Sometimes I come across posts that has people asking what's the best gift to give to someone who is visiting Malaysia. There were many answers and most of it suggests souvenirs, handcrafted or embedded with our countries proud landmarks. Some even suggest to take the extra mile and get food and snacks and even give tips how to sneak them onboard without getting tracked down (especially Durian - but it's impossible unless it's Durian Dodol sweet).

However, I would say, the best is to take them to enjoy the food in Malaysia. But they can't takeaway our food back home to their country though; So how?



I recently stumbled upon this brand by Bio Nutricia Extract on it's local and naturally made products here in Malaysia and would love to share about it today.



I got myself some Pandan Leaf Extract just to see if they claim what they say it is. True enough, I was sold at the moment I received my package; I was excited to use it that I googled up recipes to make pandan delicacies with this.



Being a true Asian, we love Pandan flavoured food, snacks, beverages and desserts! I can name a few of my favourite such as the Pandan Jelly Layer Cake, Pandan Chiffon Cake, Nasi Kukus Pandan, Pandan Sticky Rice, Pandan Pancakes, Pandan Muffins, Pandan Kaya, Pandan & Lemongrass drink (this is a Thai detox tea!) and so much more!



I love how it smells so aromatically fragrant. It's unlike the other Pandan extract you regularly find over-the-shelf. This one you can really smell and taste its pure natural flavour of the fresh Pandan extract. I like how it is sodium-free and non-GMO as it is locally grown and harvested from Malaysia itself. It's beautiful green color is not artificial colouring but of its own natural Chlorophyll color. It's also high in anti-oxidants, it's cooling and relieves body heat as it is a soothing and a known alkaline beverage to consume that is healthy for everyone, even vegetarians can consume this! It even consists of natural Phytonutrient as it is grown and harvested in a preserved nature without any chemicals involved at all!


A very detailed process that has been used in extracting this precious rare find gem. Most importantly, it tastes and smells like fresh pandan extract with no chemical substances or placebo effects in the process. All you get out of using this Pandan Leaf Extract is 100% pure pandan benefit!



I made some muffins with this Pandan Extract and also Sticky Rice to be indulged with my Hainan Gula Melaka syrup and a cooling Pandan with Lemongrass beverage to cool down the body on a hot sunny day in Malaysia everyday! Enjoy the recipe and process below :

Any type of milk will work. You can warm and foam it and a bit of honey will sweeten it if you like. Drink it hot or pour it over ice for a summer treat. Add it to your smoothie or desserts. Just 1 to 2 teaspoons should do the trick. You can just sprinkle on the top or can mix it up. The liquid will not affect the taste because it is tasteless.

I'd also have to mention that through looking up info into this, I found out why it actually smells so good after heating it up. Apparently, this Pandan Leaf Extract is made with encapsulated technology to preserve the pandan natural flavour and colour, hence a natural aroma will be released once it's heated up.

Where to get this?
Bio Nutricia Extract Website | Facebook | Instagram

It's the time of the year again, every year end where kids enjoy their school holiday to prepare for the new semester next year. And being parents, sometimes we wonder what are the activities that we can do with our kids with over a month long holiday break in session?!

Cooking at home is fun but it'll be more fun if we have the space and also friends his age that he can relate and cook together with. Also with an expert and a safe environment is important for your child's safety. I don't encourage children to walk into your kitchen and start cooking without learning "how" in the first place. It can become hazardous!

As you can see my son loves cooking so much that everytime I step into the kitchen he always begs to cook instead. But I have this fear of him hurting his little fingers because my kitchen is not CHILD-SAFE! With the gas stove on and the electrical parts running etc and handling the knife and hot water etc. You really should google up more on child safety in the kitchen and that's why I feel it's important for a child to go for a proper cooking class before actually starting from home, unless you are the expert yourself and your kitchen is safe for kids to be in. Thankfully, KidZania has answered my big ask and this year from 24th November to 31st December 2018, will be introducing to Malaysia the "KidZ vs Food 3.0" activity that will be held at KidZania Kuala Lumpur!

KidZ vs Food 3.0 covers a wide holiday programme that is specially curated for kids, with daily and weekend activities of hands-on activities such as learning the ingredients, preparing food and also cooking. It cultivates your child to know how to work with and appreciate food in all its nature.

The KidZania CongreZZ kids, with special guidance from (Centre – Left) Chef Brian Chen of Young Chefs Academy, cooks and serves yummy dishes to the kids from the Hilla Community Centre during the ‘KidZ vs Food 3.0’ launch. (Centre – Right) Shahrul Nizar Ahmad, Mayor of KidZania Kuala Lumpur was present to witness the serving of this special feast.

Today's launch of this holiday programme, featuring KidZania's CongreZZ kids who cooked up a storm for the children of Hilla Community Centre.

Hilla Community Centre kids are treated to a special lunch and playtime at KidZania Kuala Lumpur during the launch of ‘KidZ vs Food 3.0’. Together with them are (L-R) Mark Tan, Retail Sales Manager - Malaysia, Mission Foods; Sharszany Shahry, Corporate Communications Head, MAMEE; Shahrul Nizar Ahmad, General Manager of KidZania Kuala Lumpur; Esther Chong, Senior Executives Marketing Division, Kewpie; Zulhisham, Modern Trade Manager and F&N; Vincent Tan Wei Heng, Trade Marketing Assistant (Asia), Emborg. In the centre is Chef Brian Chen, Executive Chef and Managing Partner, Young Chefs Academy.

KidZania CongreZZ kids prepare the food with help from Chef Brian Chen, the Executive Chef and Managing Partner, Young Chefs Academy at the launch of KidZania Kuala Lumpur ‘KidZ vs Food 3.0’ programme.

