Monday, September 23, 2013

MCKK Old Boys United Over Grilled Fish @ Aden

a travelling guest wandered into dubai, mr. khairul’s mckk super senior dato kele of batch 70; and he requested grilled fish. only in sharjah. particularly in aden restaurant!

so the mckk old boys of dubai got together at aden restaurant in sharjah to hang out and as usual, reminisce about school. sigh.

(click here for my review of this delicious grilled fish of aden restaurant, sharjah)

 

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khairul's super senior dato kele batch 70 is in town so mckk old boys of dubai got together to lepak-lepak makan ikan bakaq aden. (from left dato kele v70, kay v96, abg shon v84 & abg zaim v82)

 

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best grilled fish in town – deliciously marinated, and tender juicy fish flesh. tambah cecah cili kicap (cut up onions, red and green chilli, dip in sweet soy sauce) from kak muna. heavenly.

 

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I was amused at the fact that dato kelle is also a foodie who enjoys taking pictures of food! at one point mr. khairul helped pick up the fish so that he can take a better shot. it’s refreshing to see people his age embracing the current trend! hihi.

 

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at the time of writing, our beloved bro zaim had left dubai for good to return to malaysia. sob sob. hilang sorang strong supporter of mcoba dubai gatherings! we will miss you abg zaim, kak na and family! thanks for the memories!

 

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abg faisal shon enjoying his mandi rice. with him is abg fudzail; not a mcoba but fondly known as ‘penghulu dubai’ as he’s a malaysian ol timer who has been in dubai since forever!

 

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good friends, great laughter, even better food!

 

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aden restaurant in sharjah has since revamped their restaurant – beautiful carpeted majlees with comfy pillows and posh curtains. nice!

 

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hope you enjoyed your stay in dubai this time around, dato kele and datin. bila pulak malay college old boy abah ‘65 nak datang dubai lagi? hihi.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Munching Burgers @ Shake Shack, Dubai Mall

this is probably the most popular burger place for the arabs here in dubai (aside from the usual mcdonalds, hardees or burger king franchise). you can see them in their white kandooras and black abayas flocking the place for a tasty, juicy burger. the ‘shake shack’.

it’s amazing to know that this huge franchise started from a little hot dog stand in madison square park, manhattan in 2001, calling it the ‘modern roadside burger’. the one in dubai international airport is in fact, its first ever branch opened in an airport.

 

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we went to the one in dubai mall, located on the first floor near the waterfall with the silver divers. it covers a wide area so there are plenty of seats. I can’t promise they’ll be empty ones though – most of the time it’s packed!

surprisingly, there were not many varieties in their menu – there were only a couple of choices for burgers, and fewer more for hotdogs. what they do have a variety of is their MILKSHAKES – hence the name! SHAKE SHACK! all kinds of regular shakes you’d ever wanna have. yum!

 

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bole nampak rata-rata arab yang suka lepak sini!

 

the place was packed! it was already one big place to begin with, but still the seats were full inside the ‘shake shack’, and there were no empty seats at the area just outside – however, there was another section with tables and chairs opposite the ‘shake shack’ that overlooks the waterfall with the silver divers. that was where we finally got a table.

such a popular place, we had to wait for seats!

 

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the waterfall with the silver divers

 

the section was quite far from the actual ‘shake shack’ but we get more privacy; plus a nice view of the ‘waterfall’. even the sound of the waterfall surprisingly added a nice touch to the experience.

 

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we first learned about a device like this when we waited for our table at the cheesecake factory. it beeps when your table is ready, or when your order is ready to be picked up. it’s self-service at ‘shake shack’, so mr. khairul went inside to make his order, paid, got this ‘beeper’ and we waited.

 

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..and when the burgers arrived, my eyes were fixed on the fries – yay crinkly-cut fries! I LOVE crinkle-cut more than the shoe-string fries. and the one with added cheese on top was yummy. crispy potato fries with the delicious taste of gooey cheese. hmm.

 

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I got the ‘shackburger’ – just a straightforward cheeseburger with tomatoes, lettuce and ‘shacksauce’. right, like adding ‘shacksauce’ would make it extra exotic. haha. it’s cheeseburger ok. no more no less. it’s not like the awesome cheeseburger at ‘burger fuel’ where they add guacamole or even mango to their burgers. now THAT’s exotic!

(click here for my review of ‘burger fuel’)

but straightforward or not, I like the burger. the patty is tasty – the texture is tender and juicy, and not too well-done. the lettuce and tomatoes were freshly crunchy. and so green! I love it. simple and deliciously juicy.

mr. khairul got the ‘shack stack’ – cheeseburger and ‘shroom burger topped with lettuce, tomatoes and shacksauce. the ‘shroom burger by itself is a choice for vegetarians, but this ‘shack stack’ is combining cheeseburger and ‘shroom burger. delicious as any good cheeseburger would be.

