Lei Garden 利苑酒家 (CHIJMES)

Honestly, the food is underwhelming for the price, though the service is Top notch

杏仁糊
Smooth and sweetly satisfying

Nicely deep-fried and fragrant

Very interesting dish
Like a savoury Eggtart

Not sure why they had to be served separately but tastes really amazing 🤩 the abalone was super tender and paired really well with the sauce. Not too salty even when eaten as a solo dish.

The soup’s more of a fluid milky-like chicken soup version (there’s chunks of chicken meat and bones init) than the more traditional transclucent brown starchy ones we typically have served with vinegar.

The fin itself is pretty starchy and tends to clump together in the less viscous broth. Wonder if it’s considered another form of collagen soup derived from ceratotrichia (thankfully not keratinous! Most people would have an aversion against chewing hair). May also get a non-pill dose of supplementary Chondroitin sulfate though it’s most likely already thermally degraded (fragmented and desulfated) after being double boiled.

This controversial dish came as a package under the Mother’s Day special set meal. Tasty, but I guess eventually we’ll have to look at alternatives.