Australia Place, a new place to hang out
WHAT was once a quiet street that housed mostly printing shops, backpacker hostels, a traffic police station and a multi-purpose Town Hall, now features lifestyle cafés and eateries in growing numbers.
Since it was first occupied by Australian soldiers back in 1945, Lorong Dewan, or Australia Place as it is still regarded, has evolved into a picturesque street with various food and beverage outlets that began appearing in the last two to three years.
The appearance of one new establishment after another created a small phenomenon that inadvertently contributed to the current aesthetic of Australia Place, making the once ordinary locale a popular hangout amongst urban folk.
Attracted by its history and quaint architectural landscape, Chopping Block managing director and executive chef, Veron Ling, did not think twice about opening up her own restaurant when she heard the lot was vacant.
After gaining experience as a chef in various restaurants, cafés and even a resort both overseas and locally in the last eight years, Veron grabbed the opportunity as it fits perfectly into the style she wanted for her establishment.
“The concept I was going for was a casual dining restaurant. A lot of people thought it was a café in the beginning, probably because the renovations made it look like a café, but I was going more for a bistro style.
“We at Chopping Block don’t focus on coffee, unlike our neighbours. We serve general beverages like wine and cocktails, and while we do have coffee, we focus mainly on the food so we are more of a modern type of restaurant that is more focused on the culinary part,” said the Australian graduate.
Despite the abundance of establishments in the vicinity, Veron said there was no direct competition as each outlet had its own niche.
“My concept is different from theirs because most of my neighbours are purely cafés; they serve snacks and light food but not full meals, and they focus on their coffee.
“There’s no direct competition there because each establishment brings something different to the table and in my case, I serve grilled options, pasta and heavier meals, which is unlike the menu of the others,” she said.
Having seen the growth in Australia Place since setting up the shop last year, Veron opined that it would actually be a good thing to have more eateries in the area, to make it livelier and more attractive.
“I take the fact that more places are popping up as a good sign, because that means there is a market for us to cater to and my initial instincts about opening here was proven correct because the potential is definitely there.
“In fact, I reckon that there should be more outlets here to make it more happening, something like Gaya Street so there would be more emphasis on this area which would then attract more patrons,” she said.
Veron added that a livelier scene would hopefully attract more tourists to her restaurant as well, as Chopping Block had not been receiving as many foreign guests as she had hoped.
“When I started out, my target market was split 50-50 between locals and tourists, but somehow the tourists that stay along Gaya Street and in the city, don’t come here.
“They probably don’t think this area is happening enough for them to walk over and to just have a look around.
“We do have the backpackers here but then again, they are on a budget so our selection is probably a bit out of their range for them to dine here regularly.
“This means I would have to depend on tourists who are willing to spend a bit more, but somehow they just don’t come here.
“At the moment, my clientèle is around 80 to 90 per cent local.
“We don’t get many tourists, which I personally want to have a higher percentage of because we’re in the city centre; so if we don’t do their business, I think it’s quite a shame because when tourists come for holidays, they’re willing to spend so it would obviously be very good,” she said.
However, based simply on the increasingly limited availability of parking spaces, Veron admitted that the growing number of establishments along Australia Place definitely contributed to the larger crowd nowadays, adding that having all the outlets in one place resulted in positive growth compared to two years back.
The phenomenon has had such an impact that Veron is optimistic the concept will go far and that even if it doesn’t, business owners would have to market it in a way that it will. Sharikat Biru Biru One of three partners of Sharikat Biru Biru, Ken Manokaran, shared that having something unique to set one apart was key to keeping a business afloat, although businesses could really benefit from spillover crowds instead of competing directly.
“We (Biru Biru) actually get something good out of it, because people go for different things. We don’t necessarily have to compete with each other because we each have a niche,” he said.
As for Biru Biru, the café under a backpacker hostel prided itself in offering a variety of live entertainment from local bands to salsa dancing, which Ken noted to be one of the establishment’s busiest nights.
He said along with partners Jessica Yew and Charles Ryan, Biru Biru was meant to be a place they themselves would want to unwind at, where people would not feel the need to fit into a certain mould.
“We have kids here, people who are 50 or 60 years old, salsa dancers, rockers, hipsters and tattoo people. It’s a good mix, I think, and we’re not looking for a niche market.
“You’re not going to find many places that have live music, salsa, open mic nights, a place that has food and drinks, a place you can sit outside.
“People can come for alcoholic beverages or coffee, and I don’t think there’s a place like that here, except maybe El Centro,” said Ken.
Comprising mostly locals and regulars, Ken said Biru Biru’s clientele did not rely on tourists, even though it is attached to a hostel.
“A few of our guests do come down to the café every once in a while, but we can’t rely solely on that crowd because it’s seasonal.
“We cater mainly to locals and familiar faces, most of them from our own circle of friends.”
For the future of the industry here, Ken said he hoped to see more variety and better quality, in terms of food given the tourist arrivals.
“Kota Kinabalu is the number two flight destination after Kuala Lumpur and although it’s not as big as KL, there are direct flights from a lot of countries.
“You have people coming in because Sabah is known for adventure, but there’s still a lack of diversity in terms of food here.
