I'm grateful that I was able to have Ashley Day spent at the IOI City Farm at IOI City Mall in Putrajaya. Maybe some of you are wondering what is Ashley Day? Well, it is a day that I will dedicate to each of my child and spend precious bonding moments just with them. It is something I read from an online article when I was pregnant with my firstborn. And I will make it a point to do this for each of my kids; especially now I have 3 kids. It's a day where she gets to decide what she wants to see and eat, a day where I get to know her and she gets to know me and what I do too. So it is an equal opportunity for both of us to understand and learn more about each other better.

That's why today was the day I brought my daughter to this latest edutainment center that is the very first urban indoor farm park in Malaysia. It is with a huge built-in indoor living planet that is located at AT6, Level 2 of IOI City Mall, IOI Resort City, Putrajaya. It is directly one floor right above District 21. Opening along with the Phase 2 of IOI City Mall in Putrajaya on 25 August 2022, IOI City Farm comprises three different zones - Greenland, Little Rimba and Freshwater World. Spanning across two levels measuring about 18,000 sq ft, plant and animal lovers will feel at home at this interactive and engaging indoor farm park. Visitors will get to interact and observe various species of plants, exotic fishes and adorable animals in the petting zone.

“IOI City Mall is excited to showcase the wonders of nature indoors for all to learn about the beauty that mother nature holds at Malaysia’s largest mall. This city farm in a mall concept is one-of-its-kind in Malaysia and it brings together three elements of nature – greenery, animals and marine life all under one roof. We hope that all our visitors will be able to enjoy what our indoor farm park has to offer,” said Chris Chong, Head of Retail of IOI Properties Group.

IOI City Farm comes complete with qualified zoologists, aquarists and botanists. Therefore visitors and even children visiting the IOI City Farm will get this rare opportunity to ask questions and learn from the experts. Unlike other aquariums or farms, there will also be a line-up of various activities such as fun fishing, DIY workshops and animal interaction, among others. Even young children like my daughter who just turned 3 years old enjoyed her time here and learned a few new words through experience fun interaction with the animals here.

When entering the premises, we were greeted with lush greenery and picturesque green surroundings. This Greenland zone is home to an indoor collection of 111 living plant species spread across nine sections. It will feature a Vertical Garden, an Urban Farm, a Glocave, Mystical Cave, Season of Colours filled with giant lotus structures, Teeny-weeny Forest, Insectopia, and Roots N Seeds. One of the highlights of this zone is the 21.4m2 centrepiece known as the Green Glades. It is an open terrarium concept that represents an open forest. This terrarium will be filled with a variety of flora species. 

We saw many plantation here that is pretty commonly found in most Asian home kitchen. They also have exotic plants and even flowers as well. 

Children will get to explore and learn about vegetables, herbs and fruit plants in the Vertical Garden. Meanwhile, Insectopia will educate them about how and why insects and plants play an important role in the ecosystem. Like this butterfly collection here shows the different variety and how it plays a role in our environment. 

Be prepared to be amazed by the magical plants that glow in the dark at Glocave which we didn't enter, kinda missed it because we were distracted by the breath-taking view of the waterfall in front of the Mystical Cave, where more species of plants are waiting to be discovered. Even plants that is grown with water is also showcased there. And these are real plants my friends.

Then we passed by The Barn that was a nice area for workshops and events or parties that is super kid-friendly as we were heading to the Little Rimba, or also known as the cute and cuddly corner will features 17 different species of animals from around the world such as the sugar glider, hedgehog, Bengal cat, racoon, chinchilla, marmoset, fennec fox and others. Children will also be able to get up close with child-friendly furry friends to pet, feed and interact with them. My daughter super love this area the most and wanted to head back in again just to come back to pet the rabbits, guinea pig, duckling and chicks. When she petted the rabbits head, she screamed out of excitement. The animals were just too cute to keep that excitement in. Then again, this is where education can take place for my child to learn how to control their excitement and not scare away the pets and also gave me a heart attack when she screamed. (I also terkejut lolx)

Entering through this area and onwards we were headed to a staircase that was headed downstairs to the marine life. Here at the 6,000 sq ft Freshwater World, there are over 50 freshwater aquatic species ranging from river giants such as the Amazonian arapaima and Amur sturgeon to tiny crustaceans such as vampire crab and bamboo shrimp. Visitors will also be able to interact with the team of aquarists who are ready and eager to educate all on the aquatic species there.

Aside from this, there are also several pools that visitors can be engaged in such as the interaction pool and touch pool where young visitors can dip their hands into the water to gently pet the underwater creatures. There is also a feeding pool where visitors can feed the fishes and a catch pool for visitors to try their hand at fishing. 

