Bukit Bintang Food: Lai Ching Yuen Chinese Restaurant @ Grand Millennium Hotel Kuala Lumpur - 2016 Fire Monkey Chinese New Year Auspicious Set Menu

Serving auspicious meal during Chinese New Year will exudes the charm and joy of the festivities of this once in a year celebration. To celebrate this 2016 Year Of Fire Monkey Chinese New Year, Lai Ching Yuen Chinese Restaurant @Grand Millennium Hotel Kuala Lumpur; Chef Terrence Foong Kuan Onn which has more than 30 years of culinary experience in Cantonese cuisine has drummed up 5 special set menu for you to savour during this New Year.

Lai Ching Yuen Chinese Restaurant +Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur has been renowned for serving top quality Chinese Cantonese cuisine for many decades and is recognised by the experience and talents of its Chinese chef. 

Unlike most other Chinese Restaurant which are either heavily decorated in Red or brightly lit, Lai Ching Yuen decor is more subdued giving diners a more private, posh, relaxing and cosy dining environment.

The special five Chinese Set Menus for 10 person are the Active & Vigorously Set (RM 1,268 nett), Good Fortunes (RM 1,618 nett), Happy & Prosperous (RM 1,968 nett), Peace Season (RM 2,428 nett) and Smiles Of Fortune (RM 2,688 nett)

+BestRestaurant ToEat was served the Active & Vigorously Set which start off with the must have Yee Sang which is the Yee Sang With Jelly Fish & Crispy Fish Skin. We love the Fried Crispy Fish Skin as it blend a nice crunch texture to the Yee Sang.

Next on is the Assorted Seafood Soup With Tofu. Cooked with a combination of crab meat, scallop, prawn meat, thinly sliced asparagus to give a different texture, color and taste to the tofu soup.

And this is followed by the Buttered Prawn. The prawns are fried and then cooked with butter, curry leaves and eggs. One key point to this dish is not over frying the prawn and this was done nicely by the chef, which still retains a nice texture and blended with the saucy butter taste.

For fish, we had the Steamed Mandarin Fish With Minced Ginger. We love the texture and taste of the steam fish. Steaming fish can be a very challenging task for a Chef; if you over steamed the fish; the flesh will be hard. Getting the right balance especially a premium fish like this takes a lot of perfect timing and patience.

For meat, in this set, it comes with a Cantonese-Style Roasted Crispy Duck. Credit to the Chef for getting the skin roasted to a crisp while retaining the meat to still have a tender soft texture.

Many restaurant tends to offers their green as a gravy sauce type, but here the chef has done it differently on this Deep Fried Enoki Mushroom With Hong Kong Kailan. Choosing the perfectly young shoot of Kale which was stirred fried and laid with a topping of Fried Enoki which is seasoned with a light salt batter was a nice blend to our green dish.

The last dish before dessert is the Fried Rice With Assorted Chinese Waxed Meat Wrapped In Lotus Leaf. The rice are fried and then wrapped in a lotus leaf which is then steamed to add a different flavour to this waxed meat dish.

One of the dessert for Chinese New Year is the Nian Gao, Here at Lai Chine Yuen it is served  as the New Year "Nian Gao" Dual Variation. The first version is the Nian Gao which is sandwiched with a piece of Yam on one side and Sweet Potato on the other which is then battered up and sent to the fryer. The other version are for fans and lovers of Eggs; The Nian Gao is battered with a layer of scrambled eggs and are then pan fried.

To end our review, we were served a chilled Double Boiled Chrysanthenum with Longan & Black Sesame Rice Dumpling. A sweet and cold ending for our review at this lovely restaurant.

 

Celebrate this 2016 Year Of Fire Monkey in Grand Style at Lai Ching Yuen Chinese New Year @Grand Millennium Hotel Kuala Lumpur

+BestRestaurant ToEat wishes all our  readers a Happy and Prosperous Chines New Year

"Gong Xi Fa Cai"

Ee Chinese Cuisine Restaurant Eastin Hotel - A Scrumptious Feast For A Grand 2016 Year of Fire Monkey Chinese New Year

Treat your family and business associates with a grand and scrumptious Fire Monkey Chinese New Year meal at Ee Chinese Cuisine Restaurant, Eastin Hotel, Petaling Jaya Selangor. 