“If you go to KL, even small neighbourhoods will have more restaurants than the whole of KK. After two weeks, I’ve gone to all the restaurants I want to visit in KK.
“You can’t pin it down to local taste, because I think if you give people options, they’re willing to try more,” he said.
When asked about the sustainability in varying the food landscape, Ken has full confidence in its survival, given the food culture in the country.
“Being Malaysians, we are very proud of our food. That said, we should also do a better job at opening local cuisine restaurants, especially here in Sabah.
“I think there could be many more options for other types of food as well. I believe the market is there, because people dine out every day,” he said.
In terms of introducing a new or different style of food, Ken said the important thing was to acknowledge the different palates and preferences.
He believed that introducing new styles is not impossible, but needed to be done by knowing the target market.
“Incorporating western elements into local cuisine, for instance, is just a way of getting them to see things differently for them to try it.
“We don’t want to change the identity of what we’re serving, but we just want to get them to be open to new things,” he said.
Stationery shop and tattoo studio
Hidden between the six coffee shops at Australia Place are two rising businesses that offer something rather unique to the community, namely, a Sabahan-based stationery shop and a Sabahan-inspired tattoo studio.
Salt x Paper is a stationery shop that sells both local stationery brands and its own original brands.
Some of the stationery sold in the shop, for example its notebooks, were designed by local Sabahan designers.
These designs are so eye-catching that it is creating a huge buzz on the social media right now, namely on networking sites such as Instagram and Facebook.
The shop is the brainchild of local married couple, Aaron Lam and Chrystin Choo.
Aaron, who is a graphic designer, and his wife, a notebook enthusiast decided to open their shop in Australia Place last November due to the synergy of the place.
According to Aaron, the fact that Australia Place is filled with trendy coffee shops has boosted his number of customers.
He explained that the crowd who tend to visit the coffee shops are the kind of audience that his shop is targeting.
He added that his clientele comprised people aged between 15 and 35 and it leans more towards the younger generation. There are also tourists who visit his shop.
When asked whether he had any doubts about opening their shop at Australia Place, Aaron said that he did not have much doubts except for the fact that his shop is situated at the second floor of the row of shops.
However, things like social media, word of mouth and their attention-grabbing banners helped overcome this problem.
Commenting on the safety of the area, Aaron said that the place is relatively safe since police are constantly patrolling around.
But he mentioned that parking was a huge problem and he hoped that the Kota Kinabalu City Council (DBKK) would be able to come up with a solution.
Aaron added that Australia Place has the potential to be turned into a promising tourist hub and thus its should be beautified.
“Some Australians would even visit this place just because it is called Australia Place,” added Aaron.
The tattoo studio on the other hand is also highly interesting because of its admirable vision, which is to preserve lost Sabahan tattoo art.
Limuel Estrop decided to open his tattoo studio called OrangUtan Studio at Australia Place about two years ago.
Initially, his tattoo studio was situated at Wisma Merdeka, however due to the time constraints of the mall, he and his partner decided to move elsewhere, so that their closing time is more flexible.
Limuel explained that his studio aims to have its own identity.
He wants his tattoo studio to have its own Sabahan culture.
“Sabahan tattooing is kind of a lost art. It was lost when headhunting was banned and when religion and war came in,” added Limuel.
According to Limuel, most of the documentation and pictures of Sabahan tattoo had been destroyed.
He said that no one was practising Sabahan tattoo art for a few hundred years and thus this art from the headhunting era vanished.
“The only place where you can find traditional Sabahan art are on baskets, jewellery, ornaments and painting. However these designs are no longer used for tattoos,” said Limuel.
When asked whether he had any doubts about opening his shop in Australia Place, Limuel said that one of the few things that concerned him was the fact that backpackers in that area tend to be extra careful with their money and thus it might be hard to attract them.
However, he did say that the percentage of his local and foreign customers was almost equal. Also, they are usually aged between 24 and 40.
Limuel further said that his tattoo store often experienced slow seasons during the end of the year as most people tend to stay at their homes and spend time with their families.
Commenting on the impact of the trendy coffee shops around Australia Place, Limuel said that he was pleased that the shops had increased his number of customers.
When asked about the rising fame of these trendy coffee shops on Kota Kinabalu, both Limuel and Aaron agreed that these coffee shops are so famous because it has a really large trend following.
“If you are paying for a RM10 coffee, you would want to have it a really nice place,” added Aaron.
It is also safe to say that social media plays a big role in generating even more hype for these trendy coffee shops.
As stated earlier, some of these coffee shops offer really interesting concepts.
For example, The Workshop is the only environmental-conscience coffee shop in Kota Kinabalu. Its coffee is organic and it is imported from Central America and roasted in Belgium.
One of the co-owners of the coffee shop, Elmine, who hails from South Africa, said that for every bag of coffee that her shop orders, a forest from Sandakan would be bought for the preservation of Orang Utan.
Elmine said that, as of now, almost 18,000 hectares of forest had been bought.
The Workshop’s interior design, which was based on an industrial vintage concept, is also something that can attract one’s attention.
With that said, whether it’s a coffee shop or not, Australia Place is definitely one of the most lively and interesting places to visit in Kota Kinabalu right now.