A Whiff of Lemongrass

Organic melon, golden pumpkin, fruits Yee Sang

I’m horrified. (tap tap)  Somewhere between Typing Tutor (a DOS based program in the 80s) and now, someone changed the 2-space rule after the period. (tap tap)  My friend, Chet, posted an article on Facebook which cited the AP Stylebook as one of its sources, and as I understand it, most of the youth of today, or those who started typing after circa 1989 (don’t quote me) have been adding one space instead of two after the period. (tap tap) I felt like a failure for all of 2 minutes, then realised that I should not let my feelings be affected by a body that is bent on saving space by leaving out alphabets (eg. color, flavor, aluminum). (tap tap) Of course, we can’t blame the Americans for everything, and the 1-space rule after the period probably surfaced due to some green movement (imagine how many trees are saved by the Americans/1-space rule advocates/young punks), but it’s hard for me to embrace change now.

Sowhatnextafterthis?Awesomecool.

A public service announcement.  If you love steaks and want to win a 4 day/3 night trip to the land down under, do take part in the Las Vacas Steak Challenge.  Details are available on their Facebook page.  The closing date is 13 February 2011 and participants are limited to 60, so hurry.

*********

It’s still Chinese New Year, so until the 15th day is up, you’ll be seeing only Chinese New Year posts in line with the festive cheer.  Today’s entry is Chynna, a pork-free restaurant which I love to frequent thanks to the Hilton card which offers me loads of discounts.  Discounts aside, the food’s pretty good, and the decor, opulent.  Be ready to be greeted by a long-neck-teapot-wielding-kungfu-man (i.e. a man holding a long-necked teapot as opposed to a long-necked man holding a teapot) as he performs some impressive stunts before pouring you a cup of 8-treasures tea sans spills.  The tableware is gorgeous while the entire place is awash in saturated hues.   Simply beautiful.

The Extravagant 8 Set Menu at Chynna is premised on a healthy concept, or at least, as healthy as it possibly can be.  The vegetarian yee sang was a delight to eat despite the lack of fish or seafood primarily because it felt less oily and sweet thanks to the restrained use of olive oil and plum sauce. One of the key ingredients used was organic “sharks fin” melon, a kind of squash where the flesh resembled shredded sharks fin with none of the guilt.  Golden pumpkin and fruits completed the picture.

I love a hot and sour soup, so Chynna’s version with kimchi, fish maw and bamboo pith was a pleasure to consume.  With all these creative ways of presenting soup, it’s quite possible to see the easy demise of sharks fin dishes.  Kudos to Standard Chartered Bank and the participating restaurants for paving the way.

My favourite dish that evening was the steamed Canadian cod, a fresh (as is possible for imported fish), firm piece of fish served in a slightly spicy sauce made with dried shrimps, onions, chilli, coriander and fermented black beans.  The cod was the small scaled variety which, according to Chef Lam Hock Hin, was sweeter than the regular type.  Actually, half the battle is won when fresh ingredients are used, and yet, there are still restaurants out there that deem it fit to serve substandard items.  Blame it on price levels, consumer habits, etc, but if we’re expected to be a force to be reckoned with in the food universe, we should start with the freshest local produce possible.

Chynna
Hilton Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur Sentral
KL

Tel: 03-2264 2264

In conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration this year, the best chefs from 8 top Chinese restaurants in the Klang Valley have customised special Extravagant 8 menus, priced at RM888++ for a table of 8, exclusively for Standard Chartered credit card holders. The menus are available from January 20 to February 17, 2011. More details on the restaurants, their offerings and T&Cs are available at the Standard Chartered website.

Thank you, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia and Hilton Kuala Lumpur for kindly hosting this dinner.

Note: This is the fourth of five reviews under the Standard Chartered Extravagant 8 campaign. Earlier reviews:

Shanghai, JW Marriott

Li Yen, Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur

Gu Yue Tien, Chulan Square

“Sharks fin” melon used in yee sang

The beautiful Bangsar-Babe holding up the beautiful and intricately designed plate

Hot and sour soup with kimchi, fish maw and bamboo pith

Steamed Canadian cod in fisherman sauce

Stewed sun dried oysters with fatt choy, braised peanuts and chicken

Wok fried nian gao with Chinese cabbage and mushrooms

Ginger syrup with glutinous dumplings

Chef Lam Hock Hin

Bald Eagle could tell that I was upset about work when I suddenly started ranting at 12.30 at night. As a matter of policy, I choose not to discuss my work life at home, so when this happened, he knew that I was troubled. The next morning, I took my time getting out of bed. He said, “You don’t want to go to work, do you?” (He loves stating the obvious.) After taking a shower, I got dressed absentmindedly and kissed him goodbye. Seeing how he was so chatty earlier, he could have told me that I was wearing my outfit terbalik, right? But no, he let me walk out of the house with the label sticking out, seams clearly showing. I went to the nearby tuck shop to get a can of Nescafe and a bun, and the girl at the counter didn’t say anything about my outfit. I stopped at Petronas for fuel, and the guy who attended to me didn’t say anything about my outfit. I greeted the receptionist at my office, chatted with her about the lovely CNY flowers decorating the entrance, and she didn’t say anything about my outfit. I walked past 30 colleagues to get to my room, and they didn’t say anything about my outfit. I had a discussion with two of my staff for a good 20 minutes, and they didn’t say anything about my outfit. It was only when I took a pee break about an hour later that I saw my reflection in the mirror and screamed.

The world needs glasses. Not rose-tinted ones. Just plain old prescription glasses.

