Salut Seafood Centre

Salut Seafood centre was recommended by my friend who stayed in Kota Kinabalu for over 3 years. She was studying at UMS for her degree. Salut is pretty far from the town, so it was well known only among the locals rather than tourists. Tourists would usually be recommended to go to the ones near town or around the hotels.

Initially we were not sure whether we should go to Salut since we don’t know the way. It would like 30 min to drive from Tune Hotel. John’s aunt talked lowly of it too, saying that the seafood is less and not that cheap anymore. After our island hopping morning to afternoon, we had nowhere to go that night, so we decided to find our way there anyways.

We drove but we did get lost and ended up in some village. After asking for directions, we got back on track and managed to get there before sun sets. I had no regrets going there! Salut Seafood centre is a huge restaurant with tables as far as the eye can see. Outside the restaurant there is even a small zoo with snakes and monkeys and birds. However, the road from the main entrance to the actual restaurant is very windy and tricky, we had to follow the car in front else we might have made a wrong turn.

The monkeys were quite delighted to see us visitors from Borneo Island.

The whole restaurant itself is on top of water.

At the entrance greeting guests are not ladies clad in cheongsams, but some big wheel modified bikes and huge clams.

These are so huge I can put my head in it.

If you’re looking for choice, this is the place for it. We entered a room filled with live seafood, I was too busy choosing them to snap pics here. You’ll be able to find the best national crab supplier products here, as well as all kinds of shell fish and lobsters – all are in their respective ponds waiting for their destiny. On the wall is listed the pricing for kg or g for all the available seafood, so you know what goes into your mouth and don’t get shocked later.

We chose some seafood but not much and picked a seat. Here, you can get a beautiful view of the mountains and sun set too.

No time to wait for the sky to turn purple, I got distracted when the food arrived which was quite fast.

First dish, fried juicy squid.

I kind of regretted this dish at first, coz I thought fresh seafood shouldn’t be fried. However, it was really good. Crunchy yet still fresh and juicy inside. Nice good proportions too.

Second dish, mussels.

A bit spicy cooked in sweet and sour. Very good and lots of meat.

Third dish, Sabah local vegetable.

This dish is their local vege, it looked and tasted somewhere near Sarawak’s midin, but not as good, of course.

Fourth dish, butter prawns, what else?

John’s fav dish cannot be missed, the butter prawns. Yes, Sabah prawns are just larger and juicier..no doubt, and they are totally generous with the proportions.

All in all plus some drinks, our bill came up to RM80, nowhere near the previous night, but it ain’t cheap eating in Sabah, though it’s well worth it. I still the Salut experience shouldn’t be missed. There’s another place near there, called Gayang. Quite recommended too.

Read about KK’s Seremban Seafood Restaurant,  KK Tune Hotel Review, Yu Chap, my island hopping experience during the trip and my first day arriving in Kota Kinabalu.