With the help of professional chef 'Abang' Brian from the Young Chefs Academy (YCA), the children of Hilla Community Centre were treated to a meal of Turmeric Chicken and long beans with rice and Banana Chocolate Rolls for dessert.

KidZania CongreZZ kids showcase amazing teamwork in cooking up a storm for their underprivileged friends at the launch of KidZania Kuala Lumpur ‘KidZ vs Food 3.0’.

It is really inspiring to have activities such as this that truly dedicates to teaching and instilling the right skills that every child should possess. As cooking is a part of a survival skill and it's fun to explore flavours, textures and ingredients altogether. Through cooking, it will also encourage one to self-explore more into enjoying life filled with the abundance of food and ingredients all around us and at the same time instill confidence in self as they cook their own meals. This in fact, helps to nurture our children to be independent.

KidZania CongreZZ kids showcase amazing teamwork in cooking up a storm for their underprivileged friends at the launch of KidZania Kuala Lumpur ‘KidZ vs Food 3.0’.

I've always wanted my son to take on my hobby of enjoying food from all over the world and if he desires to be a chef one day, who am I to reject his dreams. But I will surely bring him over to learn these basic skill while allow him to have fun and enjoy cooking in the process. Keeps me (as a parent) sane as well.

The KidZ vs Food 3.0 programme includes of the following pop-up stations inside KidZania :


#1 Pop Up Kitchen - Create simple food recipes
#2 Drink Station - Create simple beverage recipes
#3 Food Science - A chance to get to know the food ingredients through fun play such as 'Ice Fishing"
#3 Food Art - Sparks creativity in your young ones
#4 Parent & Kid Cooking Workshops - Featuring family-friendly recipes that is different every weekend, as per below, you can schedule which day to make a booking for you and your child or just make a booking every weekend because it will be so much fun that is just priceless moments worth every second of these booking bonding moments with your loved ones!


Also, thanks to the valuable sponsors for making this holiday programme happen and for their support, MAMEE, Emborg, F&N, Kewpie Malaysia, Mission Foods, Malaysia Palm Oil Council, SHARP, Spritzer and Young Chefs Academy.

Shahrul Nizar Ahmad, General Manager of KidZania Kuala Lumpur (4th from Right) launches the ‘KidZ vs Food 3.0’ together with programme partners (L-R) Vincent Tan Wei Heng, Trade Marketing Assistant (Asia), Emborg; Zulhisham, Modern Trade Manager, F&N; Esther Chong, Senior Executives Marketing Division, Kewpie; (3rd from Right) Sharszany Shahry, Corporate Communications Head, MAMEE; (2nd from Right) Mark Tan, Retail Sales Manager - Malaysia, Mission Foods and (Far Right) Chef Brian Chen, the Executive Chef and Managing Partner, Young Chefs Academy

You can also check out the schedules so that you can plan ahead your time better, especially if you're like me and would love to have your child explore all of these stations for the full experience.



With these info in hand, I'm sure you would be wise enough to plan for your time with your children here at KidZania Kuala Lumpur, because you will be in good hands for sure and your child will get to learn much needed basic life skills here whilst enjoy doing so with new friends. Even though it may be a long school holiday break but not a work holiday break, just remember that 'work never really ends', but your child is growing up everyday and before you know it, they will be working like you for the rest of their lives. So take this time off and truly spend them with your loved ones because they matters most. Your work can wait another day, but your growing child can't. Don't wait until it's too late. Go plan your dates now and bond with your child!

Today at DaMen Mall USJ, the first ever Largest Culinary Competition was held by Smart Junior Chef for kids in Malaysia.


Incase you are unaware, Smart Junior Chef is a fun place to let your kids learn and be explosed to baking and cooking where they explore their hidden talents and find interests in the kitchen. It's basically a place where your kids learn baking from scratch!

This competition held today, is an annual event held to showcase the pure and raw baking and cooking talent in the children participating today and how they build their creativeness on food. Smart Junior Chef creates recipes that is fun to learn together with the chefs. Not only that, they make it so simple when teaching the children to bake or cook with their recipe and it truly educates the child to take up this life skill and make it more fun by being creative, artistic and even sometimes magical!

Smart Junior Chef works towards their goal to inspire these children to acknowledge and improve their talents, learn to understand their responsibility and be independent, which helps in boosting self-esteem in these children whilst enabling a healthy learning environment for the children to be creative, self-discipline, work independently or work together as a team and to be patient.


Through cooking, a child can learn the different ingredients, shapes, sizes, colours, textures and portions needed and even taste! So it can be a really fun thing to do and rewarding when they have the opportunity to learn the taste, feel and small of their very own cooking. Hence, Smart Junior Chef aims to influence and inspire children from a very young age of 4 years onwards to be creative and explore their hidden potential in the kitchen.


My son's first trial class at Smart Junior Chef Bandar Kinrara [you can read here] really made a difference in his life and it piqued his interest in cooking in the kitchen with me everyday since then.
I remember that he learns to bake from scratch for the first time which made him truly enjoy the journey. There were no shortcuts to baking for my son because Smart Junior Chef believes that it's good to allow the child to do it by their own self and learn from scratch as there are no shortcuts nor ready-made recipe available. It is a fun and time-rewarding process that teaches basic skills and educational at the same time too.


It is a valuable lesson to have your kids learn as this is a life-long skill by learning to bake and cook. Smart Junior Chef has 3 branches in Klang Valley, Selangor and this would be the perfect time to expose your kids to wonderful culinary skills in their life.