 

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the choices for burgers and hotdogs are limited, but they’re all delicious. simple, but delicious. don’t forget to get a shake to go with your burgers – chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or caramel! I might come again but in the meantime, for a more adventurous and tasty burgers, I’ll stick to ‘burger fuel’!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Splash! @ Yas Waterworld, Abu Dhabi

the water-freak boys with the water-phobic mom visit a water park again. (I’m just so glad that I didn’t go on the terrifying gravity-defying raft ride this time. brrr!)

 

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it was a few weekends after we got back from malaysia. the weather was fantastic – nice and sunny yet not scorching hot. slightly windy, and cooler towards the end of the day. perfect day to be out splashing at a waterpark.

we got a room at rotana yas island for the weekend; overlooking the yas marina circuit. wonderful comfy room with awesome view – and just a few minutes away from ‘yas waterworld’.

now this water park is beautiful.

 

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I mean, look at this entrance. this is where the gift shop is, also some stalls that sell snacks, drinks and ice-cream. they’ve got this awesome arabic souq thing going on, and aladdin-feel to it too. gorgeous interior. loved it! kind off like madinat jumeirah or souq al bahar.

 

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this is the place to shower before you jump into the pool. so cute! loved the design! yang ni pulak reminds me of something out of bedrock town from the flintstones!

 

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the ‘sneaker keeper’. to keep your flip flops and selipar jepun. my boys just went barefooted everywhere, so we dumped their slippers at the back of the stroller instead of leaving them at every slide.

 

personal floats or any sort of flotation device for the kids is not allowed inside yas waterworld. why? because they provide their own and it’s available at every pool and rides. just take one when you need, and return it when you’re done.

 

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loved the design of these shades. quite similar to the shades at al-ain zoo. basically this is what the walkways look like everywhere around yas waterworld.

 

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‘thirsty? drinking water here’.

 

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the colorful tubes are for ‘serpent spin’, ‘slither alley’, ‘snake’s tail’,  – the usual fare; go on a tube, slide down, splash in the pool.

 

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mr. khairul enquiring height limitation to go on the rides and slides. unfortunately, almost all of them has height requirement; so kahfi and kazim were not able to join in – for example the raft ride. we did that in umm al-quwain’s aquapark but here we couldn’t. mr. khairul was quite disappointed as he wanted to do that together as a family in one raft. I was secretly SO RELIEVED! haha. I hate the raft ride! huhu. scary! mr. khairul ended up going on that raft ride with khaleef only.

 

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from below, you can see the longest slide in yas waterworld, somehow interspersed with the track of the rollercoaster ride. compared to umm al-quwain’s aquapark, yas waterworld in more compact because it’s smaller than aquapark.

 

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JEBEL DROP

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khaleef waiting in line to go down ‘jebel drop’.

 

speaking of the longest slide in yas waterworld, here is my eldest boy khaleef, waiting in line, to go down THAT. yeap. this insanely high slide is called ‘jebel drop’. yes, that’s what a mom needs to know – a slide called JEBEL that literally means ‘mountain’ or ‘hill’.

I freaked out just by looking at this picture. I can’t imagine my baby khaleef goin down THAT, TWICE! here’s what happened – he came back excited, and told me he’s goin down the long slide. and I actually said NO just go down the normal slide – and he replied, “mak, I’m going for a second time already!” *faint*!

 

BANDIT BOMBER

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again, here’s my daredevil boy khaleef, tagging along with bapak on these scary rides!

 

one of the rides in yas waterworld. the ‘bandit bomber’ lets you ‘hang on the middle east’s longest suspended rollercoaster for 550 metres!’. notice the bull’s eye on top of the ride? ‘cannon point’ is another activity in yas waterworld situated on the path of the ‘bandit bombers’, and they’re equipped with water cannons shooting at the people above!

 

LIWA LOOP

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this is the first looping waterslide of its kind in the middle east. instead of going straight down like other normal, non-insane slides, this one goes in a loop. and that’s the reason why it has a weight requirement – coz if you’re too light you’d probably can’t loop yourself down the slide. scary!

 

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mr. khairul took our water-proof camera on the slide and took this video of himself going down ‘liwa loop’. it was scary to think of being there in such tight space, hurtling like crazy, and water all around you! but watching the video just makes me laugh out loud. haha. it’s not me in there. haha. *laughs nervously*.

