We took the parentals to O'maJ for dinner. It's the only restaurant where Choya can come with and the parentals would be comfortable eating at. Otherwise they will never be able experience dining out or hanging out with Choya outside of the home. The parentals do not do well anywhere in Singapore or the region without air-conditioning. We love the restaurant's food. But knowing the parentals' conservative tastebuds, they might not, so we warned them to lower their expectations, or prep some supper for themselves after.
There're some current seasonal menu items that we had been curious about, but we didn't have sufficient stomach space to try. Now that we have a table of four, we pre-ordered the grouper with garlic velouté and Nam Yu roast chicken (腐乳燜雞, or more precisely, ‘南乳’ with fermented red rice yeast). Those dishes require at least three days’ advance notice so that they could prep, i.e. source for the fish, grab the ingredients and brine that chicken. We also ordered a portion of the spaghetti bolognese and a small cut of steak for the parentals to taste. As much as we would have loved to do a beef tomahawk, it wasn't feasible without two more additional stomachs.
The Nam Yu roast chicken was brilliant. Gorgeously marinated with fermented red rice yeast. The man loves his chicken, and was so impressed that the marinade went all the way into the bone. It was served with broccoli and glutinous rice and purple cabbage. We made a special request for plain white Japanese rice for the parentals. The chicken came last, and by then, we were stuffed. We couldn't finish it, and packed it home. It made for a delicious lunch for the man at the office the next day.
I was totally gunning for the fish. I had earlier requested for the fish to be served with its sauce separately, and O'maJ obliged. None of us like fish drenched in sauce, not even to sit in it, especially not western cream sauces. I can deal with lemongrass and lime spicy gravy Thai style, or Teochew/Hong Kong style soy. Other than those, I prefer my fish to come as plain as possible. When fish is done well, it really doesn't require additional garnish. Not to me. We were so pleased with beautifully filleted grouper. It was perfect on its own. I didn't even need extra salt or pepper. That garlic velouté also went well with the broccoli from the chicken!
There was an easy bottle of pinot noir to go with dinner. I drank most of it. Hahaha. The evening was made lovelier when Scoopy came in, and our friends also popped in with Cookie, and another set came with their newly adopted dog Moshi. We haven't seen them for a bit, and when Moshi was still a puppy, they took the her to Baybeats earlier in the year. That was so cute. She's a little more grown now, still a little skittish, but after a while, settled down next to Choya and wasn't so scared of her anymore. Choya was pleased to meet new fweeends.
There're some current seasonal menu items that we had been curious about, but we didn't have sufficient stomach space to try. Now that we have a table of four, we pre-ordered the grouper with garlic velouté and Nam Yu roast chicken (腐乳燜雞, or more precisely, ‘南乳’ with fermented red rice yeast). Those dishes require at least three days’ advance notice so that they could prep, i.e. source for the fish, grab the ingredients and brine that chicken. We also ordered a portion of the spaghetti bolognese and a small cut of steak for the parentals to taste. As much as we would have loved to do a beef tomahawk, it wasn't feasible without two more additional stomachs.
The Nam Yu roast chicken was brilliant. Gorgeously marinated with fermented red rice yeast. The man loves his chicken, and was so impressed that the marinade went all the way into the bone. It was served with broccoli and glutinous rice and purple cabbage. We made a special request for plain white Japanese rice for the parentals. The chicken came last, and by then, we were stuffed. We couldn't finish it, and packed it home. It made for a delicious lunch for the man at the office the next day.
I was totally gunning for the fish. I had earlier requested for the fish to be served with its sauce separately, and O'maJ obliged. None of us like fish drenched in sauce, not even to sit in it, especially not western cream sauces. I can deal with lemongrass and lime spicy gravy Thai style, or Teochew/Hong Kong style soy. Other than those, I prefer my fish to come as plain as possible. When fish is done well, it really doesn't require additional garnish. Not to me. We were so pleased with beautifully filleted grouper. It was perfect on its own. I didn't even need extra salt or pepper. That garlic velouté also went well with the broccoli from the chicken!
There was an easy bottle of pinot noir to go with dinner. I drank most of it. Hahaha. The evening was made lovelier when Scoopy came in, and our friends also popped in with Cookie, and another set came with their newly adopted dog Moshi. We haven't seen them for a bit, and when Moshi was still a puppy, they took the her to Baybeats earlier in the year. That was so cute. She's a little more grown now, still a little skittish, but after a while, settled down next to Choya and wasn't so scared of her anymore. Choya was pleased to meet new fweeends.
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| Grouper with garlic velouté. |
2 comments:
Oh, this looks like a joint that me and the Baker-at-Home would enjoy.
worth a try on a casual night! if you both don't mind dogs hanging around- they do stick to their tables. Heh. :)
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