This coffee shop hails from Muar but has already set up a branch in Melaka. It has been open for a while but I have never actually tried a heavy meal from there. Just it’s coffee and toast. Last weekend, my dad came for a visit. He just recently came back from a trip to Langkawi with a female companion. I have my suspicions of who it is but I will wait for a better time to hunt for that identity later.
We went to Kopi 434 for breakfast and ordered quite a huge spread.
We had nasi lemak, Mi Siam with Otak Otak, Buns with butter and kaya, Toast with butter, the original kopi, Elephant Bean Coffee and iced peach tea. The total came up to RM 110.00 for 5 pax. The price was acceptable.
The ambience was great but the food portion was exceptionally huge (for me). It triggers me a lot as a person taking care of patients with NCD. Ha ha ha. The meals were also very spicy. Only the chicken noodle was nice and palatable for children. I did enjoy my Elephant Bean Coffee though. It did not require additional sugar. But I had a headache afterwards. Perhaps the caffeine was too much. It’s called elephant beans not because they come from the dung but because of their special shape and size. Anyway, I am sure this kopitiam has their own target market of which I am not one of them.
They even sell their own products in the store and ADAMI products. We didn’t get any but the options were a lot. My mother (now deceased) would be excited to get her hands on them.
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.
Since we are regulars, in fact, parents looking for a place to take care of our children in a different city, there wasn’t really anything strikingly new in our itinerary at Langkawi. Definitely not for international travellers to find interesting. I did record a few clips during the trip – will upload that soon on Youtube.
Laksa Power Ikan Sekoq
Just before we checked into our hotel, we went to the airfield area for a simple lunch. There are a few Laksa Ikan Sekoq stalls here but we chose the one with the yellow signboard. Cause we remembered it as the one serving the non-spicy one. Perhaps the new thing about the menu is that it now has telur sarang on the laksa. Which brings the price up to a whooping RM10 per bowl. I didn’t have pictures of it because I was too hungry. Thankfully, the laksa was delicious and was quite hoping to get a second in a few days but it was closed on the other day we came.
Langkawi Wildlife Park
This place is eerily quiet during the school holidays but we have always enjoyed coming here. The animals seemed to be well fed and the kids enjoy the interactions with the animals – by giving food. This time we met a racoon instead of a crocodile at the station where we can touch and pet the wildlife creatures.
The new thing about this place is that they have a pony ride and soon, it seems that they will bring in tigers. They also have new merchandise – this snow-like glass frame for your photo. They don’t sell the little magnets on their own anymore which is such a pity. They should just let visitors get the small magnets as a purchase option. Better something than nothing kan.
Langkawi Geopark
We went to the cable cars this time as we wanted to see the SkyBridge. That was new for us and boy it was magnificent. You could get to the bridge either by the gondola or the nature trail. We opted to go there by the trail and come back with the gondola because it’s just too tiring to hike up later on. We bought the tickets through Klook but the queue was still super long when you want to collect your tickets as they provided only one counter for online purchases.
Maha Tower
This place is new and its attraction is the sunset view. So it is better to go there later in the evening. While waiting we get to rest in the very luxurious feeling waiting area and have beverages. Do you know how sunsets look so beautiful when you see them online? Well, it’s thanks to the photographers and the video makers for making a timelapse of it. Otherwise, it is quite difficult to appreciate the sun going down bit by bit. That is why I tried to capture my own video.
I should have brought a tripod.
Because someone knocked my camera on the rails and the raw footage was somewhat ruined. I tried to edit it but it didn’t really come out that nice. Here is what I managed to capture.
Underwater World Langkawi
We always loved the penguin place when we came here. Reminds us of Happy Feet. Again the place is very quiet for school holidays. The merchandises they offer are the usual photo stuff. I just feel the merchandise team could explore more on this apart from the photo.
That’s pretty much what we did. We usually go to these places after breakfast and come back to our hotel room by noon. Then the little one and my dear husband will sleep while I finish my assignment on the laptop. Then we go out again for dinner and see the Langkawi lights at night. Even though it’s the holidays, our bedtime is still by 900pm. We feel so old. Ha ha ha. We came to Langkawi with one piece of luggage and came back with two!
