Tasting Two Types of Bak Kut Teh at Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu

During my trip to Kota Kinabalu, I managed to try out two types of Bak Kut Teh (herbal pork soup) at Gaya Street. There are actually a few coffee shops or restaurant selling it but the famous one is Yu Kee as recommended by our friends (Ease and Siew Lee) as well as many other food bloggers. Kee Man and I located the shop but it was closed for 3 days since the first day we stayed at Hotel eden54, Gaya Street.

So before we could try the famous Yu Kee’s Bak Kut Teh, we tried out the one at Kim Min coffee shop.

1. Kim Min’s Bak Kut Teh

We arrived at this coffee shop at around 8.00 p.m. and there were a lot of people standing, waiting for seats as the shop was fully occupied. Well, they didn’t  really have a lot of tables available, which explained why people need to wait. We waited for about 30 minutes before we managed to get a seat and another 15 minutes before our order was taken and another 20 minutes for our Bak Kut Teh to be served. We thought it was worth the wait, but we were wrong. The Bak Kut Teh was rather bad, though the herbal chicken recommended by the lady boss was quite good.  The service was terrible. Not sure if it was only that day or it has been like that. Kee Man thought the shop had a lot of people because Yu Kee was closed and not because the Bak Kut Teh was good.

Ratings:

Taste: 2.5/5
Pricing: 2.5/5
Service: 1.5/5
Environment: 2.0/5
Cleanliness: 2.0/5

2.Yu Kee’s Bak Kut Teh

After 3 days of waiting, we managed to try out Yu Kee’s Bak Kut Teh, which was only less than 3-minute walk from our hotel. It was directly opposite Jesselton Hotel. The moment we reached there, we could smell it’s Bak Kut Teh and the boss quickly took our order without any wait. I asked the boss to recommend us what was best and he was very kind to suggest the best. We were served in less than 5 minutes! Brilliant!

What makes Yu Kee’s Bak Kut Teh unique is the way it is served. Unless conventional serving of using claypot, this shop serve their Bak Kut Teh in bowls according to each type of “meat” or “internals” that you prefer. Of course, apart from this, it is famous because of its taste. When we tasted the Bak Kut Teh, the meat was very tender and the aroma will make you salivate. Haha.  It also taste much better than the one we normally have in BDC, Kuching. We were also told by our friend Ease that this place shot to fame after the Hong Kong famous “Gourmet King” visited this shop back in 2006 and he strongly recommended it. We spotted the poster about “his visit”.

If you happen to visit Kota Kinabalu or you’re staying around the city, do try it out.

Ratings:

Taste: 4.0/5
Pricing: 3.0/5
Service: 4.0/5
Environment: 3.5/5
Cleanliness: 3.0/5

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• Rasa Nyonya Restaurant at Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu
• Sunday Market at Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu
• Dream Cones at Jesselton Point
• Trying out Puchong’s Famous Dry Bak Kut Teh