KK Food Reviews: Som Tum Thai Restaurant
Thai restaurants are popular everywhere and there’s been a mushrooming of Thai restaurants in various part of Borneo. In Brunei and Sabah, we witnessed a growing demand for Thai cuisine. Unfortunately, a lot of Thai restaurants tend to lack authenticity as they changed recipes to cater to local taste buds, toning down the rich bold flavours and leaning towards the saltier and sweeter side, thus losing the essence of Thai cooking. In some restaurants, it leaned more towards Thai – Chinese fusion dishes much to our disappointments.
I was excited to hear that an authentic Thai restaurant has opened around Cyber Square in Sabah and decided to pop over to try it out.
The restaurant’s name is Som Tum. The word ‘Som Tum’ is actually a name for a popular Thai dish; shredded green papaya salad. Som Tum’s white furniture as well as pictures with foodie quotes on the wall gives off a welcoming feel but I have to say it doesn’t give you the feeling of walking into a Thai restaurant, which could be a good thing.
The last thing you need is a pretentious Thai restaurant overloaded with decorations and trying too hard. Som Tum offers a straightforward clean and cozy ambience for diners. There are two floors and we decided to sit upstairs to cater for our big group.
Som Tum serves a wide variety of Thai inspired beverages but the two recommended drinks were their Thai Milk Tea, also called Cha Yen, it blends characteristically well with Thai cuisine use of coconut milk and spices Served over ice, this is the perfect complement for a spicy Thai meal. We also tried their refreshing iced lemon tea, which pairs well with the strong rich flavours. Mango sticky rice is also served here but I can’t comment as I haven’t tried it here but with the consistency of good quality food, I would say it’s a safe bet to try it out!
For appetizers, we had Somtum Mamuang; shredded unripe mangoes salad, which is an adaptation to the widely popular green papaya salad.
The sourness of the unripe mangoes go very well with the pungent flavours of fish sauce and ikan bilis, as well as the heat from the chilies but I would prefer the original green papaya version, which is not as sour.
The Pandan Chicken flavour was well balanced and not overcooked like usual subpar Thai restaurants.
The sun dried beef, which is marinated pieces of beef, sun dried and then deep fried. It reminds me of beef jerky, but packed with more flavour and less tough.
The final appetizer was Khai Yad Sai; stuffed omelet, slightly undercooked to give a creamy texture to complement the minced chicken and vegetables.
In Thai cuisine, nothing screams Thai food more than Tom Yum Soup and Som Tum’s version, Tom Yum Nam Khon, usually thicker, richer and stronger in flavors than typical Tom Yum due to additional ingredients of roasted chili paste (nam prik pao) and full cream milk. Needless to say, we enjoyed the richness of the soup, slurping to our hearts content!
Darren was very kind to serve us with the delicious soup!
The fragrance of basil from the Green Curry greeted us when it arrived at the table ~~~
which was delicious with the Thai style pineapple fried rice, served inside a whole pineapple!
We also ordered the Green Curry fried rice, which a strong hint of green chilies and basil and pretty spicy; good to eat on its own but I preferred the pineapple fried rice to complement the other dishes.
Phad Thai is another dish not to be missed in Som Tum, as it’s pretty authentic, using the correct type of rice noodles and ingredients unlike pretentious sub-par Thai restaurants labeling their sweetened up char kway teow as Phad Thai.
For the mains, we ordered Pla Tod Sam Rod, deep fried whole fish with three flavours according to the menu, but to me, it’s a spiced up version of sweet and sour whole fish, bursting with flavours from the garlic and herbs!
The sight of Sambal Petai on the menu ensured that we must order it and it was a delicious combination with the prawns! Unfortunately, despite a large array of Thai style Kang Kung dishes in the menu, we were simply too full to try them out. Najib would not be pleased!
Overall, I must say Som Tum serves a delectable array of authentic Thai cuisine in a pretty cozy comfortable setting. The service from the waiting staff is pleasant, giving us an enjoyable dining experience, though the food does take some time to come out. If you’re in a mood for Thai food, Som Tum will be a great choice!
