special day this 25.10.2017. my 2 groups of bros from RI & OPS coming together. wife also joined me for 12pax dinner. ^^

i did 10 dishes 🙂 –

1. chinese herbal mutton rib soup
2. char siew
3. siew yoke
4. 元蹄braised trotters (big intestines as side)
5. saliva chicken 口水鸡
6. wine chicken 黄焖鸡
7. song fish head 松鱼头
8. double-cooked pork 回锅肉
9. HK claypot rice
10. fried spinach

my RI bros came armed with “happy birthday” banner as it would soon be my birthday. they were busier putting up the deco than me cooking. lol!^^

my first dish was chinese herbal mutton rib soup. just a small portion, 500g mutton ribs, and using toa seng kong herbal bakuteh sachet.

ribs were super tender after 6hrs in a 90degC oven. & the toa seng kong flavouring of the soup was perfect. perfectly no strong overpowering mutton flavour.

very delicious & i think better than most mutton soup outside. 🙂

it was voted one he 2 best dishes for the evening. the other being the claypot rice. ^^

it was just a small portion…CH our imperial taster helped dished out 11 bowls (my wife skipped mutton dish)…our other friends CH & KH also helped..

did my char siew & siew yoke.

char siew was pretty good, both the texture & flavours…

siew yoke using KK/I airfryer recipe was great texture & taste-wise for the meat.

for the skin, texture was uneven so some parts were tough, my first piece skin was chewy. my second piece during the ocurse of dinner the skin was 脆, ok. 🙂

wife, WM, several friends found the 元蹄braised trotters very good this evening. 🙂

great gelatinous texture & meat was moist not old..

braising sauce flavouring was good. 🙂

i cleaned the big intestines many times with salt & cornflour but some parts still strong smell. by the way dish, not worth the effort.

i totally forgotten to serve the saliva chicken 口水鸡, which was chilled in the fridge.

the usual poached chicken recipe…chicken very smooth & tender.

& the mala 麻辣 seasoning was very good….

CM & CL brought 1/2 portion each home. CL said he ate over 3 meals, together with vegetables.

many friends found the wine chicken 黄焖鸡  very tasty also.

what’s special actually was the texture of the chicken.

most  wine chicken 黄焖鸡 dishes outside eg JB shoon huat & 重庆烤鱼 the sauce was tasty but the chicken always overcooked & old. whereas here we had very tender, perfectly textured chicken. 🙂

song fish head 松鱼头 was the usual.

my favourite style of sauce, just like the at commonwealth crescent food centre. 🙂

i like this starchy sauce more than the more wet sauce in many other preparations eg

today’s double-cooked pork 回锅肉 i thought was so so, just passable & nothing special.

the HK claypot rice was the other best dishes this evening, together with the chinese herbal mutton rib soup.

everyone liked it. wife said this evening’s better than my claypot chicken rice which was wetter. yup… i think it was pretty good this evening…

rice texture “tio tio” ie more on dry side & very fragrant “pang”…i added the steamed pork rib sauce as this clayport rice did not have chicken to flavour the rice.

fried spinach was the usual. good standard. 🙂

CH brought the fruits…

CJ brought his usual magnum ice cream…

& WT brought his excellent almond cookies & pineapple tarts for early CNY celebrations lol!^^

the bros organised a birthday cake, a very nice cake from cedele.

& CL did the usual nice photos, our memories time capsule….& brought his usual sparkling wine which i successfully popped. KH brought some wasabi nuts…

we all had a wonderful evening. great time with good friends & bros, jokes & sharing & photos & nice food to go with the occasion.

c.h.e.f andy