Plane Dining - Cathay Pacific from Singapore to Hong Kong

I have been VERY lax in my blogging lately. ;P

I guess with my work to occupy my 'spare' time, I'm getting lazy with typing. Still, I wanna share my holiday experiences with all the mummies out there, especially those who're taking your kid out on a plane for that long-awaited holiday. Maybe you can plan your trip better after hearing my experiences. ;)

This post is dedicated to the plane trips we took for our holiday to Hong Kong. We had taken a package with Cathay Pacific, so on 29th April 2010, we took the 0830hrs flight CX710 from Changi Airport. It's a non-stop flight to HK, about 3.5 hrs long. Hubby's idea has always been to minimise the travel time required, so as to minimise the period of suffering. ;)

Still, I wasn't so apprehensive this time, as we had booked for a kid's meal on board, and hubby had confirmed every seat would have its own mini tv screen with multiple channels of entertainment. So I only packed a minimum of toys & activities for Sam in case he got bored of watching tv.

I had prepared nimm2 sweets for Sam to suck on, in case his ears got blocked during takeoff & landing. The hard candy with juicy fruit centres make me feel slightly less guilty when giving him sweets, since it's supposed to contain Vit C and other kinds of minerals & vitamins. It certainly worked, as sucking on the candy prevented the pressure from building up in Sam's ears during the takeoff.

In-flight entertainment started soon after takeoff. The headset was way too big for Sam - it kept slipping off his head, and I had to replace it every 10min or so. The tv screen couldn't be tilted downwards, only upwards, so Sam watched tv the whole trip with head angled up. Not very good, I know, but then I don't have much of a choice. I was rather surprised the flight was considered long-haul........but then, since that provided Dumbo instead of Kim Possible, I'm not really complaining. ;)

As usual, the kid's meal was served 1st, before the adults'. Sam's breakfast was very similar to the adults': hashbrown, omelet, yogurt, fruits, bread, and the additional cereal bar. For drinks I got him apple juice. His meal was served on a placemat of ocean creatures, and the cutlery continued the theme - curly straw with fish, coloured plastic fork, spoon & knife with seashells on the handles.


Sam took a whole hour to finish the egg & hashbrown, so engrossed was he in watching Dumbo on the kids' channel. He refused most of the fruits, the yogurt & tomato, and I ended up finishing the bread since he didn't want that either. The cereal bar I packed for later consumption.

For some reason the 2nd cartoon didn't come on after the movie Dumbo finished, so when Sam got bored with the blank screen (the other programs weren't suitable for him), I tried to put him down for nap. We raised up the arm rest so that he could lie down horizontally - head on me & legs on daddy - but kept his seatbelt on. The in-flight blanket covered him up warmly, and the little pillow provided some kind of cushion between his head & my thigh. And surprisingly, Sam did fall asleep! He must have been tired out from waking up so early to catch the morning flight. Anyway, he only woke up after the plane had landed, so the flight wasn't too bad (for both him & me) after all.

The return flight on CX711 left HK at 1615hrs. Since it was 3 May, the entertainment channels had changed. Sam didn't enjoy the Sleeping Beauty offering, but the 2nd cartoon, The Fox and The Hound, was much more to his liking.

The lunch/dinner for this leg was served with the same ocean theme cutlery. Sam's kid's meal was so much richer than the adults' version we got slightly envious, actually. In addition to the main course of fish fingers & mashed potatoes with vegetables, there was macaroni salad, some kind of coconut chocolate cake pudding, the inevitable bread, apple juice and Tim Tam chocolate biscuits.

After Sam finished every mouthful of his fish & potatoes, I allowed him the chocolate biscuits, since hubby was already eating his. The apple juice I packed for later consumption, Sam was drinking plain water with his meal, and I polished off the delicious cake pudding & bread roll. The macaroni, unfortunately, had to be wasted.

All in all, eating in the air wasn't so bad after all, since Sam quite liked the in-flight meals. I had to do all the feeding, since he was engrossed with watching tv, but as Sam was still a trifle short for the shaky foldable table, I didn't mind doing so, rather than risk overturning the whole meal.

Oh, Cathay Pacific usually have very interesting kids' packs to keep the children occupied during the journey. I forgot to take a photo of Sam's: this time round the theme is Lilo & Stitch, with all the various colouring stuff, stickers & puzzles packed neatly into a woven sling bag. The activities are actually a bit too difficult for Sam (sudoku included!), especially since he doesn't even enjoy colouring, but I guess the older kids (7 yrs onwards) would love the set. I certainly saw several kids carrying the bag when we were walking around in Hong Kong city.