Som Tum Thai Restaurant,
Lot M6, Cyber Square Commercial Centre, Penampang,
88590 Kota Kinabalu,
Tel: 088-743217
View Larger Map
Driving directions from Imperial Boutec Hotel to Som Tum Thai Restaurant
Kota Kinabalu Food Guide: King Hu Restaurant, Tanjung Aru
One of my favourite and best Chinese restaurants in Kota Kinabalu is the famous King Hu restaurant; an old school style Chinese restaurant, not a fancy place, but a simple down to earth restaurant – don’t expect to be wowed by their service and their décor – the place is so old school that the lady boss still uses the Chinese Abacus to calculate your bills. You can hear the click cacking as she used the abacus when paying.
I must say that I’ve eaten in King Hu almost every trip to Kota Kinabalu and I’m loving it despite the ambience and meh service. Must always thank Dinoza, Sherina, Charlotte and Calista for always bringing me to this yummy joint~~
King Hu is famous for their ‘Peking duck’ or roasted duck. I would say it’s different from the traditional Peking duck, which has crisp skin and fat trimmed while the meat and bones would be used in two other dishes. The King Hu style if you noticed resembles a boneless roasted duck and the skin is not crispy.
As you can see from this second picture I took – it’s a meaty boneless kind of ‘Peking' duck’ – that Sabahans are proud of, enjoying family dinners and recommended to visitors. Peking duck purists might complain and said in a snobbish tone – “This is NOT Peking Duck!” (this actually happened when I uploaded a delicious picture of King Hu’s Peking Duck on facebook. I for one – really enjoyed my dining experiences here ( of course – disregard the service and ambience! )
They provide their home made popiah skin and plum sauce along with spring onions and cucumber/celery. My blogger friend Calista, the petite model will literally request for extra plum sauce and spread a thick layer to make a delicious plum sauce loaded duck pancake, while I prefer just a little bit. I love to enjoy the flavour of the duck more. Some just eat the duck without the carbs/skin ~~
The fun part of creating your own duck pancake – I like to put two three slices of of the duck with additional ingredients from the Chinese dishes King Hu are popular for ~~
Such as this special stir fried Sam See (three shredded) long bean, consisting of long beans, firm tofu and pork sliced into sticks and stir fried. I love to add this when wrapping the duck! Yummy!
Now here’s my biggest reason to dine at King Hu and order their ‘Peking duck’ – this delicious milky looking soup that uses the roasted bones of the duck. It’s simply breathtaking! The flavours of the roasted duck melds perfectly with the spring onions of this soup - I can simply drink a whole big bowl of this! *NOT ASHAMED OF IT AT ALL* – I personally would go with Calista as she’s too busy nomming the plum sauce and duck – and will be too full to have the soup – which means MORE FOR Yours truly ~~ *slurps* --- my mouth is watering as I’m typing this post! I want this NOW!
My friends usually would order their freshly baked homemade mantao (Chinese style buns) which can be eaten on it’s own – dipped in soup or mop up the sauces of other Chinese dishes.
King Hu is also famous for their pot stickers/Guo Tie/Pan Fried Dumplings as well as the steamed version. Pretty good and I never fail to order dish simply because I am a sucker for these. As you can see, not flat and pathetic like some of the ‘Guo Tie’ I’ve seen in certain restaurants – plump fatty ones ~~ hmmm … Calista would dip these in Plum sauce as well (she’s awesome in a plump…. I mean plum sauce kinda way – *she is so gonna kill me for this)
This Cold Cut Pork is another one of King Hu’s specialties. Kinda like a thick cut of ham ~~ supposed to eat with a warm soup or sauce.
For your daily dose of fiber, Sabahans recommend this simple steamed cabbage. A simple dish for those who love veggies – I have friends who absolutely loved this but I prefer the long beans dish. Give this a try though – for a person who doesn’t care for cabbage – this is one of the better ones.
Tofu with minced pork and mushrooms King Hu style ~~
Another dish my friends raved about is this Sweet and Sour Pork (Ku Lou Yok) – I have to say it’s pretty good but Thiam Hock in Brunei is better. The bill is pretty reasonable for the quality of food and if you’re from Brunei or Singapore, the exchange rate is simply delicious when you look at the bill ~~ pretty good value!
