Kota Kinabalu Central Market

The Kota Kinabalu  Central Market is a very large two-storey building located on the waterfront, along Jalan Tun Faud Stephens. This is where KK Lites get their meat, fish, vegetables and lots of other daily essentials. It is an interesting place for visitors, as you will get some insights into what KK Lites put on their tables everyday. What you will find out is that seafood is a big part of the KK diet, whether fresh or dried. The variety of seafood you can get here is truly amazing, especially the dried items. Even restaurants and cafes get their supplies here.

The stalls are very basic and laid out in a grid. It can be difficult to tell where one stall ends and another one starts.

Countless types of dried and salted seafood are sold here. The salted fish, dried prawns and dried small anchovies (ikan bilis) are especially good.

A dried octopus. This is very good for making stock.

These are dried cuttlefish which have been rehydrated. They have a crunchy texture, a bit chewy and are very good stirfried with dried chilis and ginger (Kung Pao Cuttlefish), or made into a local salad with water spinach (Jiu Hu Eng Chai).