Note: Non-halal eatery review.
A few of my friends have been to Manila, and became Filipino’s food lovers. They shares their passion for Filipino food with the rest of us that are yet to visit the Philippines, by bringing us to this Filipino restaurant at Api Api Centre, Kota Kinabalu.
There are a few Filipinos restaurants in Api Api Centre, but our favourite hang out spot just have to be Tambayan! Tambayan is situated just next to the Proton (or was it Perodua?) showroom at Api Api Centre.
This is the entrance that will greet you upon arrival at Tambayan restaurant.
The interior decor of the restaurant resembles a traditional Filipino house, using bamboo as for the furniture, astray and the lamps’ shades or whatever you call it.
Can you see the light at the right side of this photo?
Being a Filipino restaurant, do expect a lot of pork dishes from the menu selections. To those that doesn’t eat pork like me, fret not as there are a few Filipino traditional dishes that you can feast upon. I personally love the sisig bangus or milkfish sisig. As for the dessert, it just have to be the sweet and thick creme caramel, leche flan!
Some of the food selection you can see from the menu on the wall.
I didn’t have the photos of sisig bangus and leche flan with me at the moment, but the following are another favourite dishes of ours.
Beef Sinigang - a thick, sourish stew. Very nice! Eat while it is still hot or you’ll see the fat floating on the surface of the soup! LOL!
Another dish that my friends ordered. I couldn’t remember what it was, so it must be a pork dish! 
My usual order for drinks. Mango juice (a must try!) and San Mig Light beer.
The ambience in Tambayan restaurant is indeed a nice place to hangout with your friends. There’s a karaoke box at the back of the restaurant where you can sing your heart out for 50 cents a song (unless they increased the price already!) and a pool table to try out your pool skills while waiting for your turn to sing..
To the owner of Tambayan restaurant, can we get a discount next time we visit your place? 
To my readers, yes, this is a free review, a personal review from yours truly. An honest opinion.
2 of my good friends having a great time choosing the food to order from the menu. Boss of Tambayan, please take note of these faces, these are some of your loyal customers.
Give Tambayan a try and tell me of your opinion of the place. Wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous new year 2009! Happy holidays!
Popularity: 100% [?]
Tags: Filipino food, Leche flan, San Mig Light, sinigang, Tambayan
February 24th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
tu hari sia sama si max pi sana.. banyak na orrrderrrr kami… time tu ada juga na band
main nyanyi2 sana… tapi tidak lah sia dapat lupa itew nasi goreng campur2 iitu
daging lecon babui… uina sadap ba
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SabahanCuisine reply on March 18, 2009 2:03 am:
hahahha tu sia nda tau apa rasala deng, pasal sia nda makan babui … tapi yang bangus ikan.. aiii.. sia sangat suka! Uiii… ingat2, punya lama kami pun nda pigi sana Tambayan sudah.. masing-masing ni geng2 semua ni sibuk sama kehidupan sendiri….
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June 16th, 2009 at 12:07 am
[...] had a taste of the balot in Tambayan; but not as “matured” as the one they had with the well-formed baby duck… I just [...]
July 17th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Yang KU tahu nih kababayan yang ada live band lah!
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December 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
The original Tambayan Boss and Chef are now not in Tambayan anymore they open a new Filipino Restaurant at Asia City Beside Pirate bar I heard that it will be operational this january or february thats is why the food they serve in tambayan restaurant now is not the same when I ussualy come there.Im waiting for the new Filipino Restaurant in Asia City to try the best Filipino food.
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SabahanCuisine reply on February 20, 2010 12:42 pm:
Thanks for the info, ken… I saw there’s another Filipino restaurant in Lintas Plaza too, I think it’s called Masarap. Not sure if it’s open yet or not. But would sure give it a try sometime soon
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