San Francisco Coffee offers a Big Breakfast at all their branches in KK and is one of the best western breakfasts we’ve stumbled across in Kota Kinabalu.

If you’re staying in one of the many nearby hotels and don’t have breakfast included with your room rate, or if you’re just looking for a good hearty breakfast with which to start your day, then San Francisco Coffee’s Big Breakfast is a scrumptious option.

San Francisco Coffee’s Big Breakfast is a collection of breakfast options, the flagship of which is the American Breakfast. Served as a two-course set from opening until 11.30am daily, it’s a generous-sized breakfast consisting of toast, scrambled eggs, butter-fried mushrooms and sausages. It also includes either bottomless one cup of filter coffee or tea.

After 11.30am it’s served a la carte, the only difference being that the coffee or tea is not included. However, the breakfast itself is served all day, which is great for late risers or those of us who argue that scrambled eggs and toast is not solely the domain of the breakfast crowd.

At RM11.95, having the American Breakfast before 11.30am is much better value than it is after, as a single cup of Americano is about RM5 per cup – and to have a bottomless filter coffee included is a certain bonus to establish the day’s caffeine fix.

If you’re in KK looking for a filling, value-for-money breakfast, do try the Big Breakfast at San Francisco Coffee.

San Francisco Coffee currently has two branches in Kota Kinabalu and Sabah, both in handy to access places. San Francisco Coffee serves a variety of espresso based coffee drinks, tea, sandwiches and other light snacks and meals.

San Francisco Coffee, Warisan Square

Facing Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens, with a view of the Waterfront, KK, San Francisco sits on the corner of the outside lots at Warisan Square Shopping Centre. Providing coffee and snacks with inside or outside seating, this San Francisco Coffee is the busier of the two branches in Kota Kinabalu.

G-G-01, Block C, Ground Floor
Warisan Square, Kota Kinabalu
Ope: 8am – 12am from Monday to Sunday

San Francisco Coffee, City Mall, Kota Kinabalu

This is currently the newest and biggest branch of San Francisco Coffee in Kota Kinabalu. Located on the first floor of City Mall, it’s right above the entrance. Accessible from the entrance inside the mall during usual mall operating hours, it’s also accessible from the mezzanine level near Y Fitness before and after mall operating hours.

M-1-1 & M-1-2, Lorong City Mall
Jalan Lintas
City Mall, Kota Kinabalu
Open: 8am – 12pm from Monday to Sunday

In KK (Kota Kinabalu) a good western breakfast is hard to find, which is why I relish the opportunity to visit Coffee Bean, as they do some wicked breakfasts.

Recently Sabahbah frequented Coffee Bean in The Waterfront in KK for an early morning western breakfast kick start. On a weekend, the good people at Coffee Bean serve breakfast until 2pm, which is great for those of us who don’t see Sunday until it’s halfway through.

Coffee Bean at the Waterfront in KK has possibly the best breakfast view in Kota Kinabalu, looking out directly onto the Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park and the islands in the distance. You can either enjoy your brekkie in air-conditioned comfort, or on the broadwalk overlooking the ocean.

Either way, there’s a decent menu of breakfast options and if you’re really into western breakfasts, then you’d want to go for the Break o’Day, traditional scrambled eggs with sausages and toast.

On this occasion we were a little more adventurous and opted for the Egg Club Sandwich. What a mammoth way to start the day. Breakfast pinched between Panini Bread, cut in half and filling the plate. For an extra RM2 you can upgrade to a Cafe Latte, or as a standard you can enjoy bottomless brewed coffee or tea. The total tally, with the standard option, is RM11.95.

I actually struggled to get through the huge helping and went right through until dinner, not feeling the need to eat anything for the rest of the day. The latte went down smoothly, although I usually get the bottomless coffee of which I have a refill or two – strong stuff.

If you want to start the day with a bang, do try the Egg Club Sandwich at Coffee Bean in the Waterfront, KK.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is an American based company, which blew over to Sabah via Australia. Serving a range of coffees, tea, ice-blended drinks and a good selection of meals, Coffee Bean in Sabah is popular for early morning breakfasts, midday coffees and late night chats.

