At the market in Kota Kinabalu

It was a two day fun trip with my  colleague chefs ,  at one of the most impressive market, in Asia, the seafood market and the wet market of Kota Kinabalu : with   Chef Jochen Kern And  chef Nikolay .Do not expect less than tons and tons of fresh products , hundred of tips of fish and thousand of tips of products ,,,, all fresh .

It took a bit of effort ,  as we were  there quiet early , at the sunrise , or i guess it was for us , but the market of the seafood , and vegetables,   are one on the most beautiful in Asia .I asked also Gordon Ramsay when it was here to go over. and again i will raccomend to any one of you guys to have a look ....
here the two days big catch :

Second day, we found this .... chef Nik ( he told me. is father was i wiking and i guess he look like ) , and the boys the catch the sting ray 

 

 

• First day , we found maybe the bigger tuna market out of japan ,,,, laid down on the floor 10 tuna , each of 60 kg 

....  well well so , in front of the market there are few island and u can see it with u eye , one is call gaya island and  few other i forgot , but they told me is a must to visit and see the people leave in the water house : few  tribes of fisher man ..

 Well for some direction  , just reach le Meridien Hotel in front of the water sea and u wil see the vegetable market : the seafood maket is bihind the main pavilion easy to see is  a black open market u can cross the seaffod market and immerge you self in mango, fruits , vegetable , dry goods and so much more .. but any way what to see over at the seafood market ....


parrot fish , with pink meat , due of it diet of sea urchin , with a line  meat and superb flavor



Mai Mai , a cummon fish that u find in Haway and Pacific , with white meat 



Snapper family ..... a big family over there ...



Red garrupa , or 7 star garrupa , a deep sea fish , with a very superb and distinct flavor , Chinese cuisine love to steam at the perfection



Red flower crab , due of the moon they change the colour and here a spectacular example , normally the are blue, like few on the left side of the picture .

   those are few of the 100 of the yellow fin tuna that u can find here , the smaller one : from one kg to 5 kg the are all here the big boys are behing waiting for the bigger buyer like in al the top fish market in the world. Not only tuna is every where but also Barracuda ( here below ) from smaller to big catch are all line up to be buy ,,,,,,,,,,, in our case, cook .



Barracuda



 Spinny lobster , from the sea, near here ...

Behind the market u will notice the box filled with ice and fish on stand by,, go there at the last corner u see in this picture is where the seafood is pulled out

 well like i say do not stop only inside the seafood market make a walk behind : is here where the big catch are hold on those boxes , . U will encounter big sword fish starting to been fillet , like this one on the picture , shark , tuna and much more


this is easely a 100 kg sword fish cut in two , just catch and started to be cut



the head of the sword fish

 as u walk on  the right corner,  of the fish market ,  a small tuna market goes on .Here we encounter  few 60 kg tuna yellow fin, ready to be sell .Price bitting goes for 2 euro per kg or less, if u lucky on friday u can find about 10 to 15 numbers of this treasure , ......or just ask some  of the fisher  man to call you when gone be the right time .



this was the big boy.... a 70 kg yellow fin tuna

this only... the guys told me less then 40 kg ....



those are the rest of the tuna ,  some ,already buy from export

 ok so more or less u try to find this corner , why ???
this is where all the fish is benn take in by an very unique way : the boat the speed boat ,  will reach the corner,and people will pull in the fish by arm ...here below the sequence form outside when they take in the  seafood ,.....




Speed boat parking,  loading of  the seafood in plastic box , and pulled up by a string



this is  magic for me .....  and here below how the are coming in , the seafood ... just near the tuna corner :)

So this was a good day,our first day but we  promise to come back the next and strech a bite more our legs to  direct in to the wet    market .
what to sayd: If u want to talk about free range chicken , , herbs , vegetable , fruits , organic here u go ... from the forest of Borneo
Look a those chicken , if u look closely u will notice that breasts are not puff, filled with hormone , and the feet are in perfect condition from walking in the land ,....... giblet and liver are pack together



here chef Jorken was almost amaze to see after so long a real naked chicken, as he said 



Baby banana



local avocado ,  larger than the normal 

vegetables



rice , with the rare mountain rice and few other spices ..

lot of mangoes



dry seafood market ..

As sayd, one emorning was not enought and we was there again at the second day, just like ,a  meeting with our new play ground a new world to discover  ...and again surprise by surprise the seafood market was filled , with new thinghs and new faces ...

local boys

Fresh seaweed .. near mangoes and chilies 

today oyster on sale ..big monster oyster , best tot be cook,... u should try to cook it at 42 degree, they will become white .. some friends  from Noma restaurant in Kopenegen they vacum pack with white asparagus and there the magic start ...

clams and oysters

Nik Looking at the cach of the day ... wonder if he see what we see it or,  he is dreaming of a mix grill .. ora  sashimi platter

this is how big those oyster are, like a harm



e sea water outside the market ,,,

more shell fish



local blue fish or ikan kambon how they call here



pufferfish

 varaity of prawns and fresh crab are just every where  ,and it comes in many size , form the mangrove prawns to the deep sea ...

Sting ray ......

   more and more and more seafood i  will like to do a book but i guess , u should go there and see it ....and as i sayd go to see behind  as per promise by the fisher man is where the magic arrive .... and  this  is it ,,,,,, we found the guy that cach this other moster ...

so time to go .....now we  are back in Kuala Lumpur,  lots of this memory will stay with us and sure we will be back again and again to see our new friend at the market ........

For us chefs  those are special  moment ,,, to share with all ...