Dinner at Tung Lok Seafood

Had an ala-carte buffet dinner at Tung Lok Seafood restaurant in East Coast, thanks to generous Ah Gim and Ah Guang. Upon reaching, my family and I were immediately greeted by a loud round of applause and laughter from our relatives, because we were the latest to arrive. I did feel like a VIP.

Our kiddie table had only 7 of us: me, Wee, Ah Sir, Hao Ling, Henglip, Kar Cheng and Ah Xian. After they were done with the salmon sashimi (despite the older folks' nagging them not to eat raw food), we were then served a slew of ambrosial Cantonese dishes like roast meats, fried marble goby, sharks' fin soup (seemed more like corn soup), roast chicken, sambal stingray, hot and sour soup, fried calamari (the best dish, acclaimed by us), raw oysters (yuck), steamed garoupa, prawns fried with cereal, stir-fried vegetables with scallops and squid (we quickly snatched the scallops and squid, leaving the celery for Henglip and Kar Cheng), steamed prawns (which was a big wastage because everyone had their fill of the cereal prawns) etc.

Halfway through the course, we took pictures. Kar Cheng concocted a smelly and bitter cocktail of Martell and 7-up, the two adorable Brandon and Gordon (with much neater hairstyles now) came over to our table to disturb us (or more likely the other way round), and stupid Kar Cheng made special instructions to the servers to send whatever dishes that contained vegetables to the other table where the older folks sat, but not before picking out the seafood or meats and giving them to him. I could not believe the servers were amused by him!

Stupid Kar Cheng left me out of the picture deliberately

Ah Sir, what's up with your thumbs-up hand gestures!

Group shot with Brandon and Gordon, and a spastic Kar Cheng

Then came the main attraction: chilli crab, and we tucked into this satisfying dish earnestly, together with the fried buns. The fried mian xian was a total wastage, because by the time we finished the crab (actually, it was by the time we finished the roast chicken), we were so full and bloated that we only had enough stomach space for some desserts. Desserts included ice-cream puffs, glutinous flour balls with red bean and peanut pastes, and my favourite mango puree with pomelo sacs and sago balls. YUM.

The best entertainment of the night was when we cheekily gathered around 1st Aunt and sang her a loud Happy Birthday song in English, Mandarin and Hokkien. I wondered if she felt overwhelmed, like what I usually feel whenever I have at least 8 students surrounding me from all sides.

Looking forward to such dinners again!