Sunday, February 07, 2010

Festive Flurry

With Chinese New Year barely a week away, its hard to ignore the huge Chinese lanterns, blaring Chinese New Year music and sizzling smell of bak kwa.


Will you be going to Chinatown this year? If you do not wish to risk being jostled around like a clueless sardine, go during lunchtime where you can comfortably soak in the atmosphere with relative ease. Just remember to slather on more sunblock!


As always, the famous bak kwa shops are experiencing brisk business. Heck, there's even a bak kwa index devised by Bloomberg to track bak kwa prices during the lead up to Chinese New Year. Lim Chee Guan leads the pack with the priciest (and arguably best tasting) sweet meat.

This year, I gave up queuing up for Lim Chee Guan bak kwa and defected to new kid on the block Kim Joo Guan. Despite its newbie status, Kim Joo Guan has already garnered a cult following after disclosing that it is a back door supplier of bak kwa to Lim Chee Guan.

Kim Joo Guan's classy packaging trumps its competitors this year. Check out the funky gold box (for 1 kg purchases) and carrier.


When I visited both Lim Chee Guan and Kim Joo Guan's outlets during lunchtime on Friday, both were already fully sold out for the day!

I'm not much of a bak kwa connoisseur but everyone has differing opinions of how a good slice of bak kwa should taste. Folks who like thick and chewy slices would probably prefer Kim Hock Guan. I like Lim Chee Guan and Kim Joo Guan for their strong branding and thinner, juicier slices. However, my personal favorites are Bee Chun Heng (Gourmet Bak kwa) and Kim Peng Hiang (pineapple bak kwa).

And what's Chinese New Year without a sumptuous meal and a round of mahjong thereafter? If you are clueless about mahjong and do not feel like splurging on an expensive meal, here is an alternative way to have your cake and eat it.

Step 1: Take part in Crystal Jade's mahjong cupcake contest and win a set of 14 chocolate cupcakes with edible marzipan mahjong tiles on them. There are 50 sets to be won and the contest closes on 7 Feb (today!) at 7pm.


Step 2: Take part in Noel's CNY contest and stand to win a gourmet abalone seafood claypot from Jumbo restaurant worth SGD64. Contest ends on 12Feb10.

Good luck!

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