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Occasion: Pre-Mother’s Day Lunch for my grandma (Ah Ma! Muah muah muah!). Gathered the entire brood and went to Liang Kee today. Grandma, mum, uncles, aunt, cousins, nieces, brother and the boyfriend (aka designated driver and the sole non-Teochew amongst us).

I’m rather fond of Liang Kee, having been there numerous times with the Pa and the Ma. The food is familiar Teochew stuff, never disappoints and the setting is comfortably unpretentious.

This was the grandma’s first outing to Liang Kee though, so we were careful to choose food which would not disappoint her conservative taste buds.

First dish - Teochew cold crab (S$38 for 2 crabs). Aaah, the hallmark of Teochew cuisine. The crab is served plain and cold, so as to amplify the natural sweetness of fresh crab. If you wish, you may dip the strips of crab meat in a sweet-sour sauce (don’t know what the sauce is, but have it at home as well and I love it!)

The next dish is my personal favourite - braised duck (S$25). The duck was tender and the skin had just the right amount of fats. It came in generous slices, soaked in a concoction of soy sauce and other spices. Most importantly, it also comes with a delicious Teochew-style chilli-vinegar-garlic dipping. Utterly addictive.

To please the grandma, we ordered sea cucumber and fish maw (S$36). I ate neither. I assume it was fairly decent, since no one had any complaints. Expensive stuff, but so unappetising and..erm…distressingly wobbly to look at…

We also had a fish dish. The menu calls it “trigger fish” (S$36), but I’m not quite sure if there’s such a thing. The fish has a tough skin (which is removed before cooking) and soft bones. It is sliced horizontally into segments before being stewed in a black bean sauce. It was fresh and the sauce was pretty good.

The oyster with egg (S$15) came with a generous serving of fresh, plump oysters and a fluffy omelette. There was a dollop of sambal chilli embedded in the centre of the omelette. Again, good stuff.

Although I am not a vegetable fan (unless mushrooms and anything sambal), I have to give the stir-fried spinach (S$10) a special mention. The grandma loved it and kept praising it. It warmed my heart to see her eating her veggies!

My uncle, his wife and some of my cousins were seated at the other table and had ordered some different stuff. This included prawnrolls (S$16) and sambal crayfish (S$40). As the dish on my table at that time was sea cucumber and fish maw, I persuaded them to do a bit of a swop. I piled some sea cucumber and fish maw on a little plate for them, in exchange for a helping of prawnrolls and crayfish. Sad to say, the prawnrolls were rather ordinary. However, the sambal crayfish did not disappoint and was finger-licking good!

It’s traditional to finish off a Teochew meal with orh nee (S$10) as dessert, so we simply had to order that too. For the uninitiated, ‘orh nee’ is this wonderful, smooth yam paste mixture topped with pumpkin puree. The orh nee was served hot from the kitchen and generously studded with gingko nuts. A most satisfying way to end a treasured lunch outing with loved ones.