A Mother-Daughter Day Out in Bukit Bintang

Last Friday, Cass and I continued a beloved tradition—our annual trip to Bukit Bintang to soak in the Christmas vibes. For years, I’ve taken the girls to this bustling area to marvel at the festive decorations, indulge in Christmas shopping, enjoy good food, snap photographs, and immerse ourselves in the holiday spirit. This year, it was just the two of us. Alycia and Sherilyn stayed home, busy with assignments, while the MIL wasn’t feeling well, and hubby had to work.

Our first stop was Pavilion KL, a perennial favorite for its magnificent Christmas displays. After wandering the mall and surveying dining options, we decided on Zok Noodle House. It was peak lunch hour, and the restaurant was packed with office workers. Sitting amidst the corporate crowd brought back waves of nostalgia. I found myself reminiscing about my banking days and PA days—lunches with colleagues, dressing up for work, and the satisfaction of a steady paycheck, bonuses, and merit awards. Sometimes, I regret leaving my job to stay home, despite having a freelance WFH job now. If given the chance, I’d love to return to a full-time job outside the house.

Back to our lunch—Zok Noodle House didn’t disappoint. I ordered pork noodles in wine soup, a tray of taro pau, and a refreshing red bean milk. As a delightful bonus, we received two complimentary Portuguese egg tarts for leaving a Google review. The food was delicious, and I’m already planning a return visit to explore their other menu offerings. There's an outlet at Pavillion Bukit Jalil, where Cass' skating rink is, so we'll most likely be dining there soon.

After lunch, Cass took on the role of tour guide, leading me to Lot 10, Fahrenheit 88, and Starhill Gallery. Her adventurous spirit kicked in as she suggested walking to Lalaport. I hesitated, knowing the roads between Bukit Bintang and Lalaport are notoriously busy and the walk would take over 20 minutes. Thankfully, I stood my ground. Back home, Alycia confirmed that walking there isn’t practical due to the busy roads we’d have to cross—she found out when she wanted to do the same thing some time back.

After more than two hours of exploring, I managed to convince Cass to call it a day, though not without some negotiation. We picked up Chez Choux cream puffs for Alycia and Sherilyn before heading home.

Delicious pork noodles at Zok Noodle House.

We received two complimentary delicious Portuguese egg tarts for leaving a review on Google Reviews - one on my phone and one on Cass' phone. 

Taro buns for Cass. They were delicious.

We shared a large milk tea with chewy aloe vera bits from Koi (again).

Taro soft serve ice cream for the ice cream-crazed teenage girl.

Christmas decor at Pavillion @ Bukit Bintang.

Brunch At Antipodean Cafe @ Mid Valley Megamall

* Throwback post *

19 April 2023

Our main reason for making a trip to Mid Valley Megamall was to bring Sherilyn to shop for a pair of Nike shoes.  All of us bought new Nike shoes from the Nike Outlet @ Mitsui Outlet Park @ KLIA last month and she was left out as it was the first day of her part-time job at Barcook Bakery and didn't follow us to the airport to send off the mil.  Her doting dad promised to bring her to Mitsui Outlet Park to shop for shoes on the day that her grandma returns from Hong Kong. But her grandma’s stay in HK has been extended, and the girl needs new black shoes for her work place, thus our trip to Mid Valley Megamall.

We chose Antipodean Café for a leisurely mid-morning meal. We’d really enjoyed their big breakfast set and other items from their menu when we dined at the Antipodean outlet in Bangsar several years ago when it was newly opened. So, we surmised that their outlet at Mid Valley Megamall would serve the same quality of food too.

Hubby’s Big Breakfast Set came with eggs, sausage, fried potato cube, mushrooms, salad, and toast. Cass and I shared the Shakshuka with avocado, a Middle Eastern dish of eggs cooked in a spiced tomato sauce with peppers and onions.  Alycia ordered a bacon on French Toast and Sherilyn went for a Whakatiki chicken burger which came with crispy chicken, salad, and fries.

While we enjoyed our meal as a family outing, we couldn't help but notice that the quality of the food at this particular Antipodean outlet seemed to have dropped in comparison with our past experiences at the Bangsar outlet about 8 years ago. The food was good, but not as fantastic as we once enjoyed.