My daughter pulled back her hands when a fish was about to feed from her feeding tool because we don't pour the food out into the water which is more better for the fish and the water too, it's a very cute bottle with fish food in it and the fish is suppose to suck the food out like a baby sucking on a milk bottle. It was so adorable! We tried our hands at fishing but to be honest, if it was crowded then come another time because the fishes were all hiding at the bottom of the pool because too many trying to catch them. I caught a few water instead of fishes and gave up trying. But it was a good experience, not easy to catch these guppy fish that swim by super fast.

They also have Yee Sang that you can order to celebrate Chinese New Year with your loved ones! 

And what's better to pair it with their amazing meals and wines or alcohol to unwind and dine through the night!

Ps. You can opt for Vegetarian Yee Sang.

We also had the Meat Lover's Platter (RM92) that combines a variety of meat like the deep fried luncheon meat fries, tender juicy chicken wings, marinated and full of flavour pork satay, smoked chicken sausage, dynamite chilli chicken sausage, crispy pork belly and the juicy grilled Lágrima inter coaster pork meat (the meat between the ribs). 

Perfect to match with white wine or beer!

Then we also had the Pescatore Pizza (RM35) that is made with homemade tomato marinara with mozzarella cheese, super fresh sautéed prawns, mussels and squids! 

Very appetising for a pizza and not too overwhelming. Pairs beautifully with white wine too!

I preferred red wine for its antioxidant and we ordered a bottle of their house wine just to unwind and dine the night away.

The Bar'n actually hosts a different theme at each venue and for IOI City Mall, Putrajaya it was Daisy and Lucky the cow.

I love how the area was decorated! It was cosy and at the same time fun!

And we met Ricky who only had one goal in his mind. And that is to make sure everyone leaves happily. His passion in the restaurant is just inspiring because of his love for the culinary industry where he was a chef for over 30 years.

During our dinner there, he was checking in with people on their experience and just genuinely getting to know us. He was really friendly and approachable. You will surely feel welcome here at The Bar'n, IOI City Mall, Putrajaya.

They also have a Cigar room that is properly filtered and closed up that you can have private events or meetings with your business partners.

Find out more about 

The Bar'n

Website | Facebook | Instagram

Looking for good seafood and poultry steamboat these days ain't easy! Let alone, it is not common to find a really good Halal certified steamboat restaurant. Only a selected few that you may come across with and Pak John Steamboat is definitely one of them.


What's different with Pak John Steamboat, is that you get to enjoy free flow of food and beverages! Yes! It's buffet style! Why I love Halal certified food is because we are ensured of the finest ingredients used that meets the requirements and also the method of cooking and managing the kitchen overall is at utmost importance! (Eg. Even the poultry that is selected is important, you can't simply buy any poultry from the nearby market, it has to be of a Halal certified establishment with proper etiquettes and methods in preparing the food for consumption)


And being Malaysian, it is of the greatest joy to be able to dine together with everybody from all walks of life under one roof!


The entrance was really neat and organized. The colours, interiors and branding matched from the floor to the ceiling, plus it is well-lit. It is quite spacious inside and their seating arrangements are of a sharing concept.


Pak John has a variety of choices to satisfy your hunger and even your kids will be excited to be there! Their menu is quite simple, you simply pick the days and time you wanna be there and that will be the price per pax at that selected time slot. If you have a huge group, best is to call for booking or you can just walk in with your family.



They have 5 types of soup to choose from

#1 Prawn soup is my favourite, you can taste and smell the fragrance of the fresh prawn (with no prawn in it but you can add your own later lah). Surprisingly it is not spicy! It's like eating prawn noodle soup! Definitely a must try!
#2 Chicken soup is pretty common and suitable for the kids.
#3 Miso soup also suitable for the kids but it can be a little salty and sweet.
#4 Tom Yam soup was not spicy but it looks like red Tom Yam. I felt that it lacked the "kick" of the rich Tom Yam flavours & scent. Maybe because it was just the soup base. However, you can improvise it on your own to your liking because they have all the seafood, vegetables and sauces for you to play around with.
#5 Curry soup looks rich and some say "fragrant" but I was told it is also spicy! But if you love curry then you can opt. for this flavour!


What I like about this restaurant is that, apart from its steamboat at the bottom base and the grilling pan available on the top, their variety of cooked and raw food are aplenty! Means while waiting for your raw food to be cooked, you can savour the cooked food first. My kids (and my) favourite are the finger food! You can also order Waffles or DimSum and Pao too!

If you are a fan of Beef, Lamb or Abalone, they have a special counter to order these 3 Premium cuts! And it's unlimited, all-you-can-eat!


They also have a variety of noodles for your choosing and right after that there's also desserts, cakes, ice cream and even ABC ice shavings!


