[Place of Interest] Sandakan Year End Trip 1.1 Arrival + San Da Gen Kopitiam

Sandakan 3D2N Year End Trip

This is our travel journal to Sandakan, one of the famous towns in Sabah, especially famous for its fresh seafood.

Turn on the "Cuti-Cuti Malaysia" mode! :D

December 21, 2018 (Friday)

Arrival at Sandakan Airport

Our flight from Kota Kinabalu (BKI) to Sandakan (SDK) only takes about 50 minutes. We departed from BKI at 8:45AM by AirAsia. It was a short flight, and before you realised, the plane has touched down in Sandakan Airport.

We children were told that our family has been to Sandakan town before, probably 10 years ago. But that time we went there by car. So this is considered our first visit by plane! :)

There are taxi and car rental service counters at the arrival hall. Since car hailing service is so convenient nowadays, we decided to use Grab car service for the entire trip.

We got ourselves onto a 6-seater car in a second and straight away we headed to our hotel to put the baggage.

In this 3D2N trip, we are staying at Four Points by Sheraton, consider it is the best hotel in town and it is located at town centre. I will share more about the hotel and our rooms later since our rooms are not ready for check-in.

So we might as well go for lunch.

Lunch @ San Da Gen Kopitiam

San Da Gen Kopitiam

- Address : Lebuh Dua, Pusat Bandar Sandakan, 90000 Sandakan, Sabah. (same building as Nak Hotel)
- Operating Hours : 8AM - 5PM
- Phone : 089-238 988
- Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TasteSanDaGen/


When you searched online for food recommendation in Sandakan, I'm sure you won't miss this cafe.

"Kopitiam" in Cantonese means a place for coffee, literally.

What makes this cafe special? Probably it's their modern and retro interior which brings you back to the 80s.

Instead of the paper menu which we are familiar of, they list the menu down on a huge blackboard (as below).

Menu stand

And they have today's special menu listed on another blackboard, smaller (as below).

Today's Special Menu

Sandakan is especially famous for their homemade delicacies, basically any tarts or cookies!

Particularly, their UFO tarts caught my eyes instantly. Butter cookie as base and we have cream wrapping the custard in the middle. This delicacy is also known as the "cow dung" cookie. Well, I prefer the first name, really. Anyway, I really love this combination! YUM! :9

UFO Tart - RM2.50/piece

This cafe is particularly famous for its Salted Egg Lava French Toast, so we are getting one set of that, for sure. The set consists of 1 Salted Egg Lava French Toast, 2 eggs (choose from hard boiled and or half boiled) and 1 drink (choose either black coffee or tea).

Salted Egg Lava French Toast Set - RM10.90

Never had I tried anything like that before. It was absolutely eye-opening! The melted salted egg just gushes out as soon as you cut the french toast. If you are a salted egg lover, I'm sure you gonna like this. Taste wise, every element in the french toast compliments each other. For me, the serving is too much to finish by my own. :')

And we have Sambal Konlou Chicken Chop. Putting sambal into dry kuey-teow is new to me, but I'm not fond of it. But I do appreciate its big serving (as below).

Sambal Konlou Chicken Chop - RM10.90

Coming up next is the Jumbo Ayam Penyet. Compared to the previous mains, this appeared to be the most convention dish among all. On the other hand, it may look plain in overall. The chicken meat is tender inside, but other than that, so-so.

Jumbo Ayam Penyet - RM14.90

Last but not least, I ordered an ala carte Thai Milk Tea for a try. Something different for the day, and it satisfied my craving. Definitely more affordable than Cha Tra Mue. :p

Thai Milk Tea - RM4.50

Probably because it's weekday, we don't see much customers in the cafe. I like it that way thou! I really enjoy the ambiance here and I could imagine spending my weekends here blogging the whole day! Only I have laptop with me now (heh).

Make sure you follow my footsteps in Sandakan by clicking the next post! ;)