KOTA KINABALU, Dec 15 — Known for its fresh seafood, Sandakan is also celebrated for unique delicacies like cow dung tarts (now given the more appealing name of UFO tarts), century egg dumplings and seafood bak kut teh.

Thanks to the entrepreneurship of a third-generation chef, Hakka-style pork noodles are now gaining popularity and international recognition through Ah Yen’s Traditional Fried Pork Kway Teow.

Named after its humble origins in a Sandakan wet market, Ah Yen’s stall has been offering these noodles since the 1940s in pre-independence North Borneo.

Ah Yen’s iconic, crisp, savoury and pungent pork might have remained a local delicacy in Sandakan’s wet market, but his grandson, David Lee, transformed the heirloom recipe into a flourishing brand.

"We do not scrimp on ingredients — we use only the best sauces — Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce and Camel soy sauce, a lot of pork bones, dried cuttlefish, dried shrimp and ikan bilis (anchovies), all of which add up making the cost relatively high,” he said.

The rebranded signature dish now highlights 80g of marinated pork belly or shoulder prepared with a special blend of fermented red bean curd and herbs, served alongside crispy you tiao and your choice of noodles in soup or dry, with optional add-ons like dumplings, eggs or vegetables.

Lee, a trained chef with extensive fine dining experience, elevates the dish by incorporating premium ingredients, employing additional flavour-enhancing steps, and applying meticulous culinary techniques to refine every element.

Homemade noodles are meticulously blanched three times to achieve the ideal texture and chewiness, ensuring a satisfying bite in every bowl.

The pork is fried at precisely controlled temperatures, retaining its juices and avoiding overcooking for maximum flavour and tenderness.

Even beverages like Teh C — tea with evaporated milk — are prepared with care, steeped for exactly one minute and used only once to maintain a consistently rich and robust taste that is perfectly "kaw.”

The kitchen is kept orderly and clean, adhering to professional fine-dining standards he learned abroad.

Experience is the best teacher, but passion is the motivator

The 31-year-old Sandakan native, Lee, had long dreamed of running his own fine dining restaurant, a passion that began in childhood when he attended RM10 pastry classes.

Despite coming close on several occasions, a series of unfortunate setbacks have kept delaying his aspirations.

After completing culinary school in Taiwan, he began his career at 21 at a five-star hotel in Kota Kinabalu before saving just enough for a flight to Australia, where he aspired to embark on his fine dining journey.

While staging — an industry term for working without pay to gain experience — at prestigious Melbourne restaurants like Attica and Rockpool, he had only A$300 (RM868) to his name as he pursued his craft and honed his skills.

"I saved money from staying with an uncle, and I could walk to work. I also had the staff meal and ate whatever leftovers from the restaurant, but I still could not even afford to buy myself a A$3 beef pie I desperately wanted. I think that time was the skinniest I had ever been,” he joked.

Lee quickly honed his skills and earned recognition, but government policies at the time prevented him from securing a work visa.

Forced to return home, he borrowed money from his mother to reignite his fine dining aspirations, this time setting his sights on Singapore.

Armed with glowing recommendations from his Australian roles, he secured his first well-paying position at Pollen at Gardens by the Bay, which was his stepping stone from poverty into a promising career in Singapore’s highly competitive food and beverage industry.

While juggling staging gigs at Bacchanalia and André during his days off, his talent began to shine, eventually earning him a spot on San Pellegrino’s Top Young Chefs list in 2017.

Landing a job helming the restaurant Ards would become his final venture in the fine dining world, as conflicts with the owner eventually led to issues with his work visa.

With his savings depleted once again, a dejected Lee returned to Kota Kinabalu, where his mother encouraged him to open a humble noodle shop.

"I decided I wouldn’t work for anyone anymore and I wanted to open my own restaurant, so I set myself a goal of saving RM1 million to do this,” he said during a talk at the Kita Food Festival here recently.

Expanding horizons: From fine dining to comfort food

Hakka ‘zha yuk’ (Hakka-style fried pork) was a popular hawker offering in Sandakan, with most locals having their own preference, but Lee was confident in his family recipe.

"I ate it at least once a week growing up and people are always asking my mother for it, so I decided I could try it, starting small as a stall in a coffee shop in Inanam,” he said.

Although Lee worked tirelessly, sleeping only five hours each night, he was still surprised by the popularity of his stall and his mother’s broth recipe, especially with the notoriously unpredictable crowd in Kota Kinabalu.

"Of course, it is tweaked to cook for the masses and I also use some of my experience in the process,” he said.

Within seven months, Lee had made enough profit to accept an offer from a restaurant owner to take over a restaurant in the popular Suria Sabah shopping mall, but he quickly realised that turning his restaurant dream into reality would require more money than he had anticipated.

"It was a lot more capital than I had saved up, but this was my first restaurant, so I wanted it to be done properly, so I had good décor and invested in proper kitchen equipment, all while being very nervous as to whether this gamble would pay off,” he said.

Lee forged ahead, despite owing money to contractors and the landlord.

However, he needn’t have worried, as patrons lined up from day one of the opening of Lee’s Traditional Fried Pork outlet in 2019.

"I was so happy I was finally earning good profit margins that in the second month, I bought the car I had been dreaming about — a Mercedes C class,” he laughed.

Ah Yen’s Traditional Fried Pork noodles have continued to thrive, with Lee successfully weathering the Covid-19 lockdown.

His outlets remain as popular as ever, selling about 800 bowls on weekdays and 1500 bowls on weekends.

About 60 per cent of the sales come from his signature fried pork noodles, with the remainder consisting of other popular options like laksa, tom yam and rice dishes.

"The fine dining scene was the outlet for my creativity, but now, I use it to try different restaurant concepts and put in effort into developing techniques and recipes to elevate comfort food,” he said.

He currently has three outlets in Kota Kinabalu and one in Singapore.

He has also attempted to branch out, opening a sang nyuk mien (Sabah pork noodle) outlet, a seafood restaurant on Gaya Street, a Hainanese chicken rice outlet, a yakitori restaurant and an Indonesian street food stall.

Some, like his outlet at the Lot 10 shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur, have closed down, but Lee views these experiences as valuable lessons, shrugging it off, saying, "I just keep going, it’s all part of the process.”

Looking ahead

Lee’s current plan is to open a Hainanese chicken rice stall in Bangkok, Thailand, in April 2025, saying "I love chicken rice. It’s the one dish I could cook for the rest of my life.”

This would be followed by a venture into running an upscale food court in Kota Kinabalu by early 2026.

Sharing his experience, he said, "The one thing I learned in all these failures is that location is very important.

"There are many other factors to consider, but I think comfort food is something everyone goes back to daily,” he said, reflecting on his journey from fine dining to comfort food.