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Atlantis Seafood Restaurant - Simply Seafood, Simply the Best

Maybe you want to call me biased! Or prejudiced! Of course, when we write about new food outlets in Sabah we are invited to sample the best there is, and the chefs probably do their best to please us, and then we say something nice. But the Atlantis Restaurants in Sabah simply do herald a new era of seafood cuisine here. I would write about them even if I had pay for my own food (and I did on my second visit): as much as the fabled continent Atlantis has disappeared in the oceans, so rises a new era of seafood gastronomic experiences in Sabah with the Atlantis Restaurants.

This article is not about the same Atlantis I have written previously, the Atlantis Bistro. This is about the Atlantis Seafood Restaurant in Jalan Bundusan, some 15 minutes from the centre of Sabah’s capital, Kota Kinabalu. Even so, Atlantis Bistro deserves a second remark here, but about that later.

In our first review we have already introduced the Atlantis ‘philosophy’ as being the ‘downstream activity’ of a large seafood trader in Sabah. It was a step that eventually someone had to take – from exporting Sabah’s excellent seafood to offering it also locally, but prepared with a twist. Nothing but the freshest seafood, the best ingredients, and highly committed chefs – the recipe to customer satisfaction and success! Besides, the prices are interesting even considering local markets!

The Atlantis Seafood Restaurant in Bundusan is the ‘typical Chinese seafood restaurant’ here in Sabah – maybe your first impressions are the fish tanks, and in Bundusan there are 66 – where a bewildering variety of live fish and shells are on display, virtually a living menu. The second impression may be the vast hall and the round tables. But that is about where the likeness with other seafood places stops.

You will find that with the Atlantis Restaurants there is a particular attention to detail, and to cleanliness. On your second visit you also realise there is consistency and a dynamic team that understands the needs of its clientele. When you enter you are greeted and seated, without having to feel everyone is after your hard earned cash. Take a seat, relax and browse through the menu. The captains will be able to explain in detail how each dish is prepared, even in English – meaning NO EXCUSE for not entering the place if you are a foreign traveller!

Start with ordering some drinks – the Atlantis Seafood Restaurant has some interesting wines from Chile – and then have a look at the live display of seafood. Let the captain or the chef make suggestions. I find that in Sabah a restaurant with a menu is almost presumptuous. And why a menu if everything is there, in front of your eyes, fresh and waiting to be prepared to your liking? Maybe I have been here too long, but looking at a menu does not inspire me particularly any more, and probably never has – the key word is: cuisine du marché! To speak out loud: there is a market in the restaurant itself!

Let yourself be inspired by the fresh oysters – best prices in town at the Atlantis – and then go for that garoupa that was looking at you so enticingly. The chef will propose you a variety of preparations, from steamed with garlic over deep fried in olive oil or with mango and Thai chilli – their speciality. Or what about that lobster? Proposed preparation: with cheese. Yes, you heard right, with cheese! If you are travelling from Europe this might more than astonish you, I concede, but all I can say: try it! Or fresh crabs prepared with Chinese rice wine? One has to make choices in life, and at the Atlantis Seafood Restaurant that might be a bit of a challenge.

To accompany your meal you might also want some vegetables, and frankly speaking I have rarely tasted so well prepared ‘plain’ mixed vegetables than recently in Bundusan! For the meat lovers, a variety of beef, and intriguingly also ostrich is on the menu, succulently tender and with the perfumes and spices of the east, or classical – your choice.

For the more daring: eels (locally called ‘lindung’) with honey, or as soup with ginger and lemon grass. Abalones and shark fin soup are for the more sophisticated; squid in black pepper or with dried chillies for those who like it hot; and fried rice with kuaci – sunflower kernels – is simply wonderful.

The Atlantis Seafood Restaurant in Jalan Bundusan might not be on the tourism highway and as such it is perhaps a bit of an insider tip. You will rub shoulders with Sabahans there, and where the locals flock to en masse food is simply great, believe me! It is the best possible indicator of freshness and quality!

As a conclusion I should say that in the first place, if you don’t taste Sabah’s seafood while travelling here you have missed an integral part of Sabah’s culture anyway; secondly, if you have not been to the Atlantis Seafood Restaurant you have not tasted the freshest and best seafood in town, but you have a second chance: the Atlantis Bistro on KK's own Waterfront, and that is now really not difficult to find! If you have not been to the Atlantis at the Waterfront you have missed more than a trendsetter here – you have missed the best seafood you’ll ever taste! By the by, there is also an Atlantis Seafood Restaurant in Singapore, by the same owner. What are you waiting for?

The Atlantis Seafood Restaurant also has private rooms, for meetings and conventions, weddings and other private functions for up to 500 guests, and they do provide ample parking space; for reservations call their Sales & Marketing Manager, Mr Abu Bakar at 088 725596;Fax: 088 725568,