Nook, Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah

Nook is the all-day dining restaurant in Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah, offering an array of local Malaysian dishes and International delights. Bold and bright, the restaurant has large floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing natural sunlight to flow in. Furthermore, guests can also enjoy their meal in the al fresco dining area with the views of the pool as well as the Andaman Sea.

The a la carte menu features all-day breakfast, soups, starters, snack, pasta, burgers and sandwiches, Western grill, local dishes and desserts. On Fridays and Saturdays, NOOK also offers a Weekend buffet dinner, priced at RM88 per adult and RM44 per child.

During our staycation, we had most of our meals here and the food quality was excellent. Highlights for us include the NOOK burger, Crispy calamari rings, Spaghetti aglio olio, Hawaiian pizza, Cantonese beef kway teow and Nasi goreng kampung. Prices are really reasonable too for a hotel setting.

Nook burger (RM28) - juicy grilled beef patty, Cheddar cheese, crispy beef bacon, tomato, onion, lettuce, gherkin, sesame bun. Loved that it came with sweet potato fries. 

Boy vs Nook burger.. he loved it!

 Nasi goreng kampung (RM24) - wok fried rice with bird's eye chilli, water spinach, anchovies, fried egg, deep fried chicken and fish crackers. Nicely fragrant with a hint of spiciness.

Spaghetti aglio e olio (RM28) - sauteed with prawns, garlic slices, chilli flakes and Parmesan cheese. Pasta lover (boy) approves!

Grilled minute steak in baguette (RM28), sauteed mushrooms, bell peppers, caramelised onions, Gruyere cheese, served with chips.

Butter Chicken (RM24) with raita and naan bread. 

Cantonese beef kway teow (RM24) - wok fried flat noodles in thick egg sauce and sauteed tender slices of beef . Definitely had the "wok hei".. delicious!

Hawaiian pizza (RM24) - perfect poolside food!

Fettucine Carbonara with beef bacon (RM28) and Crispy calamari rings (RM24)

Dinner at Nook, while enjoying the sunset

Prawn tacos (RM18) with crispy onion rings

Pasta lover ordered spaghetti aglio olio again!

Pan seared scallops and spicy papaya salad (RM24)

Grilled tenderloin (RM48)

Grilled lamb shoulder (RM38)

 Desserts - Haagen Daaz ice cream, Lemon cheese cake and Mango sticky rice served with coconut ice cream (RM18 each)

Langkawi cendol (RM18) with ais krim potong. Definitely Instaworthy!

Nook private dining area, perfect for intimate group gatherings

Nook interior shot

Sunset view from poolside

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Click here for the detailed review of the hotel.

Pork-free.

Operating hours: 7.00am - 10.30pm.

Location: Nook, Level 3, Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah, Lot PT 701, Jalan Pantai Tengah, Mukim Kedawang, 07000 Langkawi, Malaysia.

Tel: +604 952 5252

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Celebrate the Art of Storytelling with PAPINEE at The St. Regis Langkawi

As part of its Family Traditions program, The St. Regis Langkawi celebrated its collaboration with PAPINEE with a Story Telling Party and the introduction of Jak, a new character exclusively created for St. Regis hotels in Asia Pacific.

PAPINEE, the storytelling company empowers adults, educators and storytellers to take children on educational and inspiring magical adventures all around the world.

A charming new PAPINEE character inspired by the history of St. Regis, Jak the Deer, is the focal point of the PAPINEE partnership at the St. Regis hotels. Jak - full name Jak Odocoileus V - is a friendly four-legged deer, brought up in New York City, and has been surrounded by the glamourous people at his family headquarters at The St. Regis Hotel in New York. Jak is said to be named after John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthy New York real estate visionary who opened the original St. Regis Hotel in 1904.

Through this collaboration, The St. Regis Langkawi hopes to further engage its younger guests with child-friendly offerings under the Family Traditions of St. Regis program, with captivating activities to celebrate the art of play and being together.

More than 20 children aged between 10 months to 10 years old, from the resort’s in-house guests to invited guests attended this party that included a storytelling session and fun, engaging games. The young guests and their parents were then invited to indulge in the famous St. Regis Afternoon Tea ritual, a quintessential St. Regis tradition offering guests an impeccable selection of fine teas and refreshments and were each presented with exclusive PAPINEE gifts.

Frank Beck, Managing Director of The St. Regis Langkawi said that he was thrilled to be working in partnership with PAPINEE to offer families an exclusive family experience as part of their stay at The St. Regis Langkawi.

“Family Traditions at The St. Regis Langkawi offer distinctive destination-inspired activities to encourage celebrating the art of play, and our collaboration with PAPINEE gives families the opportunity to create their own imaginative stories and create lifelong memories, and we’re honored to be a part of that," Beck said.

Ms. Jana introducing Jak to the children.

Storytelling session - how Jak made his way to Langkawi Island from New York.

Afternoon tea bites for the guests

Cookie and cupcake decorating

Thanks St. Regis Langkawi for having us at the Storytelling Party!

For more information, please visit www.stregislangkawi.com

Click here to view our unboxing video as well as the fun and games we got up to at the party (scroll right to see more).


Location: The St. Regis Langkawi, Jalan Pantai Beringin, 07000 Langkawi, Malaysia.

Tel: +60 (4)-960 6666


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Ayam Penyet Z & Z, Bandar Penawar, Desaru

One of our friends recommended this place to us and we're so glad that we ate here during our trip to Desaru. Ayam Penyet Z&Z's signature dish is... you guessed it, ayam penyet - smashed fried chicken dish originating from East Java. Here, we were offered the option of drumstick and breast when placing our order.