 

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khaleef joined his dad on this insane raft ride, inside a 20-ft high funnel. mr. khairul said the family raft ride at umm al-quwain’s dreamland aqua park is like a relaxing walk in pasar malam compared to this! so exhilarating, and he said that at one point, he was literally flying off his seat on the raft, because they were turning around so high up!

 

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these are stills from the video mr. khairul took while they were up there on the raft.

 

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how high were they from the ground? look at that view!

 

MARAH FORTRESS

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since most of the rides have height limit, I took the boys kahfi and kazim to the ‘kids’ pool’ – and it’s the most awesome pool I’ve ever been to! haha. (I don’t go out too often). it has that usual bucket thingy (water fills up in the bucket, it splashes down, come back up to be filled again) but there are TWO, and man, the whole thing is just HUGE.

 

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the bucket’s gonna trip! *splash!*

 

there are multiple straightforward slides for the ‘babies’ – and then there are 3 long, winding slides. the awesome thing about these long, winding slides is that they’re wide enough to fit a grown, hairy, big-sized daddy! haha.

it’s a great design to make the slides wide as I can see a lot of mommies and daddies holding on their babies and toddlers and went down the slides together. me too! wee~ I had SO much fun sliding down with kahfi and kazim. we were laughing and screaming all the way down. loved it!

mr. khairul said it’s so sad that THAT makes me so happy in a park full of other amazing slides. haha.

 

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weeee~! that’s kahfi!

 

most of that day I just spent sliding down these awesome slide, and once or twice I sat back on the reclining pool seats on the side and just chill. the boys would just go crazy running and splashing around occasionally coming back to where I was to have a drink; khaleef joined his dad on other rides and my lazy beach chair would be our meeting point.

it was a fantastic day.

 

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my kecut, kedut, kering khaleef, kahfi and kazim!

 

to me :

abu dhabi’s yas waterworld is a beautifully designed water park, has the coolest kids’ water playground with wide slides, and exciting scary slides and rides BUT the height limit is so strict that kahfi and kazim cannot join in on most of the slides and rides.

umm al quwain’s dreamland aqua park’s ride is less exciting than the ones in yas waterworld BUT the whole family were able to do most of the rides.

your pick!

 

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how ironic that we’ve tried the waterparks in other emirates – abu dhabi and umm al-quwain, but we haven’t tried dubai’s own ‘wild wadi’, and ‘the atlantis’ in palm jumeirah which is like minutes away from our place!

oh, and FACT : I’ve never even been to selangor water park ‘sunway lagoon’. and even ‘tambun lost world’ water park which is like few minutes away from my abah’s house. for real.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Indo Food @ Bandung Restaurant, Abu Dhabi

in UAE, indonesian dishes are the closest to malaysian taste buds; next to singaporean, thai or vietnamese dishes. ‘bandung restaurant’ was the second indonesian restaurant we tried in abu dhabi. the first one was ‘sari rasa’ opposite marina mall abu dhabi – click here for review and pictures.

 

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the food is freshly prepared, delicious and affordable!

 

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‘bandung restaurant’ abu dhabi is situated in baharia street corner of masjid cuba I think? check it out! I offers authentic indonesian dishes from all types of soto (soups) like ‘soto madura’ which is soup with shredded chicken and veggies; or ‘soto babat’ which is with beef strips. there are also satay (meat skewers) and all sorts of meat and fish dishes to be eaten with white steamed rice.

 

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simple interior. love the ‘brick wall’.

 

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we got the obvious choice – ayam bakar (grilled chicken, indonesian style) for the boys to eat with the rice. the chicken was well-marinated; sweet and juicy albeit the charred bits.

 

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mr. khairul the soup-fan got himself this ‘soto bandung’ – soup with glass noodles, shredded beef and veggies. SO delicious. the beef so tender and flavorful. I would order this again.

 

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the fried ‘tempe’ – fermented soy – it tastes so much better than my description hihi. I don’t really fancy tempe, but this one is tasty because it’s fried in batter. crispy hot delight! also, I love anything fried in batter! (anything edible, pls).

 

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our favorite veggies at places like these is either kangkong belacan, or kailan ikan masin. this one is kangkong belacan, and it’s as good as it gets. fresh crunchy kangkong goes perfect with white steamed rice, anytime!

 

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this – is supposed to be cendol. I know, malaysians! where’s the shaved ice, right? it’s a cendol-like drink I would say. all the ingredients of this refreshing dessert is there – the green jelly called cendol, the coconut milk, and palm sugar. too sweet for me, this one. and it’s just not the same. sigh.

 

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rakyat malaysia yang kebulor makanan nusantara tu boleh la berkunjung ke bandung restaurant ok! jangan lupa order ayam bakar. the best!

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