Cafe Chef Wan, The Shore

The price range for most of their meals is between RM20 to RM40. Loved the atmosphere and the service.

The initial plan was to eat Mi Tarik. However, the branch near The Shore was closed. So, the visit to Cafe Chef Wan was an unprecedented move. I do not know whether to laugh or feel blessed by the twist of fate. I don’t think Mr Husband had this cafe in mind for dinner. Interestingly, I did experience a strong gut feeling that I would be having my meal there, only that I had no idea that this cafe wasn’t the first choice.

As usual, I entertained my own thoughts that this would be my birthday dinner celebration. Even though no one actually said that it was. Ha ha.

When I was younger, birthdays meant that we got to eat fast food. This is because I ate home-cooked food most of the time. Nowadays, guiltily, fast food has been incorporated into our daily diet so much so that it’s not special anymore. Hence, to some, celebrations have been brought up a notch by bringing them to fancy restaurants or hotels. Of course, the best birthdays are always the ones when you feel noticed, loved and appreciated.

We ordered a duck pasta dish, spaghetti bolognese, Nyonya Laksa and margarita pizza. It’s good restaurant food although the portions to me, a 4ft10 lady, seem huge. My husband with the better palate rated the spaghetti and pizza as a solid 9 over 10. My daughter scored everything as 100! The pizza could have tasted better if the crust was burnt just a little bit more. I don’t really know how to taste food. I eat for energy and to live for just another day.

I have no idea what the total cost of our meal was. After all, the husband paid for everything. I would say that the prices are ‘atas’ though so be prepared to dine like royalty.

Mee Tarik Sedap Lanzhou, MITC

Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province in north-central China, is a fascinating blend of history and modernity. Nestled along the banks of the Yellow River, Lanzhou boasts stunning natural scenery, including the surrounding mountains and the iconic Yellow River. The city is renowned for its delicious hand-pulled noodles, a local speciality enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. This delicacy has now landed at MITC, Melaka.

I never had mee tarik so I have no other recipe to compare. I am glad that it made a good impression for me to eat as a first-timer. The hand-stretched noodles were delicious. My husband ordered the original beef noodles and a plate of dumplings. I did not put a lot of chilli oil but the dish could still hold up on its own. I shared my meal with my daughter because the portion was huge. The beef was tender and placed in an adequate amount for a bowl of noodles. The dumplings were nicely cooked from its frozen state.

There were a lot of other menus at the restaurant. I would probably try the egg tomato noodles if we were to go there again. You could browse more of the food options and watch reviews on their social media platform. (Facebook/ Instagram)

Celebrating husband’s birthday at Rest Haus, Melaka

We’ve been to Rest Haus a couple of times because of its good food and general ambience. The restaurant is air-conditioned with calm music playing in the background. My personal favourite dishes are the Salai and the Rib Eye. I was actually hoping to order the latter but now the menu has changed. There is no more rib eye. So I ordered the salmon dish instead. It was equally delicious. My daughter had the macaroni and cheese whilst Mr Husband ordered the chicken grill. He was disappointed that they didn’t list Mac and Cheese as an adult option. Ha ha.

I bought 2 slices of cake from Secret Recipe but we had that at home. I parked my car at Rest Haus but I walked to Secret Recipe so that I could get my steps in. Managed to get 5K in by walking inside Lotus itself. Makes me feel better devouring the cake afterwards.

I bought an Obermain laptop bag for my husband. I made a really quick trip to Freeport Famosa Outlet Park last Friday during lunch hour just to get it. The salesperson was amusingly inaccurate in her sales pitch and product description. She said things like ‘PVC’ instead of ‘PU leather’. Then she was so confident saying a 14-inch laptop fits in a smaller bag I was looking at just because another customer could fit his. I had to measure the bag in front of her and said nicely, “Look, this bag wouldn’t even measure up to 13 inches, how could you say it fits a 14-inch laptop. That customer must have had a smaller laptop”. And yes, I asked her for a ruler and demonstrated it in front of her.

Thankfully I knew what I was aiming for and got a nice one in brown as opposed to a classic black.

Bright Cow

We’ve always known Farm Fresh as a local company that produces milk products. Despite being local, the price tag is astonishingly more expensive than Dutch Lady, the leading brand in Malaysia. Even then, Farm Fresh has a distinctive taste which is delicious, light and seemingly fresh. It is a very nice milk product to add to my coffee and tea to give it a milky taste.

It was only recently that I found out about Bright Cow. I was doing a search on Shopee for ‘fresh milk’ when this brand emerged as one of the options. Based on the reviews I read, consumers seem to love it a lot and the price is a tad lower compared to other milk brands on the platform. Bright Cow has a dairy farm in Linggi, Negeri Sembilan and they have a range of products from milk to yoghurt and kefir.

I thought I’d give it a try and bought 2 sets of white and chocolate milk in a mini pack of 6 from Shopee. My children loved it. The chocolate drink was not excessively sweet and the ‘normal’ milk tasted nice. It is almost like Farm Fresh but at a lower price range. A set of 6 cartons (200ml) only costs RM10.80. That is less than RM2 per box. Turns out, they are also selling at certain retail stores. I am glad my local Family Store has them too. At least I can buy some for my son. He should have more milk than all those sweet boxed drinks the dad packed him earlier.

So a big thank you to Bright Cow for emerging as an option to moms like me. I wish that they would start selling their yoghurt at my usual aisle.

Ramadan and viral dates in 2024

I received my usual Kurma box from one of my best buddies – Mimie last week and I was thrilled. Ever since she made this an ‘annual gift’ I have stopped buying kurma for myself because the ones she got me are much more delicious. She is one of the people in my duas and I pray that she will be rewarded greatly for giving food to people who are breaking fast.

Kurma has been getting a lot of attention nowadays. It has gone viral in Malaysia for Kurma Butter and in the international scene, content creators are making Kurma Barks. Mr Husband tried out the Kurma Butter and he seemed to love it. I, on the other hand, am consuming Kurma with Pistachio spread. I believe that Kurma paired with any nut-based spread will Insya-Allah taste nice including peanut butter.

I bought this Pistachio spread from Shopee. Back then, I was simply craving for it but I did not want to get the sweet ones from the bakery store or from Llao Llao. It’s a local brand Love Earth and the price is RM29.90 for 175g. 1 TBS is 93.6kcal with 1.17g of sugar. I tend to use only half of TBS for my Kurma and take only 1. I am still on my calorie deficit programme but I needed to fulfil part of my cravings for sugar.

I am planning to make a Kurma Bark later, probably towards Eid as I still have lots of other desserts to finish in the fridge. Ramadan Kareem everyone.