|
Where to eat in Tawau : 1) Hawker stalls 2) Coffee house or cafe 3) Restaurants
Hawker stalls are inexpensive places to eat, traditionally simple wooden stalls on the roadside, with a few stools to sit at. They serve standard Malay noodle and rice dishes, satay, Indian fast food like roti canai, plus more obscure regional delicacies. Most are scrupulously clean, with the food cooked in front of you. Avoid dishes that look as if they've been standing around, or have been reheated, and you should be fine. Hawker stalls don't have menus and you don't have to sit close to the stall you're patronizing: find a free table, and the vendor will track you down when your food is ready. You may find that the meal should be paid for when it reaches your table, but the usual form is to pay at the end. Most outdoor stalls open at around 11am, usually offering the day's nasi campur selection; prices are determined by the number of dishes you choose on top of your rice, usually about RM2-3 per portion. Hawker stalls generally close well before midnight. Seafood stalls at the Sabindo hawker centre is located along the waterfront of town centre. The stalls offer the lowest prices for fresh sea foods in Malaysia. “Makanan Laut 101” serves excellent crab and shellfishes with vegetables at incredibly low prices. At night, numerous stalls set up around the town. Many sell the Sulawesi Soto Makassar (buffalo soup), a Bugis specialty; Pisang Goreng (fried bananas), Ubi Goreng (fried tapioca), Onde-onde (glutinous rice with savoury taste roasted in banana leaves), Kuih Pandan (Pandan rice cake), Karipap (Curry Puff), Kuih kacang (Peanut pancake spread with Kaya coconut jam), Bubur Chaca(local dessert served with tapioca, sweet potato and sago in sweet coconut milk) & etc. Coffee House or Café, usually run by Chinese or Indians. Few streets exist without a kedai kopi. Most open at 7am or 8am; closing times vary from 6pm to midnight. Basic Chinese coffee houses serve noodle and rice dishes all day, as well as cakes. The culinary standard might not be very high, but a filling one-plate meal costs a couple of dollars. If available, full meals of meat, seafood and vegetables cost about RM5. Restaurants are places for particular delicacies found nowhere else, like shark's-fin dishes, bird's-nest soup, and high-quality seafood. In many restaurants, the food is not necessarily superior to that served at a good café or hawker stall - you're just paying for air-con and tablecloths. Tipping is not expected and bills arrive complete with service charge and government tax. |
