It all ends here…

The Chinese New Year celebration ends on Chap Goh Meh, the first full moon of the year on the 15th Night in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, with a scrumptious dinner not unlike the Reunion Dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

The ladies in the house were talking about having a steamboat dinner but I suggested going out to some nice restaurant instead. My missus must have felt the toll when she was cooking all the dishes for the reunion dinner that day because she readily agreed to the suggestion – after all, she’s no spring chicken anymore and all that preparation and cooking can be really tiring. My girl did not object, of course.

I did not want to go to those restaurants that we frequent a lot so I dropped by here to make the reservation on Tuesday, way ahead of the actual day, Sunday. The ladies at the restaurant elaborated on the dishes they had lined up for their Chap Goh Meh set menu for 6 persons but I did not want the tilapia in fermented beans sauce. They told me that they could substitute it with or chio (ikan bawal hitam/black pomfret)…

…but they would charge a little bit extra as this would be a more expensive fish. I had no objection to that so that night, we were served this impressive-looking dish.

It was very nice but the fish was a bit over-fried till a bit hard and crusty. My brother-in-law (yes, we did invite him and his wife to join us that night, and also my sister) kept saying that what my missus cooked for our reunion dinner – her sweet and sour or chio, was a whole lot nicer and truth be told, we also felt that what we had here would win hands down.

I also asked for our Foochow fried noodles…

…to be added to the set menu and that was an extra RM20.00. Yes, it was nice but no, it wasn’t quite like the real thing. My girl tried a bit and declared that the one here was definitely nicer.

Now, if I had to pick my favourite dish that night, it had to be this gorgeous braised pork leg…

It was absolutely delicious and everyone enjoyed it so much, especially my brother-in-law.

I liked how the ladies in the waiting staff here would ask if we wanted to take any photographs first before they cut everything up into more manageable chunks…

Another dish worth a special mention would be the yam basket…

I thought the basket was the best that I had had anywhere – very nicely done, indeed.

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Those green vegetables are supposed to be good for those with kidney problems but somehow or other, I am not that fond of it. Usually, when they give a sprig of that with some noodles, I would just leave it behind, untouched.

Last but not least, this “fake sharks’ fins” dish…

…where they used sea cucumber instead of the forbidden stuff was pretty good. It did not cross my mind at the time but I could have asked for a bit of black vinegar to toss everything with and that would bring the taste of the dish to a whole new level.

I was glad that I went to make the reservation early because by Thursday or Friday, there was word going round that all the Chinese restaurants, including those in the major hotels, were all fully booked for Chap Goh Meh…and true enough, the place was packed that night. The cost of the package/set menu was only RM238.00, plus another RM20.00 for the noodles and no, they did not charge me extra for the fish. I thought that was very reasonable – after all, give and take a little bit here and a little bit there, it was, on the whole, an enjoyable meal, no question about that.

JING DU RESTAURANT (2.293190, 111.835860)…