I stayed two nights at the newly opened Ramada Meridin @ Medini Hotel in Nusajaya, Johor Bahru. Opened on 1st July 2018, Ramada Meridin is JB's newest hotel but the family oriented hotel has already caught the eye of savvy tourists who know a good deal.
This was the view of Legoland Malaysia from my 20th floor room (the highest floor is 31). Ramada Meridin is literally located right on Jalan Legoland! 😄 Legoland is less than 3 minutes by car from Ramada Meridin @ Medini Hotel. It's a good value alternative for visitors (especially families) to Legoland Malaysia.
Ramada Meridin @ Medini Hotel is located in two of the three towers of Meridin @ Medini - a mixed commercial and residential development. The third tower comprises leased residences. At the moment, only one tower of Ramada Meridin is open - when both hotel towers are opened, there will be 688 hotel rooms available.
The hotel lobby is at ground level conveniently next to the drop off / pick up. From the ground floor, guests can access their rooms, restaurant sand facilities (at level 5) and car park.
In the future, there are retail shops (under renovation now) at the ground level.
There are three types of rooms - Classic Room (one bedroom), Deluxe Suite (one bedroom with separate hall) and Premium Suite (two bedrooms with hall).
I stayed in a Deluxe Suite.
In the spacious room, the decor had a resort, casual, funky, cheerful feel. I like this relaxing feel which fits in well with visiting Legoland and other family oriented recreational facilities in surrounding Nusajaya e.g. Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, Puteri Harbour Marina etc.
I slept extremely well on that thick mattress with just the right firmness. The room was spanking clean and smelled fresh.
The toilet is basic - no bathtub but there is a nice rain shower head for a refreshing wash after a sweaty day out. Full set of clean towels and amenities are provided.
The cheery living room is a nice place to chill.
There is a nice kitchenette with fridge and kettle (but no stove or oven).
The relatively large spaces in Ramada Meridin rooms make it a good choice for families travelling together.
(The other Ramada Meridin Hotel tower which is being fitted out now, will have a more conventional business hotel type decor.)
There is a simple but adequate working desk in the bedroom. 📶 Free WiFi with good signal strength is available throughout the hotel 😄 Good internet connectivity is something I appreciate but still could not take for granted in hotels.
Access to the floors and rooms are secured with digital contact key cards. That was my room 😄
The facilities and restaurants are at level 5.
There is an infinity pool looking out at a small tree covered knoll.
The swimming pool is a great place for quality family time.
The fountain and wading pool is the children's favourite.
The gym is basic with the essential cardio machines, a couple of benches and a set of dumbbells. (There is no sauna or steam room.)
During my stay, only Delish Restaurant was opened. I had breakfast, lunch and dinner here. (R's Restaurant, a Western food eatery which will also feature tandoor dishes will be opened soon, also on level 5.)
Delish Restaurant is led by Chef Mozart who started his career at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. He was with Ramada Plaza Melaka before taking up his new post at Ramada Meridin.
Mozart has lots of ideas for Delish Restaurant. During my stay, I tried their set lunches, fusion high tea and BBQ dinner buffet. More ideas like seafood buffet etc are in the pipeline for rolling out.
All rooms come with breakfast for two. The buffet has all the usual cereals, breads, pastries, salad, eggs, baked beans, hash brown, rice, porridge, noodles, fruits, coffee, tea and juices. My stay coincided with a long weekend, so breakfast time was really busy. I appreciate it that the food was topped up promptly and the service staff were cheerful and helpful despite the crowd.
During my stay, Delish Resturant was offering 6 different competitively priced value set meals.
My favourite was their Mee Kari Nyonya (Nyonya curry mee). The curry was based on prawn stock with coconut milk, herbs and curry spices. The prawn stock gave the curry a robust savoury crustacean umami base sweetened with coconut milk, flavoured with curry spices and aromatics like lemongrass, galangal etc. The curry had a nice, quite strong but fleeting chili sting in the aftertaste.
They were also quite generous with the taupok (fried bean curd), good size fresh prawns, squid rings, fish cake, eggs and chicken (but there were no cockles).
There were plenty of dishes in the menu to choose from but I had this curry mee twice during my stay. If you are in or around Medini, Nusajaya, check out this curry mee for lunch.
Suan liked this curry mee too - in fact, it was she who highlighted this dish to me.
Nasi Goreng Ayam Percik set with stuffed tofu pok (price RM22).
Teriyaki Chicken Skewer set which comes with garden salad and black glutinous rice porridge with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (price RM23).
Kids' favourite Fish & Chips set with soup of the day (price RM22). Children willingly fuelled up with this before dipping into the pool.
Fusion High Tea set for RM19 (not including the kopi). There's a mix of mini burger, grilled chicken, cakes and Malay kuih. Enjoy this pool side while relaxing, watching the sun set. Each high tea set is enough for two adults.
Try eating the pisang goreng in the high tea set with kicap manis pedas, the unique way Johoreans eat their sweet fried banana with a sweet savoury spicy sauce.
BBQ buffet night at RM95 for adults and children at RM45.
On the night we were there, there was seafood paella.
My favourite was the squid ink spaghetti. Mozart made this with real squid ink (not those store bought "squid ink" coloured spaghetti). The distinctive taste of squid ink was discernible in the pasta. Mozart cooked the spaghetti with lots of mussels and squid.
👉 Spanking new hotel conveniently located in Nusajaya, a stone's throw from Legoland. Good value for families. Spacious, clean, well appointed rooms, earnest friendly service, essential amenities available, nice restaurant with competitive pricing. Facilities and services like more restaurants, a lounge etc are still being added as the hotel was just opened less than 3 months ago. The business type hotel wing is now being renovated. (Foreign nationals pay a RM10 Tourism Tax per night stay.)
Disclosure: My stay was hosted by Ramada Meridin @ Medini Hotel.
Ramada Meridin Johor Bahru
Address: 5, Jalan Legoland, Nusajaya, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°25'19.0"N 103°37'47.0"E 🌐 1.421931, 103.629720
Waze: Hotel Ramada Meridin Johor Bahru
Tel: +60 7-531 8888
Dates visited: 9 - 10 Sep 2018
Follow for more on Johor
Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments submitted with genuine identities are published