Think would try flying Cathay again for our next holiday, if the budget permits!

Return to Seah Street Deli

It had been years since I went to Seah Street Deli. I still remember my 1st visit there >10 years ago: I had ordered some kind of salad which included blue cheese, and because of the pungent cheese, I wasted the entire salad. *no kidding*

So, returning after so many years, I decided to order the NY Cobb Salad ($20.50) with its blue cheese again. And this time, I've already learnt to enjoy the pungent cheese, even if I had to drown the taste in lettuce. ;P

Still, it was nice to find the place basically unchanged, complete with the old jukebox & friendly service. And as hubby said, the clientele of the Deli had became parents by now, so I shouldn't have been surprised to find the fully adjustable Graco high chair we have at home in the restaurant. Or perhaps I simply hadn't noticed such items when I was a young single adult.

Sam didn't need the high chair though, he fitted just nicely on the wooden dining chair. The kids' menu was a white sheet for the children to colour in with crayons, but Sam got bored with the colouring before we even made our orders, so I had to whip out his fav cars. Again.

The waitress had thoughtfully given Sam his water in a plastic cup & straw, complete with cover to reduce chance of spilling. What confused me was that while the restaurant was so obviously child-friendly (from the menu to the chair to the service staff's attitude), they did not have plastic cutlery!!!!!!

So while they brought a separate small bowl & spoon for Sam to eat from, the bowl was ceramic (I don't mind the metal spoon). Fortunately Sam didn't topple anything during the meal to mar our pleasure.

I was very pleased to find the kids' menu included Macaroni & Cheese with Sausage ($8). At least it seems to be healthier than the usual chicken or fish nuggets with fries on the same menu. The Linguini with Ratatouille sauce & vegetables seemed interesting too, would try that on the next visit.

Anyway, turned out Sam loved the Macaroni, which wasn't too cheesy. He couldn't sit still enough to finish half the bowl, or perhaps he had filled up on the Mozzarella Cheese Sticks ($11.50 for 8pcs), which came with a very good salsa dip that Sam hasn't learnt to appreciate. I guess even if he ate only the ends of the Cheese Sticks - where there's more of the crispy breaded coating - he would also be full after polishing off the ends of 5 sticks.

Fortunately we remembered to take away the leftovers of the macaroni, cos Sam finished off everything after he got up from his afternoon nap. I'm so glad to find an alternative to french fries for him in an American restaurant!

Oh, 15% discount with Citibank credit cards, so the overall cost didn't turn out too bad after all.


Seah Street Deli
Raffles Hotel Singapore
1 Beach Road
Tel: 64121816

Disappointing shokudo

I had been excited to find out there's a 'new' Japanese restaurant in the expanded basement of Raffles City, and specially arranged to meet my ex-classmates for lunch there. Shokudo is like the Japanese version of Marche, with each customer given a card to register the items we bought at individual stalls, then pay the bill at the exit. The seating areas inside are not so distinctly fanciful as Marche's, though different areas still feature different styles of tables & chairs. We just took the nearest comfy-looking one, where Sam's wooden baby chair fitted right in.

Initially, I was quite pleased to find the drinks stall selling Calpis, my fav Japanese yogurt drink. At $2.90 it's not exactly cheap, but Sam loved it too. I then ordered a seaweed udon ($7.50) & a gyoza ($5 for 5 pcs), thinking to repeat my old trick of mixing the minced meat from the gyoza with the noodles for Sam to eat.

Turns out the udon was very chewy. Usually the problem with udon is it gets too squashy when left soaked in the hot soup for too long. Shokudo's version was so firm, even I myself took some time to chew through the noodles. As you can imagine, Sam took even longer for a single bite! The gyoza was seriously not tasty at all........Sam, the meat lover, not only did not ask for 2nd helpings, but after eating only 1.5 pcs of the fried dumpling, rejected the rest of the dish.

Desparate, I laid waste the noodles & bought a plate of fried breaded oysters ($7 for 4 pcs) with a bowl of rice ($1.50). One of the reasons why I like to bring Sam to Japanese restaurants is the softness of the Japanese short grain rice, which makes it easier for Sam to eat. Well, shokudo's rice is not soft at all.......though the rice was distinctly short grain, I felt as though I was eating the usual Chinese restaurant rice.

