Mall hopping in Damansara (Malaysia)
- Iyay
- Jun 9, 2015
- 5 min read
It's already noon. We just woke. We were hungry. No food in the fridge nor in the pantry. So we decided to eat out and go to Damansara. We hop on the car with my friend, tita and her kids and drove all the way to Damansara. We got off in Tesco extra. As soon as we get in the mall we went straight to the first restaurant we saw, Jombali restaurant.
(Tesco Extra)
(Jombali. My first restaurant experience.)
When we were seated the waiter approached us and handed the menu along with the paper where we can write our orders on. Then we just pressed the button on the table to call the waiter and handed them the order. Or just call them if there's no button available. That's usually how you order in restaurants in Malaysia. Few minutes more and we got our food.
For drinks I ordered a 3 Layered tea, the kids got Iced Lemon tea and Sirap Selasih and the others got water.
The 3 layered tea consists of three aesthetic layers of gula melaka syrup (bottom), evaporated milk (middle) and brewed black tea (top). You have to stir it first before drinking otherwise you'll just drink all the syrup if you're using the straw. Basically it's just a milk tea served in a special way pero masarap.
(3 Layered tea for RM 5.90, Iced Lemon tea for RM 4.60, Sirap Selasih for RM 3.90)
Credit: Casio Nicerio for the photos.
Their Iced lemon tea tastes like an ordinary powdered tea that you can buy from the grocery. Nothing special. Sirap Selasih was medicine syrupy like mixed with Chia seeds. It's too sweet for me.
Our little boy ordered Cheezy Baked Rice Chicken Cha Siew. This one was uniquely served on a mini bamboo steamer. The rice was topped with melted cheese. Baked chicken and steamed broccoli on the side. I did'nt get to taste this because mukhang sarap na sarap ang bata and mukhang kulang pa sa kanya. Hehehe.. Well that means something! He said it's his new favorite.
(Cheezy Baked Rice Chicken Cha Siew for RM 13.90) Credit: Casio Nicerio for the photos.
Baby girl ordered Nasi Goreng Stew Beef Rib. She normally cannot finish her food but that time she did. Tita who was supposed to share it with her (because we expect nga that she couldn't finish it) just got to taste a little of it also. Luckily I get to taste it before it's gone. The rice tastes like a normal fried rice for me but the meat was so tender, juicy and tasty. And the sauce was peppery. I love pepper!
(Nasi Goreng Stew Beff Rib for RM 11.90) Credit: Casio Nicerio for the photos.
My friend got Asam Laksa which was shared with tita. They got the regular size (the bigger option). And the serving was not bad. Really made for sharing. And the taste, it's oozing with flavour. Like there was a celebration of flavour in your mouth. You can taste the sourness of the tamarind, there's a hint of sweetness, the minty flavour of the herb, freshness of the fish at ang nangingibabaw ay yung spiciness which we all liked.
(Asam Laksa for RM 10.90) Credit: Casio Nicerio for the photos.
Then for myself I picked Nasi Lemak Beef Rendang. Like a basic Nasi Lemak it has rice cooked with coconut milk, hard boiled egg, fried peanut, fried anchovies and sambal but unlike what you usually buy on the street it has some "crackers" (I don't know what it's called, sorry) and obviously beef rendang since that's what I ordered. Tita said that she eats it by crushing the crackers then sprinkles it on the rice. I didn't know so ako I just ate it like a kropek. Hehehe.. This cracker for me was like a fried wanton wrapper but I didn't know if it really was. Anyway, the rice was okay. The sambal was spicy which was good. The beef rendang sauce was tasty but the meat was tough.
(Nasi Lemak Beef Rendang for RM 12.90) Credit: Casio Nicerio for the photos.
The service was good for me. They are attentive naman but we didn't hear any greeting when we arrived, we didn't see smiles that often, the servers were most of the time in the kitchen but I guess that's why they have buttons on the tables for. For me I think going extra mile like proactively checking on the diners if they need anything else is a stellar customer service. They do have fast service though and they attended to all our requests.
The place was clean. The store has a flat screen tv showing a movie from a cable channel which entertained the diners.
For the value for money, I think the price was just right for a restaurant in a mall. Given the taste of the food, the size of servings and the service I think it has a good value for money. Actually if you visit their place in certain hours of the day you may get discount. ;)
After munching and resting for a while, we roam around Tesco extra. It's not a big mall. It only has few shops, few restaurants and a supermarket.
Their grocery items were a bit pricey according to tita so we just passed by their supermarket.
(Inside Tesco Extra Supermarket)
We also found foreign exchange booth in Tesco so we took the chance to exchange our dollar to ringgit (we exchanged our Php to $ in the Philippines before we left). The buying rate by that time was $1 to RM 3.625. Fortunately we already exchanged our money there because that's the highest rate (compared to the ones in central market, KLCC and others) we saw during our stay there.
Off to the next stop: The Curve. It was just right beside Tesco Extra. But this one was a high end mall, parang new Glorietta ang feel. We actually didn't stay long there. We just sat there for a while. :)
(The Curve)
Just right across The Curve is Ikea. I was thrilled because there's no Ikea in the Philippines plus I really love "window" shopping things for the house. ;)
(Ikea)
But before we went in we passed by a food shop in Ikea. We bought some ice cream and coffee for tita. This was fun because we got to draw the soft serve ice cream ourselves.
The method of buying an ice cream was you have to fall in line first to place your order then they will give you a cone and a token that you will insert to the vending machine of ice cream.
(Self served Ice cream Vendo just like in Family Mart but not unlimited)
But for the coffee, instead of token they gave us a paper cup .
(Unlimited coffee!)
After a quick snack, we went in. Yehey! You can really find anything household there. From kitchenwares to furnitures to gardening stuff.
(Inside Ikea. First time!)
Most items were really pricey but they do put some items on sale from time to time. During our hunt we found some good stuff for an affordable price.
(Tong for RM 1.50, 3 Plates for RM 1.50 each, 3 Throw pillows for RM 4.50 each,
1set (4pcs) Candle holder for RM 4)
And others..
Imagine buying all those good quality stuff for less than Php 1000. Wala niyan sa Pinas. Hehehe...I really appreciate Ikea because we don't have one in the Philippines. Sure we do have furniture shop and storage stores but in Ikea you can find anything you need for the house in one place. Plus they do offer great deals for some of the items.
Well, it's quite long and tiring day but it was fun. The malls were pretty much the same in the Philippines except they have Ikea but it's still worth visiting. I only get to visit the malls in Damasara but I hope I get to explore more on my next visit. 'Til next time. ;)
