Sembulan Lobster Restaurant — Restaurant in Borneo

This restaurant was recommended to us by a street vendor at Jesselton Pier for it's reasonable prices and fresh seafood. We decided to check it in an attempt to avoid all the tourist traps. We got there and the clientele seemed to be mostly locals (dare I say even regulars!), with some tourists as well. The prices were very fair and reasonable, however some of the seafood listed on the menu (eg. lobster, squid) was not on display in the tanks.

Deep fried squid with salted egg: absolutely delicious to start with, since I had yet to try anything like this, but the salted egg flavour soon got tiring - maybe it would be more suitable to a larger dining party, as with 2 people we were struggling with the heavy flavour.

Clams in Ginger and Spring onion: Absolutely delicious, big juicy clam meats (though the shells pretty heavy, so that will be what most of the weight you pay for goes towards), the sauce was heavenly, especially with rice. Highly recommended!

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab : The only dish we both regretted ordering, as it was too much oily fried stuff, and the batter on the crab was a bit thick in places. Generally speaking, I've had better soft shell crab elsewhere - should've gone for a fresh crab instead!

Seafood clay pot : Not bad, though lacking in seasoning (the clam sauce went really well with it!). Came with assorted seafood, such as shrimp, squid, fish, clams etc.

Overall, I think it is a good option if you're looking for seafood in KK but want to avoid extortionate tourist prices in the city centre. All of this came to about 114.50 which wasn't bad at all. I would probably come back if I find myself...

friendly staff, patient even though they don’t speak english. this place is a less crowded alternative to the usual popular places, but food tastes even better in fact. waited around 30-45 min (which we heard is fast compared to most other restaurants) but it was worth it. we ordered their signature wet butter prawn 500g (which was insanely fresh, huge, and really good we couldn’t stop eating the sauce), assam red snapper (we got the frozen one but it was still crazy fresh & the assam sauce is also delicious), oyster omelette & sabah veg in garlic (both real good!). this was more than enough for four of us. price-wise, also very reasonable we were surprised. recommended, would absolutely...

Had reserved a table on a sunday night. Understandably busy. However when I asked the guy who I assumed was the propertier (wearing a pink shirt) for our table, he just looked at me and walked off. Probably because I was using a headscarf? We were eventually brought to our table by another worker in uniform, and after deciding on our orders I waved to the guy in the pink shirt(who happened to be nearby) to take our orders. Again he looked at me and just slid his eyes away. I noted that he served the other customers normally. On the whole, the food was average, prawns weren't fresh... have tasted better Chinese seafood in KL. Save the hassle of being ignored and eat...