The Big Breakfast Set was decent, with all the usual components of a classic breakfast platter. However, we felt that some of the items were a bit lackluster in flavor.  The sausage in the breakfast set tasted strongly of chemical (chlorine) and we didn’t finish the single sausage on the plate.  The sausages at the Antipodean Bangsar outlet years ago were one of the tastiest we'd tried but we're not sure if the quality is still the same now.

The Shakshuka was flavorful, but lacks ‘oomph’ and the portion is pretty small for the price that we paid. I think Sherilyn’s homecooked Shakshuka beats this one hands down.  The Bacon with French Toast was a crowd-pleaser, with the salty bacon balancing out the sweet maple syrup.

The fried chicken pattie in the Whakatiki Chicken Burger was crispy and generously thick but somewhat dry. 

Overall, while we weren't blown away by the food at the Mid Valley outlet of Antipodean cafe, we still had an enjoyable brunch together as a family. The cafe had a semi al fresco relaxed and cozy atmosphere. If you're in the area and looking for a decent breakfast or brunch spot, Antipodean cafe is worth checking out, but don't expect the same level of quality as the Bangsar outlet.

Whakatiki Chicken Burger 

Shakshuka with avocado

French toast with bacon

Big Breakfast

Piccolo latte

Pretty costly brunch and I wasn't even half full.  

While I went grocery shopping, hubs took Sherilyn shopping for shoes at JD.   And he surprised me with burgers from Carl's Jr, our favorite burger place, though the burgers are a tad pricey.

16 September 2022 ~ Malaysia Day Outing @ Pavillion Bukit Jalil

One of Cass' greatest desires is to learn ice-skating.  For more than a year, she saved money to pay for her ice-skating lessons. She did odd jobs for me and her dad as well as saved money from ang pow collected during CNY and birthdays.

Hubs finally had the time to bring Cass for her first ice-skating lesson on Malaysia Day, a public holiday.  Cass had earlier called the Blue Ice Snow Park @ Pavillion Bukit Jalil to book an appointment for ice-skating lesson but was told to walk-in to try her luck as it was a public holiday and all the slots were already taken up. If she's lucky, she may get a slot.

As expected Cass didn't manage to secure a slot for the skating lesson.  However, she and Sherilyn went for casual ice-skating @ RM35 for 2 hours.  While they skated, hubs and I had breakfast and checked out the mall. It was our first time at Pavillion Bukit Jalil, a newly opened mall.

We walked quite a bit before we finally found the Blue Ice Snow Park. The mall is very huge and if it's your first time to the mall, it's a tad difficult to locate the skating rink.

Very good exercise for us - it took us a good 15-20 minutes of brisk walking from the car park to the skating rink.

Very much smaller than the skating rink at Sunway Pyramid but we prefer Blue Ice Snow Park as it's new and the facilities and skating shoes are newer and cleaner.

Sherilyn & Cass paying for the locker rental using their dad's credit card.

The last time the girls went ice-skating was 3 years ago, before the pandemic, with Raelyne their cousin from Singapore.

There's a huge screen outside Blue Ice Snow Park that life screens the activities in the skating rink.

Cass balancing herself.

Sherilyn skates better than her sister, but ice-skating is not her jam.  

With two hours to skill, hubs and I had breakfast at Oppa Toast Cafe.

The BBQ beef teriyaki toast that hubs ordered was super scrumptious. Juicy BBQ beef slices wedged between crispy toasts topped with a jiggly egg and cheese. And you don't have to worry about messing up your hands as disposable gloves (packed in a tiny cute bag) are provided so that you can enjoy your killer toast.  The coffee was superb too.

Crispy Korean fried chicken. For the first time I really enjoyed holding my piece of fried chicken with my hands at a cafe as I needn't have to worry about having oily hands afterwards.

After the girls were done ice-skating, we brought them to Oppa Toast again for them to have their breakfast.  

Cass ordered egg toast and Korean hotdog.

Right after leaving Oppa Toast, we segued into Sedap to have roti canai and satay! 

Revenge feasting after almost 2.5 years of modest eating, mostly at home 😂

The girls wanted to try IlaoIloa's Milo froyo, only available for one day on 16 Sept as it's Malaysia Day. Their verdict - not much Milo taste but nonetheless still refreshing and yums.

The girls wanted to check out Tsutaya Books, a popular bookstore originating from Japan but what we saw before our eyes was jaw-dropping.  The queue into the bookstore was at least 500 meters long! This is the first Tsutaya Books in South East Asia.

