A traveller said, “I won’t have the memory of a city, if I don’t remember how its food tastes like.” Smell is the sense most closely linked with memory, and it can trigger a memory. We tend to recall more happy things while we enjoy great food. Agree? That’s why our food quest is a lifelong journey. Thanks to EatBah.com, I found some great stuffs at Menggatal Plaza (see Location Map or Street View), about 20 minutes away from Kota Kinabalu City (KK).
Relax Cafe
My first impression of Relax Cafe is a home-like cozy place filled with nice aroma of coffee.
Relax Cafe
The most ideal picture of my life is reading a book and relaxing in a cafe. Besides coffee, I love the smell of books. Coffee and books are prominent elements in the trendy interior design of this little cafe, so yea, I like its identity.
Interior of Relax Cafe (Click to Enlarge)
This cafe makes smart use of spacing and soft lighting to create many “small worlds”. You can find a little personal corner that belongs to you and your friends. In city, most cafes want to stuff as many desks as possible in a small area, making us feel like sitting in an open public area.
Relax Cafe: Oreo Lover (MYR12)
Most other cafes sell mainly cakes and dessert. Relax Cafe has some stomach fillers. The following are some of the items (*Serve No Pork):
– Oreo Lover (MYR12)
– Hot Commando Latte (MYR10)
– Cappuccino (MYR8.50)
– Hot Relax Chocolate (MYR7.50)
– Relax Signature Cheesy Snacks (MYR12.90)
– Cheesy Chicken on Papan (MYR28)
(Prices as of Nov 2016)
Relax Cafe: Cappuccino (MYR8.50) and Hot Relax Chocolate (MYR7.50)
Relax Cafe: relax signature cheesy snacks (MYR12.90) (avalanche of cheese!)
Relax Cafe: Cheesy Chicken on Papan (MYR28)
When I was looking around, I saw a pretty girl smiling at me. I took a deep breath, walked to her, and said, “Sorry Miss, would you please move away? I need the power points behind you.” Ok, I’m just kidding. She is Kimberly Vung, the Miss Sabah Tourism 2016, in our food hunting group. I’m just trying to say that it’s very thoughtful this cafe has many power points, something that I always search high and low in other restaurants.
Relax Cafe (note the power points behind her lol)
To find out more about Relax Cafe, check this out:
Tel: +60 19-8231127
E-mail: relaxcoffeecafe@gmail.com
Opening Hours: 11am – 11pm daily
Juara Express
What’s for lunch / dinner? For food, I’m very lazy to think what to eat, so Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice) is my default choice.
Restoran Juara Xpress (Halal)
Therefore, if the price of chicken rice rises, that’ll affect my income. In KK, most chicken rice costs MYR7 and more. In Menggatal Plaza, you still can find cheap chicken rice at Juara Express:
– Nasi Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken Rice) (MYR5.30)
– Ayam Kon Lou Mee (Noodle with Chicken) (MYR5.80)
Restoran Juara Xpress: Chicken Rice (Nasi Ayam Goreng (MYR5.30)). Thank you Eilvane for holding the bite so we can take photos.
The quantity of the chicken is not bad, at least the meat is more than cucumber. You can have noodle there too.
Restoran Juara Xpress: Chicken Noodle (Ayam Kon Lou Mee (MYR5.80))
There are 9 other Juara branches in Sabah:
Tel: +60 88-433653
Opening Hours: 10am – 9:30pm daily
Phoenix Restaurant (名凰阁)
Our next stop is a Chinese restaurant called Phoenix Restaurant (名凰阁) next to Upperstar.
Phoenix Restaurant (名凰阁) opens from 5pm to 11pm daily
We tried the following dishes:
– Pork Belly with Salted Fish 咸鱼花腩煲 MYR12 (S) MYR20 (M)
– Nam Lu Chicken Wing 南乳鸡翼 MYR10 (S) MYR20 (L)
– Fried Tom Yam Meehoon 炒冬炎米粉 MYR10
– Ikan Bakar (Grilled Fish) from Paul Ikan Panggang (separate stall in this restaurant) MYR4/100gram
Phoenix Restaurant (名凰阁) : Pork Belly with Salted Fish (咸鱼花腩煲) MYR12 (S) MYR20 (M)
Phoenix Restaurant (名凰阁) : Nam Lu Chicken Wing (南乳鸡翼) MYR10 (S) MYR20 (L)
I like their Pork Belly with Salted Fish and Nam Lu Chicken Wing, very appetizing.
