Good Dinner Chat @ Moi Lum 梅林 on 26Nov2015

8 treasures duck 八宝鸭

8 treasures duck 八宝鸭

an RI friend organised november G20 dinner at moi lum 梅林 at maxwell road on 26.11.2015. ^^ we had 11pax.

the last one we had here was almost 3 years ago on 16.1.2013.

moi lum梅林

moi lum梅林

restaurant has several couplets on the wall, a bit of chinese tradition.

restaurant was less than 1/2 full. 🙂

8 treasures duck 八宝鸭

8 treasures duck 八宝鸭

this is their signature dish.

i saw the leg was quite disproportionate, size like a goose leg. later i realized probably the stuffing caused it to look huge.

must say this dish was really excellent!

duck was tender & so very flavourful. this is for me a fine chinese dish. though it was not served as an individual dish, the preparation must be so fine & skillful & the flavour was exquisite. ^^

yam basket

yam basket

the next dish, yam basket, was rather poor though.

yam basket

yam basket

the yam has NO fragrance 芋香.

yam basket

yam basket

this is such a common almost ancient chinese restaurant & now zi char dish. quite surprising.

made me recall what a good yam basket i had at ah orh according to my previous post, though i cannot really remember the taste now.

roast chicken with sticky rice stuffing

roast chicken with sticky rice stuffing

my friend seems to be ordering all the birds here – duck & chicken.

but this chicken was again excellent, probably their signature also.

roast chicken with sticky rice stuffing

roast chicken with sticky rice stuffing

it came with sticky rice & other tasty stuffing, forgot to take photo.

chicken was deboned. the server confirmed that. we were wondering how that was done. didn’t have the answer. 🙂

this was so different from the usual roast chicken, and also the very processed roast chicken with roast skin & minced meat made into a pancake (some restaurants called it 金龙鸡) which i don’t like.

salted egg prawns

salted egg prawns

salted egg prawns were competent, ordinary.

salted egg prawns

salted egg prawns

actually not that great, in my opinion.

hk steamed flower garoupa

hk steamed flower garoupa

hk steamed flower garoupa came with a load of fried garlic & chai poh.

hk steamed flower garoupa

hk steamed flower garoupa

fish was very good, quite expected of a good chinese restaurant. the garlic & especially chai poh gave it some differentiation.

not a wow dish for me, unlike the 8 treasures duck 八宝鸭 & the chicken.

some chives from malaysia

some chives from malaysia

the chives dish i guess was new for us, don’t recall having it previously, but not my favourite at all.

a 3-egg spinach or a good fragrant garlic fried vegetable dish would do better for me.

fruit platter

fruit platter

we had a fruit platter to share.

red beans pancake

red beans pancake

& some red beans pancake also.

dinner came to S$31pax nett for 7dishes include dessert. quite doable. the duck & chicken were beyond my expectations. fish was very good & the other dishes so-so. so overall i supposed quite good but a bit incomplete, not in terms of food quantity (we all had a wonderful meal) but in knowing what good dishes the restaurant serve.

another way to look at it-having 2 outstanding dishes is better than having mostly above average dishes.

we all had good chats & a wonderful time together.

c.h.e.f andy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Moi Lum Restaurant Pte Ltd

Outlet:
38 Maxwell Road
Airview Building #01-01/02
Singapore 069116
Tel: 62262283Email: reservation@moilum.com

Protected: RI G20 Monthly Dinner by Chak Joo @ Ban Heng Harbourfront Centre on 24Nov2014

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RI Friends Monthly Dinner @ Ban Heng Harbourfront Centre on 24Nov2014

#10 roast pork

#10 roast pork

we had our november RI friends dinner @ ban heng harbourfront centre on 24.11.2014. 🙂

this was the smallest turnout, with 7pax.

i had not been to this ban heng outlet before. the last time G20 had a 23pax dinner at ban heng at orchard central, food was quite average.

this outlet has 2 ala carte buffet menu – one pried at S$28.80++ here, and the other at S$21.80++. from what i can see the main difference is for the S$28.80 menu you get to pick 1 order of abalones, crabs, froglegs, live prawns, scallops.

we took the S$28.80++ menu.