The oysters? I can't even tell how fresh they are: I've spent too much energy chewing through the thick coating of flour surrounding the shellfish! So 1st time in this blog, I'm furnishing a photo of my unfinished food. It's really quite sinful for me to waste so much, but I've really lost most of my appetite.

I must be really quite unlucky to have ordered 3 separate dishes that I didn't like. Friend JH said her ramen was quite acceptable. And judging from the throngs of customers in the place, I guess there must be better dishes somewhere out there.........

Only after I've paid the bill & stepped out of the restaurant did I see the mini children's play area right at the end of the restaurant, where a small slide & 3 bead puzzles serve to entertain young children. Well, I find Raffles City's baby room just to the left of the restaurant more welcoming, though small - with its 2 nursing rooms & one diaper changing area - but complete with a large basin, hand dryer & napkins to clean my hands after changing Sam's diaper.

Don't think I'll ever go back to shokudo again, not till I've changed my preference of food to chewy ones.............


shokudo
#B1-44E, Raffles City
Tel: 6837-3793

Cooking Okonomiyaki in Yaki Yaki Bo

After a disappointing visit to yet-another nursery, I decided to go have a good lunch, as a belated birthday treat to myself.

This time, Sam noticed the big crab at the entrance to the Shokutsu-10 on our way down the escalator to the basement, and happily agreed to pose with it. But as you can see, he ended up scratching an itch, and I never managed to get him to pose again.

So with Sam babbling about the "kiap-kiap" crab that will make him "pain pain", and me trying to explain it's only a statue and will not hurt him, we made our way to the last restaurant on the right of the food street, Yaki Yaki Bo.

It's a relatively teppanyaki restaurant, with 3 teppan counters surrounded by dining seats, and several tables near the entrance for those who don't wanna sit at the cooking counters. But I wasn't interested in teppanyaki today. I've been eyeing the okonomiyaki menu ever since I walked past the restaurant on Monday (that's another dining experience), and today I've made my order - ebi okonomiyaki (S$10.90).

The waitress offered a teppan counter seat, and I didn't reject. Thought it would amuse Sam to watch the cooking process, as long as he understands the danger of the hot plate. I was right. Sam was entranced, and when the chef started on 2 other orders in the middle of our own meal, Sam started mimicking the cooking strokes!

The okonomiyaki is flatter, and the presentation different, from what I was used to in Osaka & Uji, but at least the general flavour is the same, and the texture of the 'Japanese pancake/pizza' is the same, with plenty of vegetables and just enough batter to hold the vegetables together. Best of all, the okonomiyaki was served with a little metal spatula, just like in Japan!

Sam enjoyed the new food, and I was glad I could get him to eat so much vegetables in addition to the prawns. Turns out Sam loved the bonito flakes piled on top of the okonomiyaki, so the big pile wasn't wasted.

The okonomiyaki sauce was a little too much for us, though, so I ordered an extra hot green tea ($1) in addition to our lime juice ($2.90). Sam finished half the bowl of accompanying miso soup, sipping directly from the bowl japanese style (I held the bowl for him of course!).

I kinda wish they would leave the okonomiyaki on the teppan in front of the diner, so that the food stays warm, and I can add my own toppings as I did in Japan. But I guess I should complain so much, not when I've satisfied my craving. At least they do have the sense to serve the dish to table diners on a small hot plate.

Oh, they do use the white Ikea baby chair & provided a plastic bowl & spoon with a small metal fork for Sam, so children are definitely welcome. ;)


Yaki Yaki Bo
1 Jurong West Central 2
#B1-52, Jurong Point
Tel: 6792-0583
Opens 11:30am ~ 10pm

Sam's 1st Burger

Went to Ikea Alexandra to get another bookcase to display all our European/Japanese/Malaysian souvenirs. Sam had a wild time at the Children's Area with my mum while I shopped for more containers to hold my sewing stuff, so by 11.15 am we were ready to have our lunch at the Ikea Restaurant.

This time, I ordered the Fish Burger set (S$2.90) off the kids' menu for Sam. It's the 1st time he had a mini burger, and he didn't know how to eat it - he speared the top bun with his fork & pondered at the mayonnaise underneath! I had to demonstrate how he's supposed to how the burger with his hands & bite, but he wasn't in an adventurous mood. Ended up only taking 2 small nips from my feeding & then he went back to eating his fries.

After our wonderful experiences in Holland and Kuala Lumpur, it was disappointing to find that the Singapore Ikea has given up offering its plastic forks, spoons, bowls & plates at the microwave station. The only kids' utensils left is the plastic cup, self-served at the beginning of the queue for the food.

