Yes, I've finally made time to travel with the kids again, and this time I brought them to one of my favorite cities in Malaysia - Penang. Packed our stuff and got ourselves ready for this road trip, it takes  4hours from Kuala Lumpur to Penang by driving, but the ride is really enjoyable although it involves a lot of twisting, and turning through the winding roads, and don’t forget to admire as you’ll be over 8.4 miles above sea level when you cross over Penang Bridge. 

Being a die-hard fan of Penang, I just love everything here, the culture, food, people, beach, like literally everything except the drivers, anyway that aside let me show you our amazing weekend spent here. 

Where to stay

Hotel Mercure Penang Beach was an excellent choice for me and my family, it's located in Tanjung Bungah, which is in between Batu Ferringhi & Gurney, as the Island gets packed up with visitors on the weekends this area has lesser crowds. 

We booked the Superior Suite with Ocean View, the rooms were larger and we had a small lil kitchen to work with the best part was the awesome view we get to see every day. It’s easy to fall in love with this hotel and its wonderful surroundings, most time we spent outdoors either at the beach or the pool, and dining was easily taken care of at the poolside cafe, portions were generously huge and yummy.

Where to eat

During our stay we frequent the Ombak cafe the most I mentioned earlier we were located in between Batu Ferringhi & Gurney, and we made trips to Straits Quay to get my favorite fish & chips from Blue Reef Restaurant, they've been around since the mall is open and I swear it's the best Fish & Chips in Penang! 

We also checked out another cafe, Flora Cafe @ Spedahub which sits in Tropical Spice Garden in Batu Ferringhi. Food served was cafe food but it was decent for the price paid, again we had the chance to sit in the lush tropical garden and have a nice view of the beach opposite our 

Thing to do 

One of the fun things we get to do when we stayed at Hotel Mercure Penang Beach was we got to walk over the small island for a picnic. This is by far the coolest picnic we had, chilling on an island overlooking the beautiful Tanjung Bungah beach 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jia Shin Lee (@jiashinlee)

To sum it up it was a short & sweet 3 days 2 night stay at Hotel Mercure Penang Beach, which was really different compared to our previous stay in Georgetown, beach vacay is definitely more relaxing for families with young kids. 

It's the end of November 2021 and I can't believe how this year just flew past me, it was just tensed, busy, busy, and tense, the lockdown really affected me mentally and physically but whatever it is, it['s coming to an end, let's look towards a brighter path.  

Penang has always been my favorite state and I'm really grateful for my friends over there, whenever I visited for work they'll always make time for me and be my companion. Anway we needed a spot to relax and we found Fly Me To, a camping themed cafe located on the rooftop of Wow Hotel, parking is not easy as the hotel doesn't have parking but you can check out the open space car park at the top of the street and walk a lil to the hotel. 

We arrived before the evening around late 4pm, Fly Me To has a boho-chic vibes to it, the interior is a glasshouse concept while the exterior has 5 tent seating, we didn't make a booking but lucky enough there was one last tent available, so we got to experience the vibes. 

There's a catch to dine inside the tent a minimum spend of RM150 of 90 minutes, we stayed a lil longer they weren't too fussy about that. Each tent has a private air cond but it was still pretty hot thou, unfortunately, Malaysia's heat is just not so comfortable but what the heck it's for the gram 😂

Their menu is basic comfort food like pasta, steaks and snacks & bites, the main attention is focused on the concept and decor of the cafe, which is fine with me because that's what I came for anyway, as for drinks there's a variety of coffee, tea, alcohol, and photogenic rooftop coolers.

Here's their soft launch menu, wish they'll elaborate more so customers know what to expect.

We ordered their Picnic Basket RM58 comes with a variety of finger food like nuggets, truffle fries, cheese rice balls, potato croquet, these were pretty good for 3 of us and all of us liked it #approved

For mains we had Truffle Carbonara Hotate Ikura Pasta RM36 and Creamy Butter Seabass RM36, I do not have much to comment, they just weren't up to my expectation. As for drinks, I can't miss out on the aesthetically pleasing drinks, got ourselves the Gigolo Duck RM22 which is pineapple fizz with a cute duck on top of it & Rainbow Baby RM26 a yogurt alike drink over colorful ice.  

I like the touch of vibes at Fly Me To, the waiters were attentive, the food wasn't really appealing to me but it's still their soft launch menu and everyone deserves a chance, will check them out again, price wise is not entirely pocket friendly but the boho-chic vibes is a great attraction, reservations are recommended if you'll like to experience the outdoor tents, otherwise the glasshouse can be a pretty spot for pictures as well. 

Fly Me To 

WOW Hotel Level 5, No.406, Jln Penang, 10000 George Town, Pulau Pinang

Operating Hours: Monday - Thursday 12pm-8pm | Friday 12pm-12am | Saturday-Sunday 830am-12am

https://www.facebook.com/flymeto.my/

Casa Calda is made up of all the smaller element that creates a big picture, Celynn attends to every customer with all her heart, providing everyone that comes in that door a comfortable dining ambiance and hearty meal cook up by her. She is the cook, the waiter and the cashier so it might take awhile if there are a lot of customers, please be patient with her.

It has become one of my favorite spots to chill out when I'm in Penang, the cafe is tucked away in lorong bangkok, it is the only cafe there so it will not be hard to spot. The cafe is near Gurney Plaza and Gurney Paragon which is a great place to take a break after all that shopping, the desserts are wonderful and worth waiting for. A must try when you are there for a visit.

Here's what I've ordered over my two visit, Grilled Chicken RM18.90, Berries Cake Pop RM16.50 MUST TRY!!, Mango Crepe RM15.50 and Floral Tea by Pot RM10.

I really enjoyed myself here, getting a parking is easy, the price is reasonable and the portions were really generous, if you happen to be in Penang do bring a friend along to enjoy this lovely little cafe.




Casa Calda Cafe
8, Lorong Bangkok, George Town,
10250 George Town, Pulau Pinang.
Opening Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 11:30AM - 3:00PM, 6:30PM - 10:00PM close on monday
Contact: 017-478 4901
FACEBOOK