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Must-Visit Restaurants
Top 20 Must-Visit Restaurants in Kota Kinabalu [2025]
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Welcome Seafood Restaurant
4.7
/5
1164 reviews
Southeast Asian
From IDR 383065
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 1.3 km from downtown
Address: Lot G 18, Ground Floor, Kompleks, Jalan Asia City, Asia City, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
No.2 of Local Restaurants in Kota Kinabalu
Highlights:
A bustling seafood restaurant that often requires queuing during peak dining hours
Saved by 112 users205 positive reviews
Verified user reviews
This welcome seafood restaurant is very popular seafood restaurant. Every day is full of customer to order their seafood dish. The price is cheaper than other seafood restaurant in kota kinabalu.
I went there a few times 7-8 years ago, the taste was quite good, the egg yolk baked crab, curry crab and the like were very suitable for Chinese tastes! And the price was very cheap! I went there again the year before last, the taste was much worse, and the price was also ridiculously increased! It has become a popular online store, and the taste has changed
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Yee Fung Laksa
4.7
/5
590 reviews
Cantonese Cuisine
From IDR 58933
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 446m from downtown
Address: No. 127, Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
No.1 of Light Bites in Kota Kinabalu
Highlights:
A well-known quality Chinese restaurant with a rich, fresh, and sweet laksa soup base
Saved by 121 users138 positive reviews
Verified user reviews
There are really many delicious local snacks on Gaya Street. Yee Fung Tea Room is also one of the shops selling laksa noodle soup. The seafood-flavored soup is spicy and delicious. I also ordered a bowl of beef offal noodle soup and wontons. The soup lo mein was highly recommended by my friends and I tried it twice in a row. Once I tasted it, I will never forget it!
It seems to be the most famous internet celebrity restaurant in Gaya Street. It is really good. The laksa is especially delicious, better than what I have eaten in China. After finishing a large portion, I ordered another bowl. The beef offal noodles depends on whether you like offal. The clay pot chicken rice is a bit greasy. The milk tea is delicious and rich in flavor. The sour plum orange ice tastes very good and refreshing~
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Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh
4.6
/5
500 reviews
Other Chinese Cuisine
From IDR 88399
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 265m from downtown
Address: 74, Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu, , Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
No.4 of Light Bites in Kota Kinabalu
Highlights:
A famous bak kut teh restaurant with slow-cooked and fragrant bak kut teh
100+ recent views
Verified user reviews
You Kee Bak Kut Teh is a must-eat here. The soup has the taste of medicinal food. I personally like it very much. My friends also enjoyed the meal and ordered several bowls of Bak Kut Teh with different ingredients, including lean meat and pork. Tails, ribs, pig intestines, etc., as well as vegetables, the boss lady is very kind to tourists and teaches you how to eat them authentically. Be sure to dip them in the sauce, it is really delicious!
You Kee Bak Kut Teh is on Gaya Street. We went there around 6 or 7 pm and it was already full. We had to wait for a table! Bak Kut Teh is a bit like our Chinese brine, but the taste is lighter and it has medicinal herbs added!
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Sin Kee Bah Kut Teh Restaurant
4.6
/5
335 reviews
Southeast Asian
From IDR 101495
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 370m from downtown
Address: 26 Jalan pantai , kota kinabalu Negeri Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
No.2 of Light Bites in Kota Kinabalu
Highlights:
A popular bak kut teh shop with a light herbal aroma
100+ recent views
Verified user reviews
Bak Kut Teh is OK, and better than You Kee, you can order Bak Kut Teh directly and it comes with a hodgepodge, no need to order one by one.
The dough sticks are a bit soft, it would be better if they were crispy and dipped in Bak Kut Teh.
Musang King ice cream saved me from heat stroke🥹
Sin Kee Bak Kut Teh, Sabah, Malaysia
When people first hear about Bak Kut Teh, they mistakenly think it is a kind of tea. Although Bak Kut Teh is called "tea", it is a medicinal soup, and the soup does not contain tea.
It is said that when the Chinese first arrived in Nanyang to start a business, many people suffered from rheumatism because they were not adapted to the hot and humid climate. In order to cure the disease and remove dampness, they used various medicinal materials, including angelica, wolfberry, and codonopsis, to cook medicine, but because of taboos, the medicine was called "tea". The local Chinese accidentally put pork bones into the "tea soup", but they did not expect that the "tea soup" tasted unique. Later, people specially adjusted the ingredients for cooking tea, and after continuous improvement, it became one of the famous local delicacies.
Bak Kut Teh is divided into the Hainan school in Singapore and the Fujian school in Malaysia. Now Malay also uses the Minnan pronunciation to call it Bak Kut Teh.
No.
5
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Fook Yuen Gaya Street
4.8
/5
230 reviews
Southeast Asian
From IDR 55659
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 225m from downtown
Address: Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, 88300
Highlights:
Popular self-service tea restaurant, praised for its classic kaya toast
Verified user reviews
The closest place to Chinese taste abroad is probably Malaysia. Half of people think that tea restaurants only serve pineapple buns and milk tea, but Fuyuan meets my "special" expectations with Chinese-style steamed and fried wontons. The portions are generous and the taste is quite suitable!