Drinks are free flow too! You can try everything, pick the one you love the most (for me it's Lemonade) or you can just opt. for plain water hot, warm or cold!

Raya Day 2, was also interesting for us. We visited a new restaurant nearby for noodles (non-halal), it was kind of costly but the pork balls were nice, the noodles had lots of big fat fried pork lards in it, you can read more here.



After lunch, my husband just didn't wanna go home, so we decided to venture out to Cyberjaya.

Yes, it was our first time to Cyberjaya and I was kind of disappointed because I was expecting to be "WOW-ed" since it's supposed to be a digital city etc. But sadly... I felt Putrajaya was far better in comparison.



We went to DPULZE Mall in Cyberjaya for window shopping. Played some games at the Molly Fantasy children's arcade and had some snacks and drinks along the way. We saw this vending machine where people won prizes etc, so we decided to try our luck and we "asked which number was calling to us that will bring us more money with ease?" (Using the tools from Access Consciousness) Both of us got the #13!



We won this smartphone camera lens clip with Macro and Fish-Eye lens. It was fun because it was the exact same thing my husband was talking to me the day before about asking me to find a camera lens for my phone because of my love for photography. And "ta-daaaa" we got what we asked for! Amazing right!



So a new cute tool for me to play with and practise with. We also checked out TGV cinema and we wanted to buy tickets to Incredible 2 but there was no Twin Seats and just regular seats so we forgo the idea. We might try for tomorrow instead!

We then took a quick drive to Putrajaya and enjoyed the view of the bridge overlooking the sweet serenity of the man-made lake. It was just breathtaking.



We head back in time for a birthday party event and my kids had lots of fun (apart from me raising my stern voice because I forbid my son to go upstairs without permission, my husband almost ROFL because everyone freezed and looked at me in silence for that brief moment, that is the effect I have when I use my strict motherly voice) atleast my son is aware, he understands and listens.



So I am grateful to him for being a good boy most of the times. He is at the stage where he wants to have his own opinion and choice, and I allow him all of that, if he is aware of his action and choices.



It was a fun day for the whole family. It was not perfect, nothing is perfect but it is the best kind on its own.

Ps. The Go-Grill-Lah was delicious!

The best time of the year is here again! Ramadhan! Why is it the best?

Typo lah... "Sebrinah Yeo" ehehhehe

Simply because I love how the variety of local Malaysian cuisines, some traditional and some modernized, comes together to break fast during Ramadhan.

Today I have my chance to experience #Bismillah Buka Puasa Feast @ Citra Rasa, Dorsett Putrajaya.



With over 500 truly Malaysian and International fare prepared by the Executive Chef, Chef Shamsul Rizal and his team; A sumptuous spread of authentic "kampung style" delicacies & live-cooking hawker stall will be offered throughout Ramadhan from 18th May - 13th June 2018.



Today I get to enjoy most of their specialty! Such as the Durian buffet, the succulent, sweet and tender barbecued venison meat, the beautiful spread of cakes, jelly & desserts and the amazing display of Kurma to break fast with.



Let's not forget the yummy local Malaysia delights, the Ulam, Pucuk Ubi Masak Lemak, Patin Tempoyak, Kerutup Daging, Udang Galah Percik, Kuih Bahulu Tradisi, Nasi Kerabu, Laksam Kelantan, Pulut Pisang and just so much more!



They had Cream Mushroom soup that was really rich and flavorful, buns, Quesadillas and Kebabs that I requested, for non-spicy for the kids (and me lolz); Oh! There's also a range of yummy snacks that me and my kids were pretty excited about!



They have a few choices of beverages too! And it matches really well with these yummy dishes. Like the cincau, lemongrass, lychee, sugarcane & etc; All of these were really cooling, refreshing and gets your appetite going!



Over here, you will see the "kampung style" dishes like the Ulam, some international salads variety, lots of traditional sauces & sambals to choose from, a very nice mix of western and local delicacies cozied up at this area.


The fruits were amazing! It's like a mini fruit buffet spread. The durian was gone in a jiffy! The rambutan, longan and pear was really sweet and fresh!


There's also a live traditional music performance by Isma & Sri Mawar Band that will perform nightly.

So how much is the price of this buffet?
RM138 nett per pax (Adult)
RM78 nett per pax (Senior Citizen and Child)
Buy for 10 pax and enjoy Free 1 pax!*

However, if you purchase now, their Early Bird Special is only RM99 nett per pax and only limited to the first 1000* tickets sold between 1st Apr to 12th May 2018!

So better hurry!

(*Buy 10 free 1 is not applicable for Early Bird Special)


My kids were pretty satisfied too. Especially my eldest, he ate until his stomach was showing! He enjoyed himself here.
If you'd like more information, please call +603 8892 8388 or email to fnb.putrajaya@dorsetthotels.com