we are hot on birthday lunches these days.

RI friends organised a birthday lunch for 2 dec babies at crab at bay on macpherson on 28.12.2016.

i was initially uncertain if i would join as i was cooking for 9pax everyone birtdhay dinner that same evening. i don’t like cramping things, better to be relax & enjoy doing 1 thing then to rush to do 3 la…

anyhow my dishes preparation went as planned, and i felt quite relax & eager to join lunch, so i went.

i was early actually, about 12.05pm. lunch was 12.30pm. traffic is unpredictable, but i had the good fortune that it was school holidays, and my PIE journey to macpherson was rather smooth & quick.

the place was basically full soon after.

the steamed tua tao & manila clams were good.

tua tao usully sambal chilli fried, but i like this better.

this method is same as steaming razor clams (bamboo clams). see photo above.

they did it similarly for the baby squid. this was excellent!

we ordered a second time.

i will do this myself at home. it is an easy dish to prepare.

crispy fish skin with thai kailan.

nothing special about this dish, just it was done very well.

very nice crispy skin , not salty, and excellent poached thai kailan, sweet, fresh, luscious green.

drunken prawns another ordinary dish, just the soup was very nicely herbal, very tasty.

i seldom order this dish, as you imagine, if it is just poached prawns & average soup.

i will order this dish here.

prawns very fresh, sweet, & welcoming.

the heng chai preparation was different from usual zi char too.

not usual sambal. very tasty. i much prefer this.

a bit less excited about smoked duck breast these days since can get easily from NTUC, sheng shiong & better ones at phoon huat delicatessen.

these ones were good, so still a good dish to order.

char siu was good too, not the best, but good!

the “chao tar” fried teochew kuay teow very good.

their invention was i guess to add sliced fish like sanlo horfun, and to slightly burnt the kuay teow.

PLUS it’s not oily, so a very excellent dish.

there was this crab beehoon promotion – S$38 for 2 crabs & no charge for beehoon.

usual price is S$68 & promotion ending 14.1.2017.

crabs were fairly good size, at least 500g or bigger, & totally “toink” meat very full to the shell, and sweet, very good crabs!

the failure was that the beehoon was overcooked & soggy, though it was well infused. hope that was one time not their usual standard.

i learned later that one friend already revisited the restaurant. i will do that too before 14.1.2017 if i can! 🙂

the finale was the flor patissierie cake.

very nice cake, light fluffy not too sweet very fresh cream, wonderful taste experience..japanese inspired french pastry…the japs do everything equal or better than originals…

the friend who lives near the siglap outlet have been buying like 1/2 dozen or more cakes from there lately we think they should really give him a VIP card. haha! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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