Today marks my 12th day back home, and I think I’m more or less done with eating. It’s high time as well, as I’ve been feasting pretty much non-stop for the past 12 days – with a short break on the 3rd and 4th days as my stomach adjusted to the oilier and heavier food here.
Every mouthful has been enjoyable. I hadn’t realised that my appetite had decreased in my time in Belfast, but it didn’t take long for it to pick up again – I’ve honestly surpassed my expectations of the sheer amount I could eat. It’s just as well it did, as I’ve barely managed to sample most of the things on my “to-eat” list.
Here’s what was on the menu for the past 12 days:
- A traditional Chinese wedding dinner at Goodwood Park Hotel – an 8 course meal comprising an assorted starter platter, fish, chicken, prawns, soup, vegetables, noodles and dessert, served with Chinese tea, a choice of beverage and red wine.
- A Japanese buffet at Irodori Restaurant – including 22 slices of assorted sashimi, prawn tempura, takoyaki, agedashi tofu, grilled teriyaki shiitake mushrooms and deep fried shishamo.
- A Chinese seafood buffet at Tung Lok – including cereal prawns, smoked duck slices, chilli crab, coffee pork ribs and sambal mussels
- A buffet lunch at Park Royal Hotel to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday – featuring a spread of Peranakan dishes including Nonya laksa and durian penyet (I had 6 shot glasses worth!), western cuisine such as roast lamb and grilled beef, as well as a fresh seafood section and a variety of desserts.
- 2 x dimsum lunches – including 4 absolutely amazing 流沙包 at Victor’s Kitchen
- Chirashizushi set at Chikuwatei
- Tonkatsu set at Ma Maison
- 担担面 & 小笼包 at Paradise Dynasty
- Tse char at Chinatown – comprising black bean fish head, frog legs, har cheong gai, braised tofu, fried hor fun. For dessert we had gula melaka ice kachang and ching tng
- Roti prata
- Duck rice
- Fried carrot cake
- 2 x kaya toast sets
- Char kway teow
- Fried hokkien mee
- Oyster omelette
- Fish soup beehoon
- Orh kueh
- Kway chap
- Kueh paitee
- Laksa
- Gyoza
- Old Chang Kee curry puff
- Ippudo ramen
- Fried tofu (Thai style)
- Chinese rojak
- Chee cheong fun
- 2 x matcha ice cream
- Sticky date pudding and chocolate cake (shared) at Robert Timms
- Nasi padang with sayur lodeh, sambal goreng, etc
- Gula melaka tea from Old Tea Hut – it tastes like liquid pulut hitam
- About a cup a day of kopi or kopi peng
It seems like quite a lot but there are quite a number of dishes that were eventually bumped off the list. Diminishing returns also meant that something had to give – I’m in serious need of a day or two of detox before feasting again, but there’s just no more time.
Looks like I’ll just have to make sure I eat all the things I’ve missed (and more) on my next trip home in 2016!
Bits and Bobs 