The specially crafted dishes for this review are selected from the set menu and prepared by Chef Alex to entice your tastebud for this 2016 Chinese New Year.

To kick start our Chinese New Year review of some of the special highlights dishes for Chinese New Year is the Lou Sang. 

The Yee Sang that are served to us is the Salmon with Rice Cracker 'Yee Sang'. Ee Chinese Cuisine Restaurant also offers other unique Yee Sang which are the Australian Lobster Yee Sang or the Abalone Yee Sang for customers to choose from.

We then proceeded to taste; the hearty Double Boiled Chinese Herb With Dried Scallop and Fish Maw. Every spoonful of this soup have the smooth taste of the herbs which was encased with the taste of the scallop and the soft springy fish maw; perfectly double boiled to extract all the full flavour of the ingredients into the soup. 

Next on is the Steamed Live Kerai Fish With Superior Soya Sauce. This fish is a freshwater fish which besides eating the flesh; its scales can also be eaten as well. The Chef did a light frying of the scales to give it a slight crunch feel. We love the fine and smooth texture of the steamed fish meat which blended well with the superior soya sauce.

It has been quite a while we had the opportunity to relish to taste the Roast Pei Pa Duck; as many restaurant in the Klang Valley does not served duck in this style. One of the key reasons is that the chef has got to get the timing perfect to get the duck to be roasted with a crisp skin while the meat still retaining the juicy flavour and succulent texture that can proves to be a daunting task to those that are less experience. Great to have tasted this delicious dish after such a long time.

This is then followed by the Braised Homemade Beancurd with Dried Oyster, Prawns and Vegetables.

Moving on we had the Wax Meat Rice with XO Sauce. Usually in most other Chinese Restaurant, the sausage will be pork based but here at Ee Chinese Cuisine, the sausage are from the duck. We like the texture of the sausage as there were very little fats and it was very fragrantful. With the special Chef XO Sauce, it was the right combination to the delicious Wax Meat Rice. Normally by this time, we would have been quite full, but the taste of the rice; called for a second bowl.

For dessert, we had the Coconut Pudding. As in most other restaurant; puddings will normally be served as a small cup or in agar-agar mould, but here the Chef is generously serving it in a coconut shell almost to the brim; to gives it a special twist with the coconut flesh still intact. The pudding has a strong flavour of coconut and topped with a lychee and mint leaves for the finishing touch. A refreshing end to our review.

One of the key thing about dining at Ee Chinese Cuisine Restaurant is the quality of ingredient used to dish out these dishes which makes eating it a joy; especially during festive season like the Chinese New Year.

Other special dishes offered in the set menu during this Chinese New Year from 4th January to 22nd February 2016 are the Mini Monk Jumps Over The Wall, Braised Abalone Dried Oyster, Goose Web with Sea Cucumber, Sizzling Baked Cod Fish with Teriyaki Sauce and much more from RM628.00 nett per table of 4 pax onwards. 

You can also try out the organic dish of the Steamed Capon Chicken or the Baked King River Prawns or the popular Sweetened Bird Nest and not forgetting the Conventional Style Steamed Century Grouper Fish to savour on. 

For those of you that loves oldies, on every Thursday night, Ee Chinese Cuisine has a special duo which will be belting out some lovely oldies while you enjoy the delicious offering from the restaurant.

On behalf of +BestRestaurant ToEat, we would like to wish our readers a Happy Fire Monkey Chinese New Year.

"Gong Xi Fa Cai"

Read our other review of Ee Chinese Cuisine

Mooncake Festival 2017 at Ee Chinese Cuisine Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Ee Chinese Cuisine @ Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur Signature Dish 

Eastin Hotel 2017 Chinese New Year Set Menu at Ee Cuisine Restaurant

Ee Chinese Cuisine Restaurant Eastin Hotel - A Scrumptious Feast For A Grand 2016 Year of Fire Monkey Chinese New Year

Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant @Starhill Gallery Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur - Award Winning Chef New Teochew Menu

Pak Loh Chiu Chow Cuisine is a household name in Hong Kong which started in 1967 but little did we know that it has setup the first oversea restaurant in Malaysia which is located at Feast Village Starhill Gallery Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur for the past ten years.

+BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to savour the specially created dishes by its award winning chef Alex Au to celebrate this occasion that blends the traditional Teochew dishes that not only taste delicious and tasty but retains the authenticity of the original flavours.

