Naan & Gelato!

Went to Flying Monkey on Bussorah Street for dinner with V. I've never stepped into it since I keep getting waylaid by pita and mint tea at Beirut Grill a few doors down. I like this area mostly on week day nights. The weekends can get a bit crazy and I'm not keen on shoving shoulders with so many humans. 

Tonight was nice. There were big groups having dinner indoors at the restaurant, we got a quiet corner table outside that had an overhead fan going and cooled the area. I very much prefer sitting outdoors nowadays. I'm quite used to heat and humidity. The evenings are never that bad. Hurhurhur. 

We didn't dare to order too much food. Went with a rogan josh and a dal makhani. They came with a plain and a garlic naan. More than enough to share. We weren't starving. These really hit a spot, and there wasn't any wastage of food. Such an extensive list of gins. Nice. Chose a Sipsmith and asked for a regular G&T. Two glasses of gin totally complemented the meal.

In an unusual move, since neither V nor I are dessert-sugar people, we went for dessert. Birds of Paradise has opened on the next street. I like it because it offers flavors I like — white chrysanthemum and strawberry basil. I wanted a scoop of gelato for dessert. V obliged, and bought me gelato! Wheeeee!

Seremban Siew Pau

Took Choya to visit Ryo. These two floofs are so silly. It has been less than a week since they saw each other, but they greeted each other like they've not met for a month. LOL Ryo is most comfortable at home, so we'd also pop by to say hello since Choya is perfectly fine staying at home with him too. 

N had hopped in to Malaysia last week and brought back a batch of Seremban siew bao (芙蓉燒包). She literally bought the box of bao in Seremban, and froze them. She thawed out four and heated them up for tea. N said that these bao taste the best when it's freshly baked and piping out. In this format of freezing and heating, it wouldn't do the filling or the crust justice. But that wasn't an issue for me. I've never eaten Seremban siew bao! I only have the Hong Kong style of baked BBQ pork buns for reference. 

Obviously I've never visited Seremban either. TBH, I'm woefully uneducated in Malaysian foods and its cities' local dishes because I've never bothered visiting Malaysia the moment I'm not required to. To that, I'm not interested in visiting the towns to eat whatever famous food items. I don't like durians enough to do that durian road trip either. I haven't stepped foot into Malaysia for a decade. I wouldn't be the expert of whether these bao are good. It all depends on whether you like them. Apparently Singapore has a stall selling it in Westgate Mall. Dunno if it would exist beyond this year. 

Ryo likes the crust of the siew bao. He wanted some; he lurked near us and got a few pieces of the crust. Ha! Choya came nosing at my plate. I offered a piece to Choya. She liked the smell of it better than the taste. She spat out the small bit of crust, and went to snooze in the corner. Dohhhhh. 

N was finally back in town for a bit before flying out again. It was a very good afternoon catching up with her. We could always talk while walking the dogs, but our attention is divided. We're mainly watching the floofs to make sure they don't eat random garbage off the ground or step into sharp edges. At home, we could relax and have the floofs play while keeping one eye on them. They sometimes squabble. LOL But at home, we could chat and eat mostly, and not worry too much. 

Spontaneous Chicken Biryani

J and L scored a spontaneous week day release of chicken biryani from Z @globalmatsoulkitchen, and asked us over for dinner. The man had made plans with his colleagues, so he passed on this invite, but he totally wanted his box of biryani. Hahahah. Sure. We'd save him a box. 

I happily turned up at the friends' dining table to eat. The dog was flat out snoozing after her morning pack walk. I just cleared a few deadlines and was brain dead. I was just going to get a takeout of whatever and watch something brainless on Netflix. The friends' invite was a bonus! Being able to eat with the friends was a welcome hour of easy conversation, and my stomach was happy. 😍

The friends bought four boxes. It was meant to be a box for each of us. But these boxes held super generous portions, so the three of us ended up sharing two boxes, and there were two more boxes for me to take home. I never cared much about the chicken, although Z's version and his marinade are superb. I totally wanted the skin. The gravy and mix of spices meant that the basmati was ridiculously tasty. And I'm a carb monster. Dinner totally hit a spot. I was so pleased. I also had a cautious three glasses of red.

Went home with two boxes of biryani, as well as the achar, and L's thoughtful portions of dessert for the man — a giant durian puff and an egg tart. I was also gifted a box of Roka cheese crispies, courtesy of L's mom who just got back to town. Wheeeeeee. We felt so pampered. The chicken biryani fed us the next day for lunch, and the man was thrilled to have two types of dessert for tea.