Kota Kinabalu is officially a food heaven when the grand opening of A-Square came about last August! A-Square is located in between Promenade Hotel and Wawasan Plaza. It is definitely an easy access for the locals and tourists either by car or by foot. ASquare is also known asKota Kinabalu Containers Street Food Night Market
What’s amazing is it is only a few steps away from the sea where you get to see the amazing sunset in between your early dinner. The area is decorated with beautiful fairy lights dangling from one corner to another that looks like ‘kelip-kelip’ (fireflies). Very Instagram-able, they say.
The square has over 60 operating Food and Beverage stalls. Each stall has their own unique style of cooking and menu. The stall operators are a mixture of mostly locals and a couple of foreigners such as Korean and Thailand. You can also find Japanese food there. They sell mostly snacks such as cheesy hotdogs, chicken wings, french fries, and so on. But if you are feeling hungry, you can get some filling food as well such as burger, spaghetti, noodles, rice and so on. The prices of the food and drinks are quite reasonable to my usual meal expenses.
I personally love to come here after working hour because I get to have a lot of choices to choose my dinner from, especially when I have no idea what to eat (which is a first world problem, to be honest). I would definitely recommend to come here with your friends as you can share the variety of foods here together and have a good chilling session after a long day at work.
A-Square is definitely on top of the A-game! We have taken several ‘munches’ to this foodie place and definitely can’t stop going there again and again. Not only the foods are creatively mind-blowing, it is also a place suitable to have a chill session and get to know more of your friends while munching on the foods cooked from the creative container-stalls.
Here’s a food-guide if you haven’t got the chance to go there!
- EASY WAY
They serve mostly soup, noodle soup and dumplings. If you are hungry from work, they may be just enough to fill your hungry stomach.
- KK Look Look
Just by its name, you will know that they serve Lok-Lok which is a dish consisting of various deep-fried or boiled foods such as meats and vegetables that are served on a skewer. You can choose your preferred meats and vegetables and the staff will fry or boil them for you.
- Xiao Ci Wu 小吃屋
They are quite well-known for their massive fried octopus. Their fried octopus is very tasty and crunchy. They also serve oysters where they add in their own sauce recipe.
- Public
If you want to quench your thirst on a hot evening, you can visit Public as they serve mostly ice-blended and iced drinks. They have various of flavor to choose from.
- Tasty Borneo
If you are looking for a twist of traditional Borneo food and drink, this is the stall to go. They serve Cendol Tapai which is unusually unique and tasty. The Cendol is mixed with (non-alcoholic) Tapai; which is a traditional rice wine. They also have their own tasty products which are the Ginger Brown Sugar and Sambal. Lately, they just launched a new menu which is a matcha shaved-iced.
- Come-Bing
The name reveals the menu itself, come-bing sounded like Kambing which means lamb in Bahasa Malaysia! If you smell a strong black and pepper savor, it may be coming from this stall as they are grilling the goodness of the lamb meat. They are grilling lamb meat with several choices of ingredients of your choice. Perfect for the lamb meat lover out there.
- Ppokki
This is the one and only Korean restaurant in A-Square. The owners are very friendly and they served a ‘jjang’ Korean dishes! I have had their Japchae once and had to order again on my second visit as they are really good! You can find several Korean menus here so it is perfect for the Korean food lovers.
- Fruit Stall
Before or after a meal (depends on your preference), you can savor on the sweetness of Sabah’s fruits at the fruit stall. It is located right in the middle of the square. They sell various types of colourful and sweet fresh fruits. Also, they have a small section where they sell home-made ice cream roll. You can see the staff creating your ice-cream roll at his station.
- Share 18
You can get mostly western foods here, for example, sandwiches, roti john and burgers. Also, they offer set menu that consists of a drink, a meal and a slice of cakes. They are very reasonable in prices.
