Trip to SDK fulfilled :)

It's no secret, I love-hate Sdk in many ways - the place, the culture, the people, everything. Used to visit 10-11 times to Sandakan annually for more than 4 years.. so yea, I missed this place, this lil' Hong Kong town.

Ok, I dun understand why good food in Sdk couldn't be found in KK, I mean even Penang Char Koey Teow is all over Malaysia and Sdk is within the same state as KK for heaven's sake!

Needless to say, I had a mental list of "food-to-eat" when I returned to this town. But lo n behold, I had better food this time.. CK & Chiam brought me to places I never been before, how could you only showing me now.. and not then when I was always around!?

We had an unbelievable CHEAP food at Equatorial Restaurant (started since 1985, so the elderly captain said). Menu was claypot taufoo, 风沙鱼片 (my fav!!), chicken with fu-yu, salted veg soup, siew kai lan and mango pudding and it costed us only RM80++ for a four-person's dinner. The most pricey item was the mango pudding at RM16, which we could go without because we were too full before dessert. We ordered it coz it was one of the must-haves. For a non-mango lover like me, I think it was pretty good.

chinese tea with holder :) ....and... My fav - 风沙鱼片！

Other must-eat Sdk foods that I managed to savour include 弹弓面 (spring mee? how do you translate "tan-gung") at coffee shop 九一八 in Bandar Indah. Everything in the mee was good and perfect - the wantan, the fried pork, the 油条 and the mee is so "springy" (tan-gung la)

I went to Kim Fung Market too for tea-snack, the 油条 is SO crispy, 皮蛋买 is SO rich.

弹弓面 ...and... Avocado cheese cake RM5.80/piece

New to me in town were a few hangout places. I liked them all.. Again, how could these cozy places not in KK?? I dun understand. On the roof of Hotel Nak is whole different world altogether, who would have thought there was a gem place in the premise of a shabby hotel. This place was "Ba Lin" with many bird cages hanged all over the place. Lemon tea was only RM6 and Shandy at RM5!! Cocktails and other beverages were below market price too, for a cozy place like this.

Aside from 7th heaven and Equator in Bandar Indah, there were two more great cafes in town that were recently opened - D' Venice in Mile 6 and Jesselton Coffee in Indah. All these four cafes put KK's Tanamera to shame :( we in KK have Starbucks n Coffee Beans but no "characters" like these local ones in Sdk *sob* Globalization killed creativity!

Finally, saving the best for last. I missed most the 炸肉面 from town market. I couldn't stopped grinning when I was at the stall. The lady 老板娘 recognized me, so touched :') Probably she remembered my "helpless grin".. I was totally under the spell of this noodle!! I proposed she start a branch in KK so I dun have to miss it so much, she said couldn't be done :'(

I dun understand her reluctance.. why can't we have Sdk food in KK??