Bountiful start to the New year 2011

Ahh ! The weekend that was just over was just wonderful ! These are the days of enjoyment and escapement for me and my family members as we go about our daily routine away from the troubles and quarrels of the world..

The bliss of having your family members surround you during the cheerful holidays is a blessing for most and I can easily understand why. There's just something about the end of the year that makes the whole past year look distant and remote; with a sense of new found joy that pervades the air which serenades your visual and audial senses as you go about your daily routines.

Irene Huang, the GM of Cheng Ho Museum recently called to offer a treat to my family and I. It was for us to join her and her family in an evening of dinner and pleasure by the riverside in the Tarragon restaurant by the Melaka River. her girls were back from England for the season's celebrations and she was very happy to introduce them to us. Unfortunately,only Michelle and I could join her for the evening of fun and frolic as Utheya was needed in the Cafe whilst the rest had their own schedules planned for the evening.

The ambiance and service was without any complaints as within our group were also other invitees namely Dr. Tan (her boss and co owner of the Tarragon) and the establishment pulled out all the stops to ensure our group was well feted and the service immaculate ! While many of the offerings were in Buffet style; though combined with the personalized service provided, it wasn't really the normal buffet service you see in the hotels and restaurants! The place was very ambient, and easy on the eye with a delightful little wine menu but the nyonya food on offer was the star offerings!

 The Itik Tim soup dish that was provided to our table was succulent and the fresh ingredients inside the soup heavenly! Kudos to the chef. Not to be missed were also the large prawns which were fried in fresh shallots and served with sambal and petai side dishes!

  The conversations amongst the attendees were muted for most of the dinner as many had a gala of a time discovering the chef's hidden talents and savoring the rich concocted meal and repast provided for them ! The few times heads were nodded at each other politely were when eyes met across the table to see the glee and enjoyment in each others faces as they enjoyed morsel after morsel of the buffet spread. Michelle for once finished half a dozen of the New Zealand baked cheese oysters gleefully with additional helpings of their french bread dipped in olive oil and grilled with eumenthal cheese.

  The sambal bendih and salad was another  heavenly dish  that made well worth the trip to the buffet table spread. In short, every dish was superbly cooked and tasted very well and for us it was indeed an evening worth travelling out for!

Which reminds me of another evening our earlier in the month when Joe & Jill invited Michelle, Sandra and I out to dinner at this Northern Indian Restaurant by Melaka Raya that was owned by a good friend of Joe's. It would be remiss of me not to include that evening out with friends within this collection of delectable restaurant offerings we had the privilege to savor these past few weeks.

My wife and I throughly enjoyed ourselves during that evening as the company was good, the food very authentic punjabi servings that we were privileged to enjoy. Even Datuk Seet dropped by to our table and joined us prior to dinner for a chat and some friendly banter. The meal that I remember bowled us all over was the lamb or mutton dish that came as a starter but could have easily been a main dish by itself! It was very delicious with very little pretense about it as it came specially made by the chef/owner for his friend Joe.

He pressure cooked the meat and laboriously spiced it dry and served it in a large silver plate with just fresh  tomatoes, thousand island sauce, big onions,  cucumbers and salad leaves but boy was it ever tasty !

Simply out of this world!