Sunday 5th July '09

Jocelyn and I took Mum to dim sum today.

EMMA'S SEAFOOD & DIM SUM RESTAURANT


We went to Emma's because I had work in the afternoon and we didn't want to drive all the way to the city. When we arrived, there was no large crowd outside so that was good sign. We went inside but they were full so we took a ticket and went back outside to wait. A few minutes later, several people walked in and were ushered to a table. This really annoyed us since we had been there first. Jocelyn went inside to ask if there was a table for us and why that group had been seated before us. I assume the man on door duty was the owner and he told her that it was a group of five and there was a table for five people available. Not really a good enough excuse for us. At this time, there was a table that became free and he asked us to take it. It was a table that could seat six people.

There was one trolley that I could see with the steamed dishes. It was sloooowly making its way from table to table. One of the hold-ups was that there were a few tables of non-Asians sitting around us so they didn't know what they wanted to order. Another hold-up was the fact that it was far too crowded for the trolley to actually be wheeled up to every table. We ended up just ordering some dishes.

chicken feet


shark fin dumplings


No, these don't really have shark fin in them. They're named 'shark fin' because they supposedly resemble a shark's fin. At first glance they looked rather opaque and Jocelyn confirmed that they were on the cold side and had probably been sitting on the trolley for some time.

stuffed eggplant


This tasted rather bland. There was some sort of mince meat stuffed within the slices of eggplant, but it was so tasteless I couldn't tell you what it was. There was far too much sauce and there just wasn't any zing to this dish.

After finishing these first few dishes, we waited for the others that we had ordered. About ten minutes probably went past and they still didn't arrive even though we saw some being taken out to other tables. They'd obviously misplaced our order. We asked for my favourite - the prawn dumplings. They were apparently still being cooked.

We were getting rather annoyed at this stage. The next few dishes we get had better be good to turn this meal around.

har gow


Oh my god this was awful. As soon as Jocelyn went to pick one up, the dumpling pastry just came right off the prawn. It was gooey and stuck to the bottom of the steamer. I recall myself having an actual frown on my face as I tried to get one. The dough just came off in clumps. I picked up the prawn stuffing and it was disgusting. It didn't taste like prawn at all. What an utter disappointment. This dish is the reason I come out for dim sum! It makes the whole meal for me! *shakes her head*

The owner's sister came by and Mum asked her about our dishes that we had ordered and she went to check on them for us.

rice flour rolls with pork


These were so bland. The rice flour roll was flat. Limp.

We'd had enough. We got up, paid the bill and drove home, our stomachs feeling cheated with such a crap experience. I remember the first time I came here to eat with Marissa and it was fantastic! The quality of the food has really gotten poor. I won't be going back there for a while. At least not for dim sum. The only thing good about the dim sum here today was the chicken feet. Mum and I agreed on that. Jocelyn refused to try them.


Dinner at Work
Uncle Fong's Prawn Noodles


Mum went to Vernon's birthday dinner last night and she brought me some leftovers to take to dinner tonight. I had it with some of her chilli - delicious!

Supper
Prawn Ravioli Soup


I had some of the wantan wrappers remaining in the fridge so I used them up tonight to make ravioli. Mum had defrosted some pork mince for me. To it I added some finely chopped onion, chilli and a dash of soy sauce.

I used dried salted fish to make the stock for the soup.


I put the fish in a tea filter bag.


I'm getting really fast at making these ravioli!

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