Thanks For Lunch Treat @ Soy, Ibn Battuta Mall

if you ever wanna eat at ‘soy’ chinese restaurant, the best branch would be at ibn battuta mall, simply because of the ambiance – it’s located at the CHINA court! I mean, what better way to enjoy oriental dishes than at a section of the mall with a CHINESE theme?

(ibn battuta mall has sections named after countries – china court, india court, egypt court and few more – representing the travels of the great explorer ibn battuta)

 

thanks so much for the delicious treat abg kama azlan & kak mas, our lovely buddies from abu dhabi – great company, good food, delightful conversations and lots of laugh! thanks for thinking of us when it comes to lunchin and munchin!

 

 

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I want one of these. cute square thingys to put sauce, dips and condiments

 

I’m not a fan of spicy tomyam, so this one I like – which means it’s NOT that spicy. so for those who love their tomyam to be authentically super spicy, please make a personal request to the chef. heheh. I enjoy slurping this ‘tomyam prawn’ because it has enough spices and taste to make it delicious, and less-spicy enough to make in tolerable!

 

this dish is surprisingly good. I’ve only eaten sweet spicy fish, so this was a nice surprise. ‘sweet spicy hong kong chilli prawn’ is NOT that spicy for this malay (try la sambal udang melayu style baru tau spicy tak spicy!) but being a non-fan of spicy dishes, I love it. the use of lots of capsicum gives it an additional taste that I like, and the texture of the prawn is nice and tender.

 

the star of the table was this magnificent dish of ‘black pepper crab’. aku ni pemalas nak kopek-kopek so I let the boys have their fun scouting for crab flesh in the middle of the thick peppery gravy. us ladies just wait by the side for our knight in shining armor to drop pinch of crab flesh on our plate. thanks guys! this dish is alright!

 

mix green veggies – fresh veggies, crunchy and tasty. a simple dish that satisfies!

 

for the kids – ‘crispy honey chicken’, which sounds promising but fail to impress. the chicken is too dry despite coated with liquid. had it been bigger pieces, this would have been a better dish.

 

girl talk over two plates of delights. blueberry cheesecake and a very questionable chocolate cake. I say ‘questionable’ because the chocolate cake has got this weird after-taste that’s similar to a soap bubble. like, seriously. what WAS that? we didn’t even finish the chocolate cake. (nways, got a girl-crush on kak mas. she’s so cantik! she reminds me of my lovely auntyna. kan? kan?)

 

the blueberry cheesecake, however, is a winner. deliciously smooth and creamy. yum!

 

here’s kazim sharing a plate of chocolate cake with uncle kama azlan. this was BEFORE we realize that the weird soap-bubble taste was not a figment of our imagination. kih kih.

 

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thanks again abg kama azlan & kak mas, for the treat at ‘soy’ ibn battuta mall! always entertaining when hanging out with you guys. the next time you’re in dubai, you know who to buzz – especially to keep you guys company la for lunch, dinner or supper!

Eat Breakfast Singapore Style in Dubai @ Ya Kun Coffee & Toast

there’s a new place in dubai that takes me home – the feeling of eating breakfast at a kopitiam back in malaysia – but it’s actually a singapore café called ‘ya kun coffee & toast’, open since 1944!

 

 

it’s open in ibn battuta mall, appropriately placed at the china court (the rest memang tak masuk tema la kot – india court, egypt court or persian court), it’s right by the carpark area. just walk in, and you’ll be greeted by an old chinese uncle pouring out coffee. really singapore lah! haha.

 

the cute chinese uncle showing the way~

 

such a pleasant, comforting surrounding while you enjoy your kaya toast breakfast. a man-made pond with sounds of trickling water and birds chirping!

 

the unmistakable merlion on the counter – the mythical creature with a lion’s head and body of a fish – the mascott of singapore.

 

famous landmarks of singapore. bestnya lah kalau restoran malaysian macam ni kat dubai!

 

offering a selection of typical kopitiam breakfast – the classic kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs or sandwiches. the sandwiches are uniquely singapore – tomyam sandwiches or sardin sambal sandwiches!

 

we took the kaya peanut toast set – complete with milk tea and soft-boiled egg. simple, straightforward and traditional. what’s not to like?

 

hot milk tea. take a sip. feel the wind. listen to the trickling water. lovely.

