additional grass jelly (RM 0.50), milk (RM 0.30), sugar (RM 0.20) or ice (RM 0.20). They even sell grass jelly as well - 1/2 box (RM 5) or 1 box (RM 10). Their grass jelly is nice (cut into small cubes) but the drink is too sweet for my liking. It tastes better after the ice melted. We should have requested less sugar. I prefer the grass jelly with milk. They open at 12pm till sold out.

Kedai Yap Syn Kee

"Leong fun" (big) - RM 2.20 and "leong fun susu" (big) - RM 2.50

Address:

Kedai Yap Syn Kee

Jalan Cecily,

90000 Sandakan,

Sabah, Malaysia

Kedai Makan Ngee Lee is just 5 minutes drive (2.1km) from Kedai Yap Syn Kee. We took a Grab ride there (Grab fare - RM 4) after we finished drinking our grass jelly drink. This restaurant is famous for their roast meat. So we ordered one portion of kono noodles with roasted pork, steamed chicken and bbq pork. I like the noodles texture. Not too hard but wasn't flavourful enough. Their steamed chicken is dry and roasted pork's skin is too hard. Bbq pork tasted okay but not superb. They provide free flow of hot Chinese tea. However, the Uncle who took order from us earlier wasn't very friendly. Since we're too full to eat the coconut pudding, we decided to take away and have it for tea break. Pudding is soft but has a strong milk flavour compared to coconut. We took a Grab ride back to Livingston Hotel after that - Grab fare RM 7.

Total bill - RM 11.50

Kedai Makan Ngee Lee

Free flow of Chinese tea

Steamed chicken, roasted pork and bbq pork

Kono noodles

Coconut pudding in a cup

Address:

Kedai Makan Ngee Lee

Block A, 5-G,

Bandar Nam Tung,

90000 Sandakan,

Sabah, Malaysia

We decided to have seafood bah kut teh for dinner and instead of Nam Chai Restaurant Bah Kut Teh, we tried Kedai Good Taste Bah Kut Teh which is just few shops away from Nam Chai Restaurant Bah Kut Teh. We took a Grab ride there from Livingston Hotel - 13 minutes drive (9.6km) (Grab fare - RM 9). We were quite greedy and ordered 4 dishes - prawn bah kut teh, salted vegetable soup with tofu and fish slices, pork bah kut teh and fish bah kut teh.

Among the 4 dishes that we ordered my favourite is the pork bah kut teh. Prawn bah kut teh is nice too but it's slightly spicy with strong peppery taste. Prawns are fresh, big and succulent. Salted vegetable soup with tofu and fish slices is nice too but the coriander empowered the soup. My least favourite is the fish bah kut teh. The soup tastes a little fishy but surprisingly the fish is fresh.

Total bill - RM 52

Kedai Good Taste Bah Kut Teh

Prawn bah kut teh

Salted vegetable soup with tofu and fish

Pork bah kut teh

Fish bah kut teh

Rice

Address:

Kedai Good Taste Bah Kut Teh

Lorong Bandar Nam Tung 1,

Pusat Bandar Sandakan,

90000 Sandakan,

Sabah, Malaysia

After dinner, it's time for dessert hunting. So we took a Grab ride to Urban Cafe which is 13 minutes drive (8.5km) from Kedai Good Taste Bah Kut Teh. (Grab fare - RM 10) Sadly the place is close. We walked over to Bakerfield Espresso Cafe which is just 2 minutes walking distance (140m) from Urban Cafe. We reached there at 7.50pm and they told us that last call for kitchen is at 8pm. Basically they close at 8.30pm.

Quickly, I ordered their Tiramisu and durian ice cream. Tiramisu tastes more like a fluffy sponge cake with cream and nuts. Most importantly it's not too sweet. Durian ice cream on the other hand is smooth and creamy with mild durian flavour. Nice restaurant ambience to chill and have a slice of cake. We waited for our Grab driver to come and the friendly owner told us that it's quite difficult to get a ride at this hour. Luckily we managed to get one and it cost us RM 4 to get back to our hotel. Bakerfield Espresso Cafe is just 8 minutes drive (4.2km) from Livingston Hotel.

Bakerfield Espresso Cafe

Restaurant ambience

Tiramisu - RM 12.50

Durian ice cream - RM 6.50 and iced water

Address:

Bakerfield Espresso Cafe

Lot 117, Bandar Utama, Phase 8,

90000 Sandakan,

Sabah, Malaysia