Was going around Chinatown Complex Food Centre and chanced upon this seemingly new stall named Sandakan Food 山打根美食 that seem to have sprouted up since our last visit to the food centre a couple of weeks back. Sandakan cuisine does seem to have gained a little popularity around the island in recent times (think establishments like KANTIN at Jewel); Sandakan itself being a city within Sabah, Malaysia on the coast of Borneo. Sandakan Food’s signboard says it well — their tagline being “Traditional SABAH Authentic Taste”. Located in the green zone of the hawker centre, the stall is located fairly close to Jiakali; another one of the newer tenants that have recently moved into Chinatown Complex Food Centre — the said zone within the food centre does seem a little buzzy these days as compared to in the past with more stalls seemingly operating in the zone. Sandakan Food’s stall facade can be said as one that isn’t particularly loud, though the colours are still eye-catching to say the least — the signboard being in turquoise colours with lighting surrounding the borders. Unlike KANTIN at Jewel which features tribal Borneo cuisine and Borneo cuisine with a modern twist though, Sandakan Food is more of a typical Chinese-run stall serving up noodles and boiled soups. Other items available at Sandakan Food also includes sides such as BBQ Chicken Wing, as well as a Fried Pork Rice.

One of the items that had long gotten our attention while we went past Sandakan Food in Chinatown Complex Food Centre on another occasion was the Fried Pork Hor Fun. Malaysian-style Hor Fun to us have always been the Ipoh-style Hor Fun that typically comes with shredded chicken; other variants that come to mind will be the Chicken Chop Hor Fun which can be found served at Amigo and Weng Kee at Changi Village Food Centre — the fact that Sandakan Food at Chinatown Complex Food Centre is serving up a variant with Fried Pork was definitely interesting enough to pique our interest. It is noted that the Fried Pork Hor Fun from Sandakan Food features Hor Fun that is of the narrow sort — something fairly typical of Malaysian-style Hor Fun like the Ipoh Hor Fun that we are all familiar with. The Fried Pork Hor Fun also does come with some blanched vegetables apart from the fried pork as promised, whilst it is also accompanied with a bowl of soup that comes on the side.

Giving everything a good mix before we dug into the Fried Pork Hor Fun, one thing that was significantly different about the Fried Pork Hor Fun from Sandakan Food against the various Ipoh-style Hor Fun that we have tried from other establishments was how the gravy seems to be more sauce-like here — essentially mixed from a couple of sauces that went into the bowl, the sauce was definitely more savoury and less gloopy and dense than most Ipoh-style Hor Fun elsewhere; gets absorbed by the slippery and smooth rice noodles very well too. It may veer towards being a little salty for some, but adding in the chili on the side does add a contrast of savouriness and a slight tinge of spiciness that adds a lot more depth to the flavours of the dish; the level of spiciness being fairly comfortable for those whom are tolerable to lower levels of spiciness. The Fried Pork came at a temperature that is warm, though the temperature contrast between that of the rice noodles and the sauce was a little stark against the fried pork. That being said, the fried pork comes lightly battered; would work better being served hotter since it would have carried a better crispness overall, but we were intrigued with how tender and juicy they were without any hint of undesirable porky stench. There is a particular umami note that seems to hint that there is fermented beancurd used in its marination, considering how there was a very light note that seemed to resemble that of Hakka fried pork somehow as well. Overall, the Fried Pork Hor Fun was definitely a dish that captured our heart and soul; something almost to the same effect that we have had whenever we have the Chicken Cutlet Noodles at Chin Seng Cooked Food at Tekka Centre when that was around the workplace for us — this is not forgetting the $4.50 price tag that the Fried Pork Hor Fun commands for here. Something which we would most certainly develop cravings for in the future!