At first glance, Kota Kinabalu isn’t a great city for pub crawling. Like many Asian cities there’s a bar street with cookie cutter Irish pubs and restaurants. In KK’s case that is the waterfront, which admittedly is a good place to catch the sunset and maybe an evening breeze. The Shamrock is one of the few places that has some sport on, and yes, you can get Irish Stew. The Shamrock yielded a surprising unique – Edelweiss wheat beer.
But do some digging and you find a couple of cracking joints that would not be out of place in Flinder’s Lane or Newtown. The two stars of the show are Bar Abong and Tapai Speakeasy, that are two speakeasy bars doing very interesting things.
Bar Abong is now on Google Maps, so it is an easier find. It is on the site of the Drunken Door – now closed, and if you look for the lurid square orange light you’ve found it. Up some narrow stairs that open into a large space with a large open plan kitchen. They encourage patrons to watch apparently. Bar Abong is all about natural wine – whatever that is, but Sapporo is on tap. The green bean fries with seaweed and anchovy are like nothing I’ve ever eaten before. Good.
Even harder to find is Tapai Speakeasy. If you are in KK on a Friday or Saturday night, treat yourself to a walk down the Gaya Street food night market. Just awesome (though I don’t need to try beef lung again). Tapai Speakeasy overlooks Gaya Street, but the entrance is around the block. Stand on Gaya Street facing where the pub should be. Walk right, turn left and turn left again. You’re behind the pub and there’s a flight of yellow stairs that leads to a black door. Push it open and you are there. Lovely quiet ambience, even though you are above noisy Gaya Street. The surprise for me was a unique beer from a unique brewery. A pale ale from 1602 Life Beer. I’ll write about this Sarawakian brewery later, but very nice.
This little pocket of KK also has the very lovely Biru Biru Cafe, which is on the ground floor of a restored printing house. The prettiest bar in KK by a long shot, and it would be a good place for a feed if the Gaya Street markets aren’t on.
The Rasta Bar, which I can’t find on Google Maps is opposite the Shell servo on the main drag of KK, nearish to the Hilton. The staff couldn’t give two sh1ts if you can find any staff, but the Tiger is RM10 ($3.50) and it is one of the few places open before 5pm.
Cowboy Bar is KK’s premier (only) dive bar that distinguished itself by not playing f$&@ing Christmas carols. Paul McCartney should have his knighthood revoked for “Wonderful Christmas”. It is down a dimly lit alley and is next to an outdoor restaurant, that brings meals into the bar. It succeeds in pulling off a saloon-style look and I predict it would go off at later hours of the evening.
back of the ferry 