Breakfast at Foo Ping Dim Sum in Lintas, Kota Kinabalu

We went for breakfast at Foo Ping Dim Sum in Lintas, KK, on Sunday morning and although Dim Sum is not my first choice for breakfast, it’s not a bad choice.

Dim Sum, a Cantonese word, literally translates to mean heart’s delight. It consists of a variety of snacks, many of which are steamed. There are various permutations of Dim Sum and the most popular ones are a delicious something-or-other wrapped in a flour shell and steamed.

Other popular types include food like deep fried wanton, chicken feet and steamed pork ribs with black-bean and chilli. It might sound like an odd combination of food, but once you’ve tried Dim Sum, you’ll always look for the next opportunity to have some more.

Coming back to breakfast though, our chosen destination is in Lintas near the Prudential Building, called Foo Ping Dim Sum. If it’s not the most popular place in Kota Kinabalu for Dim Sum, it certainly is one of the most popular places in KK, because it doesn’t matter what time of the morning you go there, there’s always a crowd.

Ironically enough, even though the tables are packed and Dim Sum trolleys are weaving backwards and forwards in between crammed tables that seem to have no space at all, there’s always space for two or three more.

Get your Dim Sum on

We arrived shortly before breakfast would be over, but Foo Ping Dim Sum was still packed with hungry punters munching away on a large variety of Dim Sum choices. We had no trouble finding a seat, but a quick glance revealed only a few empty seats.

We called over one of the the Dim Sum trolleys and made our selection. I don’t know what all the Dim Sum dishes are called, but I’ve learned to identify them by remembering what tastes good. The fact that they are colour-coded with a colourful edible something marking the different dishes, makes it a bit easier.

The names I do remember includes steamed pork rib with black bean and chili sauce, char siew, which is sweet and sour pork, and chee cheong fun. Chee cheon fun is a flour based dish, not unlike a large, limp noodle. It’s prepared in a soy-based sauce and is unexpectedly delicious. We also had lom ai kai, a glutonous rice dish with pork bits and salted egg. It tastes better than what it might sound and has a savory, slightly sweet, taste to it.

Wanting to have a relatively light start to the day, we ordered a modest amount of Dim Sum, and after finishing it, resisted the urge to order more, even though the taste of what we had and the aroma of what awaited were quite compelling.

As we drove off, settling down in the car, our stomachs became heavier and heavier and we realised how much we really ate. As Dim Sum is served in small portions, it’s easy to underestimate how much you’re actually eating, and you’re guaranteed to eat a lot when you visist Foo Ping Dim Sum in Lintas, Kota Kinabalu.