Puteri Nurul Nadirah, Meera Sen and Datin Dian Lee reveal their choices of children-friendly restaurants for family gatherings and celebrations.

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From left: Puteri Nurul Nadirah, Meera Sen and Datin Dian Lee.

Every family has their own unique rituals that they partake in and chances are, most of them are centred around food and dining

Ask any mother and they will tell you that picking a restaurant or café for their children can be a challenging task. There are just too many factors to contemplate over before a final decision can be made. What cuisine to go for? Will there be child-friendly facilities? Will other diners frown upon the children as they run around tables, simply behaving as how children would?

And the challenges differ as a child grows older. For example, full-time mother and livewire Puteri Nurul Nadirah Dato' Zaharuddin Ali often stuck to places that are breastfeeding-friendly from the time she was still nursing her son Maxim Hamza.

For style maven Meera Sen, whose only son Kayden Chua enjoys dining with extended family and friends, she often looks out for a space with bigger dining capacity and longer tables for large-scale gatherings. 

The fashionable mum Datin Dian Lee has her eyes set on places where all her three children -- Jedi, Jora and Jaan -- would be happy at, as they have all inherited their parent’s love for food.

These three ladies share their top three picks for places to take their kids out for a good meal.

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Puteri Nurul Nadirah Dato’ Zaharuddin Ali

“For dining out, I like Benbino’s simply because of the convenience of the playground and the dining area. We are able to monitor Max while enjoying our meals as we eat around the perimeters of the play area. They also have an impressive selection of healthy food for kids as well. 

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It may not be your typical child friendly restaurant but JP Teres (photo above) at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur has great service to be in my list of dining spots. The staff are always making sure everything is baby-friendly and safe for Max, from cutleries to table positioning and down to the food. Plus they are very accommodating to food allergies. Max's favourite food in the world is their chicken rice and he is just the happiest there. And of course, the super friendly staff who would spare a few minutes of their time to entertain Max while we eat. So, that's always great. 

I also like taking Max to Marmalade Cafe in Bangsar. There’s ample space for the kids to play and the food is also healthy and tasty. Marmalade is always my go-to place when I need a break and he's happy to just play on his own without bothering mummy for a bit. Did I mention that Marmalade is breastfeeding-friendly too?" 

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Bonus tip for birthdays: “While Marmalade is great for hosting children parties thanks to their staff that are flexible and friendly, I celebrated Max's second birthday this year at Aquaria KLCC and it was a dream to host children's birthdays there, as they have really good in-house caterers, a spacious private function room, the aquarium and all the activities are done by their team. I didn't have to organise anything. They did everything for us, so it was perfect!” 

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Meera Sen

Grand Imperial at Bangsar Shopping Centre whips up delicious Chinese that's really up to our liking. They have large family style tables, private rooms (in case the kids are noisy) and fish tanks for the little ones to peer at when they are bored. We always go there as a family when my sister Rekha and her kids are in town. 

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Another favourite of ours is Niji Japanese Restaurant at KLGCC. They have nice long tables (for big families) overlooking the lovely, green golf course and a good selection of Japanese rice & noodle dishes. It is a favourite neighbourhood haunt with Shirieene (Hajamaideen) and our families as the staff are friendly and know our boys!

Like my husband John, Kayden loves Italian food, so we take him to Vineria (photo above) at Bangsar Shopping Centre for an awesome Sunday brunch. 

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Bonus tip for birthdays: “We normally like to host Kayden's birthday parties at home as there is more space for game stalls with different themes. We usually cater food from Ben's as they have a wide variety of food options suitable for kids. In the past, we have held his birthday at various locations, including Gobo Chit-Chat at Traders Hotel KL and Pietro at Damansara Heights.”

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Datin Dian Lee

“Our number one go-to restaurant is PLOY! (photo below). My children grew up with our restaurant and it is an obvious reason why we always go there. That being said, my kids also can’t seem to get enough of PLOY’s baby squid.

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“Jedi, Jora and Jaan also love going to Italiannies at The Gardens Mall. They love the margherita pizza served there. The pizza is not just super yummy but it's absolutely free, because kids eat for free in Italiannies. That's a huge motivation for us, parents to visit! Being Malaysians, my children love their local food and we do pop by any Teh Tarik Place for some roti canai.”

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Bonus tips for birthdays: “For birthday parties, we still prefer to have them at home, with home-cooked food.”

(Restaurant photos: Respective website, Family pictures: Socialites)

For more dining ideas, 4 other socialites share their favourite restaurants from around the world.