The Westin Kuala Lumpur,
199, Jalan Bukit Bintang,
Kuala Lumpur.
Contact Details: +603-2773 8338
Website: westindining.com.my
Business hours: 11.30am to 2.30pm,
5.30pm to 10.30pm daily.
THE Westin Kuala Lumpur is offering a series of four menus for Chinese New Year at its Five Sen5es restaurant.
The price of the menus range from RM880++ for the “Happiness Reunion” set menu for 10 diners to RM1388++ for the “Abundance Reunion”.
During a recent visit, we were given the opportunity to sample the “Abundance Reunion” menu.
Yee sang (raw fish) is a must at any Chinese New Year dinner, and the Jade Abalone and Norway Salmon Yee Sang gives a perfect start to the dinner.
In keeping with the snake as the Chinese zodiac animal this comingyear, the sliced vegetables and pomelo sacs have been done up in the shape of a snake before diners begin the ritual tossing.
The Westin KL has decided to come up with an eco-friendly, yet equally luxurious, approach to shark’s fin with its Master Poached Sea Pearl Clam and Prawn in Superior Broth.
The soup component is made from boiling pork, old chicken and Jinhua ham, making for a very meaty broth.
The clams and prawn balls, the latter of which are minced up and mashed together, and steamed to obtain its ball shape are imbued with the soup?s umami flavour. Supplemen-ting the soup’s flavour are wolfberries, ginger, a light touch of chilli and coriander as a finishing touch.
This was followed by charcoal-roasted Sar Tian Five Sen5es pigeon. Despite their small size and crisp skin, there is enough meat and this writer would say that the portions are enough to satisfy one’s craving for roast fowl without overindulging.
Incidentally, diners should try the meat together with the accompanying garlic-vinegar dip.
The Chinese greeting for “may you have a surplus every year” is symbolised by the fish dish during Chinese New Year dinners. Although the cooking style never changes, the simple soy sauce with spring onion and coriander garnish is more about showing off the freshness and natural taste of “Five Sen5es “goby fish.
In between the dishes, we were also given a demonstration on Shaoxing rice-wine pouring by Five Sen5es? waiters, in a snake-like glass decanter manufactured by glass-maker Riedel. Light enough not to totally overwhelm the taste buds, the rice wine makes for a nice traditional accompaniment to the rest of the meal.
There are other Chinese New Year dinner requisites, such as the restaurant’s Signature Golden Sand Prawn with Crispy Rice Cereal. Likewise, the dry-style New Year Teeth Mushroom Fried with Garden Vegetables and Roasted Pine Nuts was a welcome change from cloying cornflour sauce, with a crisp bite and chewy nuts.
Aside from the clam and prawn soup, another highlight for the Abundance Happiness set is the Secret Slow Boiled “Hong Kong” Style Wax Meat Casserole Rice, or basically, lap mei fan ? but with a touch of luxury that sets it apart from your normal street-side food.
The stars of this dish are the lap cheong (hard pork sausage), and especially, the yuen cheong (duck and pork liver sausage). Handmade in the restaurant’s kitchen, they are filled with a generous amount of mei guei lu (Chinese “rose essence” wine).
Although most of the alcohol is evaporated during the cooking process, there is still enough to add a mild alcohol aroma when one bites into one of the succulent preserved meats.
To round off a luxurious dinner, there is the Japanese Sweetened Yam Gold Coin Chinese New Year “Nian Gou”.
Five Sen5es executive chef Ng Kok Wai explained that local yam was more fibrous and less sweet, hence the kitchen choice to use the Japanese version to form the centre of the glutinous rice coins, while shredded coconut adds a light “crunch” to the dessert. All in all, a mildly sweet and satisfying finish.
There are set lunch and dinner menus at the Westin Kuala Lumpur this Chinese New Year, and these will be available until Feb 24. The yee sang will also be available until Feb 24.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
