old friends hokkien food

I had lunch today with some old friends and ex-colleagues at Microsoft. I must be 100% predictable since they chose my favorite hokkien restaurant to whet my appetite. During lunch, I told them of some of the places i ate during the past 2 weeks - bak chor mee at Hong Lim food court, Nasi Lemak at Adam Rd, White Pepper Crab at No Signboard Geylang, etc. It was also quite predictable. Hmmm

You know what is coming - braised belly pork. I eat pork every so often, but it is not the meat i would miss if i had to turn vegetarian. The two exceptions to the rule are (1) roasted crackling of pork whether chinese "siew yoke" style or western sunday brunch style and (2) braised belly of pork. There is no point in trying to deny that the braised belly of pork in a dark delicious yummy syrupy soy sauce and a fluffy bun to fill it, is to die for. Being hokkien myself, it is very hard to resist. My lunch partners in crime however appeared to have grown a large conscience about "kong bak" (as it is aptly described in hokkien). I ate 3 fluffy buns filled with "kong bak". And yet we still had leftovers! I promised to run another 4 km this evening at Fitness First to rid myself of the fatty tissue. I ended up sitting like a couch potato writing this blog. Over the past 2 week, i have added 2 kg to my waistline. Over lunch today, another 1 kg was added but I don't care.

The hokkien noodles was covered with a gravy sauce and served with dark vinegar was yummy. The oyster omelette ("or chien") was crispy and the oysters were flavorful and plentiful. The piece de resistance is the "oni" - a sticky gooey sweet yam paste made with hokkien love, mixed with gingko seeds and pumpkin. I am not crazy about most chinese desserts but this one is a cross between sticky date pudding and mashed up nonya kuehs. It is delicious! The only other asian dessert which comes close is braised tapioca served with coconut sauce or mango and sticky rice pudding.


Besides all this talk of food, the company was delightful as usual. Kathy was very animated with lots of stories to share. Rebecca was perfect company with her super memory. Millie was the gracious host ordering all the right dishes. And jonathan sang a cantonese song in the middle of dinner. What else can you ask for in life, except lunch with good old friends and hokkien food? Not much else apparently, since the food is still sitting in my stomach at 1am in the morning...!