View Larger Map
King Hu is located in downtown of Tanjung Aru, famous for it’s beautiful beaches and also sunset bar. Look out for the supermarket, and King Hu should be nearby, since Tanjung Aru is on the way to the airport – it’s a good spot to have dinner for tourists if you arrive or departing. Click on the map above for driving directions from Imperial Boutec Warisan Square.
You need to grab a taxi here as it’s not within walking distance from the town – what I usually do is to enjoy the sunset at Sunset Bar, Shangri La hotel, sip some cocktails or beers in Tanjung Aru, then pop over to King Hu for dinner.
View Larger Map
Click on the map above if you’re driving from Sunset Bar, Shangri-La to King Hu restaurant!
Yes – the sunset is simply amazing at Sunset bar – weather permitted of course! Dinoza’s favourite spot! Thanks for always taking me here to relax bro!
Click on this map above for directions from King Hu Restaurant to KKIA (Airport) – notice that it’s less than 10 minutes drive!
Borneo Bloggers Conference B2.0
It was really exciting to be invited as a guest speakers along with Mr Reedz Anak Brunei for this year’s Borneo Blogger’s Conference B2.0, in the great city of Kota Kinabalu (love their food, beautiful beaches and of course the people!)
This annual event which started 2 years ago was initiated by BorneoColours.com, Borneo's largest community portal, at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Organized by BorneoColours.com in collaboration with M.E Malaysia, the third B2.0 took place on Saturday, 1st December at Wisma Bandaraya from 9am onwards and was attended by 60 professionals.
The third B2.0 is proudly presented by Acer Sales & Services Sdn Bhd, the first company to launch the full suite of Windows 8 product with touch capability and DiGi Telecommunications. It is supported by Ministry of Resource Development & Information Technology, Nuffnang Malaysia, Canon, Bombers Burger, Film Production of Sabah, Creative Lasso and Imperial Boutec Hotel.
Mr Daniel Doughty – the man who started Borneo Bloggers Conference 2 years ago.
I must say I was very excited to meet many other active figures in the social media sphere across Borneo. Bloggers, Tweets , Facebook, Instagrammers, Youtubers, Techies, Marketing and Media personalities, all gathered in one conference.
Must resist not to nom nom the marshmallow
The events opened up with an ice breaking activity involving sticks of spaghetti and well .. a marshmallow … unfortunately it’s not a cooking activity – I would had conjured some yummy dessert style spaghetti …. the activity involved creating a free standing tower with the marsmallow at the top ~ an interesting activity and Micheal Hiew got a good idea to use the marshmallow to bundle them up together. We put up quite a fight but didn’t win … another team had more creative ideas but it’s a fun way to break the ice!
Jack looks super pro on the stage – charming and lively MC
The first session was a panel where we discuss issues with the current social media. In the panel were famous blogger and also from Sabah Tourism, Murphy Ng who aims to explore the whole of Sabah and showing the world through his lens, Twitter expert @KKcity who has about 9000+ followers and growing, Thanis Lim (me me me) the food blogger and our moderator Jack from Everyday Food I Love – a great food blog from Sabah and KL.
Murhphy Ng, Thanis Lim (seemed like I am thinking about what to eat) and @KKcity
The issues raised were self moderation and censorship – whether we should focus on money making – and how to raise your influence in the social media. Murphy gave a very good point on how companies should not be afraid of the social media – and in fact use social media when they face problems. A company with good PR and social media can not only promote their business but also repair the damage done through good social media strategy. On how to increase traffic – building connections especially through conferences like these, being disciplined and consistent with your content, making use of proper internet promoting techniques such as search engine optimization, hash tagging and social tagging were discussed.
Inspiring speaker Reeda Malik
Mr Anak Brunei Reeda gave a very informative and entertaining talk on the sharing of pictures from the historical perspective to the modern day image sharing. A funny moment came when Friendster was mentioned and the whole room erupted in laughter. One of the interesting video shown was the Stolen Scream – where one man’s image became a sensation and used many times without his consent, he even saw his picture on Tshirts, posters and walls – they’re everywhere! It’s interesting how our images can be easily shared through the social media but could also be stolen and used without our permission for commercial purposes. Reedah also shared many useful tools on image sharing and also on the potential for images to spread through the net ~~ viral levels.
