Alvinology’s family reunion dinner (团圆饭) 2011

Like last year and the year before, we had our family reunion dinner at Pu Tien Restaurant (莆田菜馆). The restaurant serves Heng Hwa (兴化) cuisine. Heng Hwa is the Chinese dialect group of my family.

We were unable to get a table at the main restaurant in Kitchener Road this year as we made our reservation late and had to settle for a table at one of their branch restaurants in NEX mall at Serangoon instead.

Along with the common Chinese New Year menu, we had the Hakka-originated, Cantonese-modified luxurious delight – Poon Choi or Pen Cai, a stewed pot filled with vegetable and lots of goodies like abalone, scallops, dried oysters, sea cucumbers and braised pork. This was accompanied with a bowl of signature smooth, springy Heng Hwa bee hoon.

The food was good as usual and the service excellent, despite the large dining crowd. Overall, we somehow still feel that the same dishes taste slightly better at the Kitchener Road restaurant.

After our reunion dinner, we headed to Kovan to check out the various florists and plant nurseries. It was drizzling slightly and past 10pm when we arrived. The vendors were offering larger and larger discounts as the clock ticks by, trying to offload the Chinese New Year plants which will become virtually worthless the next day.

My parents bought a pot of small Mandarin oranges and we headed home for the night.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone, 兔年行大运! 🙂

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