**********

I looked in awe at the braised Shanghainese pork.  It stood like a wobbly terraced structure of pleasure, entirely made up of my favourite kind of meat.  The pork belly had been braised for five hours and sliced so precisely that it deserved to be put on a pedestal and worshipped.  The one given to us was firm, cooked exactly to my preference, but I was told that it is normally cooked a little more thoroughly to a point where the pork fat melts a little and becomes softer.  Bamboo shoots ensconced within the structure and steamed with the pork proved to be a lovely accompaniment, much like a concubine to her master.

I liked the double-boiled superior wanton soup.  Choose wanton soup over sharks fin soup?  Indeed!  With the Chinese, there are several grades of soup, ching tong (clear soup), siong tong (superior soup) and then, there’s gou tong (higher than superior soup).  This was made with dried scallops and bamboo pith in a clear broth made with chicken and Yunnan ham.  The wantons were made with pork and vegetables.

The fried rice, humble as it is, had Aly asking for seconds, and that girl normally doesn’t ask for seconds of anything.

When asked which of the dishes was his signature, Chef Wong Wing Yeuk replied in fluent Mandarin, “Xiu Long Bao!”.  Luckily, thanks to my years of tuition lessons in Mandarin (yes, really), I made out all of 2% of the entire conversation (money badly spent).  The rest was un-fluently translated by FBB, but they cannot be repeated in this child-friendly blog.  They were pretty little dumplings with translucent skin, and steamed with the most exquisite broth, but the good Chef also candidly mentioned (in Mandarin again) that he did not prescribe to the theory that a xiu long bao should be made with a fixed number of folds.  I suppose he has a point.  While  I can’t see the significance of 18 (or whatever number is deemed appropriate), the more important virtues are that of taste and translucence and elasticity of skin, and Shanghai excels in all areas.

Shanghai
JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur
183 Jalan Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2179 8288

In conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration this year, the best chefs from 8 top Chinese restaurants in the Klang Valley have customised special Extravagant 8 menus, priced at RM888++ for a table of 8, exclusively for Standard Chartered credit card holders. The menus are available from January 20 to February 17, 2011. More details on the restaurants, their offerings and T&Cs are available at the Standard Chartered website.

Thank you, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia and JW Marriott for kindly hosting this dinner.

Note: This is the third of five reviews under the Standard Chartered Extravagant 8 campaign. Earlier reviews:

Li Yen, Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur

Gu Yue Tien, Chulan Square

Salmon yee sang

Double boiled superior wanton soup with dried scallop and bamboo pith

Deep fried grouper fish with sweet and sour sauce accompanied with deep fried goose liver wrapped in bean curd

Braised Shanghainese pork with vegetables

Imperial fried rice with shrimps and diced chicken

Steamed Shanghainese meat dumplings

Sweetened glutinous rice cakes with red dates and dried longan

Pan fried glutinous rice cakes with sesame seeds

Chef Wong Wing Yeuk

Happy Chinese New Year to all friends and readers!   I have tossed yee sang 10 times this year already, and I’m not complaining as I’m a yee sang addict.   My makan kaki, Ecstatic Eeyore, and I have a ritual of going to Woo Lan every year and ordering a plate of yee sang and a noodle dish for two.  It seems rather pathetic when two people toss yee sang gaily, chanting all kinds of unachievables, but we don’t really care as we immerse ourselves in tradition.

One of the first sessions I attended together with the other bloggers was a food review at Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant.  Zuan Yuan is ideal if you’re looking for a halal alternative.   While at first, we moaned and groaned about missing the lard, we eventually came to the realisation that a perfectly good meal could emerge from a halal Chinese restaurant without that glorified hog.   We scoffed at the idea of lap mei fan without the typical waxed meats made of pork, but when we tried Zuan Yuan’s version of lap mei fan with the clever replacing of pork with turkey and chicken, we knew that we could finally share this much revered dish with our Muslim friends.

The roast duck is a specialty at Zuan Yuan, and I understood why.   The meat was tender, the skin was crispy and the spicy chilli sauce was a good complement to the dish.   I also liked the fried tiger prawns.   The prawns, which were extremely fresh, were coated in a dry sauce made with dried shrimps, chilli and garlic – perfect for those who prefer bolder flavours.

Nian gao, a sweetish sticky confection made from glutinous rice, is popularly eaten during Chinese New Year although it is available all year round.   At Zuan Yuan, the nian gao is home made and is served with a twist – it is paired with an avocado custard, then coated and deep fried in a kataifi phyllo dough.

Chinese New Year set meals are available at Zuan Yuan till the 20th of February.   This year, Chef Michael Chew has prepared 4 varieties of yee sang with different accompaniments ranging from the more common seaweed and salmon to exotic ingredients like chuka hotate and sliced abalone.  The set menus at Zuan Yuan are available at prices ranging from RM988++ to RM1,388++ per table of 10.

Zuan Yuan will remain open throughout the fifteen days of the Lunar New Year.

Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant
One World Hotel
First Avenue, Bandar Utama City Centre
Petaling Jaya

Tel: 03-7681 1159

Thank you, Bangsar Babe, for the invitation, and Florence Leong and Crystal Koh of One World Hotel for kindly hosting us.

Yee Sang with seaweed and assorted fresh fruits – less of the preserved stuff!

Roasted duck with unique spicy sauce

Wok-fried tiger prawn Hong Kong style

Steamed coral fish with pickled radish and chilli

Braised diced sea treasure, dried oyster and sea moss in golden bag with green garden

Steamed lotus leaf rice with assorted meat and chicken chinese sausage

Chicken and chrysanthemum soup – clear soup with robust flavours

Double-boiled sea coconut with organic bird’s nest, red dates and white fungus

Deep fried avocado custard and nian gao with kataifi phyllo