this is my first post in my first ever made food blog .. thank you all for taking your time to read it .. Sorry please forgive the quality of my pictures.. i used my 3 megapix blackberry to take the picture.. so its not as good as other food blogs that you see around ..

Today since its the day that my dad gets to choose what he wants to eat before he gets cut up, we went to lai sum yuen …

Not sure if you all ever had those kind of Chinese restaurants or family restaurants that your parents or family always frequent in the process of growing up … Lai Sum Yuen was sure the one place that I often frequent when i was younger … I always remembered from their last location at Tiong Bahru Plaza, the really big corner restaurant that had never ending number of tables, the metal cushioned chinese chairs that always “greeted” you with a “Eeee” sound  .. the father of the restaurant who wore white pants just sat by the cashier and collected money .. for all other matters is not within his charge … and last but not least the friendly auntie waitresses that never failed to stop us from running around the restaurant ..

Now they have moved to the former food alley and were featured in the newspapers recently .. so we all just decided to give it a shot to see if their standard was still as good as former times .. and here is their website

Surprisingly, the owner of the shop, she recognised my dad and remembered him … amazing.. service that already won us over .. looking around the restaurants, its really pilled with families .. especially old people and young children i noticed … She suggested that we ordered their Set A ($88) as it had mostly their signature dishes (jiu pai choy) such as their Steam fish head, Shrimp paste chicken, Steamed Garlic Prawns, Egg Tofu with 2 different types of mushroom and Mango Sago with Pamelo for dessert.. but that was like some of the dishes being switched around of course .. and we Yongs being Yongs .. we do not conform to a set menu style of eating … so us being us, we add on a Seafood Horfun with gravy which totally rocked the whole world…

Highlight#1: Sharks Fin Soup

I was quite huh at my dad for ordering sharks fin soup at first because its not what we usually eat when we go to these kinda family restaurants .. but nonetheless, this bowl of sharksfin i would say was one of the most uniquely home made style of sharks fin i ever ate ..  it does look the same as the normal kinds served in chinese restaurants and weddings, but i must say its not as starchy as those usual kinds? and the crabmeat  each spoon i scooped into my mouth i could really bite into crabmeat as well as sharksfin? its reall value for money i think if you really want to eat sharks fin

Hmmss.. wellss i really would apologise because we were all so hungry chomping down all the other food that i forgot to take a picture of them before starting .. like sometimes when i wanted to take somebody would start into the dish so .. hahaha and i happily forgot about it because i was so happy chomping down the  food .. which i must say tasted as nice as when i was young … I am so glad to be able to step into such a restaurant that didn’t lose their standard ..despite the upgrading and all of the place .. 🙂 but thankfully, i managed to halt everyone and take a picture of …. my favourite :

Highlight #2 :   Steam Fish Head

Steam Fish Head 🙂

Normally for my family, steamed fish , well depending on the fish must:

1) be of the correct steamable size – too big the flesh inside would be uncooked, to small it will be overcooked

2) flesh must not stick to the bone – that is really a real test of the chef’s skill

3) the sauce accompanying it must go well with rice ..

4) the timing must be perfect- in the sense that the time the fish announces its arrival to the table, it must be cooked to the right temperature and texture

fortunately for us, we were not disappointed .. they still served the steam fish on the same ole big burner thingy .. which is good.. and being reputable for their steam fish, totally met our standards .. there is a little raw part within the fish so that by the time you all had your first helping, the mini burner would cook it .. all these years it still does amaze me how that little thing can cook your fish .. so by the time you had your second helping, it is just right and nicely cooked for you …

the sauce was different from the normal cantonese restaurants we visited .. it was thicker and slightly sweeter because of the spring onions and turnip ( i think) that flavoured it really well .. it had a every even consistency and was really apt to go with rice 🙂

Overall i would really re-visit this place because it has many memories for me, and its a taste that i grew up with so to some extent thats really hard to change in a person .. i really enjoyed myself there and service there was really made you feel very homely because of the friendly aunties ..  🙂 Highly recommended for family dinners that includes old people and young children

Loy Sum Juan Restaurant 黎三元酒家
 28 Murray Terrace,
#01-01 
Singapore