Lunar New Year's Eve upstairs at Joo Chiat Road, the year the eldest son came home from Perth with a wife nobody had met. Twenty-three people around a table for ten, a steamboat in the middle, and the cat under it.
What happened
The table was made bigger by putting a door on top of it. The steamboat ran out of charcoal at ten and was refilled from the coffee shop's stove downstairs, which made the soup taste faintly of coffee. Several people still claim to prefer it.
Who was involved
Cooked mostly by Ah Ma, who ate standing up and refused every offer of help. Ah Kong gave out the red packets, and gave the new daughter-in-law two.
What came of it
It was the last reunion dinner held above the shop. From 1997 they moved to Mei Lin's flat, and the door went with them.