#1 roast duck

#1 roast duck

#1 roast duck

#1 roast duck

#1 roast duck was passable. but c/w the beautiful roast duck at both canton paradise star vista & canton paradise J-cube or with the noodles restaurant at centrepoint, this would be a poor & distant cousin.

#2 drunken chicken

#2 drunken chicken

#2 drunken chicken

#2 drunken chicken

#2 drunken chicken was average, competent.

#3 garlic spinach

#3 garlic spinach

#4 sambal kang kong

#4 sambal kang kong

#4 sambal kang kong

#4 sambal kang kong

liked the vegetables, #3 garlic spinach & #4 sambal kang kong.

#5 deep-fried soon hock

#5 deep-fried soon hock

#5 deep-fried soon hock

#5 deep-fried soon hock

#5 deep-fried soon hock was a standard dish. it was done well. 🙂

#6 beef with bitter gourd black bean sauce

#6 beef with bitter gourd black bean sauce

#6 beef with bitter gourd black bean sauce was also done well. i personally would prefer fish head & meat with black bean bitter gourd, but this was as good as any good zi char, say kok sen at keong saik street or hong kong street chun kee at commonwealth crescent or ah orh at bukit merah.

#7 steamed prawns

#7 steamed prawns

#7 steamed prawns

#7 steamed prawns

#7 steamed prawns was good like any good seafood restaurant.

#8 sharks fin soup

#8 sharks fin soup

#8 sharks fin soup

#8 sharks fin soup

surprisingly the #8 sharks fin soup though gluey like any served at weddings in yesteryears, had very tasty stock. this was much better than ban heng orchard central.

#9 frog legs with ginger & spring onions

#9 frog legs with ginger & spring onions

#9 frog legs with ginger & spring onions

#9 frog legs with ginger & spring onions

#9 frog legs with ginger & spring onions was also a competent dish. not so different from what my family used to have often at ah yat turf city (now grandstand) long in the past.

#10 roast pork

#10 roast pork

#10 roast pork. all my friends liked this a lot. we had a second order. meat looked great, was tender & tasty & skin was crisp. i would say presentation & taste-wise still a tad below what i had recently at tunglok central.

#11 fried prawns with celery

#11 fried prawns with celery

#11 fried prawns with celery

#11 fried prawns with celery

#11 fried prawns with celery – passable, nothing interesting.

#12 char siew

#12 char siew

#12 char siew looked & tasted great. of the 2 dishes, my friends liked the roast pork better.

#13 abalones with mushrooms & spinach

#13 abalones with mushrooms & spinach

#13 abalones with mushrooms & spinach

#13 abalones with mushrooms & spinach

#13 abalones with mushrooms & spinach

#13 abalones with mushrooms & spinach

#13 abalones with mushrooms & spinach. this was quite good dish also. the braising sauce though was nothing like the really good brown sauce served in good cantonese restaurants say ah yat abalones forum restaurant for abalone dishes (also goose web & spiky sea cucumber dishes) or at chao yue xuan.

#14 deep-fried ilapia in thai sauce

#14 deep-fried tilapia in thai sauce

#14 deep-fried tilapia in thai sauce was an interesting dish. it had less meat so some friends preferred the soon hock dish to this.

#15 scallops in yam nest

#15 scallops in yam nest

#15 scallops in yam nest. scallops were average & overall this dish was poor, below par, not even comparable with a good yam basket say at ah orh w/o expensive scallops.

#16 chai poh with steamed bean curd

#16 chai poh minced pork with steamed bean curd

#16 chai poh minced pork with steamed bean curd, i think this was really poor.

#17 sweet & sour soup

#17 sweet & sour soup

#17 sweet & sour soup. this was a pretty good soup.