 

my kaya peanut toast. to me, proportion is key. not too much spread on my bread; or too little. this one is just nice. but aiyo the bread is too thin lah! tak puas wo. 

 

haha so fascinated watching bapak mix pepper and light soy sauce into the soft-boiled egg. my sons are fans of soft-boiled eggs. especially my eldest. he loved it since he’s 6 months old! haha. back in malaysia this was mr. khairul’s favorite breakfast to be eaten with his roti canai.

 

can you spot the two singing lovebirds? so wonderful to be entertained while we munch our toast and sip our tea.

 

tapau some kaya balls. sorry, kaya ball kat jusco pon lagi sedap kot. maybe because yang kat jusco tu kita makan panas-panas kan dia buat dan-dan tu jugak. yang ni maybe has been sitting for some time. so it’s not so freshly made, not as soft and gebu – but the kaya inside is tasty.

 

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oh well. to me, we might come back for the perfect soft-boiled eggs but that much dirham for kaya and toast? I think I can get 3 pieces of KFC chicken with the same price. aku tunggu mak mertua bawak homemade kaya lagi bagus kot. kih kih.

but if you’re dying for a small piece of singapore, amidst china-themed surroundings and man-made pond, head on to ‘ya kun coffee & toast’ when you’re at ibn battuta mall, jebel ali.

B’day Party @ Ibn Battuta Bowling for Lil Diva Mell

last weekend we joined the adorable little diva Mell and her family to celebrate her 2nd birthday at ibn battuta bowling center inside the ibn battuta mall, jebel ali. thanks to aida and syed for inviting us!

this is my first time at the ibn battuta bowling center (at india court, near the elephant), which is funny because ibn battuta mall is like our kedai runcit haha – the place where we do our weekly grocery shopping. since ibn battuta bowling center is on the other side of the mall, we seldom go there.

turns out to be a pretty cool place. the bowling alley is what you see once you walk in. dark with funky lights. there are stairs on the side that takes you up to the staging area for the birthday party, with a couple of small karaoke rooms on the side.

 

birthday girl Mell with abang kazim and abang kahfi

 

the kids ogling the bowling area – hoping that mak and bapak let them play later!

 

while the grown-ups chat and eat, the kids made noise in the brightly-colored karaoke room (also on the same floor as the staging area of the birthday party) – singing ‘lion sleeps tonight’, among other songs! lagu filipino gile banyak, ye la kat dubai ni ramai pinoy and diorang ni yg terkenal suka gile berkaraoke.

 

the delicious spread! seriously my boys’ heaven on earth – spaghetti in marinara sauce, pepperoni pizza, nuggets, crispy potato chips and tuna sandwiches – all their favorite food! good job, aunty aida and uncle syed! next birthday buat menu org tua pulak – kasi le laksa kuale kome pulak ye yeop!

 

the pretty little moist chocolate cake for the birthday girl. seriously moist with rich chocolaty taste! yum! terlupa nak bawak balik 1-2 slices! haha

 

cute birthday girl mengamuk taknak tiup lilin! haha comel sangat. she really did not want to blow out the candles, struggling to get away from dad! funny when everyone else started singing while she continued to scream! abg kazim on the side showed no reaction at all to her screaming – he’s just glad he’s standing closest to the cake!

 

punya la ramai budak-budak yang attend birthday party ni, anak-anak aku jugakkk la yg berderet menunggu kek kat depan-depan tu. haha. memang anak mak!

 

maslina, me & hostess aida holding birthday girl

 

the party was fun (and noisy!) with the karaoke, and the food was awesome especially because it’s so kids-friendly. menu yang budak-budak memang suka! thanks so much again to pretty mommy aida and hubby syed for including us to celebrate mell’s 2nd birthday. knowing we’re both perakian made it so much fun to speak in loghat perghok! haha. mell’s 3rd birthday jangan lupa kitorang lagi ok!

birthday party, gatherings and makan-makan like this is where we catch up with dubai acquaintances; but I also made new friends that day – maslina who happens to be my sister syimot’s old classmate when she was in uitm. it’s a small world! nice to meet you maslina, hope we can hang out sometime soon!

