Saturday Night Out

I went out for a Birthday Dinner with some friends on Saturday evening. There were five of us in all, including the birthday boy. We have an agreement among ourselves that there would be no presents. We would all chip in to pay for the birthday person's share of the meal. He, or she will also get to pick the restaurant. That is absolutely fine with me, because I hate shopping. I am also easy when it comes to food. I am okay with any type of cuisine.

So, it was the Famous Treasure restaurant, picked by the birthday boy, that we went to last Saturday. As far as I am concerned, it was a good choice. Although it was an hour away by bus, I got a direct bus from my place. Very convenient. Plus, I have never been to the restaurant before, so I get to try out the restaurant.

As is my wont, I usually arrive about half an hour before the appointed time. This gave me the opportunity to have a look around the area to see what is there in the area. I also needed time to look for the place, since it was my first visit.

I had the idea that the restaurant was in this building. I have been there once or twice and seen some eateries there. So I assumed the restaurant was there. I was mistaken. I went to look around the place twice before calling up my friends to ask where the restaurant was. The restaurant is actually in the annex building.

The Famous Treasure restaurant is a Chinese restaurant that serves, according to their advertisement, Nanyang fare. Nanyang literally translates to South or Southern Ocean, which refers to the South East Asia region. It looks new and classy, but it has actually been there for a while.

Chinese dinners are communal dinners, meaning we all share what's on the table. With a group of people deciding on what to order could be a problem. For example some people don't take pork, some don't take beef, while some are allergic to seafood, some are vegetarian etc... Luckily, this group of friends are easy. Anything goes. So, the birthday boy selected the dishes and we went with his choice.

And because he was the one deciding, I didn't even get to see the menu, or what was ordered, or the price of the items. So, I don't know if the restaurant was expensive. But from the bill at the end of the day, I would say the prices are quite reasonable, for a place like that right in the town area.

Here are some of the items we consumed.

Cockles

duck

Pork with baked garlic

Claypot egg-plant

There was also chicken which I forgot to take a picture of. And there was the birthday cake.

The food was all very nice. No complaints there. The birthday boy and I shared a bottle of very nice red wine, since the others were non drinkers. The company was good - friends of more than 30 years.

Here are some pictures of the surrounding from that evening.

This is the Raffles city. It consists of two hotels and a complex of offices with a shopping mall.

Raffles city at night. It was raining as we ate. By the time we finished, there was just a light drizzle.

All in all, it was a pleasant evening. Certainly something different for a change. I don't usually go out on weekends because everywhere is so busy, and I am not a fan of crowds. However, there wasn't a lot of people about last Saturday. Maybe people are still wary of the pandemic and want to avoid coming out during the weekends.

This coming weekend, four of us in the group and three others who couldn't make it last week, are going for a weekend trip to Malaysia. We shall see how that turns out. I am sure it would be a lot fun.