My brother had a friend from back home visiting so, with some more friends of his, we headed out to Chinatown for some yum-cha. I’m not sure if it was a deliberate choice to do yum-cha on Chinese New Year but it was certainly interesting challenge. Making our way past Chinatown Mall (the hordes of people in the Mall dissuaded us from even thinking of making our way through the Mall) was frantic with many crowding the streets and pathways watching street performers (mainly the lions) or just plain getting in my way. You had to watch out for the kids and their random throwing of small fire crackers – not painful but a surprise if one pops at your feet.

Many restaurants weren’t taking reservations, and our restaurant of choice Laureate was no exception, so it was eat on a first come first serve. Surprisingly people were willing to wait for more than hour (us included) to be seated – though maybe it had something to do with the hostess saying that the wait would only be half an hour. The waiting area got so crowded at times that people were standing in the aisles between tables and all up the stairs! Just as well Laureate was not one of those trolley yum-cha places. Happily we were able to enjoy a giant feast – and we even had prime seating to see not one but two lions come in to bless the restaurant eating the lettuce hanging from the wall and then throwing it up on us. Pretty funny.