Shawarma Close to Home @ Ibn Battuta Mall

when we want shawarma, we have to drive about 30 minutes across dubai to the area of bur dubai, deira and karama. that’s where you can get the best shawarma – delicious and cheap!

however, thanks to the info from a fellow malaysian akak ni, i discovered a shawarma closer to home – equally delicious, and relatively cheap! thanks kak su! she said her kids loved the shawarma and usually requested one when she picked them up after school.

 

 

this shawarma is in ibn battuta mall, at le bistro. le bistro is right next to geant, so after our weekly grocery shopping we can just head on to get shawarma. it’s not part of the food court, and it’s not really a restaurant. it’s just this long counter selling all sorts of arabic snacks and finger foods. the tables are without chairs – just these tall eating-while-standing type of table you usually see at pizza places.

 

 

i ordered the ‘small shawarma’ for 6aed, and mr. khairul took the large one. this is still pretty cheap considering that the ones in bur dubai is aed5. just 1 dirham more to get a shawarma closer to home without facing long driving and bad traffic? definitely a win!

the shawarma is only ready after 12.30 at noon. you have to place your order at the cashier, pay, and then pass the receipt to the staff at the shawarma section. then just wait for your shawarma to be ready.

oh, and try not to drool while you wait in front of the juicy revolving chunk of meat being cooked for your shawarma!

 

 

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mr. khairul loved his shawarma, especially the delicious bread used. he wished it could be more spicy (he already asked for a spicy one but it’s still not spicy enough!). what goes into the folded shawarma? there’s chicken bits, pickle and french fries too!

 

personally i am satisfied with this shawarma – it’s delicious, hot and fresh, with a large portion, even for a ‘small’ shawarma. i wish they would put more of their special yoghurt sauce, because when the portion is huge, some chicken felt dry for lack of sauce. other than that, a nice discovery of a shawarma that is closer to home.

Puss in Boots : Where is the Shrek-Humor?

i was disappointed. tak lawak sangat pun.

puss in boots is and forever will be so very, very adorable, but where is the charm and laugh-out-loud humor that we all love so much from the four shrek movies? it has none of the lawak gile one-liners. well, there are a few moments here and there, but here and there ONLY is NOT good for a movie that supposedly a prequel to all the shrek movies!

the movie is entertaining – super cute characters, entertaining fight-scenes and a few great scenes like at the giant’s castle, but no LOL moments…

 

 

just for the record, we take the boys out for movies only ONCE a year in dubai. the cinema ticket is SO not cheap to begin with (55dhs a piece! and if you watch the movies at posh malls like in dubai marina mall, it’d be more expensive) and throw in a couple more dirham for the popcorn-soda set – the whole cinematic experience in dubai is pretty expensive.

1. 2008 – we watched madagascar
2. 2009 – we watched cloudy with a chance of meatball
3. 2010 – we watched megamind
4. and 2011 – its puss in boots

so, that being said, that’s why we go all out when we finally picked a ‘good’ movie to watch on imax 3D that will be worth it for us and the boys. this year it’s ‘puss in boots’.

 

 

like other times, we watched at grand megaplex ibn battuta mall – smaller mall, less crowd, and much closer to home. senang. also grand megaplex has better popcorns than cinestar. haha. more caramels, and it’s served hot and fresh! yums!

 

 

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back to puss in boots.

ok i’m not saying that the movie is bad. it’s just that i had high expectations. yes, that’s it. i anticipated too much. my boys and i love shrek so much, that i’m just waiting for puss in boots to come out, knowing that it will be as funny and memorable as all the shrek movies.

i love you puss, but the movie is simply NOT as funny as it should. as if a totally different set of writers wrote the script, with none of the same type of jokes. the movie is SO cute, and that’s it. the only thing i find funny is the fact that it’s so difficult (and dangerous!) to have an adventure when you’re an egg. haha.

what i love :

• only antonio banderas and salma hayek can build sexual tension with their cat characters!
• the final scene with puss in boots was to me a reminiscent of a scene from the movie ‘zorro’ – which starred antonio banderas too! cute!
• puss in boots is SO CUTE! SO SO CUTE!
• as usual, the 3D effect is amazing

what i don’t :

• incorporating fairy tales and nursery rhymes like beanstalk, and the old jack is all good but could’ve been better if there were more reference
• it’s not as funny as it could be – shrek, donkey and puss team was so funny that you would expect puss to still be funny on his own, considering that it’s produced by the same company
• i personally feel that if it wasn’t for puss being famous from the shrek movies, this movie would have been just another regular animation
• when we’re watching kungfu panda, khaleef laughed like crazy at so many scenes. watching ‘puss in boots’ he only laughed at the part where they all fall down from the beanstalk screaming

 

my eldest boy khaleef

 

oh well…

at the end of the day, we all have loved the adorable puss in boots so much in shrek, that we will forgive him in this mediocre animation. i actually welcome a sequel to this ‘puss in boots’, in which i hoped there would be improvement on the humor department – ala shrek!

