Best brunch café in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
“Anomaly Café,” created by a French chef
Words and photos by Earth Village Mouse @joonimism
Hi everyone, I’m Earth Village Mouse, a travel blogger and YouTuber who loves reading while traveling. I just got back to South Korea, and I’m finally diving into my full Kota Kinabalu travel recap.
Between island hopping tours, sunset plans, and night market stops, I realized that choosing just one great place to pause can completely change how satisfying a trip feels—so I had to share this spot right away.
I visited several well-known brunch places on this trip, but out of my entire Kota Kinabalu restaurant list, the one I keep thinking about most is Anomaly Café.
It still isn’t widely known among Korean travelers or Korean influencers, so as a Naver blogger, I feel like I’m one of the first to properly introduce it.
Locals already know it as one of the best places for a Kota Kinabalu brunch cafe experience, with better atmosphere than almost any other café in town.
Once I visited in person, I immediately understood why locals keep coming back.
In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly why this stood out to me most among the many Kota Kinabalu brunch cafe spots I tried—from the menu and atmosphere to the coffee and desserts.
1. Kota Kinabalu brunch cafe
Before this trip, there were originally two famous local brunch cafés I really wanted to visit. If you’ve already done your research, you’ve probably saved NOOK Cafe and Woo! as popular “best brunch cafés in Kota Kinabalu” picks.
But plot twist: the local brunch café rankings have changed. Anomaly Café, the place I’m about to introduce, feels like the perfect mix of what those two cafés do well—easily one of the hippest spaces in town.
The vibe was stylish without trying too hard, the menu felt polished but approachable, and more than anything, the whole space seemed to say, “slow down and stay awhile.”
2. From the location to the atmosphere
Anomaly Café is tucked inside Dah Yeh Villa. It was easy enough to reach by Grab from central Kota Kinabalu, and I loved that it didn’t feel like a tourist-packed commercial strip. The neighborhood had more of a local, lived-in charm.
Even from the outside, the café looked like something special—but once I stepped in, it felt even calmer and more refined than I expected.
I later found out the space had been remodeled while preserving the structure of a traditional Malaysian house.
Vintage windows, old tiles, and Sabah-style brick details were left intact, then layered with a modern French sensibility. The result was a space that felt incredibly well designed.
There are so many aesthetic cafés in Korea these days, right? But if you’ve ever felt that it’s hard to find that same elevated café design while traveling in Southeast Asia, this place really delivers. It has that Southeast Asian character, but also the kind of mood and ease that Korean travelers tend to love.
Honestly, while staying in central Kota Kinabalu, I didn’t see another space as polished as this one.
The sunlight coming in was beautiful, and the locals quietly sipping coffee made the whole place feel even more natural.
There were solo visitors reading books, groups of friends having brunch, and people working on laptops, but the overall mood stayed both hip and peaceful.
3. Brunch menu quality
Plenty of cafés have a nice atmosphere, but far fewer actually deliver on the food. Anomaly Café absolutely did. The brunch menu quality was seriously impressive.
And there’s a reason for that:
the pastry chef here is French and Asian.
I even took a commemorative photo with the chef.
For reference,
the chef holds both French and British citizenship, so they were comfortable in both English and French.
No wonder there were so many international guests too—love that.
There are a lot of delicious things on the menu,
but if it’s your first visit, I strongly recommend starting with the signature pasta dish
before anything else.
(Signature) Chicken Aglio e Olio
Seriously, it was insane.
It was one of those flavors that stayed with me even after I flew back to Korea,
and one of the baristas at Anomaly Café
told me this signature dish is their personal favorite too.
My friends know very well
how high my standards are when it comes to pasta.
I spent a semester abroad in Italy,
and I ate my way through every kind of pasta and pizza I could find.
This was genuinely, ridiculously good. Please order it.
And as for the brunch dishes,
one of the standout menu items, the Eggs Benedict, was also really memorable. The poached eggs were soft, the hollandaise was smooth and balanced, and it wasn’t overly rich or aggressive, so it kept that elegant brunch feel intact.
(To be fair, I’ve had an even better Eggs Benedict in Zagreb, Croatia—but this one was still absolutely solid.)
The pancake dish also stuck with me.
It wasn’t just a standard sweet pancake situation. They used a bit of sourdough starter, which gave it much deeper flavor, and the bacon-and-honey combination created that perfect sweet-salty balance.
Overall, the brunch menu felt less like food made to look flashy and more like dishes built on strong fundamentals—which honestly made it even more satisfying.
4. A French dessert spot worth going out of your way for
The real star here might actually be the desserts…
What surprised me most at this café, personally, was the dessert quality. As I mentioned earlier, this place is run by a French pastry chef.
On top of that, the chef was incredibly kind,
had the warmest smile, and even likes Korea—just to name a few charming details.
I heard the chef settled in Sabah after spending time in Paris, Lyon, London, and Melbourne, and that global background really shows. The dessert style felt completely different from the usual Southeast Asian aesthetic café lineup.
Signature items like tarte au citron, entremets, and mousse cakes looked beautifully precise and tasted just as balanced as they appeared.
I was especially impressed by the way Southeast Asian ingredients like coconut, mango, and pandan were reinterpreted through a French pastry lens.
Nothing was cloyingly sweet. The flavors of the ingredients came through in a delicate, thoughtful way. These weren’t just pretty desserts for photos—they were the kind that make you think, yes, this is a real dessert destination.
5. If you love coffee…
Among all the Kota Kinabalu brunch cafe spots I visited, it’s rare to find one this serious about specialty coffee.
They had a pretty diverse filter coffee lineup using beans from Ethiopia, Panama, and Colombia, and the cups tasted especially clean and well balanced.
When I asked why the coffee was this good,
I got a surprise—the husband in charge of coffee had actually trained in Germany.
And another barista on staff had worked at Starbucks in Malaysia for 10 years before being recruited here. Amazing, honestly.
The person making that playful expression here is the coffee master.
My personal favorite from the coffee menu was the “Taste of Borneo.” It combines espresso, chocolate, and coconut milk, and the coconut foam on top was unbelievably soft.
It captured both a Southeast Asian mood and a French touch at the same time, which made it a perfect signature drink for this trip.
And from the refreshment menu, the Passion Fizz suited my taste really well too. So good.
I visited quite a few cafés and restaurants during this Kota Kinabalu trip,
but when I look at the full balance of atmosphere, food, coffee, desserts, and the feel of the space, Anomaly Café was easily my most satisfying stop.
I also liked that even though prices were a little on the higher side, the crowd was still mostly local. It felt less like a place that got loud from hype and more like a café locals genuinely love.
If you want a slow morning or a quiet afternoon in Kota Kinabalu, I really recommend making time for this place.
If you’re searching for a Kota Kinabalu brunch cafe recommendation, I honestly think you’ll be very happy here.
Even the takeaway coffee cup design was gorgeous, right?
Lowest airfare from Korea to Kota Kinabalu
Written by
Earth Village Mouse, travel blogger/YouTuber who reads
Thank you.
I’ll keep uploading my travel videos on YouTube, so until next time—happy travels, everyone.
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