Kota Kinabalu night market

We wandered into the night market for dinner with fresh seafood in mind. Luckily it was a bit breezy as the fish smell is quite pungent on a still day (as smelled from the Le Meridien's pool, opposite the market). The market was really busy due to the extra traders for the Chinese New Year but there was enough choice in stalls to find seats.

Whilst the "restaurants" all look the same with cheap plastic seats and sticky tablecloths, the choice is fairly varied. Every vendor seems to have the standard flour prawns,  squids and a selection of fish. The freshness of the latter can be debated, however. Shop around and ask the prices before sitting down to avoid a nasty surprise. Bartering is the key word even when buying food - only with few knowing looks the price of the prawns came down by 25%. And a raised eye brow for the freshness claims suddenly brought out the clear eyed specimens. 

Everything is cooked to customers' preferences. We had 4 tiger prawns - at 200g each! - with sambal, fried squid with ketcap manis and lime, served with baby kailan and nasi puti (steamed rice). Delicious! We just wished we could have fitted more in (damn the free Meridien startr buffet!!!).