~Invited Session~
Chinese New Year is a time for family gatherings and nosy questions
and strange relatives you have only seen once a year. For those who
have to do the cooking, it is also a time of tremendous stress, jostling
with overly-competitive aunties vying for the last piece of fresh sea
cucumber.
Save yourself the stress, and make your way down RWS for your reunion meal!
For those of you who may not have a large family to begin with, Forest森 is your answer. Forest森 serves a menu for a min. of 2 pax. No more excuses not to get together!
Forest's take on the yusheng, with geoduck clams.
Yes, they have small portions of yusheng if you want it! The clams made this a very flavorful affair.
Clear spicy soup with beancurd strands. It looks harmless, but you have been warned.
This
was surprisingly hearty to me. I was expecting something light and the
peppery spiciness zing at the end of each sip made me just wished I had a
whole pot to drink.
Roasted duck is a must during Chinese New Year.
The wonderful layer of fat here reminded me that I have yet to go to the gym today. Never mind, eat first, burn it off later.
But
for those of you who want something for the bigger family in a nice,
quiet setting, head for the famed Feng Shui Inn. Feng Shui Inn is
synonymous with traditional Cantonese dining that would be the mainstay
of any self-respecting Cantonese households.
Look at that beautiful Chinese script! I can't even write that well let alone plate it on my food!
I
have to admit. Growing up in a traditional Cantonese household meant
that I couldn't even understand what yusheng was about. In fact, most of
the ones that you get in restaurants taste like a bunch of syrup tossed
together. But not this version though. Lobster and yellow amberjack,
and yuzu sesame dressing. It was one of the very few times I had 3
helpings of the yusheng. It was that good.
Fried, and then braised. The amount of effort just to make prawns is mind-boggling.
My compliments to the chef is that I left nothing of this dish on the table. No shell, no sauce, nothing. Absolutely wonderful.
Have I told you I'm a sucker for fried rice?
The
real genius in this is the ring of fried garlic surrounding the fried
rice. It's fried in fresh oil to the right timing, meaning that it is
light and flaky and doesn't taste burnt the least bit. The generous
prawn and asparagus in this makes this a must-order.
The
new Avenue Joffre combines the best of different regions of China
together in their festive menu. This is my second visit there and I must
say it is shaping to be an excellent addition to the stable of
restaurants at RWS.
The first attempt by a Hong Kong-based restaurant at yusheng, and it was very competent indeed!
This
is the first time Avenue Joffre ever tried serving yusheng. They are
from Hong Kong and I must stress to readers that yusheng is still a very
Singaporean thing and can be said unique to Singapore. Avenue Joffre
goes the safe and traditional route, with the customary salmon and
different vegetable slivers, but manages to come up with a very good
version of this. Highly recommended if you're a stickler to tradition.
Upgraded fattchoy!
This
is the creme de la creme version of New Year fattchoy:
fall-off-the-bone fatty braised pork, giant abalone, mushrooms, and
fattchoy. Super sinful, super high calorie, but don't care because the
flavour were just oh-so-good, we all sat there in silence for a little
while contemplating that buttery goodness of the pork and the earthy
freshness of the mushrooms and abalone.
Aged orange peel dessert. You don't see this very often these days!
This
is a sign that the restaurant is steeped in Cantonese cooking
tradition. I can't even recall if there is any other restaurant in
Singapore serving this dessert. Extremely good for refreshing your
throat, and aged orange peel is just so expensive to buy. I really
enjoyed this one.
So there you have it. Something for everyone here, from the purists to the new agers to the wanna-try-all-kinds-of-
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