: : Joyous Shanghai : :

Since I got back from the US, I’ve been busy hanging out with my Mum as well as going to wedding dinners and trying to overcome the jet lag. Hence, the delayed postings in Mum-mum’s over the last week or so. Tonight is the first night that I don’t feel so tired so am posting something up. Yeah, I know the wedding dinner meal should go up first but I have too many pictures to sort out for that one.

A quaint name for a Shanghai Chinese restaurant in town where I had dinner with Mum and her old classmates from Form 6 days and their family members as well as Bob, the Brit-turned-Kiwi. Uncle Luke and Auntie Angelina ordered us an excellent tasting spread and everyone was patient enough to let me talk photos. Her youngest son was giggling while I was taking the pictures. We also had an interesting dinner conversation about many topics : New Zealand, Maoris, the USA, MAS and SIA and the list is endless.

We started off the meal with this beautiful roasted duck. The skin was extremely crispy and the duck cooked just right that it wasn’t tough but very tender. I haven’t had a good-tasting roasted duck (Chinese style) in such a long long time.

As usual, belachan midin was on the spread. Mum has been having cravings for midin since she came back from the US.

Some debate between Mum and I about the prawn dish. I said it was buttered prawns and she said it was crispy shrimps. Same thing lah!

An interesting soup but both Mum and I had tasted better ones. Still, it wasn’t bad but could have been more spicy. It was filled with mushroom, tauhu and I think either some fish lips or fish skin. I’m not sure about the latter.

This was a very nice freshwater fish. I heard the word labang fish but Mum said that it was balang fish. The only information that I could find online mentioned balang fish as type of flying fish but this was a seawater fish so something is not right here. So, any ideas from anyone? As for the dish, it was steamed with garlic and soy sauce with some spring onions as garnishings. The flesh was extremely soft and sweet to the taste. Guess who ate the fish head? Bob! I was impressed. Even I don’t eat the fish head although if the fish head is big enough, I will eat the fish cheeks where the flesh is very tender and sweet.

Instead of the usual pork leg stew fare, we had bellypork instead. The flesh of the pork was very soft and tender which went very well with the sauce and the pau @ soft white bread.

It was a very nice dinner and we all had a good time at the restaurant. Below are the restaurant details :

Joyous Shanghai Restaurant

No. 317 – 319, Bangunan Bee San,

Jalan Padungan,

93100 Kuching, Sarawak.

Tel : 082-331310, 336119

Fax : 082-337736

Some more facts about this restaurant. From the last dish, you can tell that the restaurant is a NON-HALAL restaurant. The waitresses are from Shanghai and there is a Chinese chef from Shanghai preparing the dishes as well. Entering the restaurant, one is carried back to the olden days of Shanghai from the pictures hanging on the wall and all the rosewood furniture used within the restaurant. Bear in mind to be patient with the waitresses because they did not remember to inform us early that the vegetable dishes (we had two more coming) were not available until the end of the meal. Hmmm… Anyway, the dishes was cancelled since we were already so full and it was getting late.

So, I’m off to sleep off a very full stomach and hopefully, my jet lag will ease off with tonite’s rest. So, toodle-loo!

: : Joyous Shanghai : :

Since I got back from the US, I’ve been busy hanging out with my Mum as well as going to wedding dinners and trying to overcome the jet lag. Hence, the delayed postings in Mum-mum’s over the last week or so. Tonight is the first night that I don’t feel so tired so am posting something up. Yeah, I know the wedding dinner meal should go up first but I have too many pictures to sort out for that one.

A quaint name for a Shanghai Chinese restaurant in town where I had dinner with Mum and her old classmates from Form 6 days and their family members as well as Bob, the Brit-turned-Kiwi. Uncle Luke and Auntie Angelina ordered us an excellent tasting spread and everyone was patient enough to let me talk photos. Her youngest son was giggling while I was taking the pictures. We also had an interesting dinner conversation about many topics : New Zealand, Maoris, the USA, MAS and SIA and the list is endless.

We started off the meal with this beautiful roasted duck. The skin was extremely crispy and the duck cooked just right that it wasn’t tough but very tender. I haven’t had a good-tasting roasted duck (Chinese style) in such a long long time.

As usual, belachan midin was on the spread. Mum has been having cravings for midin since she came back from the US.

Some debate between Mum and I about the prawn dish. I said it was buttered prawns and she said it was crispy shrimps. Same thing lah!

An interesting soup but both Mum and I had tasted better ones. Still, it wasn’t bad but could have been more spicy. It was filled with mushroom, tauhu and I think either some fish lips or fish skin. I’m not sure about the latter.

This was a very nice freshwater fish. I heard the word labang fish but Mum said that it was balang fish. The only information that I could find online mentioned balang fish as type of flying fish but this was a seawater fish so something is not right here. So, any ideas from anyone? As for the dish, it was steamed with garlic and soy sauce with some spring onions as garnishings. The flesh was extremely soft and sweet to the taste. Guess who ate the fish head? Bob! I was impressed. Even I don’t eat the fish head although if the fish head is big enough, I will eat the fish cheeks where the flesh is very tender and sweet.

Instead of the usual pork leg stew fare, we had bellypork instead. The flesh of the pork was very soft and tender which went very well with the sauce and the pau @ soft white bread.

