I've been having so much of western cuisine that when my friend asked me on a Sunday if I would like to join him for a chinese dinner at Grand Palace in Pavilion recently and I straightaway agreed! Luck was with me as it was a night where the "gang" wanted to try some new dishes from the chef. God, I was so into trying new chinese dishes.
And as a surprise, we started off with a piece of luncheon meat. One of my friends bought this can of meat from Singapore and they wanted to try if it's any good. And the lady boss personally pan fried it for us. Starters couldn't get any better than this!
My comfort food!
What a piece of (luncheon) meat... haha
And we can't skip any dinner without drinking. That night, we had a few bottles to choose from and there was a choice of a Japanese whisky (Suntory Yamazaki 18yo), a blended whisky (Old Parr 15yo), a single malt whisky (Macallan 12yo) and and a cognac none other than a Hennessey XO. Well, the whole night I was drinking the Japanese malt whisky which I truly love.
Next comes the fish maw soup with geoduck. Fish maw 魚鰾 or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of a fish to control its buoyancy, and allows the fish to stay at the current water depth without having to waste energy in swimming. It's a chinese delicacy. Although not all fish maw are expensive but there are some that are considered luxurious just like the dried scallops or sharksfin.The Geoduck on the other hand is also called a "elephant trunk clam" because it does look like an elephant's trunk before it is cut into pieces.
The soup was so flavourful and you can actually taste the sea! Grass carps were also used to boil this soup and the result was just wonderful.
The chef has been very creative and in this dish, he uses the egg to make the skin of this dumpling. And inside the dumpling, there were two generous pieces of scallops braised in with winter melon and superior stock. I called this the chinese scallop ravioli. haha...
This is not an ordinary fish. Ok, maybe it wasn't very ethical of me to be eating this "endangered" species of fish but hey, I wasn't the one who ordered it. The fish that I was talking about here is a coral reef fish or commonly known as "su mei" in Cantonese or humpheads in English. Apparently, there has been an over-fishing of this fish and now it's facing extinction. Those who want to flaunt their wealth and success would indulge in this pricey fish in restaurants especially in Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Malaysia. What used to sell for RM30 a kg in 1980 now goes for RM250 to RM300 a kg. The taste? It's heavenly. The flesh is so soft and smooth and the skin has a texture like tofu!
Have you tried cheese baked brocolli at a chinese restaurant? Well, if you haven't, you can have a go at this restaurant. Everyone was quite full after so many dishes and there were 2-3 dishes that I didn't put up here because they are not exactly very special. So can you imagine how much food we had that night?
And I thought the dinner was over. Well, it hasn't until rice shows up for any chinese dinners!
Lucky I just had to taste 2 spoonfuls of the Gultinous rice wrapped with Lotus Leaf. But I must admit that even I was full to the brim, I just couldn't resist this dish. It was so fragrant and the rice looks so perfect and so I had no excuse not to try it. It was truly tasty especially when they used duck meat instead of pork.
What a dinner and I'm in luck.
And as a surprise, we started off with a piece of luncheon meat. One of my friends bought this can of meat from Singapore and they wanted to try if it's any good. And the lady boss personally pan fried it for us. Starters couldn't get any better than this!
My comfort food!What a piece of (luncheon) meat... haha
The next dish we had was quite an interesting dish considering that chinese usually do not take raw food like the Japanese whom love their sashimi. A plate of julienne carrots, cucumber, ginger, fried yam, and sliced garlic and onions were laid on the lazy susan. Along with it came a bowl of onion oil and some roasted sesame seeds and peanut. We taught we were having the "lou sang" but it was not Chinese New Year yet. Then, the gigantic bowl of raw fish arrived.
It was actually the "Shunde Yee Sang" 順德魚生 which is literally translated as Shunde Raw Fish. It's a Cantonese dish using the Wan-yu 鯇魚 , a type of carp, thinly sliced and then mixed with all the ingredients that I've just mentioned. It's almost like a Chinese salad. With a little soya sauce, it's ready to be savoured and the taste was so good especially the flavours of the sesame seed and oil that compliments the raw fish.
It was actually the "Shunde Yee Sang" 順德魚生 which is literally translated as Shunde Raw Fish. It's a Cantonese dish using the Wan-yu 鯇魚 , a type of carp, thinly sliced and then mixed with all the ingredients that I've just mentioned. It's almost like a Chinese salad. With a little soya sauce, it's ready to be savoured and the taste was so good especially the flavours of the sesame seed and oil that compliments the raw fish.
And we can't skip any dinner without drinking. That night, we had a few bottles to choose from and there was a choice of a Japanese whisky (Suntory Yamazaki 18yo), a blended whisky (Old Parr 15yo), a single malt whisky (Macallan 12yo) and and a cognac none other than a Hennessey XO. Well, the whole night I was drinking the Japanese malt whisky which I truly love.Next comes the fish maw soup with geoduck. Fish maw 魚鰾 or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of a fish to control its buoyancy, and allows the fish to stay at the current water depth without having to waste energy in swimming. It's a chinese delicacy. Although not all fish maw are expensive but there are some that are considered luxurious just like the dried scallops or sharksfin.The Geoduck on the other hand is also called a "elephant trunk clam" because it does look like an elephant's trunk before it is cut into pieces.
The soup was so flavourful and you can actually taste the sea! Grass carps were also used to boil this soup and the result was just wonderful.
The chef has been very creative and in this dish, he uses the egg to make the skin of this dumpling. And inside the dumpling, there were two generous pieces of scallops braised in with winter melon and superior stock. I called this the chinese scallop ravioli. haha...
This is not an ordinary fish. Ok, maybe it wasn't very ethical of me to be eating this "endangered" species of fish but hey, I wasn't the one who ordered it. The fish that I was talking about here is a coral reef fish or commonly known as "su mei" in Cantonese or humpheads in English. Apparently, there has been an over-fishing of this fish and now it's facing extinction. Those who want to flaunt their wealth and success would indulge in this pricey fish in restaurants especially in Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Malaysia. What used to sell for RM30 a kg in 1980 now goes for RM250 to RM300 a kg. The taste? It's heavenly. The flesh is so soft and smooth and the skin has a texture like tofu!
Have you tried cheese baked brocolli at a chinese restaurant? Well, if you haven't, you can have a go at this restaurant. Everyone was quite full after so many dishes and there were 2-3 dishes that I didn't put up here because they are not exactly very special. So can you imagine how much food we had that night?
And I thought the dinner was over. Well, it hasn't until rice shows up for any chinese dinners!
Lucky I just had to taste 2 spoonfuls of the Gultinous rice wrapped with Lotus Leaf. But I must admit that even I was full to the brim, I just couldn't resist this dish. It was so fragrant and the rice looks so perfect and so I had no excuse not to try it. It was truly tasty especially when they used duck meat instead of pork.
What a dinner and I'm in luck.
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