It was my first time trying AHA. It is a restaurant that serves steamboat and chicken covered in cheese. My sister booked a table there in conjunction with the birthday celebration for September babies. This time round, Brother D could not join us because he was working.
The newlyweds
Sister and fam..
We ordered the served-buffet meal which was priced as below.
I was not a fan of the sauce but it wasn’t that horrible to begin with. Overall, it was a splendid meal and we surprised our dad with coconut ice cream for his birthday.
I managed to record a few clips for my personal vlog. Something to look back on in the future. Insya-Allah.
Upon returning from my course at UPM, I indulged myself in a hot shower. It has been an exhausting day and all I wanted was a nice meal and dessert! I’ve already set my eyes on Paramount Coffee House, located just 2 minutes walk from my hotel. It is a restaurant owned by Ebit Liew, the Muslim philanthropist who got caught up in a few controversies lately. I have heard raving reviews about it a lot!
However, since I was alone, I knew I couldn’t eat too much. Plus, my sister was saying that they serve really big portions. I am not a fan of eateries that serve huge portions because subconsciously, this is linked to me being the NCD champion of my clinic. Patients eat too much and it is challenging trying to advise them to eat less.
Anyway, I finally decided on a menu – Laksa Pahang. It was my first time eating it and I thought it was like Laksam’s cousin. They taste similar. Only Laksam has those little rolls and this one is served with noodles instead. I ordered apple peach tea as well. I was contemplating having their famous waffles as well but it looked too much for someone my size. I am, after all, watching my calories. They also have Western options but that is for another time. In the end, I still had dessert but I bought it at a different store – The Harry’s.
My verdict on the laksa is a SO-SO. I will need to taste the other food on the menu with my family later.
I am always on the lookout for a great steak dinner. My personal choice of doneness – medium rare.
To be safe, I made my dinner reservation on the website. It would be disheartening if I couldn’t get a table after the enthusiastic online ‘research’ I did online for reviews of the place. This eatery serves not only steak but also huge lobsters and their best seller – the Wellington dish. Turns out you need to pre-order it one day before but I was pretty clear on what I wanted.
A steak.
My reservation was confirmed almost immediately and they even sent me a WhatsApp message an hour before the chosen time to remind me of it. The restaurant is within walking distance from Sovotel and is certified as HALAL. Took me less than 3 minutes to walk there.
I chose the Stanbroke Black Angus Ribeye (250g) with the Au Poivre sauce, a creme brulee and a COKE to wash it all down. The waitress needed to speak louder cause I honestly don’t know why these girls (including the Sovotel lady) were so soft while taking the order. Is it a Gen Z thing? I don’t think so.
I really enjoyed my meal because not only it was aesthetically pleasing but the taste was just luscious and delectable. The meat was prepared well and timely. It was a dinner with mindfulness as I savoured every single bite and chewed on my meal properly.
The whole dinner cost me RM233.15. They even put my receipt in a nice sleeve. I would definitely come here again if I am in this part of town in the future. Perhaps the lobster on my next visit.
Visiting Farm Fresh at UPM was one of those impulsive things I had to create and then cross off from my imaginary cutilogue list. I am starting to think I may have bipolar disease because of these inconsistent emotions. I have been searching for reviews of this place for a while but have never actually gone to make proper plans to go. Since Melaka has this one public holiday, midweek, before the school holidays, I thought I’d bring the kids there. Mr Husband was working. So it was just me making a 1.5 hours journey to Seri Kembangan. I made sure the kids had their showers early, ate breakfast and brought their water tumblers in the car for sips of water. I also made my daughter bring along her plushie as a pillow in case she naps in the car.
I fueled up at Petronas at 8am, made my way out of the highway toll just before 830am and arrived at Farm Fresh roughly 15 minutes before it opened.
The place opens at 10am. For 2023, tickets are priced at RM15 for adults and RM10 for kids aged 4-12 years old.
The entrance was at the barn door to a shaded walkway with their restaurant on the right side. It opens out to this large field with various places of interest. Our first stop was of course the loo and we just paced ourselves accordingly. The highlight of the place for us is probably the tractor ride. I am just so glad this is not the school holidays, hence the shorter queue.
My son as usual did not want to get on the tractor — I persuaded him to get on it because obviously it will be a moment he will back on one day when I’m not around.
