We popped by Hougang RiverCourt for lunch today. Wanted to take advantage of the 1-for-1 deal at Takagi Ramen but wow… there was a constant long queue outside. We might actually be tempted to queue if we didn’t have a toddler with us. Hahaha! Our boss would be screaming her head off had we joined this long unmoving queue.
We ate at Lotus Cafe instead. Usually, this vegetarian eatery will be packed but thanks to Takagi Ramen, we could easily get a table here. XD We ordered a Soup of the Day (wintermelon soup), Signature Stir-fried Laksa, and King Oyster Mushroom Cutlet X.O. Fried Rice. The bill came up to $27.70 including GST. Everything was tasty, including that very small portion of soup. And my darling particularly liked the belachan taken from the condiments counter.
We got a nice booth near the full-length windows, and… our daughter decided to try climbing out of it…
OI HELLO! Are you our son or daughter ah?!
We parked outdoors and along the way we went past 121 Prawn Roll. I recalled seeing posts about this place on a Facebook Group I’m in. Apparently their prawn rolls are to-die-for.
Each box costs $17.60. We bought one to try. Will have to ask my sis to help air-fry these. XD
$17.60 for a box of frozen prawn rolls sure seems a bit steep but… you can use your CDC vouchers here. Will be back for more if we like the taste! 😀
Our 2024 trip to Penang sounds like a 4D3N holiday but in reality, on the first day, we arrived at our hotel in the evening, and the final day just saw us heading to the airport for our afternoon flight back to SG. So we basically had only 2 full days to explore Penang as best we could with a little one. XD So… first stop on “full day #1” was JOJA Bagels, which is also really close to Very Hotel. Since the hotel doesn’t provide breakfast, we made our own plans. Unfortunately, Melody wakes up very early every morning so we had to wait when we got to JOJA Bagels as they open only at 830am. HOWEVER, staff saw us standing outside and invited us to go in and grab a seat first! WOW. Thanks, guys!
Freshly prepared, the bagels were such a treat! A really good start to the day. As for drinks, he had Mocha while I ordered the Ice Shaken Lemonade.
They have baby chairs here too, so you can definitely bring your little ones here. AND the toilets are super clean.
After breakfast, we booked a Grab ride to the Penang Botanic Gardens. The lady driving us there was a local but had never been to their Botanic Gardens before. XD Similarly, we found out that Very Hotel staff didn’t know about Seafood Choo (just round the corner) and had never been to the Wonderfood Museum. Certainly makes one wonder why they’d not visit places that are pretty accessible.
I LOVE Melody’s expression. Hahaha! It was a hot day and she was due for a nap so photo-taking is among the last of her priorities.
I’d done my research *ahahaha* and knew that the chapatti w/sambal sardin at the Waterfall Cafe in front of the Botanic Gardens is worth a try. So my darling had that (requested for 1pc of chapatti instead of the usual 2) while I sipped on Lipton’s ice lemon tea (from a can) while trying not to melt from the heat. XD
This quick meal cost something like RM9?
We then took yet another Grab ride (yes, we travelled around Penang exclusively via Grab) to Gurney Plaza – KOI bubble tea (!!!), food and a spot of shopping. Then we hopped into another car and went to The Top.
At The Top, we visited the Penang Boutique Aquarium… which was much bigger than the term “boutique” suggests. I definitely recommend bringing kids (of any age) here. We got tickets via Klook, got them printed out at the ticketing booth one level up, then came back down, got them scanned at the entrance and had a lot of fun.
We also went to the Jungle Gym… where I really felt like I got a good workout (as the word “Gym” suggests). OMG. It’s built, obviously, for kids so when I have to accompany my kiddo, I’d often have to bend, crouch, squat, and eventually collapse in a heap at the ball pit right below. XD I was so tired, I didn’t take any photos. But I can tell you the ball pit’s pretty cool – there’s one of those interactive screens whereby you can throw balls at sea creatures and all and earn points. And they even have some kind of contraption whereby balls placed on top end up levitating. Very cool.
*RM8.50 socks. Free entry for those below 12mo with a PAYING sibling.
Dinner was at Two Frenchies, a two-minute walk away from Very Hotel, according to Google Maps.
Bless the staff! They’re so astute and seem to be able to predict the future. Level 1 was almost filled with diners, so they asked us to go up to level 2 (and we had the whole floor to ourselves). There’s even a little cosy corner that looks like someone’s living room… and it was here Papa decided to tie Melody’s hair… awww just look at that:
The calm before the storm.
Shortly after the food was served… Melody got a tummyache and needed to poop. Sounds normal except that she was also having constipation, and toddlers straining while trying to poop sound like they’re being skinned alive.
Thankfully, we were on the second floor, and with the restroom door shut, I don’t think people downstairs heard much of it, if they did hear anything at all. So while they feasted on duck confit and sipped on (I’d imagine) good wine, I was helping Melody get her poop poop out. She screamed, strained, wailed….
I think it was at least a good 30 minutes? But felt like an eternity.
We ordered the RM16 Fish Crockets for Melody (so cute! Heart-shaped fish nuggets!), the RM42 Pork Marengo for me (I ate this when it’d gotten cold already so erm… I have to say I don’t remember it fondly?), and hubz had the RM43 Signature Burger. LOVE the fries here!
I didn’t really get to enjoy the food… my darling did though. XD It’s always better to be the father instead of the mother, I tell you. Because the little one always screams for Mama no matter what the issue is. (@_@)
And I thought that was the end of it. Except… the same thing happened during dinnertime the next day. O.M.G.
This is not an advertorial, and I have never been sponsored meals here before. 😀 I just think it’s a fab restaurant because it looks so atas, and yet offers its members pretty good deals. I only got to know about Watami early this year when my trainers and I went to Ion for a late lunch and we just randomly picked Watami. The Ion outlet looks quite posh (from the outside at least), and I would ordinarily not pop in if I’m dining alone and visiting it for the first time.
However, on my second visit, I noticed that it has a really awesome membership program. Pay S$30 to sign up and you will get 2 x S$30 vouchers to use to offset your bill at your next 2 visits. Any other restaurant would have a minimum spending requirement before you can use the voucher, but Watami doesn’t! It’s so awesome that I’m telling all my friends to sign up!
And the food’s decent too. I like the beef don, which I’ve ordered many times already.
This post shows some of the food my bf and I ordered when we were at Watami’s City Sq Mall outlet last week. We went to that mall to collect our race packs for an upcoming run, and so we had dinner at Watami. 😀 I was so happy when I spotted their banner that said members get a free platter of salmon sashimi (the usual price is S$11 or so, if I remember correctly) if the bill comes up to S$30. I’m a huge fan of salmon sashimi though I really shouldn’t eat so much raw fish, what with that bacteria and all. We were also allowed to use one of our membership vouchers of S$30 (thumbs up for this company) and still get the free salmon sashimi.
He ordered a Zen Udon Nabe set (S$26) while I had the Udon-suki (S$19.80), and there was also an OCBC promotion!
Total of 15% discount! We ended up paying just S$15.80 for our meal. Shiok!
If you have a craving for Japanese food, do pop by Watami. And make sure you sign up for their membership program, while those freebie vouchers last. It really seems too good to be true and yet I’ve already used up my 2 vouchers! Got my bf to sign up, and received 2 more. Hehe!
Working With Grace 
You must be logged in to post a comment.