Over looking the South China Sea in Kota Kinabalu is the Philippine Market. A monstrous, colourful collection of stalls and people grilling a wider selection of fresh fish. Luckily the wet or fish market is located right next door. Handy. It's a fantastic and atmospheric place. May not be everyone's taste but for a great cheap meal, it's a must.
Walking through the open area, being blinded by the smoke, dodging the many Philippino women enticing you to eat at their tables, trying not to trip over as you keep looking at peoples plates to see what they are eating. The fish is really cheap ranging from about 8 to 25 Ringitt, depending on if you want a tiddler or a whale. Between them all, there really is no difference. fish the same, grilled the same, sides the same, prices the same. Only difference are the women trying to get you to sit at their tables and eat.
We sat with one that was pretty much full of locals. Good sign of freshness. We ordered a nice sized squid, and a huge monster of a fish. Been finding recently, the bigger the fish the bigger the bones, which makes it easier to find them, so as not to choke on them. Problems in the past.
I made up a dipping sauce, of chilli, sugar and lime juice. Spicy, sweet n sour. The fish came and was nice and crispy on the outside and firm and moist on the inside. It was fantastic feeling to pull the chunks of fish with my hands and dunk it in the sauce and eat it. So so so so good. So very good indeed.
It's really strange that I come from an island, but do not really eat that much fish. More of a meat eater. But with fish like this I am being easily converted.
Happy times.
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