I also bought a duty-free YSL Libre perfume for myself because I got influenced. And of course my favourite chocolates – Bounty & Maltesers. We returned to KL using Batik Air this time and felt way better. Kudos to management for giving complimentary bottled drinks to kids.
We went to Langkawi again this year from the 1st of March till the 5th for the pre-Ramadan and school holiday trip. We departed from KLIA with the new low-budget airline MYairline Malaysia at noon. The queue was expectedly long because it’s ‘budget’ but the check-in process was I feel, messy. We had less than 90 minutes before the departure and we were still in the queue despite already checking in online when the lady at the counter screamed out to the crowd ‘last call Langkawi.. last call Langkawi!”. It was honestly annoying and probably lack of insight because everyone in the line IS BOUND FOR LANGKAWI!. Just speed up the process, my gawd.
Anyway, nothing eventful happened on the flight. It had the same vibes as Air Asia – the red and the black. In-flight purchases and meals, if you wish as well.
Upon arrival in Langkawi, we were a bit surprised to see the very quiet airport. It is the school holidays after all but where is the ‘holiday crowd’? Did everyone go to Hatyai? Mr Husband rented a Myvi and we headed to our hotel, Langkasuka.
Langkasuka Hotel
It is situated very near The Grand Continental Hotel in Kuah. Only, this hotel is connected to a mall. I liked it. It is a 3-star hotel but the service is impeccable. The room was spacious but the air conditioning was freezing. They have the usual amenities: a mini fridge, a kettle with complimentary beverages, a hot water heater, an ironing board with the iron, a prayer mat and FREE WIFI. Mr Husband also included breakfast during our stay. I super love the food we had for breakfast at their Lemongrass restaurant. They also serve in-room meals at a reasonable price.
The hotel may look ugly and suss from the outside. Especially with the construction going on outside but the place is fine. And safe.
Our room was a Superior Triple Room with 3 single beds. The price at the time was ranging between RM240 – RM280 per night. I’m not quite sure about the exact amount my husband paid for it. We parked our car at the parking space behind the hotel/mall. There is also a mini swimming pool and gym just outside the breakfast restaurant.
In the mall, they have the usual marhaen retail stores, a food court on the top floor and a fast food restaurant on the Ground Floor. In the evening it is quite lively because they are other eateries open nearby for your meals. I recommend this hotel to families with small children. It’s pretty cool. Even then I really hope we are not going to Langkawi again next year. The dear husband really loves the place too much.
Our little family arrived at the hotel near 9pm and the first thing that surprised me was the tribal pattern on the wall near the reception. Another family came through the door, speaking in the Sarawakian language headed to the lift. I was like, “OK… this is an interesting boutique hotel”. Soon after, I caught sight of some keklapis inside the display fridge near the entrance and that kind of triggered me to have a quick swipe on Instagram and find out more about this hotel.
Apart from its very strategic location, it offers various types of rooms suitable for a family staycation and is priced from as low as RM 100/night. Ours is a Family Room with 2 double beds, and a cute living area with a mini fridge and an ironing board. They provide a safe, body soap and shampoo, a hair dryer and complimentary beverages. The hotel also has FREE WIFI but is only accessible via coupons. We received two coupons for our room. I guess it means that only 2 devices can use the WIFI at one time. It has a lounge area too but we didn’t have time to explore much of it as we were chasing time to go Genting.
Breakfast is provided at the Sugar Bun restaurant next door. It is served as an ala carte meal. You have to make your choices the night before and let the receptionist know. It has a very ‘mak-mak’ vibe to it cause it’s like those breakfasts you have at home where you just eat what your mom cooks for you. The coffee and tea are very basic with only sugar to taste. The cakes are nicely lined up on the plate – the usual bahulu and banana cakes that any Malaysian family would eat in the morning. Even the ‘American breakfast’ meal wasn’t American enough. Haha. The breakfast is fulfilling and decent considering the price you pay for your room. So yeah, not too bad. If you want a fancier breakfast – there are always other options available elsewhere. In fact, at night, this area is lit! There are so many things to see and eat.
We parked at a common parking area nearby the hotel as they don’t have this facility. However, you don’t really need a car to enjoy Chow Kit because the LRT is just around the corner and even on foot, there are so many things you could explore. Overall, the stay was pleasant. Would definitely recommend this place to those who are on a budget but still wants to make the best of their stay in Kuala Lumpur.
Minci Moss 