of mojitos and other madness: a heartland teochew treasure!

when anyone asks for a recommendation for a good teochew restaurant, i will, without a doubt, recommend lee kui at mosque street. i know i haven't blogged about the place just yet, purely because this girl wants to keep pak law's favorite restaurant a secret a little while longer! so while i keep you guys all in suspense of the must trys at lee kui (*grin*), i am happy to announce that i've just returned from a pretty good meal at chin lee and definitely think that it serves up some classic teochew dishes that can rival that at lee kui.

it was a full 8 course bon voyage dinner treat for b from uncle d and family, and as uncle d used to be neighbors with the owners of the restaurant, we pretty much had, i think, all the signature dishes of the establishment. the winners in my book include the hearty fish maw soup, generously stuffed and freshly fried ngoh hiangs, the fragrant crispy shredded duck and the teochew classic chives and prawns stir fried with salted fish.

the misses unfortunately were the oyster omelette and the veggies. nothing to outstanding but uncle d did explain that their omelette was usually a lot better...and i guess veggies wise, i'd recommend just tucking into a serving of the chives.

no teochew meal would be complete without a serving of orh nee so no prizes for guessing what we had! i am not a fan of the dessert but this one somehow didn't look that sweet, oily and more importantly not yamy, so i actually had a couple of spoonfuls (be proud of me g!). washed down with a miniature cupful of strongly brewed chinese tea...the creamy orh nee (choc a block full of gingko nuts by the way) provided a nice ending to the teochew dinner.

thanks again uncle d and aunty c!