This shop is near the scenic spot. It has very good business and is a good value for money shop in the scenic area. The food is also good. The steamed fish is delicious and I like it very much. The fish meat is very tender.
No.
6
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Guan's Kopitiam Gaya Street
5.0
/5
1 reviews
Southeast Asian
From IDR 98221
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 363m from downtown
Address: 111, Jalan Gaya, Pusat Bandar Kota Kinabalu, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Highlights:
A bustling Malaysian restaurant where the coconut rice is worth trying
Verified user reviews
The fried noodles are delicious, the shrimp are tender and chewy, and the noodles are covered with rich sauce, every bite is super satisfying. The coconut rice is even more classic, with soft and sticky rice.
No.
7
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Leslie Cafe
4.0
/5
6 reviews
Other Chinese Cuisine
From IDR 170251
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 3.6 km from downtown
Address: Jalan Commercial Development Center, Kota Kinabalu 88100 Malaysia
Highlights:
Bustling hawker-style restaurant where the delicious food is worth the wait
Verified user reviews
Similar to eat some desserts with the tea in eastern Asian countries, to take some cakes with coffee in the southeastern Asian countries is common.
A must-order dish every time I come here: Salt and pepper squid, the taste is really good, fragrant and super delicious~
No.
8
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Borenos Fried Chicken (Asia City)
4.0
/5
3 reviews
Fast Food
From IDR 81851
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 1.3 km from downtown
Address: Lot G23, Kompleks Asia City, Jalan Asia City, Sabah, 88000 Kota Kinabalu
Highlights:
A well-known fast-food fried chicken chain with chicken that's crispy outside, tender inside, and not greasy
Verified user reviews
It's a very inconspicuous corner shop, but it's the best fried chicken shop in Sabah. Many locals go there to eat. I ordered a fried chicken casually. The chicken was very tender and juicy, and it tasted completely different from the fried chicken you can eat in China. The chicken was not very big, but it was enough to eat. The price was not high. There are also many ways to order in the store. You can follow the pictures to order, which is very convenient. I recommend you to try it.
The most popular fried chicken brand in Malaysia! Borenos and Jollibee, which one is better? #MalaysianFood #KotaBaba #LocalFood
No.
9
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Suang Tain Seafood Restaurant
4.7
/5
219 reviews
Asian Cuisine
From IDR 360146
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 1 km from downtown
Address: No. 16, Block D, Ground Floor, Sedco Complex, Kampung Air, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
No.1 of Local Restaurants in Kota Kinabalu
Highlights:
A classic restaurant for over 40 years, its seafood is highly acclaimed
Saved by 124 users100+ recent views
Verified user reviews
A seafood restaurant in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, it feels a bit like an indoor food stall. After walking around the area, I felt that this one had the brightest lighting, and it seemed that the ingredients were more abundant before entering the store.
[Taste] Ordinary taste that caters to the general public. The taste is also suitable for children, not very spicy or salty.
[Environment] It looks quite clean. There are several large round tables with a lot of seats. There are also fresh live fish, which is great. But we didn't order the fresh fish in the tank.
[Service] Ordinary. Food stall style, quite happy 😁. It's good.
On the first day in Kota Kinabalu, we went straight to Shuangtian. The boss could speak Chinese, so we asked him to help us prepare the dishes. We had butter tiger prawns, local specialty conch, crab porridge, stone fish, beef fried rice noodles, and orange ice. It was very satisfying. Very delicious!
No.
10
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Keng Wan Hing
4.6
/5
45 reviews
Southeast Asian
From IDR 32740
Kota Kinabalu City Center | 280m from downtown
Address: 80 Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, 88000
No.7 of Light Bites in Kota Kinabalu
Highlights:
Founded in 1984, the hot BBQ pork buns are delicious
Verified user reviews
The restaurant specializes in seafood stir-fry, and this whole floor is their signature dish. The rice noodles are thrown in over high heat until they are burnt, and then stir-fried with lard, Chinese sausage, prawns, squid and black sauce, which is full of Chinese wok flavor. Add egg yolk in the middle and mix it with the rice noodles when eating, which makes it smoother and more fragrant. This is a signature dish that must be ordered. When it is served, the coffee aroma is strong. There is oyster sauce and coffee powder on the pork chop, which has a little caramel aroma and a strong coffee flavor. It is also their signature dish. The crispy tofu skin is stuffed with a lot of salted egg yolks, shrimps, ham, mushrooms, etc. It is so full when you take a bite, it is so big that you will feel full after eating one.
Qiong Wan Xing is a very good breakfast restaurant on Sabah Island. The breakfast here is not only cheap, but also very delicious. The most famous here are curry puffs and coconut bread, which are also filled with shredded beef or chicken. The taste is really very fragrant. Paired with a cup of fragrant milk tea, it is definitely a delicious breakfast.
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