Zhou's Kitchen

I used to be a buffet lover especially during secondary school and JC days. Compared to some guys, I might be at a losing end in terms of the food I could consume. However, compared to most girls, I thought I would be one of the forerunners if there were ever a competition. In case your mouth is already gagging open with incredulity now, let me in to a secret - I was quite an uncouth, slightly aggressive tomboy when I was in school. I shall leave these gory details to another time.

It is unbelievable and a complete decadence to spend a weekday afternoon eating. Hey, I do not need to travel to exotic vacations to feel happy. I do not need blings blings dripping from my earlobes, on my neck and fingers to feel like a queen. I am easily contented with the little pleasures in life, including spending time on things I like, eg eating.

I am long past the days of wolfing down all food in sight with no qualms on whether I like them or whether I need them. Now, I am more selective on what I eat because my stomach is not as bottomless as before and it is wasteful to allow the meagre space be taken up by unpalatable food. Given the lower metabolism, it is simply not as wise to heap more calories than I need. Hence, I have often avoid buffets because it is damaging to the weighing scale as well as no longer value-for-money with my diminishing ability to gobble down food.

Look at me. Again, I have spent 3 paragraphs and still not discuss about the main topic - Zhou's Kitchen in proper.

Zhou's Kitchen is one of the restaurant chains under the Tung Lok group - one of the leading F & B groups in Singapore. It offers a tea-time ala carte buffet which prices close about $15 per diner. The selection of food includes

1) dim sums, such as the popular pork dumplings (siew mai), shrimp dumplings, braised chicken feet, steamed pork ribs, custard buns, char siew buns, mini egg tarts, fried carrot cake

2) home-cooked dishes, such as drunken chicken, shrimp paste chicken, fried fish skin, stir-fried beans with shrimps, fried ngoh hiang (spiced minced pork wrapped in beancurd skin), steam tofu with minced pork

3) staples, such as fried rice, mee goreng and century egg and pork porridge,

4) soups, such as Sze Chuan hot and spicy soup and other clear soups and

5) desserts, such as red bean paste, sesame paste, herbal jelly, fried sesame balls, pulu hitam and mango and pomelo sago

We ate from 2.30pm to 5 pm. I could not remember how much I ate but it was definitely alot. I did not realise until I finish everything at 5 pm. I felt bloated then, but little did I know the discomfort from eating too much only caught up with me later.

I was so full that I felt nauseated. My stomach felts as if it would explode any moment. I could feel the food straining the stomach walls and causing my extreme discomfort and slight pain. I had to keep walking around because if I sat down or stood still, I might really vomitted. I dared not take the train but rather had to linger at the mall and walked many rounds to ease the bloatedness a little before I could take the train without any mishap.

Sigh! This sure put me off buffet for a while. Although I knew that buffet was bad because I would overeat in order to get value for money and then hurting my stomach and my health. I was way past the age when my digestive system was at its prime. Such wilful eating could really cause irreparable damage to my internal system.

I think I will have to say 'no' to any buffet for the time being.