Friday nite eating nite

I am more sensitive towards colours and shapes than smell/ taste, if I am asked to rank my "five senses". That is why i am never good at ordering food and choosing restaurants. I hate to do that too, so i always stick to one restaurant if i find it passable (with healthy food/preparation of food is clean ) . In the little town which i am living now in China, i only like to eat gyozas from a nearby restaurant but i began to feel sick of it and stop visiting the restaurant when I found that their food is unable to maintain the quality i want. Recently however, one of my good friend and colleague from another dept (he is from Singapore too and generous and like to enjoy good things in life) , begin to bring me out for dinner every Friday night. I then realised that if i had bothered to explore further, there are many good eating places in this little town with decent food and reasonable price ( not more that 10 SGD ) - and I have wasted 1 year eating Gyozas. On that one street crowded with many restaurants ( mind you Taiwan Ding Tai Fung has a branch here too) , we have gone to the Chinese /Korean/Taiwanese restaurants and all were amazingly good, far surpassing my basic expectations. The Taiwanese restraurant i visited last night is worth 4 stars out of 5 stars and it will do well even if in Singapore.

The tea they served is not chinese black tea but english tea served chilled. My colleague ordered:

1. fried doughstick in honey
Terrificly good! The doughstick inside is filled with some white meat which i cannot tell what it is but, the doughstick skin is elastic and sweet. It tastes great whether hot or cold.

2. century eggs with tofu
Similar to Japanese dish cold tofu. The cold tofu in small cubes is special , very solid texture unlike normal smooth and soft tofu we used to have and the century eggs tasted very light , topped with a layer of gravy and minch dried fish which is hot and sweet at the same time. We later managed to guess that the hot flavour comes from garlic , although there are no signs of garlic in it.

3. braised beef with vege
Average among the dishes , but i like it as it not oily and salty, which is unusual in China.

4. fried vege
Simple and good. Just like cooking by my mother.

5. Hot and sour soup ( Szechuan )
Besides what i have tried in Singapore with Piggy at Tianjin Gyoza at Chinatown , this is among the best.

Dessert is English Tea Jelly with milk topping. Unthinkable to see this in Shenzhen as China restaurant is never creative, with the taste of tea only and Jellylike texture, it is light and not too sweet. Perfect ending. We later found out the chef is from Taiwan, no wonder.

And i want to do this every Friday night from now on , and i hope i will not turn into a pig like poor Mcdull.


Darby