Rock-Hard Waffle @ Choco Melt, Ibn Battuta Mall

i take this as a lesson : next time do it yourself, at home! one of the biggest disappointments i’ve ever encountered in dubai when it comes to dessert.

the place looked so promising, yet what is served did not reflect the adorable interior, the amazing array of colorful display and definitely was NOT worth the price we paid. rugi je ade tempat cantik-cantik!

we went to the ‘choco melt’ in ibn battuta mall. like i said, the kiosk is cute, and eye-catching. it’s right by the bowling arena at the mall. you wouldn’t miss it as you enter ‘india’ from ‘china’. oh, it’s also right behind the ‘elephant’.

what caught my eyes at first was the row of MELTED CHOCOLATE along the counter. it was really, really inviting. few machines were running, with wheels on them and chocolate kept being poured and the wheels just kept turning and turning and turning – you’d be in a trance watching the melted chocolate runs through the machine!

intoxicating!

my favorite – hazelnut milk chocolate!

mr. khairul’s favorite – white chocolate

…and they’ve got plain milk chocolate too of course, and dark chocolate for those who like some bittersweet taste in their dessert.

and wait – look. at. the. display.

rows of fruits dipped in chocolate. apples dipped in chocolate. bananas waiting to be dipped in chocolate. oreos dipped in chocolate. i particularly LOVE the apples dipped in milk choc and white choc, and made to look like bride and groom. comel gile!

i was really tempted to order ANY dish from this cute shop, so we ordered ‘waffle melt’ – waffle with one choice of fruit and one type of chocolate. i picked strawberry because it’s khaleef and kahfi’s favorite, and a choice of hazenut milk chocolate.

we waited. and waited. and waited. after about half an hour, we were told we had to wait another whole 15 minutes because THE STAFF HAD LEFT THE WAFFLE TOO LONG on the waffle maker, and now it’s kind ruined.

WHAT? ok, fine. i’ll wait. and it’d better be good!

when it came – owwwwkayyyy. the waffle looked flat, not fluffy, completely unattractive. the strawberries looked fresh, and they put A LOT of strawberries. and they’re generous on the chocolate melt too. i’m not sure this is the general practice, or they give extra because they made us wait..

i cannot even begin to describe the horrendousness of this dish that i love so much.

1. the waffle is hard. VERY. i cannot use my plastic fork to cut through the waffle
2. the texture is VERY BAD. it’s hard, through and through – i mean, it’s forgivable if it’s hard on the outside and soft on the inside but this is HARD ALL THE WAY.
3. and it’s not even crunchy. it’s hard and chewy. liat.
4. i know something is up with the batter that they use. i can’t say for sure – been put aside too long? wrong measurement of ingredients? i dunno, but it resulted in one BAD waffle!

the best part was, when i approached the staff to tell them how HARD the waffle is, they sheepishly replied, “a lot of customer also complained.”

*sound of silence*

dah tu, hang dok buat jugak waffle keras macam ni buat apa?

i had the best of intention. i just wanted to tell them that the waffle is too hard. please tell your manager, or owner or whoever that it’s probably the batter, or the way you make the waffle. change it. improve it. because i like this shop. that’s what i told the staff on duty.

the staff was polite and apologetic, so aku tak la mengamuk sangat. kesian pulak. bukan la salah dia completely kan. haha.

ape-ape hal pun rezeki jangan ditolak! the waffle may be HARD, but the fresh sour strawberry went really well with the sweetness of the hazelnut chocolate. we tried to finish the waffle but couldn’t. there were too much hard parts that we had to leave out.

to be fair (see, i’m still trying to think positive!), i guess the ‘choco melt’ shop is trying to bank on their chocolate-dipped items – like the choc-dipped apple, or choc-dipped marshmallows. that’s their specialty i guess. well, i sincerely suggest they stick with what they do best, and stop making below average waffles!