Phoenix Restaurant (名凰阁) : Fried Tom Yam Meehoon (炒冬炎米粉) MYR10 (meat / seafood)
Paul Ikan Panggang: Ikan Bakar (Grilled Stingray) MYR4/100gm
More info of Phoenix Restaurant:
Facebook: PhoenixRestaurantkk
Tel: +60 13-9720333 (Eddie Law, 阿聰)
Opening Hours: 5pm to 11pm daily
Ikan Bakar Nicholas (Grilled Fish)
We tried Grilled Fish of Ikan Bakar Nicholas in Kedai Kopi Memang (美满).
Ikan Bakar Nicholas
The grilled fish we had was a flounder, which costs MYR14 (MYR3.50 per 100gram)
Ikan Bakar Nicholas: MYR14 (MYR3.50/100gm)
Ladleful BBQ Steamboat Buffet
MYR30 for a steamboat buffet sounds too good to be true, but I find it at Menggatal Plaza. Ladleful BBQ Steamboat Buffet serves no pork and the following is the rate:
– Adult MYR30
– Child MYR15
– Under 5 is Free Of Charge
Ladleful BBQ Steamboat Buffet (Adult: MYR30, Child: MYR15)
Ladleful BBQ Steamboat Buffet
Though the buffet isn’t expensive, the food is not cheapo. They have good variety of meat, seafood and vegetables, and soft drink and ice cream are included.
Ladleful BBQ Steamboat Buffet
Ladleful BBQ Steamboat Buffet
Opening Hours: 6pm – 11pm daily
E-mail: yunhong111@hotmail.com
Tel: +60 16-5122111
About Manggatal (Menggatal) Town
The correct name of this town should be Manggatal (means itchy). During British colonial era, the river there was used like a highway. There were many types of Mango trees grew along the river bank. One of them is the Bulunuh tree. Unfortunately, this bulunuh tree gives off latex which can cause body allergic reaction if contacted. To counter the itch, you have to get an old shirt of the person and tie strips of the shirt around the tree. This shall stop the allergies ASAP.
Photos taken in Menggatal (Kota Kinabalu), Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
Incase anyone wants to know who made the top THES top 200 for 2005, see below. US Universities unless noted
1. Havard University
2. Massachusetts Institute of Tech
3. Cambridge University(UK)
4. Oxford University(UK)
5. Stanford University
6. University Of California, Berkeley
7. Yale University
8. California Institute Of Tech
9. Princeton University
10. Ecole Polytechnique(France)
11. Duke University
11. London School Of Economics(UK)
13. Imperial College London(UK)
14. Cornell University
15. Beijing University(China)
16. Tokyo University(Japan)
17. University Of California, San Francisco
17. University Of Chicago
19. Melbourne University(Aust)
20. Columbia University
21. ETH Zurich(Switzerland)
22. National University Of Singapore(Singapore)
23. Australian National University(Aust)
24. Ecole Normale Superiure, Paris(France)
24. McGill University(Canada)
26. University of Texas at Austin
27. John Hopkins University
28. University College London(UK)
29. University Of Toronto(Canada)
30. Edinburg University(UK)
31. Kyoto University(Japan)
32. Pennsylvania University
33. Monash University(Aust)
34. Ecole Polytech Federale de Lausanne(Switzerland)
35. Machester University & UMIST(UK)
36. University of Michigan
37. University Of California,LA
38. University Of British Columbia(Canada)
38. Sydney University(Aust)
40. University Of New South Wales(Aust)
41. Hong Kong University(Hong Kong)
42. University Of California, San Diego
43. Hong Kong University Sci & Tech(Hong Kong)
44. Carnegie Mellon University
45. Heidelberg University(Germany)
46. Northwestern University
47. Queensland University(Aust)
48. Nanyang Technological University(Singapore)
49. Bristol University(UK)
50. Indian Institutes of Tech(India)
51. Chinese University Of Hong Kong(Hong Kong)
52. Auckland University(NZ)
53. Delft University Of Tech(Netherlands)
54. Boston University
55. Munich University(Germany)
56. New York University
57. Eramus University Rottherdam(Netherlands)
58. Washington University, St Louis
58. Amsterdam University(Netherlands)
58. University of Illinois
61. Purdue University
62. Helsinki University(Finland)
62. Tsing Hua University(China)
64. Pennsylvania State University
65. Vienna University(Austria)
66. Copenhagen University(Denmark)
67. Macquarie University(Aust)
68. Massachusetts University
69. IEP Sciences Po, Paris(France)
70. Eindhoven University of Tech(Netherlands)
71. Brown University
72. Fudan University(China)
73. King’s College London(UK)
73. Rochester University
73. University Wisconsin-Madison
76. Brussels Free University(Belgium)
77. Hebrew University of Jerusalem(Israel)
77. Warwick University(UK)
79. Lomonosov Moscow State University(Russia)
80. University Of Western Australia(Aust)
