Semporna Food Guide: What to Eat Here

Semporna is a small town on the east coast of Sabah, used almost exclusively as a transit base for divers heading to Sipadan, Mabul, and the surrounding reefs. Most visitors arrive, check in to a dive resort or guesthouse in town, eat, and leave early the next morning. The food scene reflects this — a handful of seafood restaurants, a few Chinese coffee shops, and a market — but what it lacks in variety it partly makes up for in freshness. The Sulu Sea is immediately outside, and the fish on the table this evening was caught this morning.

The town also sits at a cultural crossroads: the indigenous Bajau Laut (sea nomad) community lives on water villages visible from the waterfront, and the nearby Philippine islands of the Tawi-Tawi group are visible on clear days. Filipino influence is present in the food, the faces, and the market.

Fresh Seafood

The Semporna Seafood Restaurant and several smaller waterfront stalls serve fresh fish, prawns, squid, and crab at prices that are lower than Kota Kinabalu — partly because the supply chain is shorter, partly because there is no tourist premium comparable to a larger city. The freshness is the main advantage: fish that reached KK via a morning flight from Sandakan is still less fresh than fish landed locally.

The standard format at waterfront stalls is the same as elsewhere in Sabah: choose from the displayed catch, agree on weight and price, specify preparation (steamed with ginger and soy, grilled with salt, fried with garlic, or in a curry sauce). A meal of grilled fish, stir-fried vegetables, and rice for two runs RM40–80 depending on the species and size of the fish.

Bajau Cuisine

The Bajau Laut — the sea nomad community whose stilt villages are a defining feature of the Semporna seascape — have their own food traditions. Bajau-derived dishes include variants of hinava (similar to the Kadazan version from KK, but with different fish and aromatics), ikan masin (salted and dried fish, eaten with rice), and seafood preparations using coconut milk with a thin, spiced sauce rather than the thick gravies of Peninsular Malaysia.

These dishes appear at small family restaurants and warungs near the water villages rather than at the main seafood restaurants in town. They are worth seeking out specifically — ask at your guesthouse or dive operator for a current recommendation, as the best spots change.

Filipino Influence

The proximity of the Philippine islands means Semporna has a significant Filipino community, and their food influence is visible at the market: fresh tropical fruit (young coconut, mango, papaya sold by segment), simple grilled fish preparations, and occasional pancit noodle dishes at small stalls. The market is most active in the early morning for fresh produce and in the early evening when cooked food stalls set up.

Budget Eating for Divers

The majority of people eating in Semporna are on a diving budget. The town’s Chinese coffee shops and small rice-and-noodle restaurants serve straightforward meals — nasi campur (mixed rice with selection of dishes), fried rice, fried noodles, noodle soups — at RM5–12 per plate. This is the practical staple for anyone here for a week of diving: simple, reliable, and cheap enough to eat three times daily without concern. Several coffee shops near the town centre open from 6am and are useful for an early breakfast before a dawn boat departure.

For more on planning a diving trip from here, see our Semporna travel guide.