Richard And Jo Demeester's photos with the keyword: food

So, we knew we were ordering more than we needed. We forgot they would automatically give the rice, salad, pita, dahl, and hummus. The prawn masala was excellent, but the chicken nashif was out of this world.

New Years Eve. We met up with Justin and Paul, friends from Melbourne, Richmond even. When the first two plates arrived, we thought it looked like a lot to share between four. Then another two plates arrived. With another four courses to come, plus panetone, we were going to need the whole time until midnight to move our way through the food.

Various delicacies to start the meal, Shin Yeh 101.

Fried fish - sounds like it will be the most boring of the items for dinner. Nah-ah. It was incredibly done, magnificently flavoured, and probably felt the most decadent because of the addition of gold.

Mala Hot Pot. Cash only. All you can eat. Top ingredients just flowed. Seafood including scallops, 2 types of squid, oysters, clams, 2 types of prawns, mussels. High quality thin slices of amazing meats including lamb, beef, bacon, pork. We added a bit of balance with mushrooms (6 types), corn, pumpkin, and a couple of other vegetables. We had a few dumplings and meat balls. We didn't have to resort to anything unidentifiable or anything offal. There was a table of dipping ingredients, and I made my own special mix which I was very proud of. Spring onions, chillies, garlic, Chinese soy sauce, sesame oil, and ground peanuts. We skipped the soup and curry, but had a few different cakes for dessert, and multiple scoops from the free flowing Häagen-Dazs. I lost track of the number of glasses of red I drank, so lucky we didn't have to go far. The best thing about this place - it's in the basement of the building where our hotel is. Jo made me walk back up to the 7th floor.

Yum. We were looking forward to our enjira meals, and they have not disappointed. One dish is with lamb, and the other is kitfo, warm raw mince with spices.

A Thali is an all-in-one plate for lunch. They can be basic (with just rice, dhal, and some vegetables) or quite fancy and extravagant, like these.

This was the start of the big late lunch I referred to. This shows the dips and salads. Soon, we were to start receiving the meats and hot dishes. This meze had about 25 different dishes! No dinner needed that night.