Life with the Allens: Kung hay fat choy!

Part 1 of Saturday:

As a little boy, Nick was taken every year to celebrate the Chinese New Year in London's Chinatown. His family would go to Mr Kong's restaurant, where they would sit at the top of the restaurant, by the window. When the drangon danced by it would climb up to the window and Nick would feed it lettuce. Not surprisingly he has very fond memories of this and was really excited to introduce our kids to this tradition. Chinese New Year was actually last weekend, but the festivities were being held this weekend. The day didn't start off so well though. Our mobile phone battery died and we were running late because the traffic in central London was heaving. We were due to be meeting a friend who was joining us for the meal and had never been to this restaurant before, but we had no way of contacting him. Then there was nowhere to park so Nick dropped me and the children off in Leicester Square, with me only having the vaguest of ideas how to get to the restaurant (I have been there a few times before, but am terrible at navigating the backstreets of London even without the hundreds of thousands of people swarming the streets). So off me and the kids wandered into the masses and we squeezed and wound our way through the tightly compacted crowds until we could go no further. I probably don't need to describe how distressed I was feeling at this point. I didn't even know if I was going in the right direction and I was worried someone was going to crush or trample my children. We retraced our steps and went down a street that looked at lot less crammed - and I started to recognise a few of the shops and restaurants. I said a quick prayer that we would find the restaurant and that Andreas (Auny) would also find his way there too. A few feet down the street and I spotted the green facade of Mr Kongs...I was so relieved! We went in, sat down at our table and waited for Nick. Once Nick arrived he asked a (very kind) stranger at a nearby table if he could please borrow his phone as his friend was lost and we had no battery. Phonecall made, Nick set off to get Auny, who had lost himself somewhere on the other side of Chinatown. Whilst he was gone, we got our first glimpse of the Dragon. He was dancing outside the restaurant door, but the corridoor was so blocked with people, we could only see flashes of his colourful body. We were really disappointed until Mr Kong (yes, the same Mr Kong that was there when Nick was a boy) told us that he would be back again.

Ben studies the menu

Then finally we were all reunited. And the day just got better and better from there. We started off with crispy duck pancakes (an absolute MUST), spring rolls, crispy seaweed, sesame toast and chicken satay. Just as we were finishing our starters we heard the drumbeats getting nearer and nearer.......

The Dragon was on his way back! And the corridoor was empty!!! We scrambled to the door and waited for him to arrive.....

And it was the most amazing experience! He danced for us at the doorway, whilst the crowds looked on.....

And after his wonderfully, acrobatic, martial arts style dance, he ate the proffered lettuce.....

...then spat it all back out at us - sorry no picture of this, it made me jump! But according to Nick, the instance the lettuce spewed forth, Ben's arms were in the air trying to catch it all.....his reaction time was lightening quick, and obviously better than mine.

Jasmine proudly shows her lettuce

Of course, they both wanted to keep their lettuce to show their friends at school. And they knew, even after it got a little spread over our table, exactly which leaf belonged to whom! So, before we left the lettuce was carefully put in a plastic bag provided by the management and promptly forgotten about!

So, back to the rest of our meal. We had delicious king prawns with fried noodles, fillet beef cantonese style, special fried rice, prawn crackers and spring greens in oyster sauce. Followed by juicy slices of orange and a hot cloth (I love those things!).

check out Jas using chopsticks! and yes, she did actually get some food into her mouth :-)

and Ben was pretty nifty with his too - once he managed to use them both the right way up!

Jasmine thought Auny's head needed a clean....

After stuffing ourselves with all that delicious food, we went looking for some little paper dragons and the kids raced Auny and Nick through the streets like horses......

....STOP!.......GO!......SLOWER!......FASTER!.....and so on. I looked on proudly and thought how they must feel delighted at being so much higher than everyone else, and how exciting it must be to be able to race under the lanterns and balloons in the dark, but well lit streets. And I had a moment. This is what life is all about. Having fun with your family and friends. In that moment I felt such a sense of elation, that it didn't matter that it was starting to rain and that I struggled to keep up after such a big meal (mental note: must go on diet)