WHILE looking for landmarks to where our hotel was located during our recent vacation in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, we were lucky enough that it is located in the same building of the city’s famous seafood restaurant: Welcome Seafood Restaurant.
We always pass by the restaurant when going in and out of the building and since our first day it is always filled with a lot of diners. From there we knew that we shouldn’t miss dining there.
Fresh selection and excellent service
In Welcome Seafood, freshness is never an issue as they have a lot of aquariums with live seashells, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and fish where you can choose what you want to eat. If you’re a seafood lover, this will be your heaven on earth.
We dined here on a Thursday night and had to line up for a few minutes in order to be seated. When it’s your turn, one of their staff will bring you to the seafood selection area where you can choose to order from their set menu or choose your own seafood and instruct them on how you want it to be cooked. Since there’s quite a language barrier and I got overwhelmed with the selection, we just pointed out familiar and cheap dishes from their menu.
There are two dining areas in the restaurant, an air conditioned area and an al fresco dining area and it does not matter what day of the week you go the place is still packed with people especially during dinner.
Despite being packed with people, service at Welcome Seafood is fast thinking that there are a lot of orders lining up. We waited for less than 30 minutes for our food to arrive.
The food
To be honest, we were hesitant to dine at Welcome Seafood because we know for a fact that seafood is expensive but we have managed to pick some affordable dishes.
Mindful of our budget, we only ordered two dishes: garlic shrimp and soft shell crab. It was so delish! Especially the soft shell crab because it was cooked tempura style and comes with a sweet and sour sauce. It is by far the best soft shell crab I have eaten in my life (no joke)!
All in all including rice and drinks, we spent about P600. This may still be cheap for others but this is already a splurge for us and it’s totally worth it.
The verdict
Welcome Seafood Restaurant should truly be a part of your dining list when visiting Kota Kinabalu. Two thumbs up from their service to their food!
They have two branches in Kota Kinabalu located at Asia City Complex and at Grand Industrial Centre in Penampang.
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Hi, I’m Kriztja and thanks for reading My Notebook! Check out my blog: rainbow-wishes.blogspot.com for more. Comments? Suggestions? Email me at: kriztja.labrador@gmail.com.