Vegetarian Lunch in Po Lin Monastery

1 May 2010. Day 3 in Hong Kong.

We decided to explore Lantau Island before going to the city proper. Thus the return ride on Ngong Ping 360, a 25min cable car ride up the hills to see the giantic Tian Tan Buddha.

We had thought the cable car would only open at 10am, and were we glad to have arrived there by that time. Cos the queue by the time we returned in the afternoon was VERY LONG.

I decided to forgo the >250 steps up to the base of the Buddha, so Sam & I had a biscuit & drinks break at the ice cream stall at the bottom of the steps.

After hubby came back from his climb, we went to visit the Po Lin Monastery, and after looking at the yummy vegetarian desserts displayed at one of the stalls there, decided to have our lunch at the monastery's restaurant.

The deluxe set costs HK$100 per person, and we must purchase the meal tickets before we enter the restaurant, which opened at 11:30am. Turns out the meal tickets also included free entry to the little museum halfway up the steps to the Buddha........if we had known, we would have visited the Buddha later after lunch.

Wasn't sure if the air-conditioned restaurant provided baby chairs..........I was too tired by then to check. Was simply happy Sam could fit on the adult chair & use the standard plastic bowl & plate & soup spoon.

The toilets weren't exactly clean though - hubby found out when Sam failed a last minute dash to the Gents, and I ended up having to change Sam's wet wet pants in the middle of the meal. ;P

Still, the 5 course meal was surprisingly good. The Mixed Mushroom soup was large enough to serve 4. Even Sam had no complaints, and that's from a little guy who refused to eat mushrooms.

The Fried Vegetarian Spring Rolls went down well with the rice for Sam, so were the lily bulbs in the Stir-fry Mixed Vegetables. I tried my best to polish off this dish even after I was full, cos the vegetables (red & yellow peppers, asparagus, celery, peas etc) were simply too sweet & crunchy to waste.

Hubby loved the Mushrooms with Cabbage - the fresh mushrooms were meaty, though the cabbage leaves were not cut, making it rather difficult to handle. The Mock Lemon Chicken was surprisingly good. I've never actually enjoyed eating bean curd skin before, but the lemon sauce wasn't too sour, just tangy enough to make the dish enjoyable.

Service was fast. We were about the longest seating table there, thanks to slow-eating Sam. The portions for 2 are really enough for 3, we wasted so much food I feel rather guilty. I now know why a meal at the Monastery is always recommended on the HK travel itinearies, even if the prices aren't exactly cheap. But then, it wasn't expensive either. Definitely recommended.

Plane Dining - Cathay Pacific from Singapore to Hong Kong

I have been VERY lax in my blogging lately. ;P

I guess with my work to occupy my 'spare' time, I'm getting lazy with typing. Still, I wanna share my holiday experiences with all the mummies out there, especially those who're taking your kid out on a plane for that long-awaited holiday. Maybe you can plan your trip better after hearing my experiences. ;)

This post is dedicated to the plane trips we took for our holiday to Hong Kong. We had taken a package with Cathay Pacific, so on 29th April 2010, we took the 0830hrs flight CX710 from Changi Airport. It's a non-stop flight to HK, about 3.5 hrs long. Hubby's idea has always been to minimise the travel time required, so as to minimise the period of suffering. ;)

Still, I wasn't so apprehensive this time, as we had booked for a kid's meal on board, and hubby had confirmed every seat would have its own mini tv screen with multiple channels of entertainment. So I only packed a minimum of toys & activities for Sam in case he got bored of watching tv.

I had prepared nimm2 sweets for Sam to suck on, in case his ears got blocked during takeoff & landing. The hard candy with juicy fruit centres make me feel slightly less guilty when giving him sweets, since it's supposed to contain Vit C and other kinds of minerals & vitamins. It certainly worked, as sucking on the candy prevented the pressure from building up in Sam's ears during the takeoff.

In-flight entertainment started soon after takeoff. The headset was way too big for Sam - it kept slipping off his head, and I had to replace it every 10min or so. The tv screen couldn't be tilted downwards, only upwards, so Sam watched tv the whole trip with head angled up. Not very good, I know, but then I don't have much of a choice. I was rather surprised the flight was considered long-haul........but then, since that provided Dumbo instead of Kim Possible, I'm not really complaining. ;)

As usual, the kid's meal was served 1st, before the adults'. Sam's breakfast was very similar to the adults': hashbrown, omelet, yogurt, fruits, bread, and the additional cereal bar. For drinks I got him apple juice. His meal was served on a placemat of ocean creatures, and the cutlery continued the theme - curly straw with fish, coloured plastic fork, spoon & knife with seashells on the handles.