80. Adelaide University(Aust)
82. RMIT University(Aust)
83. Durham University(UK)
84. Indian Institutes of Management(India)
85. Zurich University(Switzerland)
86. Vienna Technical University(Austria)
87. University Of Tech,Sydney(Aust)
88. Geneva University(Austria)
88. Washington University
88. Pierre and Marie Curie University(France)
88. catholic University of Leuven(Belgium)
92. Ecole Normale Superieure, Lyon(France)
93. China University of Sci & Tech(China)
93. Seoul National University(South Korea)
95. Catholic University of Leuven(Belgium)
95. National Autonomous Univ Of Mexico(Mexico)
97. Nottingham University(UK)
98. La Trobe University(Aust)
99. Tokyo Institute Of Tech(Japan)
100. Sussex University(UK)
101. Glasgow University(UK)
102. Curtin University of Technology(Aust)
103. Leeds University(UK)
103. School of Oriental and African Studies(UK)
105. Virginia University
105. Techical University Munich(Germany)
105. Osaka University(Japan)
108. Wageningen University(Netherlands)
109. York University(UK)
109. Case Western Reserve University
111. Trinity College, Dublin(Ireland)
112. Humboldt University Berlin(Germany)
112. Queen Mary,University of London(UK)
114. Vanderbilt University
114. National Taiwan University(Taiwan)
114. Gottingen University(Germany)
117. Darthmouth College
118. Queensland University of Tech(Aust)
119. Liverpool University(UK)
120. Utrecht University(Netherlands)
121. Chulalongkorn University(Thailand)
121. Michigan State University
121. Universite Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne(France)
124. University Of Southern California
125. La Sapienza University, Roma(Italy)
125. Texas A&M University
127. Basel University(Switzerland)
127. University Of Newcastle(Aust)
129. Nagoya University(Japan)
130. Bath University(UK)
131. University Louis Pasteur Strasbourg(France)
132. Universite de Montreal(Canada)
133. Lausanne University(Switzerland)
133. Maryland University
133. HEC Paris(France)
136. Tohoku University(Japan)
136. St Andrews University(UK)
138. Leiden University(Netherlands)
138. Aarhus University(Denmark)
138. Oslo University(Norway)
141. Emory University
142. Frankfurt University(Germany)
143. Korea Adv Inst of Sci and Tech(South Korea)
143. Sheffield University(UK)
143. Birmingham University(UK)
143. North Carolina University
147. Hiroshima University(Japan)
147. Georgia Institute of Tech
149. University of Alberta(Canada)
150. Nanjing University(China)
150. St Gallen University(Switzerland)
150. Rice University
150. University of Minnesota
154. University of South Australia(Aust)
154. Technical University of Denmark(Denmark)
157. Technical University Berlin(Germany)
157. Hokkaida University(Japan)
157. Maastricht University(Netherlands)
159. Bologna University(Italy)
159. University of Waterloo(Canada)
159. University of California, Santa Barbara
163. Colorado University
164. Tufts University
165. Innsbruck University(Austria)
166. Tasmania University(Aust)
166. Chalmers University of Tech(Sweden)
168. Newcastle Upon Tyne University(UK)
169. Shanghai Jiao Tong University(China)
169. Novosibirsk State University(Russia)
169. Malaya University(Malaysia)
172. Free University Berlin(Germany)
172. Kobe University(Japan)
172. Aachen RWTH(Germany)
175. State Univ Of New York, Stony Brook
175. Alabama University
177. Nijmegen University(Netherlands)
178. City University of Hong Kong(Hong Kong)
179. Notre Dame University
180. Toulouse 1(France)
180. Lund University(Sweden)
180. Uppsala University(Sweden)
183. Madrid Autonomous University(Spain)
184. Korea University(South Korea)
184. McMaster University(Canada)
186. Free University Of Amsterdam(Netherlands)
186. Otago University(NZ)
188. Tel Aviv University(Israel)
188. Massey University(NZ)
190. Gothenburn University(Sweden)
191. Unisersity of Western Ontario(Canada)
192. Jawaharlal Nehru University(India)
193. Pittsburgh University
194. Helsinki University of Tech(Finland)
194. Technion – Israel Inst of Tech(Israel)
196. Sao Paulo University(Brazil)
196. Royal Inst of Tech(Sweden)
198. Showa University(Japan)
199. University of Florence(Italy)
199. George Washington University
199. Wake Forest University
hmm…mine is higher than 150 🙂
Helo, Mr Murphy. What is the best way to contact you because when i try to email you, it keep saying this – ‘Technical details of permanent failure’. Thank you
wow! thanks for the suggestion! I would like to try the Relax Coffe. I think they have a good WiFi connection.. if not, just use normal 3G connection..