- E.R Coffee Haus
This is for those coffee lovers and those who feel tired after work. Nothing beats a good ol’ coffee break! E.R Coffee serves various types of coffee. Also, they cook up some street sandwiches too!
- Aunty Ubi
Here, their main dish will be the Ubi Bola (potato ball). They are freshly made with potatoes and shaped into a ball. It is a great snack if you are looking for something filling. They also serve pure apple juice which is great to quench your thirst.
- Sakura
As the name itself, you can find Japanese food such as Takoyaki and sushi here. Besides serving Japanese food, they mixed it up with local dishes such as Nasi Katok and Chicken Rice.
- Bana Bana
After a meal, you always want some dessert. Here you’ll find banana-based dessert such as fresh banana milk and banana chocolate ice stick. They are naturally sweet that comes from the banana.
- Green Mug
This stall has made a name for itself for their famous cheese coffee. It may sounded odd at first, but wait until you try their cheese coffee (comes with different coffee flavor) yourself that you will grasp why everyone is hyped about it!
- TMF
This is a filling-snack stall that serves chicken wings, hotdogs, fish balls, satay and many more.
- AOBull
If you are a fan of beef meat, you might wanna check this stall out. They have the finest beef meat where they cook it into beef cube and BBQ beef.
- Monkey coconut
Nothing beats the fresh and refreshing taste of coconut water! Here they serve fresh coconut for only RM5 and you will be directly transported to chilling on a beach in Hawaii with sunglasses on.
- Bat Signal
This stall is quite noticeable with its pitch black paint. They sell meals such as bakso and soto; my all-time favourite malay noodle dish! Besides that, they have snacks such as lekor, pisang cheese (yum!), cucur and so on.
- Frozen Yeti
It’s another dessert stall! This time, if you are a lover of yogurt and ice cream, you should totally order their yogurt rolls! You can choose the flavor and the yogurt rolls is topped with your favourite choice of toppings such as marshmallow and M&M. It is really sweet and sour that makes you want to order a second cup!
- Thai Beef Noodle
On my trips to A-Square, I couldn’t resist by ordering the Thai Beed Noodle again and again. Their noodle and spices are originally from Thailand and it really brings me back to my travelling days around Bangkok. The noodle is really smooth and the spices are burning hot (which I really like). Besides that, instead of selling mango sticky rice, they level up their game by selling durian sticky rice!
- Bangkok Street
This stall makes quite the appearance with its two massive pots popping in front of the stall. They cook up chicken dish with their own tasty recipe that is served with rice. It is a filling meal if you are hungry and looking for something heavy.
- Lava
Lava has yet opened up a stall in A-Square after a shop at 88 Market. They are famous with their juicy burgers that are served with French fries. I really like how their meat patties are thick and juicy that is so satisfying.
- BSA Briyani
They specially serve Nasi Briyani that is dished up with egg, chicken and acar. Nasi Briyani is a spicy rice which is a South Asian (Indian) dish. They only open during lunch time at 11am to 2pm.
- Marrie’s
They are a dessert fruits stall that is famous with their macaroni salad and pandan de marfie. They both tasted sweet from the fruits themselves and a splash of fresh milk. They also sells biscuits and candy from the Philippines.
- Devil Laksa
Looking for a Sarawakian dish? Here they specially sell Laksa Sarawak. Laksa dish is a spicy noodle soup popular in the Peranakan cuisine. Here, you can choose the spicy intensity of the soup. You can ask for a mild or hot peppery soup.
- Avasi
On a hot day, you may want to dig into their ice cold ABC Durian. They also serve ice blended drinks with various flavours such as mango and coffee mocha.
ASquare Creative Container Food Street
Location: No 4a, Jalan Centre Point, Lorong Api Api Centre
Kota Kinabalu (Between Promenade Hotel and Wawasan Plaza)
Opening hours: 5pm to 11pm. Tuesday to Sunday. (rest on Monday)
GPS Location: 5.97442, 116.06791
by: Niola Justin
Joanne Lee
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