In conjunction to this 10 years anniversary celebration of Pak Loh Chiu Chow in Malaysia, we were served 10 of the over 40 new dishes that will be introduced to customers starting 5th December 2015 for lunch and dinner.

Chef Alex Au have painstakingly taken more than 9 months to craft out these dishes using the much touted condiments, common ingredients to prepare the dishes using the fine art of preparing these famous and popular Teochew (Chiu Chow) cuisine;  which uses very little flavouring as compared with most other Chinese cuisines.

In traditional Teochew (Chiu Chow) custom; we were served the "Kung Foo" tea. It is a welcome drink that are customary served to guests before a meal; one of the reason for this tea is to whet your appetite. This tea is a very strong blend and a mixture of a few types of tea leaf; of which the main tea leaves used was the "Oolong or Ti Kuan Yin".

We then proceed to our culinary journey of Teochew cuisine; which leads us to the first dish which is the Baked Bombay Duck Fish with Plum Sauce (RM25.00). The thinly sliced fish fillet are battered with a special flour mix and deep fried to a golden brown; which is then cooked with plum sauce that caramelizes the fish. We loves the crunchy feel of the fish and its taste; if not for the name of the dish, we could have easily thought it was a piece of pork meat as it resembles the "Pai Kuat Wong" when the dish was laid on the table.

Next, the chef have decided to do a live cooking of this dish which is the Threadfish Fish Soup with Coriander and Leek (RM98.00). Using leek, pre cooked radish, coriander and a soup broth of threadfish bone boiled over a number of hours to extract out the rich full flavours of the fish.

According to chef Alex, the Threadfish Head which has a strong taste and texture is used for this dish. One of the selection criteria of this fish; is to use a deep water fish which must weigh at least 5kg and above. Cut to a bite sizes, the Fish Head is pan fried before adding the flavorful broth and then followed by all the other ingredients.

 From the look; it resembles the First Head Noodles that we are accustomed to; but there is no milk that was added into it. The rich milky look of the broth (collagen) is from the painstaking process of boiling of the fish bones for hours before hand.

The next dish is the Authentic Top Shell with Preserved Vegetables (RM108.00). Due to the proximity to the sea of the Chiu Chow province, seafood are normally used to cook most of the dishes in Teochew cuisine. High quality Top Shell are associated to the likes of Abalone, which are premium seafood dishes. With that, the Chef butterflied these Top Shell to a very thin slice and cooked with his special preserved mustard. Loves the glistening texture of the Top Shell which has a springy and bouncy sweet natural taste.

After which, we had the Traditional Steamed Tiger-Toothed Croaker with Pork, Ham and Garlic Wrapped with Aromatic Chinese Cabbage (RM98.00). The fish is first wrapped with a big piece of Chinese Cabbage while the pork meat and ham flavours are intertwined to make the special taste to the gravy. It was a little challenge for us to eat this fish as the small size of the fish poses a challenge of the separating the bones. But nevertheless, the taste of the fish white meat was a delight to be eaten.

This is then followed by the Classic Chiu Chow Wok Fried Assorted Seasonal Vegetables (RM32.00). For Teochew (Chiu Chow) people, this dish is usually served on the 7th Day of the Chinese New Year as it represent family harmony; there are 7 different types of vegetable used for this dish with the careful selection of each of the vegetable which rhyme with a prosperous or lucky sound.

Moving on is the Braised Spring Chicken Stuffed with Glutinous Rice, Garlic, Ginger and Straw Mushroom (RM45.00 per chicken). The Glutinous Rice is first fried and then stuffed into the Spring Chicken with the mushroom and the other condiments. It is then slow braised to extract the full flavour of the chicken together with the stuffing. The end result is that the Glutinous rice has a soft texture and was nicely matched with the braised stew with the soft peeling meat of the spring chicken.

After which is the Authentic Smoked Bacon Cooked with Yellow Chives (RM45.00). The salted bacon are made inhouse by the chef; It is smoked with a special tea to gives it a special aroma and taste. Combine it with the imported Yellow Chives which has a crunchy feel together with the bacon was a perfect match to the white rice that we ordered to go with it.

