Mother's Day Lunch

After getting home at 4+am last nite, I did not get much sleep b4 having to wait up this morning for our Mother's Day lunch.

They had planned to go to Tung Lok East Coast but when my mom called yesterday, it was fully booked. Her second choice was a steamboat buffet that was a first come first served, no reservations allowed place at Tiong Bahru.

My sis and I playing with the camera in the car while waiting for our parents. Dress was given to me from my sis, bought from Beijing!

We went to pick my bro and Ash before making our way down. We dropped them off to get us a seat while we went to park the car. However, they found out that the steamboat buffet that we wanted was only during dinner. For lunch it was a porridge/congee buffet. They didn't think my mom would want it so they went to the restaurant next door to get a table.

By the time we got there, they were already seated. Talk about irony ... after a week of authentic Beijing food, we were now about to have our meal at Lao Beijing. But the greatest news?

NOT BUFFET!

Lao Beijng is part of the Tung Lok grp so I knew the lunch would not be bad.

I thought it was decorated quite nicely. Unique and not chi-na at all.

My Sis with one of her new buys.

The little snack/appetizer on every table. Its long beans with peppers and tofu .... not bad, a little sour, sweet.

Spicy Beef Noddles. Think its the oil that made it spicy. It was ok.

Dan Dan Mian. Not at all what we expected. It was in a soup! I thought it was supposed to be dry? Nothing fantastic.

Chicken with Peanuts. Not bad, I ate most of the chilies and spring onions.

My fave ... 小笼包! They look a little too triangular but they tasted great. The skin was thin but none of them broke. There was enough soup in each 包 and the meat inside was tender. Just wish they were bigger!

Ginger and Vinegar that goes with the 小笼包 but I ate a lot of it throughout the whole meal.

Some steamed 包. Plain, nothing special. Might have been better if they had been fried :)

Braised Duck. This was not bad too. The duck was tender and tasty ... I ate most of the bamboo shoots, and spring onions in this dish :)

Ma Po Tofu. Yummy. The tofu were fried individually first so each had a firm outer layer and it wasn't all mush.

Shrimp .... u guess it, I attacked the spring onions here too. The shrimp were nice and crisp and we were given a satisfying portion.

Next was this Spicy Beef Soup/Gravy thing. It was really spicy and the beef was quite tender. Love the bean sprouts and zucchini.

We then waited for our last dish and my bro got bored ....

So he decided to insert the chilies from the previous dish into his chopstick.

His finished project .... what a childish thing to do, but it did entertain all of us, even my mom who offered the chilies on her plate.

We waited and waited and our rice dish still hadn't arrive. So we decided to just cancel the order. We paid the bill and then it was off for dessert!

We made our way to Tiong Bahru Market for some ice cold desserts. I decided that I didn't need it so I just had a couple bites from my sis and bro's bowl.

As we were walking around the food center after that, look what we spotted ....

Its that store that was featured on the Channel 8 show "Buzzing Cashiers" It did have a pretty long line for 3pm on a Sun. Unfortunately we were all too full and did not want to wait in line either.

It was then back home ..... I think I need a nap.