We were scouting for a good place to have our Christmas day meals and having asked around a few restaurants, we realised that while Christmas eve bookings were very popular, Christmas day bookings were less so, and hence we did not feel the pressure to make an advance booking and decided to just wing it.

Using Google Maps as a guide, we walked along the street that had some promising cafes / restaurants but their menus were either too limited (e.g. only a single Christmas set available for the day) or not something we felt like having for the day.

We finally chanced upon Higher Ground Cafe, which was only five minutes’ walk from our hotel, and the ambience and menu looked good and Christmassy. The cafe also had comfortable sofa seats with low tables, which were great for Ms Dos and Ms Trez.

We had their cafe latte and fizzy lychee espresso, which was one of their signature drinks. The cafe latte was good but I would probably pass on the lychee espresso next time. The espresso and lychee, together with the fizzy were good individually, but together, they didn’t just quite do it for me.

I can see why the lychee espresso would be on their signature menu though – it was certainly interesting and the lychees were plump and juicy.

We also had their dirty matcha, another item on their signature menu, and we loved the thick matcha taste. Walnut was amused by the name of the drink.

We had their signature burger, which was pretty good with their hot crispy fries. Mr Uno wolfed down the entire burger.

Fish and chips for Ms Dos. The batter was crispy and the fish was tender.

I had the bonito duck carbonara, which had all the stuff I liked, and also a combination I had never seen anywhere else. The duck and the bonito flakes added a more salty flavour to your usual carbonara.

We also had the wild mushroom finger bites which came with a nacho cheese dip on the side. The batter was light and crispy but the mushrooms were a little too chewy for the younger kids. The rest of us had no problems polishing it up.

The kids of course could not resist picking something out from the selection of cakes strategically displayed at their eye level at the entrance of the cafe. We went with a Premium Belgian Chocolate Cake and a Classic Tiramisu.

Overall, we enjoyed the meal and the comfortable setting, and were really thankful that we were able to get ourselves a nice table on a Christmas Day afternoon.

They also had a Christmas menu but we didn’t order from it because we wanted to try their regular items. Sharing the pictures of the menus below for reference:

Google maps link:

Higher Ground
+60 4-228 0340
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TomSLiL6MBGkcf3c6