of mojitos and other madness: the palms

with my cousin judith jet setting off to the usa soon and my other cousin mark graduating from medical school, lunch at the palms was in the honour of the both of them. the palms was a really nice place, hidden in the newly revamped changi beach club, the restaurant had a fantastic view of the sea and a nice laid back feel to it. the law clan brought a buzz to the place, with all of us fitting into three tables, we pretty much over took the restaurant!

being a branch of roland's seafood, i was already quite sure that the food would be good. what i didn't expect was the amount of refinement they managed to infuse to each and every dish. we started off with deep fried wasabi prawns, followed by fried cod. the prawns were a good start to the meal, fresh and deep fried in quite a unique batter and filled with just the right amount of wasabi mayo. we had cod done two ways, fried and cooked with miso. Both were pretty good, with the fish cooked fresh, but i personally preferred the miso version. tofu was next and this was one of the best dishes in my opinion. very smooth with a really good broth based gravy, and the mushrooms that accompanied the tofu were huge and amazingly fresh. meat dishes consisted firstly of chicken that was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. but i think the stewed pork was the crowd favorite. distinct layers of meat and awesome gravy were fantastic with the deep fried man tous. the spinach was the other personal favorite... cooked in a special broth, i never tasted spinach cooked this way before. the vege somehow managed to give a nice flavor to the broth, making this dish quite outstanding. lunch finished off with some tradition, long life mee sua and orh ni. the noodles was light and refreshing, leaving sufficient room for the orh ni which was done slightly differently from the ordinary. not too oily and rich, with slightly more pumpkin mashed with the yam, it actually tasted quite good. this version is definitely more up dia's alley *grin* it was definitely a good lunch, great food and nice time with the family. here's to the new dr mark tan and judith who's headed to conquer the world!

the palms