Otherwise, the Singapore Ikea is like its counterparts overseas, offering its own white baby chair in abundance, and a play area for children in the middle of the restaurant with bar-counter-like seats all around for the hungry parents. I never bring Sam near the play area though - I'll never get him to eat properly otherwise!


Ikea Alexandra
317 Alexandra Road
Tel: 6786-6868
Restaurant opens daily from 9:30 am ~ 10 pm.

Entertaining Kids in the Paragon

There's not much free outdoor activities to keep my Sam entertained here in the heart of Orchard Rd. Especially right now, with the building of the Ion right behind the apartment, the planting of NEWater pipes in the road in front of the apartment, and the expansion of the pedestrain walkways of Orchard Road itself (previously the stretch in front of Ngee Ann City, now shifted opposite in front of Paragon), the whole area is a mess of construction din & dust contributing to the usual slightly dusty city roads.

But still, it's not supposed to be good for the kid to spend all his time indoors, so today I thought I'll let him vent his energies outside for a little while. Started Sam off running down the slopey walkway between Wisma Atria & Ngee Ann City, where he saw a lizard sunbathing. Then, walking along Orchard Rd he gazed interestingly at the water fountain in front Ngee Ann City & consented to a pose with the Christmas decorations:

After 15 min, both Sam & I were sweating, so I hustled him into Paragon. This is becoming one of my fav shopping centres for lunch, not because of its good variety of restaurants, but for the availability of child-friendly facilities.

The free children's playground (2 ~ 6 yrs) on level 5 must be the answer to lots of mummies' prayers. At 11.20 am on a Wednesday morning it was quite popular, Sam having to jostle through the tunnel & to wait for his turn at the slides.

From 11.30 am onwards, the crowd of children started to thin, as the mothers begin to move into the just-opened restaurants for the early lunch. I, too, wanted my food before the office crowds set in, but Sam refused to go till he played pretend in one of the musical cars.

By 12 noon, I managed to get Sam into my fav soba restaurant, Shimbashi Soba. After my previous experience, this time I ordered a cold soba for my Hana Syokado set (S$28.80). I had thought 'cold soba' = 'zaru soba', but no, the soba was chilled & served already dipped in broth, with wakame seaweed & tenkasu (bits of deep-fried tempura batter). It was so much better than the hot version, very chewy & fragrant. Sam had several helpings in his baby set, I was glad I paid the extra $5 for a larger serving of noodles.

Was glad we made it to the restaurant early, a queue started forming from 12:30pm! After the very filling lunch (the Hana Syokado set included 5 slices sashimi, 3 pcs sushi, chicken katsu, agedashi tofu, deep fried soft shell crab, 4 pcs tempura besides the noodles), we left the restaurant and literally walked into another children's fav outside the Spageddies.

I don't know the proper name of the technology. It seems to make use of the shadows thrown by the kid on the projected image & triggers a specific response, eg. bouncing the basketball, turning corn into popcorn, or Sam's favourite - overturning & chasing cars.

Like the playground, I noticed other mothers letting their children play here, while they waited for their tables at one of the many restaurants in Basement 1. The only unfavourable thing about this video game is its location - being right in the centre of the passageway, many a unwary adults nearly stumbled into the playing children, or stumbled trying to avoid them!

Shimbashi Soba
290 Orchard Road
#B1-41, Paragon
Tel: 6735-9882
Opens 11:30 am to 10 pm.

Magadesca 2 in McDonald's

No breakfast provided in the service on weekends, so this morning we went to the McDonald's in Bugis Junction before heading to the Goddess of Mercy temple near there.

Baby chair: a Ronald McDonald red sturdy chair.

Kids' menu: there's only 1 option for Happy Meal at breakfast time - hotcakes. Since Sam didn't appreciate it, I ended up eating the 2 hotcakes. Sam ate his usual hashbrown (part of Daddy's Big Breakfast Meal) & orange juice.

Entertainment: Since last week, McDonald's have been giving out Magadesca 2 figurines with the purchase of every Happy Meal. I thought Sam would find the animal toys interesting, but since his 'penguin' & 'monkey' doesn't do much except mutter some words when moved, he ended up banging the figurines on the table trying to trigger the speech function. He lost interest in the figurines after a short 15 min & asked for his toy cars again.

Kids' utensils: Everything is plastic at the fast food chain, in the event that you actually use any cutlery.

