Lo Hei Dinner @ Cafe De Hong Kong 新天地小厨
Chap Goh Mei is fast approaching and we’ll have another feast on Valentine’s Day! Geez, I’m getting really fat here and soon I’ll need a good detox 😉
Adrian, May, Ranjita, Ross, Yap and I meet up occasionally but seldom all together. Not these days anyway… All of us have our work commitments and it is hard to round up everyone, especially on a weekday. The last time we had a meal together was when we went to Na Na for Thai food.
When I liaised with May and Ross (Adrian called Ranjita) the day before, she asked what’s the occasion. Well, we have to lo hei to boost our luck, I replied.
So here we are, at Cafe de Hong Kong. It was their first time eating here and they enjoyed the meal especially the French toasts which we had at the end of meal. I know it’s weird having toasts for dessert but I’d insisted as this item is the best in Singapore. Ranjita was absolutely smitten by it. May nodded her head in agreement and Adrian blurted “Shiooook!” after savouring it.
Since this was our CNY dinner gathering, we must of course have Lo Hei. Yeah, we’ll eat this till Chap Goh Mei arrives and then we’ll only get to this again next Spring. We never tire of eating this salad as it has auspicious symbolism.
Francis, the owner of Cafe de Hong Kong recommended some dishes that I have not tried before and I must say he did help us make some very good choices, nothing ostentatious, just good old home-style comfort food. I think he could guess we’ve had too much rich food during this festive.
After the lady performed the ritual chant of well-wishing when serving the Prosperity Yu Sheng with Salmon, we tossed to greater heights!
Adrian, May, Ranjita, Ross and Yap tossing for their luck.
The lottery this Friday is S$10 million!
Who knows who will become the next multi-millionaire?
Gotta find a lottery ticketing booth soon.
Deep-fried Crispy Fish Skin.
Everyone concurred the dish was crunchy and a much more wholesome version to keropok.
Steamed Meat Patty.
The dish had soft texture and the minced water chestnuts provided crunch.
I wanted to pinch the patty off May’s bowl while she was outside the restaurant, engaged in a long work related conversation on the phone, halfway through our dinner.
Supreme Tofu.
Homemade tofu with a thin slice of fresh scallop on top served with braised sauce and broccoli florets.
Braised Fish Head with Bittergourd.
The minute Yap bit into a meaty chunk of the chopped fish head pieces, he exclaimed, “Wah, very good wok hei!”
Yau Mak Cai with Dace Fish.
I, and later Yap, was shocked that May has never eaten Fried Dace before!
Salted Egg Prawn Ball.
The notoriously addictive French Toasts comes with a drink.
I loved the Ice Milk Tea (HK style) to go with it.
Steamed Meat Patty or steamed pork cake as family calls it is a dish my children love and we usually cook a much bigger portion. Our home recipe is simply minced pork, egg, water, light soy and white pepper powder but at Cafe de Hong Kong, they added diced water chestnuts which provided a refreshing crunch to the tender bits of minced pork and soft egg custard.
The minute Yap bit into a meaty chunk of the chopped Braised Fish Head, he exclaimed, “Wah, very good wok hei”. I should have corrected him and say “po hei” (claypot breath instead of wok) but being the period of CNY I refrained from nitpicking.
I can understand that not many people have eaten Yau Mak (a kind of crisp Chinese longish lettuce, not easily available in cze char stalls as they perish quickly and thus is not a favourite vegetables for the stall/restaurant owners to stock it) before but as a Singaporean Chinese, to have not eaten canned Fried Dace with Black Beans is almost sacrilegious. Where have you been May??? Even Yap ate this once a week when he was a student living in the USA.
The Salted Egg Prawn Balls were crisp on the outside and succulent inside. The yolk bits which had some oil, balanced the dish well. I know of places serving this dish “wet” and that’s not a good thing.
Everyone was surprised when I suggested French Toasts for dessert but after they’ve had their fill, they agreed it was “damn good” and thank me for the introduction. It was so damn good, my dinner companions started discussing among themselves if it was the cottony soft bread or the peanut butter that made the common dish special. They even speculated on where the restaurant get the bread from, lol…
Mango Pudding here is also very good but they ran out this evening. We had a platter of watermelon, on the house.
Our bill totaled S$192.50.
We were given a 10% discount.
Thank you, Francis!
Cafe de Hong Kong 新天地小厨
Address: 586 Balestier Rd,
Eastpac Building.
Singapore 329898.
Tel: (+65) 6255 3865.
Operating hours: Closed on Mondays (PERMANENTLY CLOSED FEB 2019)
Tue – Sun:
Lunch: 11.30am – 3pm
Dinner: 5.30pm – 12am
Happy eating 🙂
Click on links below to see other foods I had at Cafe de Hong Kong:
Cafe de Hong Kong
Conpoy Chicken
French Toasts
Chap Goh Mei is a Hokkien dialect meaning 15th night of the 1st month (lunisolar year) and also the last day for celebrating CNY. It is also known as Yuanxiao Jie the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day.
Click here to view post on Yuanxiao.
Coincidentally, this year’s Yuanxiao falls on the same day as the Gregorian calendar’s Valentine’s Day.
We all know what’s a cupid but do you know the story of the 月老 (月下老人 The Old Man Under The Moon)? Keep a lookout on my blog 🙂
I love crispy fried fish skin! Everything looks awesome 🙂
Lo Hei for us is over now that today is the last day. When shall we meet up for food? Lol…
after your detox! so you can prep for what’s to come…lol
anyway, anything in mind you’d like to try?
I eat anything so long as they aren’t too exotic. i need to go to canon to fix my cam first. after the cam is back we go!