Never has it been, I tell you, that I have spent the entire weekend of a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning trying to write a post that, for reasons unknown, just won't let itself be written.
I cannot tell just how many times it has been since I have attempted this post but let me just say that I'm reaching the end of my line and if this one last attempt doesn't make it, that's it, I'm giving it up.
A little incomprehensible, but perhaps, in this world of unknowns, there might really be some memories that won't let themselves be surfaced.
The question, I ask, is why.
Why has this hotpot of a Christmas Eve at Cafe Jubilant in Millennia Walk become so difficult to write?
Why is it that the words won't come?
It wasn't as if the meal wasn't good or that I hadn't had a nice time.
On the contrary, I had enjoyed the meal very much, and- like all the hotpots I have had the privilege to go to, had had a very pleasant time.
Cafe Jubilant sits at one corner of Millennia Walk on the site where the food court used to be. When it actually appeared, honestly, I don't know. It is as if one day the food court was there, next day it was not, and then one fine day, this hotpot place appeared, and here we are now, standing with a queue outside waiting for the buffet hour to begin.
This place had been introduced to me by a friend.
He had seen the brochure and the poster and thought the hotpot buffet a very good deal, so we went.
I was quietly glad- in recent months I had grown to love hotpots- and wouldn't I mind having a really nice one to celebrate the season?
So we got ourselves into the queue.
The queue began moving fast once the hour hit.
No sooner had we registered and paid that they brought us to our table. Once seated, the servers came around pushing a trolley on which there were them individual little pots for each diner, and plastic jars of soup bases from which we could choose from.
I don't know which soup I took.
Very likely it might have been tonkotsu- besides seaweed, it is the only soup base I prefer when it comes to boiling all the meats and the like.
Whilst the soup boiled, my friend placed orders for our meats, after which we crossed over to the cooked food counter where we helped ourselves to the foods we wanted, and liked.
Cafe Jubilant has a range of cooked foods that, whilst being curated in a certain sense, carries a sense of abundance and overflowing presence that will make any hungry diner feel satisfied.
There was a big pot of what I think is braised pork belly.
Then there was a pot of steaming white rice.
I can't remember just what the other foods at the counter were, but if I'm not wrong, there were a couple pieces of fried chicken, some other servings of meat, and all these finger food that you see on them plates here.
In case you're wondering, yep, both plates are mine.
I liked the sweet potato rolls and the youtiao so much I went back for a second round.
And I would have wanted the spring rolls, but by that time it had almost run out, and whatever was left in the platter seemed a bit soggy...
I guess everyone eats their share of cooked food at different times.
Some have their cooked plates before the soup gets boiled, or whilst they wait for all the ingredients in their pot to cook.
Others, like me, space it out.
I began with the piece of chicken, then the spring roll.
But because by then the pot had begun to boil, so it was a while before I tried out the sweet potato roll and discovered it were that which I really liked.
One can't fill up on cooked food when you're at a hotpot buffet, however, so whilst I slowly worked my way through the roll, I split that with the pork belly slices and the beef slices that my friend had ordered.
There were many things in the pot this afternoon.
The one thing you don't see is the meat.
It isn't that we didn't have enough, just that I never let the meats soak long enough inside the pot to take the picture.
What's more, my friend had ordered different things at different times, so whilst we had begun with trays of pork and beef, by the latter part, we had thrown in a couple of big prawns as well.
It didn't matter to me that we had mostly meats and not seafood.
I was just satisfied with all the meats that I had, whether they'd be chicken, pork, or beef.
It is often recommended that the meats be dipped into the sauces and condiments made available at the counter, but this afternoon we had our meats with Greek-style yogurt, miso, and garlic powder. I don't think I took any of the condiments or the sauces, save, maybe the sesame sauce (peanut sauce?) which is the only one I like and the only one I take.
But if you think the meats were all we had, well, no.
I got ourselves some really good ingredients from the chilled food counter as well.
It would be silly not to.
Especially since the variety they have here at Cafe Jubilant is wonderful.
Nearly every good hotpot place today comes with the selections of green leafy vegetables (some more, some less). Many places too have the big leaf vegetables of lettuce, cabbage, all coming in with various shades of green. Of course, one can't go without the offerings of the colorful vegetables- the carrots, corn, mushrooms, radishes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, taro, and the like. And then, for sure, there are the fun hotpot ingredients- the ones that all come frozen at the supermarket and which I sometimes hesitate whether to take or not because they fill me up quick.
Today I took.
So much was the variety that it had me standing a while at the counters trying to decide between the lobster balls, the prawn balls, the various kinds of tofu, and everything else which I now cannot remember, but eventually from this section I got myself two pieces of cheese tofu.
Honestly I ought to take more of the white silky tofu or the round egg tofu but somehow the tongs always seem to gravitate towards the (processed) cheese tofu rather than anything else fresher.
Gotta admit though, they look very pretty in the pot.
Same way too the vegetables look pretty in the pot.
At another time I might have gone for spinach or nai bai even, but I can never get enough of lettuces, cabbages, and Chinese cabbage, so it were them that I took this afternoon.
Not just one plate, mind, probably two or three.
Sometimes I feel like I eat more of them vegetables than meat.
I love how the lettuce and cabbage soak up the soup whilst cooking in the pot.
I also love how the mushy, soft texture of the vegetable absorbs the flavors and bursts out inside my mouth once I take a bite.
It being a hotpot I don't have to worry about the vegetables- especially the stems- not being soft enough for me to enjoy. (If they aren't soft enough, I just throw them back into the pot to boil.)
Perhaps it is the fact that I can control the cooking time that makes veggies in hotpot so special.
On one hand I don't have to take them out too early.
On the other hand, I don't have to wait until they turn yellow before I take them out. I can take them out, drop them inside my bowl, and let them warm up the cooked meats already sitting inside the bowl. These I usually take out early and then leave them in there.
My picture here shows two pieces of bean curd skin.
Honestly, I don't know why they're there.
My tongs don't usually go for the bean curd skin but perhaps today I had wanted to try out both texture and taste of soy with the creamy rich porky taste of tonkotsu.
The one thing I know I certainly did help myself to were the noodles. Offhand now I can't tell what kind of noodles they were.
For sure I can tell you they weren't the instant kind- you don't come to a hotpot place with all these ingredients and take instant noodle.
It might have been ramen, or egg noodle, which, after kuay teow and udon, is another favorite noodle of mine. I love the color, the texture, the way I can chuck the whole square into the soup and let it boil until soft soft the way I like my noodles to be.
The sight of all these ramen noodles inside the little pot actually does make me happy.
Even if they be long swallowed all three and a half months ago.
There are much more food from this place that I will want to try the next time I come.
If this time I had had the taro (which, let me say, is also a fairly unusual food for me at the hotpot) next time there'll be more ingredients that I want to have.
Of course I'm also to make sure I have enough room for the dessert.
It isn't extensive here- I can't recall if they have ice cream- but there was mango pudding, almond pudding, and a gorgeous selection of fruits that I'm sure there was watermelon that I helped myself to.
