Chinese New Year's Eve

KC: Yesterday night was Chinese New Years Eve in Melbourne for us. We had a reservation at a Northern Chinese Cuisine restaurant - "Crystal Jade" off Lt Bourke Street, which was a few blocks away from our house. We waited until everyone were ready and headed out towards the restaurant in our "red" gear .

We got to the corner of Russell and Bourke Street, and saw smoke coming out of one of the building. At closer inspection, and just when the fire trucks were arriving, it was "Ha Long" one of the few vietnamese restaurants on Russell Street. How exciting a fire up close and personal . My dad and I went closer to have a look... the smokes filled Lt. Bourke Street as well.. and when we entered Lt Bourke (to get to the restaurant, mind you), we could hear firecrackers going off and sounds of liondancing..

You would have thought that they would stop the activities, knowing that there is a fire.. alas no they kept going... A bit chaotic for the firemens for sure... they had to ask everyone to move back away from the affected area.... everyone wanted to have a look. A few people (including myself ) took out cameras as well... (photo will be attached when I get home). Hahahaa

Ah well, luckily that it was New Year Eve, not New Years Day... hahaha says Superstitious ME.

For Chinese New Year Eve, there is a New Years Menu, from that menu we selected "Yat Ban" which is abalone with assorted mushrooms, lettuce, "bamboo-hearts" and "sea-sponge"(??) cooked in oyster sauce stew. We ordered fried pork rib-pieces which was topped with fried garlic, baby spinach with dried scallops, special chilli fried rice, and mud crab cooked in garlic and soya sauce with egg noodles. For New Years, Chinese like to eat noodles which symbolises longevity.

My favourite dish from the above selection was the fried pork rib-pieces... that was cooked to perfection and the fat of the ribs added to the richness and flavour of the dish. Second, would have been the mud crab, which is saying a lot for me because I don't usually like crabs.

If it was a weekend, I think a bottle of nice cool Chinese rice wine would have gone down well with it... Instead we had jasmine tea... sometimes I wish we could bring our own Chinese tea to restaurants... *sigh*

Crystal Jade Restaurant: 11 Waratah Pl Melbourne 3000 / 9639 2633