All of us went for the drumstick, which turned out to be the maryland (both drumstick and thigh) so even better! The chicken was perfectly cooked - juicy, tender and crisp and was served with rice, raw vegetables, fried tofu, tempeh and a small bowl of soup. It also comes with a serving of kickass sambal, which I really liked.

Would I eat here again? Most definitely YES.

PS Servers are friendly and can speak both English and Malay. Other than ayam penyet, they also offer some other local dishes.

This restaurant is about 10-15 minutes drive from The Westin Desaru Coast Resort where we stayed.
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Operating hours: 11am to 11pm daily.

Price: Total bill  RM39 for 4 pax, inclusive of 4 drinks.

Location: Restoran Ayam Penyet Z & Z, 50, Jalan Kempas 4, Desaru Utama, 81930 Bandar Penawar, Desaru, Johor (Street parking available).

Tel:  016-775 3975


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Restoran Res Porridge House, Melaka

Our family loves Chinese porridge (also known as congee), so when we chanced upon Restoran Res Porridge House in Melaka, we decided to give it a try.

We ordered two porridge, which are served in claypots... we had the minced pork (RM5) and Toman fish porridge (RM9). The portion is generous and the porridge is topped with shallot oil. Pretty good, the porridge was thick and silky smooth - we enjoyed it.

The waiting staff recommended that we tried their signature dish too, the Steamed herbal kampung chicken (RM25 for half). The sauce itself had a strong herbal taste (dong kwai, goji berries) which I liked, but the chicken was a little too bony for my liking so there wasn't actually much eating there but I guess that's just the way kampung chickens are.

Beansprouts with salted fish (RM10)

Read about our favorite porridge place in Cheras here.

Operating hours: 5.30pm - 1am. Closed on Sundays.

Price: Total bill RM52.50 for 4 pax.

Location: Restoran Res Porridge House, 129 Jalan Melaka Raya, Taman Melaka Raya, 75000 Melaka.


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Prego, The Westin Desaru Coast Resort

Prego, the specialty Italian restaurant in The Westin Desaru Coast Resort offers an authentic Italian dining experience, with the freshest seafood, stone-fired pizzas and handmade pastas to tantalise your tastebuds. Helming the kitchen here is Chef Massimiliano Ascione, better known as Chef Massi who hails from Abruzzo in Southern Italy.

The restaurant is elegant yet relaxed and features an open kitchen with a stone-fired oven, great for catching some kitchen action while waiting for your food to arrive. The service here is fantastic, and the staff are well-versed with the menu and are able to explain all the dishes to us well.

To start, we had a selection of homemade breads with Prego's signature tomato salsa dip, olives, pickled shallots, sun-dried tomatoes and gherkins. So good!

For our appetizers, we had the Insalata caprese (RM65) and Funghi gratinati (RM55). The former is a classic, well-executed with buffalo mozzarella cheese, tomato, confit garlic, anchovies as well as a basil and oregano pesto. A fresh, light start to our meal.

For something a little richer, the funghi gratinati comes with two portobello mushrooms stuffed with goat's cheese and breadcrumbs, gratinated to give a crunchy topping and served with a rucola salad.

We also had the Guazzetto ai frutti di mare (RM55), a specialty of Abruzzo; a rich tomato-based spicy seafood soup with mixed seafood such as mussel, bamboo clams, scallop, fish and prawns.  The kids loved this!

The highlight of our meal was the Salt crusted seabass (RM95), a whole seabass covered in sea salt and baked in the oven for 30 minutes, carved tableside and served with a lemon butter sauce with steamed new potatoes and fennel. Incredibly moist, this was a fantastic way of tasting the natural sweetness of the fish.

All the the pastas are freshly made in-house and the Spaghetti carbonara (RM55) came highly recommended. The spaghetti was cooked to al dente along with streaky beef bacon and a rich sauce made the Italian way using egg yolk and pecorino cheese. Before serving, the chef torches the Castelmagno cheese wheel before tossing the pasta and topping it with a final shaving of cheese. A plate of creamy goodness!

Check out our YouTube video of Chef Massi in action here!

There are five types of pizza to choose from here at Prego Desaru. The pizza dough is proofed for 36 hours, hand tossed and topped with your desired topping before being baked in the stone-fired oven, resulting in a light, golden crust. We had the Signature Prego Pizza (RM85), which comes with large chunks of lobster in barbecue sauce, caramelised onions, black olive, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

For a sweet end to our meal, we shared the Tiramisu (RM35) and Zuccotto al Cioccolato (RM35). The tiramisu is made using homemade mascarpone cheese, espresso and brandy. There is also a non-alcoholic version (the one we had since the kids were eating too). The zuccotto is Prego's take on chocolate mud pie, with the texture of ice cream. Rich and luscious, chocolate lovers will dig this.

Click here for Prego's a la carte menu. Every Saturday, Prego also offers an authentic Italian dinner buffet spread from 6.00pm - 10.30pm at RM150 per person.


Click here for our review of The Westin Desaru Coast Resort.


Operating hours: 6pm to 10.30pm. Closed on Mondays.

Pork-free.

Location: Prego, Level 2, The Westin Desaru Coast Resort, Jalan Pantai 3, Desaru Coast, 81930 Bandar Penawar, Johor Darul Ta'zim.

Tel: 07-838 3333

Website: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/restaurant/jhbwi-the-westin-desaru-coast-resort/


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