Last Saturday, we held an early birthday celebration for Mum at her favourite chinese restaurant at Jurong East.

Are you wondering why Boon Lay Raja Restaurant is located at Jurong East?

Hehe, do not be confused.

Just like Tiong Bahru Chwee Kueh is not just restricted at Tiong Bahru area only, right?

The restaurant at Boon Lay was the main one while the one at Jurong East was their other branch.

Boon Lay Raja Restaurant is an old signboard for as long as I could remember.

I remember we used to celebrate Grandma's birthday here annually a long time ago until she made the decision not to celebrate her subsequent birthdays anymore after a dispute with one of her daughters who has since been estranged from us.

Oh man, no point stirring up dirty linen that has already been soaking in stagnant water for so many years...

The cold dish combination consists of (from right to left) sliced Abalone, some crispy prawn-wrap, Salad Prawn, Ngor Hiang and the diced chicken which looked more like Carrot Cake.

Why no jellyfish and baby octopus?

Except for the crispy prawn-wrap thingy, this cold dish was nothing to shout about.

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The chicken skin was crispy alright but I find the meat rather bland especially those thicker chunks. Why can't people marinade their chickens inside out?

Do you find the chicken head with the opened mouth a little disturbing like I do?

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My favourite dish of the day.

The fish fillet was tender and fresh with a tint of wok hei.

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When this dish reached the table, the Oyster Mushroom had us all fooled, thinking they were Abalones! I quite like the Spinach underneath the mushrooms but it was a little salty due to too much Oyster Sauce.

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This was another crowd pleaser with the aroma of chinese wine and Danggui (Angelica Root) infiltrating our nostrils!

The prawns were fresh and succulent but the only downside is that the prawns were served dry.

I would love to take sips of the wine.

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Nothing out of the ordinary.

The Chives with Prawn Dumpling was quite robust but the Siew Mai was just plain normal.

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We ordered extra Ee-Fu noodles because a typical chinese meal simply does not seem complete without carbo!

I was surprised to find only mushrooms and bean sprouts in the noodles.

What, NO MEAT?

The Ee-Fu noodles was abundant with chinese mushrooms but the overpowering mushroom smell was too much for me to bear.

I would very much prefer to have seafood in my Ee-Fu noodles, thank you.

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Yam Paste was my favorite dessert during chinese dinners and I would always go for second helpings if I could but not anymore after learning how much oil and sugar goes into it's preparations.

This was not overly sweet to my relief but unfortunately, I could not discern the tastes between Yam and Pumpkin which is rather disappointing.

I would still prefer Yam paste in it's original form without the addition of Pumpkin.

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Oh, did I mention this was a birthday celebration for Mum?

My sister-in-law actually baked a pound cake for her!

We were too full to eat the cake so we just sang the Birthday song and cut the cake for photo sake.

We did not have a plastic knife with us so we borrowed one from the kitchen...