18 Feb 2012 - Zhou's Kitchen high tea buffet

Wanted to sleep in this rainy day, but got nagged at to go out. For "fresh air".

Went to Zhou's Kitchen at Novena Square2 for their high tea buffet, $16.80++ per person. Had a refillable pot of pu'er tea for $2.40++ too.

Fried crab rolls - crispy, but insides tasted more doughy than crabby. Perhaps crab meat is too delicate to be done this way, reminded him of the "fiery balls of crab" at Joe's Crab Shack during his stay in Dallas in 2011.


Fried dory fish fillet done Thai-style. Many people like tender dory fish, and it was made better with the sweet and slightly spicy sauce.


Prawn salad has always been his favourite. Succulent prawns, sweet melons and nata de coco topped with mayonnaise, just can't go wrong with this.


Pan-fried turnip cake with Chinese sausage. This did not taste overtly oily, he liked that the sausage bits lent contrast to the soft cake. She felt that dried shrimps were not sufficiently used though.


Cold dish of Drunken Chicken in spicy garlic sauce. Notice that this was cut out like ham? No bones.


Century egg porridge for her. He had a few spoonfuls, and thought that the broth tasted a little out. She found nothing wrong though.


Had difficulty removing the shrimp dumpling to his mouth, the skin was just too sticky. Crystal Jade did a better rendition of this.


Braised "phoenix" claws...


Steamed pork dumplings in spicy sauce. Suspected that this was "guo tie" that was steamed instead of being pan-fried.


Pork ribs with black bean paste, with no black beans to be found. Meat was succulent.


These were the weirdest siew mai they had ever tasted. The orange topping of fish roe seem to have all burst, the dumpling was overwhelmed with mushroom flavour, and the overall texture was a bit dry and hard. The first time he did not enjoy siew mai.


Sour and spicy soup to regain some appetite.


Pan-fried dumpling (guo tie), with pork floss and salad dressing. Warm, crispy and tasty. Nice.
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Finally, desserts to signal the end of the show. Herbal jelly that she complained about not being bitter enough.


He liked the sweet and cool almond jelly with mixed fruit.

11 Feb 2012 - Dim Sum at Crystal Jade and The Eastern Restaurant

Crystal Jade
Had a pot of Pu'er, one pineapple bun, a bowl of porridge, 2 baskets of siew mai, 1 basket of shrimp dumpling, a serving of braised "phoenix claws" (chicken feet) and another basket of custard buns. ~$40.

Waiting for food...


Siew Mai was puny as compared to the ones he had last week at Straits Cafe. However, judging by the ingredients and texture, these were of higher grade. At least 2 parts of crunchy prawns and small pieces of meat inside, as opposed to being wholly minced meat.


The close up.


Shrimp dumplings, nice, but perhaps the Siew Mai was more worth it.


Pineapple bun with a slice of butter. ~$2. Love how the sweet and brittle crust contrasted, yet complemented, the soft bread beneath.


Bowl of porridge, with toppings such as cuttlefish, peanuts and... can't remember. ~$7.


Golden delights, custard buns. Imagined to be overflowing with the custard of salted egg yolks.


Looked like the flow was well contained, but these were still a delicious way to end the meal.


Walked around and had some damage done to his pockets before they decided to go for another meal. Genki Sushi had quite the queue, looked much too long to wait for sashimi. So they went across to CentrePoint for more dim sum.

At The Eastern Restaurant, had Pu'er again, Yangzhou-style fried rice, 1 serving of braised beef brisket, 2 servings of dumplings in chilli oil and 1 basket of soup dumplings. ~$50

Various menus...


Dumplings in chilli oil, 红油抄手. Chilli oil for some fire and vinegar base for that piquant taste, kept him wanting for more. A little pricey at $6 for 5 though.


Soup dumplings, bursting with soup inside.


Yangzhou-style fried rice. Seemed quite healthy, not too oily or salty. Had him thinking that it was a bit bland. ~$10


Chunks of braised beef brisket in a generous serving (probably for 4persons), $~12. Meat was fork tender and tasty, and the dish also had slices of bamboo shoots and mushrooms, equally delicious.

26 Feb 2011 - Birthday on a weekend

His birthday fell on a weekend in 2011. On Friday, he left the office at around 11pm, and reached home to find her waiting for him with a cake. "I've got my favourite cake to celebrate your birthday!", she beamed. How sweet huh. It was this child-like attitude that actually made him smile, still smiling while typing this.

Cake from Polar, with thick layers of chocolate mousse, and really rich chocolate on the top. This year's a more photogenic cake, but not as heart-warming as the one she made for him last year.


She also made some dishes for dinner, something they haven't done in a long while.

Blanched lettuce, topped with vinegar based sauce. Garlic stir-fried until fragrant before adding vinegar, oyster and soy sauce to heat. The piquant flavour opened wide the doors to his stomach.


Steamed minced pork with century egg - this was mixed with soy sauce, egg white and century egg. He would have preferred it with more egg to minced meat, but that would have become steamed egg pudding, eh?


Lean pork porridge sprinkled very generously with freshly ground black pepper. He hasn't gotten sick of the grinder, always enjoys doing the twisting work.


Finally, kombu soup with pork ribs, wolfberries and dates. Unfortunately, chicken stock cubes had been used, that's why they had oily soup this time round.

13, 14 June 2010 - lao bejing and homecooked stuff

visited lao beijing on 13 June for their dimsum buffet. he'll have to apologise for this again, had forgotten to take pictures of the food, especially when the siew mai was so good.


and some homecooked food on 14 June, potato salad


and supposedly century egg porridge. the missus insisted on using a small pot, and ended up being unable to add enough water. also, she boiled the century egg into the porridge. well, a slightly refreshing change, huh.