Dinner with the Teohs 13 October 2007

Dr. Christine Lee and family came back from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu on 11 October 2007 for a few days break during the Hari Raya holidays.

I know Chris since the first day she arrived at University of Wollongong. We have been sharing many memories together – university days (both her undergraduate and postgraduate) and her doctorate last year; from the day she started dating, got married and now with a 22 months old son Jordan. I may not have spent all these events with her but she has been keeping in touch and sharing all of them with me.

I decided to take her to my favourite restaurant, New Gaya Seafood Restaurant, Jalan Bantayan, Kiansom, Inanam. This restaurant is quite near my house and eventhough it’s like middle of nowhere, the food served doesn’t leave a hole in your pocket.

When we arrived at the restaurant just slightly over 7pm, there were many patrons already. Since I had booked a table in the air-con room, we were ushered in by one of the captains. When a younger captain came to take our order, I told him I preferred Peter (one of the other captains whom I know) instead. He said Peter was busy at the al fresco area taking orders and insisted it would be the same. I gave in seeing Peter was indeed very busy.

We ordered garlic rice, 1 kg wet buttered crabs (3 crabs), half kg poached prawns, half kg clams (tung fung) and veges (sayur manis with garlic). Seng Chor thought 3 crabs would be too much but I thought it should be ok. Actually I wanted to order another dish – stirred fried fish with ginger and garlic but the young captain said the food we ordered should be enough. Anyhow, I told Chris and Seng Chor (Chris's husband) we could order more if the food was insufficient.

Since Jordan (Chris's son) cannot eat the peanuts, Chris gave him some minced garlic and he actually ate them! I don’t like raw garlic.

The garlic rice arrived first followed by the veges and prawns. Seng Chor liked the rice very much and he said he couldn’t find the rice cooked that way in Kuala Lumpur. He had two bowls.

The sayur manis were young, crunchy and tasty. Eventhough they had it since touching down in Kota Kinabalu, they didn’t mind having it again cos the veges are hard to find in Peninsula Malaysia.

The prawns served were of medium size which was just right for me. I don’t like them to be too big cos they would be on the tough side.

Next the shells appeared and Seng Chor had fun digging into them. When he had finished some, he put aside and took pictures of the shells. When Jordan was getting restless, he gave him two shells to play with so that he had something to occupy him. The shells tasted fine and not overcooked.

The crabs appeared last and the wet buttered sauce had improved slightly. The sauce was thicker than before and it was great having them piping hot with the crabs.

The only thing left was the garlic rice which I took away and brought home.

In order to keep Jordan occupied the whole night, his parents took turns to bring him outside to see the live seafood in their tanks. Overall, he behaved quite well. Well done Jordan!