Fun with Kids: KidZania Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Malaysian school holidays have officially started today. Am sure many mummies and daddies are scratching their heads to come up with a plan for a fun, fulfilling holiday for their kiddies. 

KidZania would be a great place to bring your kids for a day out. What is KidZania? It is an indoor family edutainment centre which offers an interactive learning and entertainment experience for kids in a kid-sized city to deliver the first-of-its-kind edutainment fun. The KidZania experience is about real-life experiences, empowering, inspiring and educating kids through role-play.

KidZania KL is located opposite Ikea / The Curve in Curve NX, you know you have arrived when you see the head of an aeroplane sticking out of the building. There is parking within the same building, otherwise park at the other nearby malls and walk over.

KidZania Kuala Lumpur

Upon arrival, we bought our tickets and were handed our "boarding passes" and told to go upstairs to the immigration counter to check-in to KidZania. Tickets are priced at RM35 (age 2-3), RM60 (age 4-17), RM35 (Malaysian adult) and RM50 (International adult). They also have online booking system on their website where you can buy tickets as far as 3 months in advance, as tickets are sometimes sold out within hours on weekends and public holidays. On weekdays, you can stay all day in KidZania, whereas on weekends and public/school holidays, there will be 2 sessions per day.

At immigration, each of us are given an electronic tag, which they will scan everytime the kids go for an activity. Since KidZania is designed for kids, parents can walk and bring their children around but not enter the outlet where each activity is carried out. Only children 8 years and above can be left without parent supervision. Kids up to age of 17 can play in KidZania.

Receiving their Kidzos (KidZania money) in a form of a cheque

First, the kids went to the bank to cash in their cheques. Once they got their cash, we went around to check out KidZania. Basically, kids choose what occupation they want to do, and they will be given a salary by the time they finish the jobs. Inside each outlet there will be Zupervisors (trained adults) which will supervise and guide the kids in their job. This is to encourage learning through role-playing activities.

You will find police station, car dealers, petrol stations, supermarket, cinema, construction company, acting academy, jewellers, cooking school, radio station, dentist, beauty salon, Air Asia flying school, hospital and more in KidZania. Children can role-play over 90 different activities in over 60 different establishments, such as being a chef, pilot, surgeon, nurse, lawyer, fire fighter, policeman, actor, reporter, artist, courier man, newscaster, photographer and more.

In front of the Independence Fountain of KidZania

Although kids of all ages are allowed, most of the "experiences" have a minimum age requirement or height, hence we were disappointed to find that our kids couldn't go into the many outlets, including the Oreo factory or Cadbury factory because they were too young. I wish the girl at the counter told me this, as she tried to sell me the higher priced ticket for Baby D with the excuse that he could have more "experiences" in KidZania.

Our kids favorite stop was the Z-Mart aka KidZania's supermarket. Since there were no other kids in there, our kids took turns to become the shopper and cashier. They obviously loved it - some of the things they get to do is scanning barcodes or shopping according to a list given, and at the end of it all, they get paid for doing the job properly. When they received their first salary, their faces look so happy and proud!

Woohoo! I got paid for doing a good job ;)

Working as bricklayers at the KidZania Construction company

Hard hats and hi-vis jackets complete the "construction worker" look

Working at the Window cleaning company - hehe good life skill, maybe they can help clean mummy's windows next week?

Photographers at Sony Photo Lab

Getting briefed about the camera and its functions

Then, they were taken to a few sites to take photographs

Petrol station attendants

One of the most popular occupations in KidZania is becoming a fireman... there was constantly a queue of kids in front of the fire station. The kids need to receive "training" and then sit in a fire truck which brings them to a fire scene and they get to help put off the fire. It looks fun, but we didn't really want to queue an hour to get to play this.

Surgeons

Mechanics - learning about car parts and changing tyres

Last stop before home - Karatz Jewellery

Pay for this activity with Kidzos but your child gets to keep the bracelet that they have made :)

To learn more about KidZania, you can visit their official website here.


Tickets are priced at RM35 (age 2-3), RM60 (age 4-12), RM35 (Malaysian adult) and RM50 (International adult).

Location: KidZania Kuala Lumpur, Curve NX, 18 Jalan PJU 7/5, Mutiara Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Tel: 1300 88 KIDZ (5439)

GPS Coordinates: 3.158042, 101.61413


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Set Lunch @ Senjyu Sushi, e@Curve, Mutiara Damansara

We were at IKEA recently (again!) to get some bits and pieces for the house and come lunch time, we found ourselves in a dilemma as to where to eat. Dining at The Curve did not appeal to me, so we ventured a little further to e@Curve, formerly known as Cineleisure Damansara. The Super Value Lunch Set at Senjyu Sushi caught our eye, so we decided to dine here.

Senjyu Sushi claims to be the first premium kaiten or conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Malaysia. However, with such a claim, I found it strange that the kaiten was not switched on at all when we were dining there. The sushi were all made to order, which was in fact much better. Browsing through their a la carte menu, I spotted premium items such as toro (fatty part of the tuna belly), giant air-flown scallops, wagyu beef and foie gras. But today, we just wanted something cheap and cheerful, so the set lunch it was.

I love the use of recycled green wine bottles as their wall decor

The Super Value Lunch Set is available Monday to Friday from 12pm to 6pm. Prices start from RM9.90++ onwards. There are 8 sets to choose from; amongst them are tempura set, chicken katsu don set, sashimi set, beef/chicken sukiyaki set and yakiniku set. All lunch sets are served with a choice of grapefruit or lime juice or green tea.

Refreshing lime juice

I had the Soba & Temaki Set (RM11.90). A bowl of hot buckwheat noodle, so simple yet so satisfying. This set also comes with 2 temakis (hand rolled sushi); the california temaki and salmon temaki. The california temaki was filled with crabstick, omelette, fish roe, avocado, cucumber and oodles of Japanese mayo (yum!). In the salmon temaki, the salmon sashimi was cut in a lengthy strip (which is apparently quite different from the way other eateries slice their sashimi). Do eat the temaki as soon as it is served though to avoid the seaweed wrap for getting too soggy and chewy.

Pickled ginger (gari) - eat as much as you like!

Hubby had the Chicken Teriyaki Set (RM9.90), which came with a huge plate of grilled chicken marinated in a sweet, sticky teriyaki sauce. Wholesome and delicious. Served with rice and miso soup.

He also ordered a Unagi Sushi (RM4.00). Two mouthfuls and they were gone.

We would definitely return to Senjyu to try the more premium items the next time we find ourselves in this area. For more promotions at Senjyu, visit the eCurve website.

Pork free.

Opening times: Sunday to Thursday 12.00pm to 10.30pm; Friday to Saturday 12.00pm to 11pm.

Service: Good.

Price: Reasonably priced set lunches.

Location: Senjyu Sushi, e@ Curve, Lot G2 & G3, Ground Floor, Cineleisure Damansara, No.2A, Jalan PJU 7/3, Mutiara Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. (beside McDonald's)

Tel: 03-7727 9028

Website: http://www.senjyusushi.com.my/

GPS Coordinates: 3.157485, 101.611176