(edit: finally uploading the long-overdue pix 2+ months later)
It took me weeks, ok days, oh ok many lunch hours of research to get us here for lunch today. Eating out with both ma and yipuo meant Chinese, in a way simplifying things, since I just had to search in that narrow field. I didn't want the usual Tung Lok/Crystal Jade-style Cantonese fare, and it was only after madly browsing through at least five or six blogs that I came across something a little off-the-(b)eaten-path that we could all agree on. With an interesting background to boot.
Apparently the boss of Far East Organisation dined at the original 聚春园 in Fuzhou and was so enamoured with the 佛跳墙 (niftily abbreviated BJOTW), amongst other dishes, that he airlifted a bunch of chefs and cooks from China and set up a branch here in Far East Square, the first outside China. Ah, the perks of being the richest man in Singapore.
With input from a fantastically 亲切 (some things you just cannot translate into another language) staff named Sandy, we ordered a five-course two-person DIY set meal. Sandy talked to us like we were her favourite customers who have eaten at the restaurant a gazillion times before (might’ve helped that we were the only customers on the first floor). When asked what to order, she recommended the two-person set, guaranteeing that the portions would be sufficient for the three of us (they were). When asked if there were any items suitable for da-paoing for dinner, she said that the food was best eaten at the restaurant; and when ma brought up da-paoing fried rice, she whispered conspiratorially – after stealing a glance in the direction of the kitchen – that we were better off buying fried rice from the hawker centre. When asked about their $1288 佛跳墙 10-person set, she advised that the $360+ set for six with no shark’s fin was just as good - “鲍鱼半块啦，不过鲍鱼吃这样多作什么?”. Can’t argue with that.
And so it was that we came to have what we had for lunch:
Tofu soup. It wasn’t bad, though rather bland and ordinary tasting. I wasn’t crazy about the pungent garnish they used also, and for an appetizer dish, I was quite full after a bowl of this.
Fried Cod Fish. 家乡鳕鱼，if I remember correctly (forgot to note down the dish names). What’s Fuzhou 家乡food without some 红糟? This one comes with a healthy dose of the red wine without concealing the freshness of the fish. The flesh was white and had no fishy taste whatsoever. The breaded exterior gave it a nice crispiness. My favourite dish of the meal. Which unfortunately made a too-early appearance.
猪颈肉. Kind of tastes like a vegetarian version of char siew. At least, that’s how I’d imagine it to taste like. It’s very tender, but its texture and the sauce combined made me think of how those faux meats in Chinese vegetarian dishes are prepared. Rather unusual taste. 2nd favourite item of the meal. But it all goes downhill from here…
Cabbage in goo. Well they had some fancy lyrical Chinese name that I forget, which is just as well. Whatever the name was, this dish wouldn’t have lived up to it. The cabbage wasn’t cooked as soft as I would have thought it to be, and had suspicious little black flecks on some of the leaves. The gravy was too thick and had the consistency of glue, or some other liquids I would prefer not to think about. It doesn’t get better…
Mee sua. I can’t remember what this was called. But it was off the menu, and actually came specially recommended by Sandy. And this is where I must sidetrack a bit and comment on the wonders of the lethal combination of a pleasant personality and first-rate service. The mee sua wasn’t just not good, it was downright bland, boring, and just about the blah-est mee sua I’ve tasted in my life. The vege was tasteless, the noodle was tasteless, and there were all these bits of garlic that I had to pick off the noodle (OK the last thing is a personal quirk). Coupled with the better-to-be-forgotten cabbage dish, that’s 2 out of 5 dishes that didn’t make the grade; 2.5, if I count the less-than-fabulous tofu appetizer soup. Now 50-60/100 good food would usually make at best a mediocre meal, but thanks to a really good experience being served by someone who’s always there to provide help if necessary, but never feels overbearing, we walked out of the restaurant in a relatively jaunty mood. Well, the nicely done up interior helped a bit, but it was mostly the service, and mostly the service of one person.
Aaand back to the food.
There were a couple more items.
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. But of course. It was their signature item. The dish which, according to a poem, sent the Buddha jumping over the wall from a mere whiff of it. And there we were at the place that had been preparing this since 1876, and had apparently sold 9906 portions in Singapore since May 2006. So we had to get ourselves some of that BJOTW. This came between the pork and the cabbage. We ordered just one portion – for a whopping $78 (before taxes, without shark’s fin) – and shared it among the three of us. It was my first taste of the famous dish in my life, and of abalone (technically 2nd, but 1st time didn’t really count since the meat was too tough and I couldn’t swallow it), which ma and yipuo agreed were first-rate, being soft and tender after 24 hours of brewing. I dunno. I was kinda underwhelmed. The stew was very aromatic, and I was pretty excited when the lid was first lifted, though not nearly enough to be leaping over any walls. But I thought the taste was too intense, and was glad I was only eating a third of a single portion; towards the end, the richness was getting too much for me. And of the ingredients they had in the stew, I didn’t eat cuttlefish and had to fish 2 pieces out for ma.
Well lunch ended on several sweet notes. The yam paste (with sesame seeds) was yummy. It was sweet, but not too sweet, so it never becomes cloying. And very smooth – like warm yam-flavoured ice-cream. Mango sago was decent enough I guess, didn’t really have much of that. The four little pastries were the hit of the lot. There were 2 flavours – sweet yam and erm something savoury, haven’t figured that out yet. But they were going at $2 per set and we da-paoed four sets of those, so will do more research to find out what that other flavour is.
And that wraps up our lunch at Spring. The service and some of the items were memorable enough for us to make a return trip. But next time, no cabbage. And no mee sua.
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