This is then followed by the Braised Pumpkin Bean Curd with Wild Mushrooms and Dried Scallop (42.00). The bean curd are made with a blend of soyabean and pumpkin paste. Getting this right texture is a painstaking process that enable the proper setting of the bean curd. After that; it was fried to a golden brown before being braised with wild mushroom and dried scallop sauce.

Rounding up the food review, we then had the Flat Rice Noodle Soup with Threadfin Fish and Preserved Vegetables (RM35.00). On the first slurp, we can really taste the slippery and thin layer of the flat rice noodles. We love the texture of the flat rice noodle and also the Threadfin fish meat which was accompanied by the broth which has a slight sourish taste extracted out from the sour plum that was used to give it a very distinct flavours.

For dessert, we were served the special Authentic Crispy Bananas with Golden Cream (RM24.00). There is a story behind this dessert;  Legend has it that during a cooking competition the two finalist has ran out of ingredient to cook after a gruelling competition and one of the contestant saw some bananas hanging from a nearby house and decided to use it as the main ingredient, which then became the winning dish. When interviewed, the Chef could not think of a proper name and just utter the dish name as "not in time".

As Chef Alex relates; the batter used to coat the bananas are from a mixture of five different flour and this gives the crust a super light crispy texture which literally melt in your mouth. Combine with the sweet flavours of the bananas, it was the perfect end to our delightful journey to explore the Teochew cuisine at Pak Loh Chiu Chow @Starhill Gallery Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur.

Kim Ma Chinese Restaurant Palace of Golden Horses Hotel Delectable Dim Sum Menu Review

Dim Sum chefs have a great task in the continual quest to satisfy customers craving for new and special Dim Sum. With that Chef Roy Wong of Kim Ma Chinese Restaurant located at the Palace Of Golden Horses Hotel Seri Kembangan have created 9 special creations Dim Sum and invited +BestRestaurant ToEat to taste this new Dim Sum dishes.

With the new look of the restaurant, Kim Ma Chinese Restaurant needs no further introduction as a premium Chinese Restaurant with the setup of an elegant and posh restaurant setting.

According to Chef Roy, Kim Ma Chinese Restaurant are now offering small plate Dim Sum, so that customer can easily share and taste more of his specialty dishes. He quips that customer are so accustomed to their delicious Dim Sum and had wanted him to create some specialty Dim Sum dishes.

For Dim Sum lovers, Kim Ma Restaurant is having a promotion of the famed "Delectable Dim Sum" throughout the month of November 2015. Priced from RM11 Nett onwards, guest can enjoy a wide variety of daily offering for lunch.

Our gastro journey at Kim Ma Restaurant of the Special creation Dim Sum started with the Dried Scallop Dumpling With Caviar. Wrapped in a snow like skin, with dried scallop and topped with ebiko and caviar, it is a real delight to taste this steaming hot dumpling.

followed by the Baked Chicken Puffs in Abalone Sauce. Crusty puff with a strong butter flavour.

The third Dim Sum is the Fresh Prawns and Chicken Dumplings with Black Vinegar. Wrapped in a thin layer of skin, the succulent bouncy prawn was a delight to bite into.

after which is the Black Mushroom Dumplings With Abalone Sauce. Fried to a golden brown, this dumpling was a nice match to the abalone sauce that came separately with the dumplings.

The fifth dim sum is the Spring Roll With Enoki Mushroom and Chicken. I am not usually a fan of Spring Roll but with the tangy mushroom which was cooked with chicken as the filling; it gives the crunchy feel of the popiah skin while the enoki mushroom was a nice tasty option as a filling.

while the sixth is the Pan Fried Chives With Seafood; With a thin layer of sticky dough; it was very flavourful with plenty of chives and was very meaty.

followed by Baked Puff With Unagi. Nice crunch from the crust and the filling with unagi was a unique ingredient in a puff.

while the eighth dish which is a Charcoal bun i.e. the Steamed Buns With Red Dates. The Red Dates flavour and aroma can be a little challenge as we are more accustomed to flavours such as the Red Beans or Lotus paste; but this one has a very unique acquired taste.

The ninth and final Dim Sum for the special creation series is the Yuan Yang Glutinous Rice Dumpling. Made from black and white glutinous rice wrap in a Pao Filling.

If you are still craving for more Dim Sum, Kim Ma Restaurant have a "All You Can Eat Dim Sum" package at only RM65.00 nett per person (this package is only available on weekends and public holidays from 10am to 4pm).