Food!

This year I did not intend to spend Christmas eve at home. So I managed to drag my friend out to dinner and movie. Well, getting to MidValley was a big bother - obviously due to the traffic snarls around Bangsar and at the MidValley area. Anyway we got there in good time although we spent nearly one hour from his place in Sentul to the mall.

Decided to try something different...perhaps not that cheap, but what we got at this joint was a whopper!

Din Tai Fung Restaurant: Lower Ground Floor, The Gardens

This place serves Chinese food: mainly of the bun and dumpling varieties as well as rice and mee. I've never heard of the place, but I was assured it was featured in the Star some time back!

A bit blurry, but think you get the picture?

Atmosphere was so-so...there was a crowd as expected, but it wasn't too noisy. Service was average but prompt, for the amount of diners around at the time. We ordered this small dumpling order (xiao long pao) with their signature dish of beef with lai mien for my learned friend. Me? I went for the shrimp udon mee.

Yummy xiao long pao

The xiao long pao was unique - pork fillings with a tiny amount of broth encased with the usual flour wrapping. Yummy... If only it was bigger. My friend told me that you are supposed count the number of folds on the dumpling surface; I counted 18 folds. Each dumpling was supposed to be prepared in that way. Wow, now that is refined dining!

My shrimp udon mee

One word: average. 'nuff said!

Signature dish

It actually looks much better than that. I didn't really taste it except for the beef: well, it was tender and nicely textured, so I guess it's good!

So what's the whopper part? The bill: which came up to RM 53.48. The service charge and tax came up to nearly RM 7. Oh well, Christmas comes once a year!

After that we went to the Signature for Warlords. Well at least they didn't censor any of the scenes, gory as it was. But as in all Chinese movies, there's that little bit of over-dramatization and dragginess. It was a good yarn, but nothing I would recommend.

So it's already Christmas day...gotta go and sleep now.