I must be the only person I know who can go to a single place for two hours, take a bunch of pictures, and then, have them all come out looking like they were snapped at varying places, and varying times.
Don't ask me how it happened, but that afternoon I was at the same table on the same seat, under the same lights, in broad daylight, and then this happened.
Four different pictures looking like they were shot at different places, different lights, different times.
I shall have to be a bit more patient next time.
And since I have to be patient, I shall also have to mollify the dining companion a little bit more.
Because very often is it not the case that we are in fact very hungry by the time we come to the table for a dim sum buffet?
That's how we were that afternoon when we turned up at the newly renovated Yum Cha place in Chinatown, because an early breakfast had we, and the buffet really began at the standard Yum Cha time of 3pm.
Fortunately service here is fast, experienced, and effective. A quick fire of the temperature gun and off we were directed to our table for two by the window. It is a very good thing that their staff are alert, too, because even though no one had realized that our order paper had accidentally dropped onto the floor whilst we were handing it over to the wait staff, their constant confirmation about our orders had all of us wondering why our orders were not in the system and oh dear, could we rewrite....
At that precise moment when we did the dramatic sigh and picked up the pencil, the eagle-eyed tea-pouring senior staff realized that the order paper was in fact under the table. :)
All good and fine, and we had a lovely meal that afternoon.
This time it was a conscious decision to have more of the steamed dim sum than the fried ones, so amongst all the dishes there were for us to choose from, we had two plates of silky cheong fun- one with prawn, one with char siew- a basket of fluffy char siew bao, two baskets of xiao long baos, one basket of mushroom bao (which is really a veggie bao that has been shaped and burnt to look like a shiitake mushroom) and maybe another one or two baskets of the steamed stuff that I suddenly cannot recall.
They're all favorites of mine, in particular the xiao long baos and the char siew baos. Both dishes are exceptionally heartwarming to me. With the bao, I break table etiquette and eat them with my hands. With xiao long baos, I break etiquette too- nibble off a bit of the skin, slurp the soup carefully out from the bao, eat up the skin, then bump out the ball of meat onto the spoon.
Of course, we had the fried stuff too. Very difficult it is to come for dim sum buffets and not have at least one fried item, so besides the pot stickers, or as the menu describes, dumplings with meat and chives, we also had crispy yam puffs, and scallop rolls in filo dough.
The yam puffs are full, very full, of soft, creamy yam only slightly sweet. The scallop rolls, however, do take a bit of challenge if you're following table etiquette, what with all the delicate filo strips dropping down on the plate with every single bite. :)
But, hey, scallops!
There was a basket of beancurd rolls, and there was a plate of egg tarts, three cute little ones which I had all to myself, and both of which I didn't take a picture, because by the time they arrived, I'd already put away the camera, deciding instead that it was time I should focus on the food.
Don't ask me how it happened, but that afternoon I was at the same table on the same seat, under the same lights, in broad daylight, and then this happened.
Four different pictures looking like they were shot at different places, different lights, different times.
I shall have to be a bit more patient next time.
And since I have to be patient, I shall also have to mollify the dining companion a little bit more.
Because very often is it not the case that we are in fact very hungry by the time we come to the table for a dim sum buffet?
That's how we were that afternoon when we turned up at the newly renovated Yum Cha place in Chinatown, because an early breakfast had we, and the buffet really began at the standard Yum Cha time of 3pm.
Fortunately service here is fast, experienced, and effective. A quick fire of the temperature gun and off we were directed to our table for two by the window. It is a very good thing that their staff are alert, too, because even though no one had realized that our order paper had accidentally dropped onto the floor whilst we were handing it over to the wait staff, their constant confirmation about our orders had all of us wondering why our orders were not in the system and oh dear, could we rewrite....
At that precise moment when we did the dramatic sigh and picked up the pencil, the eagle-eyed tea-pouring senior staff realized that the order paper was in fact under the table. :)
All good and fine, and we had a lovely meal that afternoon.
This time it was a conscious decision to have more of the steamed dim sum than the fried ones, so amongst all the dishes there were for us to choose from, we had two plates of silky cheong fun- one with prawn, one with char siew- a basket of fluffy char siew bao, two baskets of xiao long baos, one basket of mushroom bao (which is really a veggie bao that has been shaped and burnt to look like a shiitake mushroom) and maybe another one or two baskets of the steamed stuff that I suddenly cannot recall.
They're all favorites of mine, in particular the xiao long baos and the char siew baos. Both dishes are exceptionally heartwarming to me. With the bao, I break table etiquette and eat them with my hands. With xiao long baos, I break etiquette too- nibble off a bit of the skin, slurp the soup carefully out from the bao, eat up the skin, then bump out the ball of meat onto the spoon.
Of course, we had the fried stuff too. Very difficult it is to come for dim sum buffets and not have at least one fried item, so besides the pot stickers, or as the menu describes, dumplings with meat and chives, we also had crispy yam puffs, and scallop rolls in filo dough.
The yam puffs are full, very full, of soft, creamy yam only slightly sweet. The scallop rolls, however, do take a bit of challenge if you're following table etiquette, what with all the delicate filo strips dropping down on the plate with every single bite. :)
But, hey, scallops!
There was a basket of beancurd rolls, and there was a plate of egg tarts, three cute little ones which I had all to myself, and both of which I didn't take a picture, because by the time they arrived, I'd already put away the camera, deciding instead that it was time I should focus on the food.