The Canberra Science Fiction Club usually meets twice each month. The first Thursday is a General Meeting and on the third Thursday members, friends, family or guests can gather together to talk and eat at a restaurant. Each person pays for their own choice of meal. Everyone is welcome. You don’t have to belong to the club to join in. The only requirement is that you notify the Secretary at least two days before attending the dinner.
The Secretary has pre-selected the restaurants for this year and the cuisines are varied – Chinese, Ethiopian, Indian, Malaysian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Nepalese, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese, just to name a few. Most restaurants have a banquet as well as a normal menu.
February’s choice was Chinese – we gathered at the Fortune Cookie at the Melba shops. Many attendees had dined at the there last year and were looking forward to an excellent meal again. We were not disappointed.
This restaurant is amazing. The staff is friendly and willing to alter dishes if needed. (One of us had a pork allergy and they were happy to substitute chicken for pork in the San Choi Bow.)
Their menu has seventeen classifications for the food – Signature dishes, Entrees, Soups, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Duck, Chicken, Seafood, Prawns, Squid, Scallops, Omelettes, Tofu, Vegetables, Noodles and Rice. They also have a Banquet for 2-5 people or for 6+ diners. And a separate Dessert menu.
The Banquet was chosen (just $40. per head ). I will just describe the dishes we had. Three entrees:- Spring Rolls, Prawn Toast and a Dim Sim type ball. It did not take too long before these were heartily attacked and enjoyed by all.
Then the main dishes were served:-
– San Choi Bow (the meat and spices served in a lettuce leaf),
– Peking Shredded Beef,
– Pepper Fillet Steak Hotpot,
– King Prawns with Ginger and Shallot,
– Stir Fried Seasonal Vegetables with Tofu,
– Boneless Chicken with Lemon Sauce,
– Mongolian Lamb,
– Yeong Chow Rice (a fried rice) and plain Jasmine Rice.
This provided a pleasantly balanced meal with no chillies. Strangely most conversations ceased as everyone tucked in. I think the most popular dish was the Hotpot.
And to finish off – a Dessert of the day.
Two of the diners elected to order separately – a single entree and main, but also followed up with a dessert. They were not disappointed in their choices either.
Drinks available included the usual selection of water, wines, soft drinks, tea and coffee.
Everybody had a excellent time and very much enjoyed the food. We will definitely be back there again.
-SH
