alan (my very good friend’s brother) & his wife invited us over for homecooked dinner on 9.10.2015.

we had 10pax.

alan & his wife & another partner, started “why eat har” big prawn noodle stall in mar2015.

after eating at “why eat har” many times liao, we all agreed that it is undisputably among the top 3 in singapore, and it all depends on one’s personal preference which is the most preferred.

alan’s talents are NOT limited to prawn noodles of course & this evening he was going to showcase his famous crabs! 🙂

it was restaurant standard! & we were lucky that we had previously tried it at a get-together at my place 2 yrs ago on 19.8.2013.^^

for this evening we started with some salad prepared by alan’s wife. excellent salad with crunchy apples & grapes, very light myonnaise & honey. unfortunately my friend forgot to take a photo. he was busy mopping up the salad bowl after we had finished makan. 🙂

there were fried buns provided, perfect to soak up the very tasty chilli crab sauce! i had more than one! haha! 🙂

the chilli crab sauce had clear intense crab flavours, yet very smooth, delightful & lingering. alan & his wife said it was slightly dilute but actually we all liked it that way.

the crab was not very “solid” i guess that depended on the day/timing. the body & the pincers were sweet & tasty.

the drunken chicken* was good too. the 绍兴酒 was mild & fragrant, a very good flavouring to the sweet chicken. alan’s partner was saying alan’s roast chicken was even better, so we said we would all have to try that, surely, if it was better than this drunken chicken.

alan told me that the difference in his preparation for 白斩鸡 was that he did not add garlic.

& i liked the salted fish minced pork咸鱼饼** a lot so i ate quite a bit.

it was different from the style we made at home. he minced the pork himself & had the fat in a bit chunky to give the bite. this style is the genuine one we get to eat at the good zi char stalls.

there was also teochew steamed red garoupa with salted vege & sour plum & sliced belly pork.

fish was sweet & tasty though the fish was in halves as the steaming dish was too small. i like both the teochew style & also the hong kong steamed style, liking the latter a bit more. 🙂

fried vege was simple dish but good.

& my friend did his fruit number, not bad at all! haha! 🙂

we forgot to eat the grapes another friend, our default grape supplier, brought.

& alan’s wife made a refreshing mango sago dessert.

i brought my tiramisu. i added double the usual dosage of brandy (60ml instead of the usual 30ml). my friend loved it!

actually alan’s wife, myself & my wife thought the liquor was a bit much & nicer if a bit lesser. 🙂

*my own drunken chicken not as good though i made a really awesome chicken rice chicken 白斩鸡. principally becos i used a very cheap S$1.80 绍兴酒..hehe..& my wine marinade is still experimental & need some tasting & improvement.

**i made a very good salted fish minced pork咸鱼饼 myself. it is a different style, very tasty though not as elaborate as just used minced pork from market or sheng shiong. 🙂

& i was telling my friends it’s time i start cooking crab!

i did a wonderful chilli crab capellini w/o crab for a 19pax homecooked dinner for my friends on 24.4.2015. 🙂

& an equally amazing crabless beehoon (with prawns & oysters) for a 9pax homecooked lunch on 9.3.2015. ^^

but alan was right. no matter how tasty the shellfish flavours offered by prawns heads & shells, they were not quite the same as using crab itself. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy