CNY 2012 – A Rainy Reunion Feast @ Tuck Kee Restaurant
January 23, 2012 | 3,398 views
Always a pleasure to be dining with your loved ones, ain’t it? The Year of the Dragon comes a-beckoning, promising another 12 months of potential growth, hardships, tribulations, happiness and everything in between. Whichever year that you were born in, I am sure you would have an inkling of what’s possibly crossing your path this year, from the various almanacs, feng shui masters’ predictions, etc.
This is the fourth Chinese New Year greetings from Motormouth From Ipoh; and if you’re already going “Wah!!! So ancient already ah this blog?!!” Yeah …. did not see this coming myself, for at best I thought this passion would fizzle out by the 2nd or 3rd year.
Surprise, surprise.
This is the second year in a row we chose to have our Reunion dinner at Tuck Kee restaurant, a restaurant that I practically grew up alongside with, since our childhood days of staying around Pasir Puteh/Pasir Pinji. And yeah, if this name sounds familiar, you might have come across this restaurant when searching frantically for parking while patronizing the insanely popular Big Tree Foot.
This year, Tuck Kee offers an astounding ten CNY sets; priced from RM438 onwards. The premium sets include shark’s fins soup (highly debatable choice), sea cucumber, roasted suckling pig, etc.
We saw no necessity in splurging out on all limbs for a simple Reunion feast, thus we settled for the set with all the meats, and Yee Sang, with the compulsory glutinous rice and a dessert.
More of a common practice now, there are TWO time slots for dinner. We settled for the 8pm slot since we would have more time and not tasked to finish up everything in sight within record’s time.
The restaurant was in a chaotic mode, nonetheless. Tables almost within arm’s length, with no room to move about if you’re parked beside a pillar. Like yours truly.
Forgivable, since this IS the season to be cashing in before the imminent rest days throughout the first few days of the Dragon year.
But when we got seated for 10 minutes WITHOUT any drinks, or even glasses to pour ourselves some Chinese tea ….. that’s not the most welcoming reception on this CNY eve.
The dishes arrived at a steady pace, bar from the dessert (canned longan in syrup and ice …. a bit too much ice, actually) that came when we were about to doze off (close to 10pm then). On the whole, the meal was a marginal disappointment compared to what we had the year before. The fried garoupa (yeah, deep-fried!) was a mess with a sweet and sour sauce literally poured upon the hardened crust of the fish; crunchy yet not a family-friendly manner of dishing out the fish. Grandma was having ‘teething’ problems, so to speak.
Everything else was watered down versions of what Tuck Kee usually would be able to serve, including the roasted chicken and duck combination which would be routinely brilliant on normal days.
Next year? I will be petitioning for a Reunion feast at HOME. I don’t mind having take-aways (there were years when we had KFC, Pizza Hut, etc for the occasion!), or simple dishes (Sambal Petai with prawns? Sweet and Sour Pork?!!) bearing in mind that we do not have to scramble like mad, brace the heavy rain and traffic, positioning ourselves between cramped spaces and yet on the receiving end of haphazardly cooked and served dishes with paltry level of service.
“After all, the Reunion dinner is symbolic of a gathering with loved ones over a meal to catch up on lost time, and closing the year on a high note; with a warm gesture.“
1. Yee Sang
2. Fa Cai Pork Hand
3. Roast Chicken & Duck
4. Special Garoupa Fish
5. Fried Prawn with Soy Sauce
6. Mix Vege with Mushroom
7. Special Glutinous Rice
8. Longan Dessert
TUCK KEE RESTAURANT
No 1 & 3, Jalan King,
Off Jalan Pasir Pinji,
31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Tel No : +605-255 3870/+605-241 9071
For more details, refer to the previous post.
Gong Xi Fa Cai James!
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MM, from what you described do you have to make prior booking?
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I had mine in Kok Thai, Jln Tasek, 2 slots as well. I heard that the later session was chaotic, similar situation like how you described it. This is my first time having reunion dinner outside… and I’m sure once is enough.Anyway, Happy Chinese New Year to you! =)
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Goong hei fatt choy! All restaurants are always chaotic during CNY, lol!
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Good wishes for the year of the dragon. There was a restaurant-bought poon choi (basin veggie) at my at-home reunion which we all thought would be a great solution for a medium-sized family who wanted to eat at home but couldn’t muster the hands on deck to cook a massive meal from scratch. You’d cook rice and a veggie dish at home, and perhaps pick up a yee sang as well, and be all set. Our Dragon-i one was a luxury version at RM 388 – dried seafood, extra helping of superior broth, timer included so that you don’t make mistakes when re-heating the thing – but I imagine there are other options with a bit of shopping around.
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love the smoke duck breast here! we dabao-ed two days in a row
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Happy Chinese New Year!
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gong hei fatt choy!
our regular reunion dinner with the in laws is always at home coz MIL doesn’t quite agree with the amount that we have to fork out for the whole family of 2 tables. plus when she cooks at home, we are guaranteed an 8 course dinner absolutely free of MSG.
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