Before we left, we had our lunner at Dai Cha Dim.  While we waited for the food to arrive, Cass and Sherilyn quickly darted off to Tsutaya Books as it's just opposite the restaurant. They were not about to give up trying their luck to step into the bookstore.  Fortunately the queue moved pretty quickly and they managed to get into the bookstore.

Lunner at Dai Cha Dim.

We clocked up almost 10k steps after spending over 4 hours at Pavillion Bukit Jalil. My total number of steps for the day was over 14k. 

Yap Hup Kee Palace @ Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park, KL

This is a throwback post.

We had lunch at Yap Hup Kee Palace more than a month ago on 31 July 2022.  We chose Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park as Sherilyn was at a basketball court around that vicinity for cheerleading practice.  She didn't join us for lunch though as she ate with her teammates at another joint nearby - and later complained profusely over how terrible the food and service were.

Hubs dined at Yap Hup Kee with his friends recently and liked the steamboat. The steamboat set doesn't comprise the run-of-the-mill fish balls, pork balls, and foo pei.  Instead, you'll see unique seafood items like pacific clams, mussels, sea asparagus, etc - all with 'yong liu' (stuffed with fish paste). 

Besides steamboat, the other signature dishes are chee cheong fun with curry pig skin, 'sui kow' (fried or boiled), wantan noodles with minced pork, and delectable fried snacks.

Hubs ordered two plates of chee cheong fun with curry pig skin, two bowls of 'sui kow' in soup and  a plate of wantan noodles. By the time we chomped down these and the hot pot came, our stomachs were already about 60% full.  I was so stuffed that I didn't even get to try the stuffed mussels and pacific clams with fish paste.   I just couldn't put any more food into my mouth though the stuffed clams were yelling out to me to try them.

Note to self - the next time we dine at this restaurant, my priority will be the unique yong seafood and won't bother about the chee cheong fun and wantan noodles even though they're delish. 

Wantan noodles with minced pork.

Chee cheong fun with minced pork and sui kow soup.

Curry pig skin. The santan in the curry broth wasn't very fresh and had a slightly rancid taste.

Gastronomical delight.

After a heavy lunch, hubs suggested having dessert at Dáo.  Though everyone was stuffed to their chest, at the mention of Dáo, the girls and even the mil couldn't refuse. 

Dáo desserts is a specialty dessert cafe selling traditional soy-based desserts with a twist. They serve soy milk, silky smooth tau foo far with a choice of ginger, brown sugar, and chrysanthemum syrup, soft serve soy bean ice-cream and tau foo far with tong yuen (rice balls).

YAP HUP KEE PALACE

Address: 39, Jalan Kuchai Maju 7,  Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park, 

Kuala Lumpur.

Contact: 03-7971 6417

Operation Hours: 11am- 10pm

Sunday, 28 August 2022

Every Sunday hubs and I ponder for a long time over where to go for lunch.  Even when we are in the car on the way, we are usually still uncertain of where to go. Today hubs knew for sure that he wouldn't be heading to KL as there was a National Day parade rehearsal. So he headed towards the Federal Highway, but we were still undecided on which restaurant to go to.  As usual, the ball was in his court and he turned towards Mont Kiara.  He was bringing us to 163 Retail Park @ Mont Kiara for the famed ramen.

As we left the house a tad late today, by the time we reached the mall, it was already 12-ish noon, which means queues everywhere. There was a long beeline outside the Japanese restaurant and we were informed by the staff that the waiting time was at least an hour for a table.  We left after queueing for about half an hour and walked around to see which restaurant didn't have such a big crowd.  But almost every cafe and restaurant had a full house. Hubs finally settled for Lisette's and we waited for about 20 minutes before we got a table.

Long Q outside the Japanese restaurant.


Lunch at Lisette's

Overall, the food was average.  
I ordered Nasi Kerabu to try and compare with hubby's Nasi Kerabu and I'm glad to say that Catermate's Nasi Kerabu beats Lisette's hands down 😬

After lunch, I went grocery shopping while Cass went to the pet shop and the other two older girls dragged their grandma to the Korean mart to get her to pay for their Korean junk snacks.  The girls sure know who to go to when it comes to shopping for snacks and stuff that I would not agree to buy. Their grandma almost never says no to them unless it's something that's very costly.  Recently Alycia charmed her grandma into buying her a RM200 plain white shirt from Muji and this is something that I would never buy  😑