Chopsticking

"Nono i don't need a fork, my chopsticking has improved dramatically'

This is no word of a lie. Oh how they laughed when I painstakingly practiced with chopsticks at my desk, moving little paper balls from one notepad to the next and back again. When it took me so long to eat meals that my food would go cold, or when I became so committed to the cause, if I didn't have my chopsticks to hand, I would practice with 2 pens. Evidently This was not something I took lightly. 

Well those days are behind me now. On Friday a group of us from work went for a Chinese lunch to celebrate Jens birthday (a week early). It was a bustling little restaurant near our office with a traditional menu and, unusually for Singapore, a pace of service that left you little time to actually think.

There was a sort of dual-concept to this place- there were menus on the table from which you ticked boxes, popped down a tally of how much you wanted, and it them came whizzing back out of the kitchen before you could google what you were in for. They also had ladies walking round with trays of food, perhaps for the more whimsical of the crowd, where they just came and tried to flog you random plates of stuff at your table. 

I warn you now, chicken feet look deceptively like chilli beef.

Here is a selection of what we had...

steamed pork and prawn dumplings

Steamed things with Scallops in the middle, described by Jen as "Fat noodles"

steamed salmon and rice

errrrm?

noodles and dumplings

Noodles, agg and sausage thing.

non Chinese birthday cake

Recognise those curly noodles? Yeah I did too- and then my suspicions were confirmed, these are essentially what we know as super noodles, they serve them in restaurants here. No shiny blue bachelors packets in sight.

I actually had shark fin soup (which someone told me is illegal as it is endangered??) but I forgot to take a photo of it didn't want to take a pic incase the evidence sparked the attention of the fish police.

So Chinese for me has now progressed form Pecking duck, prawn crackers and blue dragon sweet chilli sauce...onwards and upwards

XXX