I was fortunate to be invited to a
food tasting session at Checkers Cafe Dorsett Regency Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
Dorsett Regency Kuala Lumpur
Check out Checkers Café’s
fabulous spread of New Year specialities specially put together by their team
of talented chefs for an unforgettable Lunar New Year celebration together with
family and friends.
2012 is the Year of the Dragon, the mightiest of
signs in the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New
Year, occurs every year on the new moon of the first lunar month, about four to
eight weeks before spring. This year,
the Lunar New Year celebration falls on 23rd January 2012 and to
usher in the auspicious Year of the Dragon, the hotels owned and managed by Kosmopolito Hotels International namely
Dorsett Regency Kuala Lumpur, Grand
Dorsett Subang, Grand Dorsett Labuan, Maytower Hotels & Serviced Apartments
and Silka Johor Hotel have come up
with a series of feasting and staying options for the occasion.
Feast on sumptuous yet traditional
offerings of Yee Sang with crispy salmon skin, braised sea cucumber with
mushroom and dried scallops, glutinous rice balls featured alongside with other
equally mouth-watering offerings such as Seafood On Ice; a-ala-minute dishes;
homemade soup and irresistible selection of desserts that will definitely leave
one craving for more.
We started our course with a mocktail called
"Prosperity Splash" concocted with pineapple, dragon fruit, mandarin
orange and a tinge of honey. Very refreshing indeed. Apparently, this was not
actually on the menu, accordingly it was whipped up by the Chef at the eleventh
hour. Respect!
Crispy salmon skin and other condiments for the Yee
Sang
Our first dish was Salmon Yee Sang
with Crispy Salmon Skin
Crispy salmon skin made the Yee Sang experience a truly unique and
different.
Rating: 8.5/10
The Pan-fried Lamb Rack with Chef Special Sauce. This is THE one of my favourite of the night! The lamb was tender and marinated with the Chef's secret sauce. It as pan-fried to perfection!
Rating: 9.5/10 (Must try)
Next came the Braised Shark's Fin with
Assorted Seafood like dried scallops, mince crab meat and fish maw. The stock has
the right texture and the shark's fin is acceptable and the taste was neither
overwhelming nor lack of.
Rating: 8/10
One of the Chinese New Year must have
dish is the Steamed Chicken with Herbs. The chicken is tender and not overcooked.
It is not "Kampung Chicken" but the herbs sauce still managed to seep
into the meat.
Rating: 7.5/10
Deep-fried Cod Fish With Superior Soya
Sauce. Not overcooked. The skin was crispy whilst the flesh was still
succulent and juicy and with the superior sauce, a delectable for the taste
buds!
Rating: 8/10
A staple seafood dish to usher in the lunar
New Year. This is the Deep-fried Prawns with Seafood Sauce. The prawns could
have been a little bigger (and this will make it more presentable). Somehow I
tasted the meat a tad overcooked.
Rating: 7/10
This is also one my favourite dishes
and an essential dish for Chinese New Year. Braised Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber,
Dried Oysters and Black Mushroom with Seasonal Vegetable. This time broccoli
was used. The fish maw and sea cucumber is cooked to perfection with the sauce percolating
the seafood. The oysters surprisingly is big. Not those minute ones you see at
some restaurants but this one is fairly big and fresh.
Rating: 9/10
Fried rice with Ginger and Salted Egg
was next on the menu. The colour was a tad bland and honestly it lacked the
savoury "wok" flavour. However, the salted egg coated every grain of
rice and it was not salty and the flavour was just right.
Rating 7.5/10
The ever favourite Fried Sesame Seed Ball with Red Bean Paste filling.
Very nice.
Rating: 9/10
Sweetened Red Bean Paste. This paste
is really good with mandarin orange zest. You can only taste the zest only if
you swivel the paste in your mouth for a moment to enjoy the taste (not gulping
down like drinking medicine). The paste is thick enough but not to the extent
of lumpy and gooey. I think an immersion blender was used to pureed the paste,
not the normal blender.
Rating: 9/10
What's Chinese New Year without the
traditional "nian gao" or simply called the Chinese New Year cake
made of glutinous rice and sugar and steamed to the perfect brown colour. This
dish is the very essence of a Chinese New Year delicateseen.
Rating: 9/10
The Junior Sous Chef Lai Chan Meng,
the man behind all the wonderful dishes whipped up for the review. Thank you.
To end the evening we were each given
a box and what a surprise we found in the box. I call it the Prosperity
Muffins! I simply cannot take enough pictures of these intricately created
muffins from the pastry section of the restaurant. The muffin is as big as the
box (no illusion photography was used as I am only using a Nikon Coolpix 8MP
and not a SLR, there is so much one can do with a camera costing less than RM300.)
The muffin is of butter with some orange zest and is sinfully delicious. The
topping is made of marzipan and there is gold coin and a traditional rice jar
with words of good fortune and prosperity for the lunar New Year!
Rating: 10/10
Overall dining experience: 9/10.
(Highly Recommended)
|
Reunion Buffet Dinner
22nd January 2012
Price: RM108.00++ per person
|
‘Gong
Xi Fa Cai’ New Year Brunch
23rd & 24th
January 2012. 12.00 noon to 4.00 pm
Price: RM75.00++ per person
|
|
Joy
& Luck Buffet Lunch
Monday to Friday
25th to 31st
January 2012
2nd to 5th
February 2012
Price: RM75.00++ per person
|
Prosperity
Buffet Dinner
Monday to Friday
23rd to 31st
January 2012
1st February to 6th
February 2012
Price: RM85.00++ per person
|
·
50% discount for children between the
ages of 4 to 12 and senior citizens of 55 years old and above.
·
Prices quoted are subject to 10%
service charge and 6% government tax.
·
38% discount for blog readers (referral blog name must be quoted
when making table reservation).
Lion
Dance Performance
For a rousing start to the Chinese New
Year celebration, don’t miss out on the lion dance performance on 26 January
2012 at 9.30am at Dorsett Regency Kuala Lumpur’s Main Lobby.