The most extroverted member of the family
We chose to queue for this tractor after we’re done with all the visits inside because we did not want to compete with the kindergarten school trips. You could always go in and out of the barn as many times as you like as long as you have their paper bracelet on. The view during the tractor ride was obviously boring because we did not have ‘the info lady’ on our truck. She was more focused on the kindergarten kids. The driver brought us to the top of the hill so that we could take nice photos of the area. Otherwise, there is nothing much to see during the ride. We just enjoyed being on that big thing. Thus, the highlight. However, the route has potential. If the people hosting Sparkle Run could give them some tips, it’ll be great actually.
There were a few shaded paths at the place. If only the flowers are in full bloom, it’ll be so magical. The kids loved the pumpkin place cause they were cute. These shaded arches are good for walks. Otherwise, there is really not much to see. I would suggest wearing proper shoes to the area cause if you’re visiting the cow area, you will need to dip your footwear into the iodine area. Bring a mini fan, wear a hat or cap cause the sun is unbearable. Use an umbrella if you wish!
We had our meal at The Acre, their own site restaurant that serves Italian-Malaysian cuisine. I ordered a Margharita and fries with nuggets. I added two bottles of chilled mineral water cause the kids are having ice cream afterwards. So that is already something sweet. The total bill came up to RM61.40 including 6% SST and 10% service charge. Word of caution – pick your table first before ordering food because they will serve it to your allocated table. The only price menu I could see on the list was on the table where I placed my order. I wished they would have the menu put up on display somewhere cause for people with anxiety it is quite stressful to choose something you are unfamiliar with on the spot. Our Margharita was RM30 for a regular-sized sourdough pizza and RM 17.90 for the chicken nuggets and fries. The water was RM2.50 per bottle. Taste-wise they were OK. Texture was good though.
We did not buy any drinks from their Jom Cha store because we wanted to get ice cream. I was actually looking for their vanilla softserve but they only served strawberry-flavoured ones. Apparently, they also have ice cream from Inside Scoop which came with a heavy price tag. I have heard of the brand before but have never tried. A scoop was RM9.50 in a cup for them. *jaw drop*. Farm Fresh soft serve was RM3.00 per cup instead and tasted equally good.
We completed the visit in less than 2 hours and were able to make an exit to the highway by 12 noon. I like that the route to the place was straightforward. I did not need to go into the busy roads of KL or anything. It was just off the slip road. We reached Melaka by 2PM and I ordered Chicago City chicken for our early dinner.
It’s been a while since I saw this cafe on the Grab app. I thought I’d try it after a hectic morning assembling my shoe rack. Plus, it’s some sort of reward for my son who helped to screw all the problematic parts of the frame. Thank goodness for sons!
I ordered a coffee latte for myself, a mocha for my husband and chocolate drinks for my kids. Then I ordered salted egg croissants that my husband seems to like and a few croffles for the kids. Initially, I wanted it to be our tea time spread but it looked too good that we had it as dessert after lunch. The combination of cold beverages with warm pastries is a chef’s kiss.
At the same time, I was watching I Chang’s Youtube videos. I really liked those ‘heart to heart’ videos. They are very insightful. A few weeks ago, they commented on their observations of our multicultural countries and what they’ve learned about it. I like the part when they say Malaysians have an advantage to excel on the international platform because we know how to ‘fit in’ easily given our diverse culture. If only more Malaysians could hear this and take their word for assimilating more with people of other races instead of clinging to people of the same ethnicity. We used to be able to do this in school. I know I did but the picture is very different nowadays. We are somewhat divided.
Perhaps we could only see this interracial interaction in international schools or private education facilities. But then, that is another bubble that we need to address too. The bubble of T20s and the elite.
Recently, I Chang made another video where she and her husband shared how they were burnt out from making all the videos. They are after all making an income from Youtube hence I understand the pressure to create content that people want to watch. One of the gems I got from that video was when a vendor by the name of Danial told the couple that they have good followers because they make good content.
This resonated with me quite a bit.
Indeed, the type of content attracts a certain group of people. So if you want good followers, create good content too. I am a bit behind on my Youtube videos as I am swamped with my tutorials and assignments. There is a lot on my plate at the moment but I am still grounded and motivated.
I should be motivated as I just purchased a new computer. Ha ha ha.
Minci Moss 