I thought the chocolate squares around the cake look pretty cute too.

Mummy cutting the cake:

A cross-section of the cake:

There's banana custard cream and banana slices smacked between the two layers of sponge cake, and the cake's topped with dark chocolate. I thought this tasted better after taking it out of the chiller and leaving it in the open for about 10 minutes or so as it was quite dense right out of the fridge and I could not taste the different textures of the various layers.

After sometime, the cake turned much softer and I could taste very distinctively the softness of the sponge, the creamy banana custard, the slightly mushy banana slices and the delish dark chocolate. When it all went into my mouth at the same time, I let out an "Oomph" instantly. It tasted really divine. The whole combination was just so perfecto. I couldn't stop at one slice and I went on to help myself to another. And another. So I had a total of three slices. No wonder I'm feeling fattt.

Anyway, I think my mummy was really happy with the dinner, the presents, the cake and us today.

I'm happy when she's happy. :)

Here's what we had that night:

The Birthday Girl's Atlantic Salmon, marinated with a lime hollandaise sauce:

Here's ph's Chicken Dijonnaise, marinated grilled chicken breasts topped with avocado and smothered with creamy Dijon mustard sauce:

And this is bimbo's Boss Hog Double Burger, consisting of (thick) double beef , double cheese, tomato, onion, beetroot, BBQ sauce and seared with Hog's Breath Blacken seasoning:

Here comes my Hawaiian Hickory Chicken Burger!

Look at how big the two chicken breasts are:

The chicken breasts are basted with hickory smoked sauce, cheese, beetroot, tomato, pineapple and onion rings. I quite liked the sauce as it wasn't the normal BBQ sauce and there was a really tangy taste to it. I kind of expected the chicken breasts to be pretty hard to chew on, but the texture was just right.

One side of the burger was served with the pineapple and onion rings, with tomato and beetroot while the other side of the burger was slammed with the two huge chicken breasts and cheese. And the Hog Tail fries I had for my side were not too bad as well. The entire dish doesn't exactly scream fantastic but it's value for money I guess, considering the really huge portion. I couldn't finish one entire chicken breast and still had some curly fries left over.

I know I shouldn't be wasting food during such bad times when there's a constant rise in food prices but the portion was really way too big. The other girls couldn't finish their foods too!

I know we are such ironic people, said we were too full from the main dishes but we still went ahead and ordered one of their desserts, the Mississippi Mud Cake. We just couldn't resist the chocolatey goodness:

The super dark mud cake was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, with chocolate sauce drizzled all over. The cake was slightly warmed and it tasted superb with the ice cream. It was a dense and dark chocolate cake, definitely THE cake for all chocolate lovers. It ain't too sweet (which we liked) and the whole combination of the cake with ice cream and chocolate sauce was to die for.

This was the pretty birthday cake we got for the Best Friend:

And here's the happy Birthday Girl:

After all the eating, we went out and walked around, snapping shots here and there:

Lastly, here's all five of us:

To the Best Friend: I hope you had enjoyed yourself and like what we've got for you. Cheers to our 13 years long of friendship! :)

The different kinds of crabs they serve:

Some other dishes:

Now, here comes the exasperated part(s) of my dining experience at Big Eater:

1. We went there for their crabs but we were told by the boss that they had ran out of it and he said he'd help us "check it out" and let us know again if there are any available. But oh well, he never came back to inform us and we noticed that there was this particular table that came very much later than us but they managed to order the crabs.

2. We were served the legendary Hokkien Mee only after about 20 minutes of waiting and we cleared the plate in about 10 minutes.

3. And our next dish, Stir-Fried Kailan with Oyster Sauce came only after another 25 minutes.

4. We also ordered the Crispy Rolls, which was served after a good half an hour after the Kailan and by that time, we had (obviously) already finished our rice, solely be eating it with the Kailan. I don't know if this sounds pathetic or what.

5. We had placed an order for the Pork Ribs but that never came until we went to the boss, asking him why we had to wait so long for every dish to be served to our table. He showed us the piece of paper in which he had taken our orders with and we were shocked to see that he did not take down our order for the Pork Ribs. That particular order was emphasized several times by my mom and I had no idea how he even missed that out. I don't know if it was because he wasn't really focused while taking our orders as many more people were pouring in at that time. He was not apologetic for that and simply rushed off by saying that it will be served very quickly. But again, we had to wait for another 20 minutes.

6. The Family was seriously annoyed and unhappy why our dishes were all served so randomly and in intervals of about 20-30 minutes.

It was a really bad dining experience, despite the dishes being delicious. I like the way the dishes were being prepared but I can't stand having dinner like that, eating bits and pieces here and there. It spoilt our dining moods and now, we might not even want to go back again for fear of having dinner in such a disrupted manner.

Besides these complaints, I was quite pleased with the dishes we had.

Looks like a plate of brown worms, doesn't it?

I've read many rave reviews on this dish and truly, it did not disappoint me. My dad was in love with the super-crispy pork lard in which they had used in the noodles. This Hokkien Mee is different from the others I've tried in Hokkien restaurants as they use the thick and round Hokkien noodles instead of the usual flat ones. The noodles have a really good texture and bite to it. The sauce comes in a large amount and it is really fragant and tasty.

Here's the very plain-looking Kailan with Oyster Sauce that were stir-fried to just the right texture:

The vegetables were fresh, non-groggy and there is this nice crunch to it.

Here's the Crispy Rolls we all loved:

It's one of their signature dishes and although it looks like a simple dish, just prawns and some fish paste (I think) wrapped with beancurd sheets, these were deep-fried to the exact crispness. The prawns within are really crunchy and it's delicious to dab the rolls in the mayonnaise provided.

And here's another favourite, the soft and succulent Pork Ribs (called 排骨王 or something if I remember correctly):

I liked how I could bite into it easily and I did not have to use all my might to tear the meat apart as the ribs are really soft, yet maintaining a chewiness to it. The sauce coating them was also very delicious, something very distinct and special. It isn't the usual kind of sticky or sweet sauce, but instead, there is only a slight tinge of sweetness to it, hence it did not make us feel sick after eating a few pieces.

After having such positive comments on all of their dishes, I'm now thinking of visiting them again to see if things would be better during off-peak periods. My dad swore off from going to Big Eater as he deems dining there as a "complete waste of time", although the food is good. My mum said she would only return if we specifically request for our dishes not to be served in such a random manner. For my sister, she is already planning which day we should return so as to avoid the horrendous crowds. Oh well, I would most probably head back there again since it's located so near, and I'd definitely make my reservation muuuch earlier.