Coffee Bean in Kota Kinabalu is represented by four branches:

Coffee Bean Waterfront, Kota Kinabalu
Open from 8.30am till 1am (2am on public holidays)
Part of the Waterfront, opposite Warasan / Centrepoint Shopping Centres

Coffee Bean Damai
A little off the tourist track, but one of the busiest branches
Open from early till very late.

Coffee Bean Karamunsing Shopping Centre
The newest Coffee Bean in KK, located groud floor in the Karamunsing Shopping Centre.

Coffee Bean Wisma Merdeka Shopping Centre
Old favourite with tourists to KK and the lunchtime crowd alike.
Open from 8.30am until 8pm, or on public holidays until 9pm and until 6pm on Sundays.

Head Quarters
The Perfect Brew Sdn. Bhd.
Lot B702 – B706, 7th Floor
Wisma Merdeka Phase 2
Jalan Tun Razak
Ph: 088 216 833
Fx: 088 217 833
Email: theperfectbrew (@) coffeebeansabah.com.my

Big Apple Donuts in City Mall is Kota Kinabalu’s (KK) first donut shop of its type, and beyond the initial teething problems, it’s proving quite popular.

Called Big Apple Donuts & Coffee in full, Big Apple Donuts do more donuts than it does coffee, which isn’t surprising, as it’s wedged in between Starbucks Coffee and Old Town White Coffee on the mall-front of City Mall in Kota Kinabalu.

Big Apple Donuts started operations in KK late in 2007 to seemingly little fanfare, however, it proved popular virtually from the day it opened. Its success bamboozled itself initially, as quickly queues developed with which it was unable to cope, often leaving long lines and too few donuts.

Today, a month or two later, the queues seem to have quieten down. Whether this is due to better management, or whether already its popularity has waned, is difficult to tell. What remains certain is that Big Apple Donuts at City Mall KK is doing brisk business and the punters love it.

The official website of Big Apple Donuts is very well hidden, or it doesn’t exist, which makes it more difficult to tell where Big Apple Donuts are from, or any Big Apple Donut history for that matter. Unlike J. Co Donuts, the more prominent and better marketed cousins, albeit only because they have a website, Big Apple Donuts are shrouded in a veil of mystery.

Nevertheless, Big Apple Donuts offers a simple menu of 24 different kinds of donuts, likely at least one to suit every taste. Ranging from the vanilla of donuts, Glacier, which is just a plain glazed donut, to the more exotic Say Cheese and Spicy Flossy donuts, which feature cheese and flossed chicken respectively, Big Apple Donuts has a few offering worth exploring.

Big Apple Donuts’ dough is of the light and fluffy variety, which means, to me at least, that you can gorge on more donuts compared to their competitors in KL, J.Co, makers of a solid, heavy based donut. The fillings are sweet and for the most part quite delicious, although I did choke somewhat on Spicy Flossy. In my opinion, chicken floss should be kept well away from donuts. Although I didn’t try Say Cheese, and I’m first to admit I love chocolate-chip-cookies-and-cheese, I also feel cheese and donuts might be a bit much.

Donuts prices are reasonable, although predictably more expensive then their KL counterparts. A single donut will set you back RM2.30, whilst a half-dozen box will cost RM12 and a dozen, as is standard in the industry, is most economical at RM22 per box (or a R5.60 saving compared to buying 12 single donuts).

For those who actually care about Big Apple Donuts’ beverage selection, and I doubt many do, the cheapest beverage on the list is RM2.50 for Skye Juice (mineral variety), RM4.50 for a variety of teas, RM5 for an Americano coffee, and at the top end, Latte’s and Flavoured Latte’s at RM7 and RM7.50 respectively. Their beverage selection has so far gone untried by this Blog.

To the question of background and history on this fine donut company, I guess we’ll have to approach the source for the answer: Big Apple Donuts & Coffee, City Mall, KK.