A soon as we touched down in the seaside town of Kota Kinabalu we immediately went in search of the fresh seafood we had heard so much about.
Kota Kinabalu is a foodie paradise right by the water. There is hundreds of meters of market stalls selling everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to fresh seafood straight off the boats, nuts, desserts and drinks.
In between the stalls are hawker stands selling delicious eats tempting your taste buds at every turn.
We managed to pull ourselves away from the food stalls till we found food Nirvana – the Seafood night stall.
Makeshift restaurants are set up right on the water as the sun goes down displaying their catches of the day.
The fish couldn't be fresher and there is a huge variety from red snapper to sweet lips to prawns, crabs, lobsters and squid.
Each stall attempts to lure you to eat with them. It really is pot luck where you end up as they are all selling the same thing for a similar price.
We had been told that you can barter at the stalls but on the two occasions we attempted to do so we didn't get far, But the seafood is so cheap that you are going to get a great deal no matter what.
Each piece of seafood is sold by the 100g. You simply decide what you want and agree on the cooking method (BBQ’d, steamed, fried) and the flavour you want (Chilli, Garlic etc).
Then you take a seat and wait for the magic.
Jeff and I on the second night went for the Sweet Lips fish. We asked for it BBQ’d with chilli.
The result was insane. The fish was moist and delicious and the chilli paste was rich and tomato based.