Sam took a whole hour to finish the egg & hashbrown, so engrossed was he in watching Dumbo on the kids' channel. He refused most of the fruits, the yogurt & tomato, and I ended up finishing the bread since he didn't want that either. The cereal bar I packed for later consumption.

For some reason the 2nd cartoon didn't come on after the movie Dumbo finished, so when Sam got bored with the blank screen (the other programs weren't suitable for him), I tried to put him down for nap. We raised up the arm rest so that he could lie down horizontally - head on me & legs on daddy - but kept his seatbelt on. The in-flight blanket covered him up warmly, and the little pillow provided some kind of cushion between his head & my thigh. And surprisingly, Sam did fall asleep! He must have been tired out from waking up so early to catch the morning flight. Anyway, he only woke up after the plane had landed, so the flight wasn't too bad (for both him & me) after all.

The return flight on CX711 left HK at 1615hrs. Since it was 3 May, the entertainment channels had changed. Sam didn't enjoy the Sleeping Beauty offering, but the 2nd cartoon, The Fox and The Hound, was much more to his liking.

The lunch/dinner for this leg was served with the same ocean theme cutlery. Sam's kid's meal was so much richer than the adults' version we got slightly envious, actually. In addition to the main course of fish fingers & mashed potatoes with vegetables, there was macaroni salad, some kind of coconut chocolate cake pudding, the inevitable bread, apple juice and Tim Tam chocolate biscuits.

After Sam finished every mouthful of his fish & potatoes, I allowed him the chocolate biscuits, since hubby was already eating his. The apple juice I packed for later consumption, Sam was drinking plain water with his meal, and I polished off the delicious cake pudding & bread roll. The macaroni, unfortunately, had to be wasted.

All in all, eating in the air wasn't so bad after all, since Sam quite liked the in-flight meals. I had to do all the feeding, since he was engrossed with watching tv, but as Sam was still a trifle short for the shaky foldable table, I didn't mind doing so, rather than risk overturning the whole meal.

Oh, Cathay Pacific usually have very interesting kids' packs to keep the children occupied during the journey. I forgot to take a photo of Sam's: this time round the theme is Lilo & Stitch, with all the various colouring stuff, stickers & puzzles packed neatly into a woven sling bag. The activities are actually a bit too difficult for Sam (sudoku included!), especially since he doesn't even enjoy colouring, but I guess the older kids (7 yrs onwards) would love the set. I certainly saw several kids carrying the bag when we were walking around in Hong Kong city.

Think would try flying Cathay again for our next holiday, if the budget permits!

Taiwanese Fast Food in IMM

We were surprised to find that hubby's fav chicken rice stall was replaced by a taiwanese food shop, but thought "no harm trying".

The place was quite empty when we went in at 12noon, and the waitress was very friendly, suggesting we take one of the tables with wooden benches. But since I've always found such tables to be too far for Sam to eat comfortably, I chose a 'normal' seated table instead.

We rejected the grey plastic baby chair since Sam seemed comfortable on the adult chair, then the waitress presented Sam with his plastic bowl & spoon while we were still pouring over the menu. I guess we were lucky: the service standard plunged by the time we finished our meal, with customers having to pick up their own cutlery from the counter when they failed to attract the attentions of the busy waitresses.

This restaurant does it semi-fast food style: the customers complete the order form with the numbers of the dishes in the menu, then go to the cashier to pay. The waitresses would serve it to the table later, thus saving us a 10% service charge.

Hubby selected a Sweet & Sour Fish Fillet Set Meal ($7.90), which came complete with appetisers & soup. He found the soup value for money, but the main course very average.



I ordered an Oyster & Large Intestine Mee Sua ($5.90) for Sam, figuring he would enjoy the soft noodles even if he doesn't eat the ingredients. He ended up finishing most of the large bowl with the peanut & ikan bilis appetiser from hubby's set. The mee sua here surprised me with its length - I had thought the Taiwanese version tends to have the noodles short, so that customers just have to use a soup spoon to eat the whole dish, but the version here has the typical Singaporean wanton-mee-length of mee sua, so I had to spend several minutes trying to cut the noodles short for Sam.

For myself, I got the Deep Fried Pork Chop with Red Wine Marinate ($6.90), to go with a bowl of Braised Pork Rice ($1.80). The pork chop was crispy but nothing special otherwise, while the fatty braised pork in the rice caused me to keep one eye closed, figuratively. It was otherwise not bad.

For drinks, hubby had a Mixed Fruit Tea ($2.80) which Sam loved so much he finished the drink before hubby could get in a last mouthful. So I was left to finish my own Sour Plum Jasmine Tea ($2.80), which was sealed up bubble-tea style.