Service: I wish the Bugis Junction outlet is more prompt in clearing the tables & keeping the baby chairs clean at 9.30 am in the morning. I didn't have to do all the cleaning myself at the neighbourhood outlet of Pioneer Mall last week.

Children's Playground in KLIA Departure Hall

We left Malaysia yesterday at noon, and as usual, spent the time after check-in at the children's play area at the Departure Hall (near rows 1 ~ 2).

So of course we ended up eating at KFC, which is just next to the play area.

Baby chair: the metal & red plastic seat standard in all KFC outlets.

Kids' utensils: Nil. But since the fast food chain serves plastic utensils, it doesn't really matter.

Kids' menu: I like to order the Chicky Meal for Sam, partly because the toys offered are so much better than those in Singapore. In fact, I only managed to entice Sam away from the playground with the free toy - a bike!

After the play area stint Sam was hungry enough to eat 2 of the chicken nuggets of his Meal, in addition to the mashed potato & some of the iced Milo, which he seldom drinks. I suppose hunger really improves the appetite...........

The TV in LiJin

Location: LiJin (Chinese Fusion Cuisine), in level 6 of Pavilion.

We decided to eat there simply because we wanted to repay our 'debt': Sam had embarassed us too many times in the past by running into the restaurant to watch the live seafood tanks, so we thought we should at least eat there once.

Service: Good, maybe cos we're one of the 1st few customers. The waiters wisely placed the teapot & order receipt on the opposite side of the table, & served the food from the other end too.

Baby chair: a pink metal affair, looks more suitable for a coffee shop than the mid~high end restaurant.

Kids' utensils: a normal plastic plate and a pair of red plastic fork & spoon (slightly too big for Sam's age, I thought) were provided upon request.

Kids' menu: none, as usual for a Chinese restaurant.

Entertainment: that's about the only thing I would consider going back to LiJin for (cos the food's really not value for money!).

We didn't sit near the wall of live seafood tanks cos that's supposed to be the smoking section, but turns out there's a TV mounted near the ceiling in the non-smoking section. Sam was kept occupied by the playing of a DVD - repeated after abt 40 min - consisting of clips (no sound) of ocean creatures & nature scenes, so I could eat my dinner in peace.

Child-friendly Tony Roma's

Had a very good lunch today. Well, as good a lunch any mum can get when she's alone with a tired & hungry male toddler.

Brought Sam to Tony Roma's at Midvalley Megamall, cos saw they were having a promotion: children <12 yrs can eat for free on Mon ~ Wed, provided the adult ordered a main entree, of course. So, I tried my luck, and I'm definitely going back again, even if I have to pay the next time!

Firstly, they have both baby high chairs & booster seats for older children. Then, they provide crayons & an activity sheet (colouring, maze, puzzles) for the kid to play. Sam, being his 1st exposure to crayons, scared me to death by putting the crayon in his mouth!! Luckily I got it out before he bit it!!!

The starters for the kid's menu is carrot & celery sticks with dip. The waiter very wisely served this when I was still going through the menu & Sam was going "mum-mum-mum". And when I was scrambling for a wet wipe to clean Sam's not-so-clean hands, they promptly provided a wet wipe for the task!

And they didn't hurry me to order drinks or anything like that, just let me take my own time to read the usual menu after I've order fish & chips (RM$16.90) for Sam.When I've decided on their set lunch, fish & chips too (great value at RM$19.90, includes soup, coleslaw & drink), the manager even reminded me I've already ordered a juice for Sam, so do I want the extra drink?? Wow! I'll gladly give them the extra business just for this kind of service!!!!

The fries were good, makes me feel a bit less guilty abt letting Sam eat them cos they still have the potato skins on. ;P

And the fish were really, truly lightly battered! Cos picky Sam doesn't like to eat the batter, I usually have to spend a lot of effort scraping off the batter (& usually end up eating it myself) at other restaurants before I can feed it to Sam.

But Tony Roma's version had a very thin batter layer, which Sam barely noticed through all the fish, so I could spend the time eating my own delicious fish instead. Great!

I felt bad not finishing the dessert (Dirt Cup = choco pudding + Oreo crumbs) from the kids' menu. But silly Sam refused to take even a single bite, and I was feeling full & fat after eating half the dessert, so..........next time then!

When we were done, they served up another 2 warm wet wipes, one for me, 1 for Sam. Never have I been offered a wet wipe for the child before! The feeling was wonderful!

I'll definitely bring Sam back there again! Maybe next time let him try the Cheezy Pizza or the Chicken Strips while I enjoy a proper steak.............