Sue Ann speaking like a boss at the podium – support NuffnangX!
Nuffnang Malaysia was also present at the event and showed us the growth of mobile apps – and the number of users at a very fast rate. Sue Ann from Nuffnang introduced their new app for bloggers to keep track and search for blogs of their interests – much like twitter or instagram but in your timeline – you see blog updates from the blogs you follow! They also have a management system where you can manage, communicate with your followers or bloggers you follow – all from your mobile phone! Be sure to download it from the App Store or Google Play – search for nuffnangX and start following!
Tristan, sporting a fashionable yellow top and luscious hair – talking about fashio.. erm I mean video games~
Team Sprocket, a video game developer based in Sabah highlighted the use of social media for the video game industry and I must agree there’s a strong usage of social media to promote video games in the modern era. Popular video game social media players can elicit interest and promote sales big time. Tristan, also mentioned the ethics of the social media, on how certain social media figures promote games for special privileges, spurring a lot of backlash from the social media.
There was also a surprise birthday cake for one of the team members, John. Awww
Tai from KL, with his poker face and very very entertaining talk
Next came my favourite talk of the day. The talk from Tai from Kuala Lumpur. His talk on DIGI’s successful campaigns using the social media was very entertaining and an eye opener to how useful social media can be to develop your brand image and influence. I had so much fun, especially since I am not from Malaysia and had not seen those videos – laughed out loud and also touched by the various videos – highlighting the powerful marketing skills of DIGI. The talk kept me wanting for more – even screaming for Tai not to skip the videos when he was running out of time! Thumbs up and really gave me a new found respect for DIGI.
Kathleen excited to show us the Windows 8
Kathleen Lee from Microsoft also gave a talk on the use of the Windows 8, and Acer being one of the touch screen laptops to utilize them. Highlighting the uses of the Windows 8 and its ease of use, especially for the active social media community. But I have to say that if you don’t have a touch screen laptop, you can’t really enjoy the full value of the Windows 8, which was brought up in the talk.
Moses (FPS) and Jared (Grim Films - gotta love those red pants) – Those glasses must be the new trend for budding video directors~
The final session: Last but not least – is a talk by two goliath figures in the Malaysian Youtube community. Jared from Grim Film and Moses from Film Production Sabah (FPS – which I initially thought was First Person Shooter). I got the chance to watch a few of Grim Film videos and were almost moved to tears (gotta control myself in such a big crowd – might actually cry if watching alone! lol). Moses also showed his Hakka Sabah style – a Sabah parody to the famous Oppa Gangnam style, which I feel is ultra hilarious and to me – a must watch video – pretty models, delicious Sabahan food, drifting cars from Sabah – you name it! They also showed how making videos involved lots of hard work and stress, but also showed how social media can inspire and help one promote their great work.
The winning drawing – great abstract art!
Another interesting activity was drawing on a green card to show why you should win the Acer Iconia W510 – Ooooh how I would love to own one of those! Can act as a tablet and when you attach it to the keyboard – it’s also a laptop. Each person was also given a facebook like sticker to stick on their favourite drawing – this was the winner!
The winner Hin Ching ~~ ahhhh how I wish I can have this!!
An important aspect of the conference was of course to meet and connect with fellow social media and exchange vital contacts. It was a very fruitful event which I learned many things and of course made many friends!
I took the chance to shoot this sunset picture after the final session.
Me with Jack from Everyday Food I Love
Calista – Model and Events Planner -
Not sure if the camera is gigantic … or Calista is … well …. microscopic ~~
Singing Coconut Nathalie (who was tweeting and instagramming with dedication the whole event and Charlotte Fong)
Sue Ann and Charissa from Nuffnang Malaysia
Jared from Grim Films and Moses from Film Productions Sabah
Group picture of organizers and guest speakers! Till we meet again next conference!
No comments :
Post a Comment