#18 pepper crab

#18 pepper crab

#18 pepper crab

#18 pepper crab

#18 pepper crab was quite the usual seafood restaurant standard, for sure better than spices cafe.

pulut hitam

pulut hitam

aloe vera & jelly

aloe vera & jelly

aloe vera & jelly

aloe vera & jelly

self service dessert were quite standard. aloe vera with jelly was quite refreshing & pulut hitam the usual.

overall, food here was better than ban heng orchard central but not as good as (service especially) peach gardens miramar (menu had wider spread though at ban heng harbour front). for S$28.80++ pax it was 2/3 the price of spices cafe w/o the lobster. i guess quite an ok deal.

c.h.e.f andy

Protected: RI G20 23pax Dinner Get-Together @ Ah Orh on 20Feb2014

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Great Teochew Food 23pax Dinner Get-Together @ Ah Orh on 20Feb2014

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teochew braised duck

had our largest G20 gathering last evening at ah orh at jalan bukit merah on 20.2.2014. 🙂

it was the handy work of 1 of our friends, with his megawatt smile & shining hallo…lol…especially his ability to ring in the gals. we had 23pax (including 3 ladies) on 3 tables, a meeting (or eating!) record! it was 25, but 1 was held up in a meeting, another was ill.

ah orh had mixed reviews & mostly dated. most thought it was expensive for the food (it may still be probably but it often depends on food ordered).  anyhow there was a deal.com offer & the organiser bought 3 vouchers of S$150 worth at S$97.50 each – 1 voucher was allowed for each table. 🙂

some friends went early to order the dishes. we had in total 9 dishes & the cost came to S$23+ all-in (about S$180+ per table) after redeeming the vouchers, so it was in fact very good value-for-money even considering that we did not order the usual teochew pomfret, cold crab etc.

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deep-fried fish skin

there was deep-fried fish skin as table starter. pretty good!

teochew braised duck

teochew braised duck

#1 the braised duck platter (top photo & above) was good – moist, flavourful. i would say as good as imperial treasure teochew & better than muliangzai liang kee & chui huay lim. 🙂 the lor bah (braised belly pork) was good too.

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fishmaw soup

#2 fishmaw soup was tasty, but maybe just average. the one at beng thin we had recently was substantially better.

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ter kar tan (pig trotter jelly)

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ter kar tan (pig trotter jelly)

#3 the ter kar tan (pig trotter jelly) was very good – firm, flavourful. there was also good chilli & “seng ni cho” 蒜泥醋 dip. this was as good as chui huay lim, imperial treasure teochew & crystal jade.

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yam basket

#4 the yam basket was i supposed really excellent for this dish – yam was tasty & very crisp outside yet “sang” inside & very good combination in texture & taste with the fillings. a very good dish though yam basket not my favourite. 🙂

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kailan with ti poh

#5 the kailan with ti poh was competent. vegetable was fresh & crunchy. the ti poh (a teochew favourite condiment not so often seen) added to the attraction but perhaps the wok hae was kind of lacking a bit.

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teck kia fish with bitter gourd in black bean sauce

#6 not sure about this teck kia fish (竹仔鱼) dish, certainly competent but the fish had more bones than meat. at kok sen, they used some fish head & added chunky fish meat which worked well to accompany the black bean sauce & was much better overall by comparison.

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hae chor

#7 hae chor was quite ok, competent, nothing special.

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orh luah

#8 orh luah was pretty good, large fleshy oysters.

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orh nee

#9 orh nee was better than expected, tasty, i liked it but would have been better with pumpkin though. 🙂

company & fellowship were the key in our get-togethers of course, but we did come to eat & overall the food was quite good & the price of $23pax very reasonable after the deal.com offer, not much different from say muliangzai liang kee, and food we had here were better. 🙂 w/o the offer, it would cost about $30pax which was still not a bad deal, about same as what we had at shin yeh at our last 20pax dinner.

c.h.e.f. andy