Return to Rebung

After the packing was done for the day, I invited my parents and sister to join us for dinner to celebrate Irfan's birthday. We went to a restaurant not far from the apartment, a familiar one called Rebung. It is owned by a celebrity chef, Chef Ismail and the Angkasawan, Sheikh Muszaphar.

The blast time I was there was a couple of years back for iftar. We booked a table earlier as to not have to worry about seating outside and creating too much noise with my boys and their cousin about.

The table was waiting for us when we arrivedThe birthday boy taking his seatKicking things off with satayThe buffet spread was simple but had all that you need. Starters, light meals, nice rice dishes, prepared on site, and not to forget the desserts.

I did the rounds, and had satay for starters and then laksa Penang. For the main meal, I took three dishes with the rice - sambal tumis, masak lemak daging salai and asam pedas ikan pari. This was followed by ABC and teh tarik. You could also have roti jala, roti canai, rojak among others if you fancy them. Failing that, there was always ala carte. That was what we did for the children. All this in the background of a live singer. Nothing fancy, but it helped liven up the atmosphere.

A decent spread. Not too many items, but they were all nice.I hope that the nasi lemak was not from the morning stockThis two had been yapping up all eveningFinishing things off with ais kacangI must say that all the items were above average in terms of quality, and well worth the buffet price - which was not exactly cheap. If you have visitors coming over, you could certainly bring them here to sample the local food. It doesn't have the glitz of Songket - no shows when we were there - but the quality of the food alone was enough to make up for that. Highly recommended.

Puteri Harbour Visit

When we left for JB, we were told that apart from Legoland, there was another attraction nearby, mainly for children. We then found out about Puteri Harbour, and Hello Kitty Land. Oh dear! Those were for girls. Luckily, at the same venue there was the Little BIG Club, where characters like Barney, Thomas the Tank Engine and Pingu was on display. So, why not.

It was Saturday today and after a long day yesterday, I was hoping that the boys would go to bed early for an early start this morning. Well, they went to bed well last midnight. In fact, I was snoring away while they were still running around the room. And this morning, it was almost midday when they finally woke up. It was a late start to the day then. At least, they had their brunch in the room before we set off.

Puteri Harbour was the second destination for the day for us. We were at Taman Merdeka before that, an interesting walk. It was around 3 pm when we finally arrived at the theme park.

In contrast to yesterday, the park was indoors. So, the elements was not a factor. It was comfortable for everybody, meaning less number of grumpy children ..... and parents. But similar to Legoland, the place was overpriced and not yet fully completed. Signage was still a mess and parking was a pain.

Entrance fee was RM50 per head for individual tickets, or slight less than RM100 if you go for both Hello Kitty Land and Little BIG Club entrance tickets. We just went for the Club. According to Irfan, Hello Kitty are for girls. Right on!

What did we get in return. Actually, we enjoyed the Club more than Legoland. The boys knew the characters from when they were toddlers. And Irfan actually went to Pingu preschool. A visit by Barney and Pingu caused them to go berserk, quite literally. And of course they got their photos taken with them. Both Pingu and Barney. Thomas and Bob the Builder came a bit earlier and we unfortunately missed it. They went into the play areas, took on some of the rides - they were all pretty simple although a couple of them were not for the faint-hearted. Dodge-em was great fun.

The place was comfortable although the seating area for waiting parents were rather limited. Toilets were also a challenge. They could do with a fee more. The other gripe in had was buying photographs at the exit. There was only two work stations and if you were stuck behind a fussy group - like we did today - who just couldn't decide, first which photo to pick, and then what background to add, before taking another 10 minutes to decide on the frame, then you were done!

Personally, even though the place was smaller than Legoland, it was value for money for us. Puteri Harbour definitely would have more to offer when other attractions opened there, such as the Let's Place, a restaurant featuring work from the famous artist. The gift shop was already operational but one had to wait until later this month before the restaurant was opened.

If you were in JB for Legoland and have some extra time to spent after that, then Puteri Harbour would be well worth your time.

Zoo Negara Slideshow

As mentioned in the previous entries, our Zoo Negara is in a sorry state, and I felt that things could have been a lot better. Lack of funding should never be an excuse. For the entrance fee we cough up to get in, we should expect more. Some downsizing maybe?

The visit was blogged here and here.

Irfan Was Seven

Being on call during the long Chinese New Year break as one thing, but being on call on my son's birthday was quite another. Irfan turned 7 yesterday, and although we planned to have a quite dinner together, but finding out that I was on call, my parents-in-law took the boys and Anita out for lunch.

After finding out about the plan, I devices one of my own. I finished my clinic on time, sorted out what needed to be finished in the ward and headed out into town to surprise them. I arrived at the restaurant about five minutes after they did. And was quickly spotted by Idlan.

Next came Irfan's surprise present. Can't tell you what that was ......

Lunch Delight

In the last couple of weeks, my Dad had been complaining of headache. He had also been laser on his diet - he loved his lamb - and ran out of his tablets. Sure enough, his blood pressure was up. So, I changed some of his treatment, as well as plan for a new pair of glasses for him. He needed a new prescription.

So, right after the clinic was done - Anita was present as well - we went out for lunch near the hospital. For some time, I had been wondering what the Kelantan Delights restaurant had to offer. There was where we went for lunch.

A nice restaurant, and the food and service was better than we expected. Our order came pretty fast - there were not that many patron there then - and the waiters were pretty attentive. And they were from Kelantan judging from their dialect, which was appropriate.

We ordered from the a la carte range, rice, vegetables, fried whole fish, some rendang as well as kerabu mangga. The place also offered set lunch if you were on the go, but since we wanted to share the food around, we did otherwise.

The fish was very nice, and so was the ayam percik. Kerabu was also better than expected and we finished everything. We even had desserts - against my advice, Dad had some tapai.

I would definitely be returning. I wasn't sure if the recommendation applied to all their branches - in have only visited the outlet at Subang Jaya so far. Service was quick and food was good. Price was not bad either - the set menu offered good value.