Dining @ Filipino Market

The open air grills just behind the Filipino Market is an attraction indeed. Seafood is in abundance here, and displayed to tempt many hungry locals and tourists. It's my first time here, and I'm really fascinated by the experience.

My troupe walked to and fro, gawking at the seafood on display. The night was humid, and the air was thick with barbecue smoke. It was quite intoxicating indeed!

To and fro we walked again. Really, the variety of seafood were the same. It's just that we were not sure which stall to go to. I checked to see which stall had more patrons, for that could indicate the popularity of the stall. The vendors were busily touting for business, but finally, we decided on a stall somewhere in the middle of the lot.

Wow! A lobster and tiger prawns lined up neatly for all to see ...

Different types of grilled fish ...

Skewers of prawns ...

Diners can select the seafood of preference from the lot on display. The vendor will them proceed to warm the food up on the grill before serving it. Actually, we wanted our seafood fresh off the grill, but apparently, it could not be done. We had to settle for those pre-grilled ones on display on the table.

Since there were only the two of us, my colleague and I did not order much. We decided on a small ikan merah or red snapper, and a skewer of cuttlefish.

The marinade for the seafood was all the same, I suppose. It was slightly spicy with some chillies and spices used, and rather smoky in flavour. Quite yum, indeed. We were charged RM15.00 for the fish, and RM13.00 for the rice.

The seafood was served with big plate rice. At least the rice was steaming hot. Rice was RM1.00 per plate.


I like the chilli sauce used for dipping. It was piquant, spicy. sweet and tangy at the same time.


There were limes too if you like your food to be a bit more sour.

The locals eat their seafood with a kind of gravy, instead of the chilli sauce. I did not give the gravy a try.

Halfway through the meal, the generator went off, and the whole place was pitch black. I couldn't even see what I was eating for about a minute. The vendor then lighted candles for us, and we ended up having a candlelight dinner. Lol.

Anyway, it was quite fun eating in the open air like this, and even as I recall this experience, I would really like to go back someday on my own to explore the market, and of course Sabah further.