Overall, not a bad place to lunch if one wants a quick Chinese meal. Just don't expect too much. ;P


Xian Ding Wei
IMM Building #01-47/8
Tel: 6897-2636

The Attraction of the Fish Tank

Had not published this post for 1 whole month, for the embarrassing reason that most of the pictures I've taken in the restaurant were out of focus!!! I had seriously considered abandoning the post, but as hubby reminded me, it was the quietest Chinese restaurant we've ever dined in, definitely worth a recommendation to those who wants to enjoy typical Singaporean Chinese seafood cuisine in a peaceful setting. So do bear with the lousy photos!!!

We had ended up in Greenwood Ave as hubby got fed up trying to find the nearest carpark to the dining places in Turf City. I was heartily worried we would end up feeding Sam fish & chips again, as the good eating places I know of in Greenwood Ave are all Western restaurants. So we were surprised to find a 'new' (to us) Jap buffet restaurant & Chinese seafood restaurant there.

While we were pursuing the menus to decide which place to have dinner in, Sam made the decision for us by entering the Chinese restaurant to gush at the fish tank, which was right smack in the middle of the small restaurant, in full view of the main entrance.

Well, the fish tank certainly kept Sam entertained while we placed our orders & waited for the food to arrive. I had to remind the little guy frequently NOT to knock on the glass to attract the attention of the fish!

The deco of the Old Ponggol Choon Seng Seafood restaurant was obviously Chinese, but it appeared to be more like what a foreigner's idea of a Chinese-Asian setting. Everything was obviously Chinese - wooden furniture, bright tablecloths, Chinese cutlery - yet with a modern feel that you wouldn't find in a usual Chinese restaurant. I'm afraid I'm not very good at describing..........well, overall feeling is still quite pleasant, if you can deduce what I'm trying to say. They even have 2 tables along the corridor outside for alfresco dining, obviously to cater to the clientele of the area.

The most impressive thing about the restaurant was the service. The staff were friendly and speak Mandarin (not Cantonese as in most such eating places), and they went to great lengths to make Sam comfortable. While Sam was tall enough to sit on the adult wooden chairs and had no use of the baby chairs, and the restaurant's utensils were already white plastic affairs that I can safely let Sam handle by himself, the waitress went out of her way to prepare the drink for the little boy.

We had ordered hot Chrysanthemum Tea ($1.30) for all, and since Sam doesn't like his drink hot, I asked for some ice in his plastic transparent glass to cool down the drink. The waitress and I then spent the next 2 minutes determining the suitable amount of drink to be in the glass for Sam to handle easily, and the number of ice cubes to be added so that the drink wouldn't be too hot or cold. What a relief to be able to go down to such details as though I'm preparing the stuff at home!!

For the food, we ordered the chef's recommendations, as my usual practice when eating for the 1st time in a Chinese restaurant. After all, if you don't even like the restaurant's famous dishes, there's usually no point in trying the other stuff, right??

So we had the Mee Goreng ($10) and Crispy Baby Squid ($18), the Prawn Pancake ($18) and the Red Wine Pork ($18). The Prawn Pancake came first: it's basically deep fried prawn cake, done to a crisp, and was quite good, compared to the rather average ngoh hiang 五香 that was served on the same dish. Sam polished off half his bowl of rice with this!

I quite like the Mee Goreng, which hubby said was very typical Singaporean style, though he much prefer it cooked with chili. We had asked for the dish without chilli as both Sam and I don't take spicy food, so while the 2 of us enjoyed the slight ketchup taste of the noodles, hubby had to add sambal chili to his.


The Baby Squid and Red Wine Ribs would actually go much better with rice, than with the noodles. The Squid was quite crispy and sweet - Sam liked it though it was a bit too hard for him; the ribs, on the other hand, was way too sweet and had no taste of wine whatsoever. Don't understand how that came to be a recommended dish.

We had also ordered Fried Vegetables with Garlic, Nai Bai Cai 奶白菜 ($12), upon waitress's recommendation of the freshest available that day. The freshness of the vegetables was certainly evident, though the dish was a trifle too oily for my taste.

Thoughout the dinner, the restaurant was only half full. Other tables came and went, and we were conscious of being the noisiest table in the little place. How quietly the other diners ate! I had thought such silence only belonged to the more high-end French restaurants! Even the Crystal Jade Golden Palace wasn't so quiet on a weekday lunch!

As hubby commented, definitely a place to go if we wanted a quiet Chinese meal!


