The lazy Susan was quickly filled with dishes as we continued with our reunion dinner. The Prawn Paste Chicken (虾酱鸡) featured plump and juicy mid-wings coated in a batter of fermented shrimp paste. Also known as Har Cheong Gai, it is crispy with an umami aftertaste and a hit with young and old.
The stir-fried French Bean with Dried Shrimp (虾米四季豆) might look deceptively plain but plain and simple it is not! The string beans or green beans is flash-fried with minced hae bee (dried shrimps) to absorb the wok hei (wok thermal radiation or breath of the wok) yet maintained the crunchy texture and aroma of the sea (dried shrimp). This dish was one of the highlights of the dinner.
My nephew asked for this Fried Rice with Chicken (鸡丁炒饭) as he preferred it over the steamed white rice the rest of us are having. The Yam Ring (佛钵飘香) featured a ring of deep-fried mashed yam (taro) and filled with sautéed seafood such as prawn, squid and also various vegetables. Normally one would also find cashew nuts in it, but I didn’t notice any this time. Plating is done haphazardly as the chef just poured everything into the yam ring. If I will to do it, I would place the vegetables at the bottom and present the seafood on top with a sprinkle of crunchy cashew nuts over it. Anyway, dish is passable but not fantastic in taste and an “F” for presentation.
Popeye’s power booster canned vegetable is reimagined into Spinach with Trio Eggs (三皇苋菜). To enhance the power, three kinds of egg are used – normal chicken egg, preserved century egg and salted duck egg. Finally, the eyes is also protected with goji berry or wolfberry added into the thick soup. With all the above ingredients used, how can a vegetable soup like this not be good for you?
Fish Maw & Crab Meat Soup (蟹肉鱼鳔羮) is the most expensive dish of the night at S$45 (large portion) due to the two premium ingredients. The thickened soup is chocked with the spongy fish maw, succulent crab meat and I also detected mushrooms in there. Before eating, drizzle a few drops of the black vinegar and add a dash of white pepper.
The Emperor Chicken (皇帝鸡) is also known as herbal chicken. In the olden days, the emperor’s diet was strictly prescribed and monitored by physicians, because it was important for the emperor to be in excellent health in order to focus on governing the Kingdom. This was one of the healthy dishes the emperor ate! The chicken is wrapped in the waxed paper and aluminum foil then steamed for a few hours until the meat is tender and the flavours of the herbs is infused into the chicken.
The last dish to be served is the Poached Prawns (白灼虾). If the ingredients are fresh, you just need minimum condiments and simple cooking style to bring out the best in taste. So here the prawns are boiled in basically water, ginger and scallion for a couple of minutes at most. Chinese cooking wine is then drizzled into the broth to enhance the overall flavours.
For this reunion meal, we spent S$331.76 for the dishes, steamed rice and drinks including 10% service charge. I can foresee the next year we will be back here for our dinner again. After all the food is good and the place is nearby our houses.
