My Own Siew Kang Dinner - 收工宴

it had many years that my friends have siew kang dinner. sort of a tradition for us (ex-WD colleagues). siew kang dinner is actually a dinner to celebrate the closure of the year and a job well done in the past year. i am not able to tell how many years we had siew kang dinner but it would be probably at least 12 years. we went separate ways since 1999, we always have this dinner and many of us never fail to attend, myself included. i missed last year's and this year's that is today as i am in china. no one wanted to buy me a ticket home for the dinner... haha.

these pictures were taken during the siew kang dinner 2005. we were glad that we had ks gouw joining for that year. it was his first skd with us and many of us never get to see him since 1999 after wd close it plant in singapore.

these pictures were taken during the siew kang dinner 2007. during this year, 4 of us are preparing to go oversea to work or to stay.

anyway, i thought since it is the last day of work for the year, we (my family and i) would go for a good dinner and celebrate siew kang.

we went back to the deep blue singapore seafood that we went couple of months back. this time round, we brought the camera so pictures will follow in the entry.

as usual the place was not crowded and i do believe it is the cause of the economy crisis. we requested for seating in the 2nd floor and the server lead us to a room without minimum charges. usually, restaurant in china charge a minimum charges for having meal in a room.

the room was cozy and big enough for a group of 6 to 8 dinners. it also looks out to the lake with very nice view.

two starters, the chicken mid wings and the sotong you tiao that cost 18rmb and 38rmb respectively. the flavor is very typical singapore style.

mee goreng cost 38rmb, we requested to be less spicy and indeed it is not too spicy. good dish.

this chicken curry is too spicy. i did not expect it to be this spicy at all. not too sure if the chef added too much chilly or it is normal. my mom cook chicken curry is spicy but never this spicy. could it be my taste bud issue? maybe not!!! anyway, this dish cost 36rmb.

this cuttle fish is what my wife love. nothing special to me but my wife finished it all. damage of 68rmb, the most expensive dish.

soya braised pork. taste was very local, i mean singapore local. it was cook just nice, not overcook where it become hard and tough when you chewed on it. we finished it except the fat between the lean and the skin... haha... wanted to be a little healthy. damage of 48rmb.

after the dinner we had our desert. it is the yam paste with ginkgo seed. although it looked small but it is right portion. tasted yummy but need a little sweeter. cost 10rmb each.

overall the dinner was very good with a damage of 300rmb but i knew that i could get a cash coupon of 50rmb discount for every 300rmb spent on the internet. so, the actual damage was only 250rmb (about S$55). very well spent for a family of 3.

i would recommend those who want to try some singapore flavour food to go to this restaurant. the cost is slight higher but it served with quality. the restaurant is having a promotion coupon of 50rmb discount for every 300rmb spent or 100rmb discount for every 500rmb spent till end of february.

eat eat eat eat

last week was a makan week for me, i had been having good meal for 2 days in a row, a total of 4 sumptuous meals with lot of calories and fats. haha... fortunately i rode 80km on saturday to get ride of those unwanted and unhealthy stuff.

thursday lunch at (吴地人家) wu di ren jia which served mainly suzhounese food. it is an engineering birthday celebration lunch for our boss. this is a regularly lunch that we would have whenever it is one of our engineering managers birthday. we had good meal.

on the same night, boss invited his staff and families to (美美) mei mei at rainbow walk for a dinner. the arrangement was good, kids were sat at their own place with pizza, fries and other stuff, while adults enjoy a good quality chinese food.


so, that was it for thursday, 2 chinese meals in a row.

friday was a shutdown day so the whole test group went for a annual dinner celebration. we had a lamb feast during lunch. i was told that lamb is very good for health during winter time specially because lamb is "heaty" food or high calories. we went to (藏书) cangshu which is another 5km west of (木渎) mudu. cangshu was a place where most of the lamb restaurant located. i counted like 10 restaurants with the character (羊) lamb on the sign board.


anyway, here were the food from various parts of the lamb. some of dishes tasted good while other were a little to my dislike.


after much food, it was time for beer. the chinese were really good at drinking. each (including the ladies in the group) could drink 5 bottles of (青岛) qingdao beer. back home in singapore, we seldom drink beer during lunch, it would be beer after dinner. here in china, beer can be served anytime. after breakfast, lunch or dinner and of course supper. drinking is a very important activity for social event here, usually one should not ever reject a toast from someone, it quite rude to do that.


before heading to our next destination for a afternoon tea and card games, we took a group picture outside the restaurant for remembrance.


after the test annual dinner during lunch time, i headed back home to pickup my family and we decided we should go for a japanese dinner. in suzhou, we had couple of japanese meal before but usually are the lower cost type (such as ajisen). this time, we went to a more posh restaurant. we had curry rice, terrayaki chicken set, western set kids meal, crispy tofu and chawamushi. every dishes were good other than the curry rice that had a lot of fat in the beef that the restaurant use. i had to separate the fat before i eat the dish. this was the best japanese meal i had in suzhou though it cost a little bit more, partially it is due to the ambience of the restaurant. the total damage was 167rmb (S$35).


by the way, jack neo's chinese new year movie is showing in singapore soon. usually the j-team shot commercial advising movies goers to switch off their phone before the start of the movie. here is the commercial "do not use the phone" that you must watch. very funny lah!!!

心血来潮 - Dinner

心血来潮 炒米粉给家人吃

i am in a good mood today so i cook for my family. since we came to china, this is my second time that i cook. the first was the nasi-lemak and now the fried bee hoon. i would said it taste 6/10 but my wife loVE the bee hoon.

the ingredients are chinese sausage, ham, egg, lettuce (cai xin would be a better choice) and of course bee hoon (rice noodle)

here a picture

as hubby, sometime we would need to cook one or dish for the family instead of the wife who usually is the homemaker and the cook. if we cook, the wife usually would appreciate the effort.

good dinner

it's been sometimes that we had such a good dinner. it's good to us does not meet it will be good to you because of the flavor. i mean, this dinner is very singaporean.

we went to deep blue singapore seafood located at modern plaza. we had been thinking about going there for dinner for quite sometimes but either could not find the time or never come to our mind when we want to have dinner. it's also part of a celebration for my son birthday.

alright, the place is very clean and well decorated. it was empty tonight. i mean literally empty. we are the only family in the dinning area that could accommodate 20 other families. i was chatting with the manager and he claims that it was partly due to the cold weather as well as the financial crisis that is facing everyone around the world. throughout the whole dinner from 6pm to 7:30pm, there is another lady came for dinner.

we had chilli crab (1/2kg), bbq chicken middle wing, chicken soup, asparagus with mushroom, crispy cruzzle, mee goreng, deep fried bun (to go with chili crab source), otta. the chili crab which is the main dish was good not perfect. it still missing something... i prefer chili crab from jumbo. jumbo chilli crab had never disappoint me before. the next good one was the chicken soup, it is very delicious, one of the best soup i had so far. crispy cruzzle tasted as good as those i had in singapore, crispy outside and soft inside. in actual fact, every dish was good except the otta. taste funny and expensive.


overall damage was 338rmb (S$70) but very well spent. i would definitely go back to deep blue singapore seafood.