It was a very nice dinner and we all had a good time at the restaurant. Below are the restaurant details :

Joyous Shanghai Restaurant

No. 317 – 319, Bangunan Bee San,

Jalan Padungan,

93100 Kuching, Sarawak.

Tel : 082-331310, 336119

Fax : 082-337736

Some more facts about this restaurant. From the last dish, you can tell that the restaurant is a NON-HALAL restaurant. The waitresses are from Shanghai and there is a Chinese chef from Shanghai preparing the dishes as well. Entering the restaurant, one is carried back to the olden days of Shanghai from the pictures hanging on the wall and all the rosewood furniture used within the restaurant. Bear in mind to be patient with the waitresses because they did not remember to inform us early that the vegetable dishes (we had two more coming) were not available until the end of the meal. Hmmm… Anyway, the dishes was cancelled since we were already so full and it was getting late.

So, I’m off to sleep off a very full stomach and hopefully, my jet lag will ease off with tonite’s rest. So, toodle-loo!

: : The Little Boy and his fish : :

Scene

At a wedding dinner.

Actors

Tidan, a precocious 3 yr old boy (my nephew)

Gwen, his mother (my cousin)

Julia, his aunt (my other cousin)

Lolly, Julia’s sister (another one of my cousins)

Scene 1

A dish with a steamed red snapper in TeoChew style.

Tidan : No, no, put the fish back into the sea so he can swim. No one eat the fish!

As the young protector undertook the grave task of heroicly protecting the fish, he was the highlight of the evening. For up to 5 tables were laughing with him although his glare said it all about his irritation at us adults.

Scene 2

The bravest amongst all sitting at the table (and having not eaten Malaysian cooking in the last few years so the temptation was too great), Julia proceeds to cut a small piece of fish.

Tidan : No! No! No eat. (Smacks Julia on the hand like a mother cat disciplining her kittens.)

Scene 3

Now, another brave diner proceeds to cut away the fish. Lolly dear starts to do so.

Tidan : (Massive frowning on his little forehead and his eyes were pointing daggers to poor Lolly)

Lolly : (Starts to stroke the fish with the spoon in the dish) Sayang, sayang the fish. (Loving, loving the fish). See, Tidan? (leaves spoon in dish) I sayang (love/care) the fish.

An expert maneuver that averted an otherwise major disaster.

Who said wedding dinners are boring?

: : Merry Christmas : :

Merry Christmas to everyone. About 10-15 min. left for Christmas Day.

Once the clock strikes midnite, it will be Boxing Day as celebrated in England.

Anyway, I’m off to clear up my blog readings.

Cheerio! And Merry Xmas again!

: : Yummy Turkey : :

Well, since I didn’t get the chance to have a nice Christmas dinner back home, I decided to do a posting on the Fried Turkey that I had at the Clarks. Beautifully done and the turkey was superb. They celebrate the Yule Celebrations which is about a week before Christmas.

Bob was the chef in charge of cooking the fried turkey. For preparation, he filled the pot up with water first and lowered the turkey into the water to see how high the water level would go up. He then made a mark of it and then removed the water. This is to ensure that there is enough oil inside the pot to cover the turkey AND not spill over the pot. Next, he filled it up with cooking oil up to the mark and heated it up.

Heating up the oil using a propane burner. The oil was heated up to 350 degrees F. Very hot, that’s for sure.

Bob with the turkey.

The turkey is slowly lowered into the pot. Bob did not put the turkey inside immediately but was slowly lowering it until the boiling oil subsided. Note that oil tends to spit and spat when it comes into contact with water so one has to be extremely careful when cooking with so much oil.

Finally, the whole turkey was in.

The smell that came out of the pot … absolutely divine. Everyone was drooling from the beautiful smell coming out of the pot. The turkey was left inside the oil for about 45 min.

And there it is : the golden bird. Puts KFC to shame, doesn’t it? :p

Bob removing the turkey from the handle.

Finally, voila! Fried Turkey for Yule Celebrations. Compliments to the chef for cooking up the beautiful bird.

The spread at the table : cranberry sauce, Devil’s eggs, vegetarian stuffing (think we had two versions), vegetarian gravy, meat gravy, homemade mash potatoes. Definitely a lot of food and we were all stuffed at the end of the day.

But everyone still had some space leftover for Daniece’s trifle. Of course, that was like 2-3 yrs hrs later after we’d digested the food.

More information on how to fry a turkey here and here.

: : Christmas at KLIA : :

Well, if you’re hoping for a great posting of Christmas dishes on this site, you’re in for a disappointment. Doubt if I will have the chance to have a nice Christmas dinner, Western style. BUT!!! Nothing beats Granny’s homemade dishes. Can’t believe that I haven’t been eating Chinese in a long time. Also, a lot of photos to download, edit and get it printed out to send to everyone.

Then, on 27 Dec, my nephew is getting married. The most of the family is down for the occasion, including Lolly and Devong. And, I got a dress while in the US. Check it out. Nice leh! And, it was on sale too! Unfortunately, it’s a bit too long but what to do? Also, need to get it pressed after all that travelling and it being cramped into a garment bag. Well, at least now I know where to get the patterns from if I ever wanted the tailor to do another dress. Wonder if there would be copywrite issues here? :p

Another two more hours and it’s off to Kuching. So, tara people! Off to clear Immigration. *shudder*