First visit to a Chinese restaurant

minibeanie is 5 weeks old and that is as long as we've gone not going out for dinner. Going anywhere with a baby is tricky business; the bottle is the centre of the universe - all revolves around it. Hence, we dashed out of the house the moment minibeanie was fed, sufficiently burped and comfortably nestled in the pram. After all, we only had a 2 hour window.

We decided to try a Chinese restaurant that a friend recently recommended. As a general rule, we tend to steer clear of Chinese restaurants in Helsinki believing that the dishes they serve up all have the same gooey gravy with bamboo shoots. And dessert is always fried banana with ice cream. In other words, these restaurants have all pandered to adapt to what the Finns think of as Chinese food. But if a Malaysian Chinese friend had recommended it, it can't be that bad.

Upon entering the restaurant, I asked the owner for his recommendations in Cantonese. That's something I learnt early on. If you want authentic Chinese food, speaking in Cantonese or Mandarin signals that you want the real deal - none of that same goo that's in every dish, please. The owner was straightforward and said that the menu was not for us then. I asked for a vegetable or tofu dish but he said that he had run out of Asian vegetables and the tofu wasn't that fresh. How about mussels in black bean sauce?

We lapped up everything in good time and minibeanie slept blissfully, much to our relief. My mum will be visiting this week - perhaps DH & I can make a dash for the cinema? It sounds too much like the tv series Prison Break :D

minibeanie is 1 month 1 week 1 day old

ps. thanks Joyce for the restaurant tip!