Chap Goh Lunch

Last Saturday was the 15th day of Chinese New Year which brings the celebrations to a close (although for some of us, we already cease and desist after day #2).

At the nursing home, we met up with YB#1 (Younger Brother #1) who just returned from overseas. Dad as usual was cheerful and chatty. For the first 30 minutes of the visit I sat in his room with mum (both my brothers were outside).

Dad likes to talk about things like interest rate, world economy and his current favorite topic is Fiat Money (which is currency made legal tender by a government but not backed by gold or any precious metal). 

Honestly, on a Saturday morning I can't digest such conversation pieces. So when my 30 minutes was up, I went to visit the loo and then joined my brothers for a chit chat. At least mum won't have to listen to such topics and can talk to dad about normal stuff.

When our visit was over, we headed to Empire Subang at YB#1's suggestion. He wanted to treat us to lunch at Serai.

YB#2 and I have been to Serai@Jaya Supermarket and our absolute favorite dish is the Middle Eastern Medley. But I learnt that the price for this item has risen to RM90+ ***faints*** (price listed as "seasonal" on the menu meaning "be prepared to pay a bomb")

So we are not going to support such an obscenely expensive dish. YB#1 and I had the same idea of ordering the Serai Platter which is rice, asam pedas oxtail, fried chicken and squid rings. So mum copied our order.

As for drinks, all four of us are coffee addicts. So it was four flat whites (one iced).

The coffee was good but not as good as the ones I have had elsewhere. I have become a coffee snob.

YB#1 loves iced coffee. This brother of mine has iced coffee even early in the morning. 

The Serai Platter was pretty good. I especially loved the asam pedas oxtail.  It had a good balance of spicy, tangy, sweet and salty. Pity that there was only one oxtail.

The chicken was nothing out of the ordinary while the squid was a delight (deep fried and coated with a sweet sauce) even though it was not crispy. Meanwhile the rice was kind of sticky, like glutinous rice.

YB#2 ordered a pasta carbonara, his favorite pasta. 

After our mains, it was time for dessert. It turned out to be a dessert extravaganza.

I let my brothers decide on the desserts. First stop was the cake counter. These were the selections :

On the left is the Hazelnut Roshe, top right Choco Biscoff and bottom right Tiramisu. If you ask me, all of them were good though a bit too sweet for me. These were shared between my brothers and I (we love cakes!) but mum abstained.

Silakan!

Attack!

My all time favorite is the Tiramisu. In fact I have baked this cake before back in 2012. It is a whole lot of work which is why I would gladly pay RM18.90 to eat a slice of this cake.

Mind you, three slices of cake is not all. There were another 2 desserts.

There was banana fritters served with syrup and a scoop of ice cream.

And Nutella banana wanton wrappers, also served with a scoop of ice cream.

These two desserts were just OK for me. By this time, I was so stuffed. And my insulin spiked to kingdom come hah...hah...hah... I really strayed from the carnivore way of eating tsk...tsk...tsk... But it's all right.

Well, many thanks to YB#1 for the wonderful treat!