Old Ponggol Choon Seng Seafood Restaurant
14 Greenwood Ave, Hillcrest Park
Tel: 6465-4621

Another branch in Changi Chalets locality,
tel: 6546-5251

A Rather Chinese Asian Kitchen

Decided to dine at Iluma after praying at the temple, so as to save time (since we had parked at Iluma). After making a tour of the many choices available on level 4, we thought of trying The Asian Kitchen, with its brightly coloured Chinese-styled furnishings.

The restaurant was far from crowded on a Sunday afternoon. The huge windows lit up our table nicely. Sam appeared to be able to reach the table seated on the adult cane chair, so we didn't bother with the baby chairs.

The waitress provided one of their white plastic bowls upon request, together with a small yellow plastic spoon, which I thought was way too small for Sam. Unfortunately, the plastic Chinese soup spoon was much too big for the little guy, as were the metallic fork & spoon, so halfway through the meal I had no choice but to spoonfeed Sam withe baby spoon.

We had chosen the restaurant partly of its attractive adverts of speciality roast chickens, so of course we ordered one of them: a TAK Sauce Roast Chicken ($9.70), which is 1/4 of a chicken. Frankly, though the chicken tasted good, we don't see what's so special about it.

Hubby got a Prawns Fried Rice ($7.90), which turned out to be quite a good fried rice with egg, but with only 4 prawns (peeled & pre-cooked) on top! We might as well had just ordered the plain Egg Fried Rice & save ourselves a couple of dollars!!

I had gotten myself a Vegetable Wanton Noodle Soup ($7.20), which was not bad at all. Certainly no complaints about the quality & quantity for the price & location. Sam willingly finished half a bowl of the noodles & 2 of the meaty wantons, then polished off nearly a whole bowl of his father's fried rice!

The cold Homemade Barley ($3) gave me a slight start, as I didn't expect it to be in a plastic cup sealed the way the Taiwanese bubble tea were done. I guess they must have prepared a whole batch way beforehand, cos the barley was icey cold when served. It was a tad too sweet for me, but both hubby & I loved its obvious homemade taste. So did Sam. :)

The chain offers a membership, which would dole out rebate dollars (details here). We weren't so impressed as to sign up for it though. Especially since I didn't register many 'Asian' dishes in the menu............most all look like typical dishes one would find in a HK tea cafe. I did notice that their signature dessert is 'qing teng' 清汤, very Singaporean, so I guess I won't mind eating there again.


The Asian Kitchen
Iluma #04-07
201 Victoria Street
Tel: 6884-5507

Jack's Place @ Safra Jurong

Couldn't decide where to eat on a Saturday night, and we finally decided to try out the Jack's Place at Safra Jurong. Sam happily greeted the security guard on duty as we entered the club, and couldn't understand why none of his friends were having dinner at the same place!

As we had hoped, parking was aplenty & so were the seats, though there were 3 separate dinners going on in the Chinese restaurant on level 2! I guess it really makes sense NOT to eat Chinese during the Chinese New Year period! ;P

Sam didn't need to sit on the Ikea high chair available, and I was pleased to see the waiters serve the plastic kids' utensils & kid's menu immediately after we settle down. Had to ask another to remove the lighted candle on the table though.

Hubby settled on the Seafood Spaghetti ($12), which was to his satisfaction; I went loose and ordered the Striploin Steak ($28), adding $4.20 for the daily soup (mushroom yesterday), daily dessert (profiterole) & coffee/tea. Hubby also added a starter - Lobster Crab Mushroom ($7.60), which was juicy & cheesy and generally delicious, as long as you don't go hunting for the near-invisble slivers of lobster.

I love the tradition of a server coming up to the diner to add as much toppings - sour cream, bacon bits & chopped spring onions - as the diner wants to the baked potato. The vegetables were nicely cooked: still crunchy but not raw at all. My steak was a trifle too red for my taste.......I guess I should have stuck to well-done instead of going adventurous, and after finishing the meat I couldn't finish the potato as well.

I was keen to try out the kids' menu for Sam, but since he eats his spaghetti dry and had had chicken nuggets for lunch, I went for the simple Sausage & Egg set ($5.50), thinking of letting partake my baked potato. Turns out the set came with fries (wasn't described in the menu), so Sam happily devoured all, and also the scoop of ice-cream that accompanied with the set. Surprisingly he wasn't keen to try the cola that came with the set (it had said orange juice on the menu, and no one asked our preference for the drink), so hubby & I polished it off.

What surprised me was that after finishing his entire set meal, Sam was still hungry! Fortunately we had saved a slice of the free garlic bread that was served at the beginning of the dinner for him. ;P Sam polished off half the slice on the short walk to the carpark!! I guess he's becoming the sort of Chinese male who wouldn't be full without rice for dinner!


Jack's Place
Jurong Safra Country Club
333 Boon Lay Way
Tel: 6795-9226