BY YASMIN AHMAD KAMIL AND HANNAH JONAS
TAI PING CHINESE RESTAURANT
Level 1, The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur,
5, Jalan Conlay, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel:03-2688 6988
Business hours: Noon-2.30pm, 6.30pm-10.30pm, daily.
IN THE spirit of lunar new year, Tai Ping Chinese Restaurant at The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur has prepared three menus for diners to usher in the Year of the Goat.
Each menu includes nine to 10 courses of Chinese favourites that have been carefully selected and put together by the restaurant’s capable team of chefs.
Depending on the menu, patrons can choose from salmon, jellyfish or abalone yee sangtossed with sesame seeds, crispy crackers and traditional plum sauce.
After whetting their appetites, diners can continue the celebration with various meat and seafood dishes before wrapping up with sweet desserts.
At a recent review, we tasted the Prosperous Live Grass Yee Sang, Steamed Red Snapper Hong Kong Ginger Soy Sauce, Stir-Fried Two Varieties Prawn, Braised Lucky Charm on Vegetables, Fried Rice with Waxed Duck in Lotus Leaf and Colour Mochi.
Lunar New Year staple: The Prosperous Live Grass Yee Sang comes with plum sauce.
The myriad of ingredients in the yee sang tossed to customary cheers and wishes for the new year features a diverse range of flavours for the enjoyment of all.
Following the prosperity toss, we savoured the delectable Steamed Red Snapper cooked in Hong Kong ginger soy sauce, a popular dish at the restaurant.
The tender fish is complemented by the light soy sauce, with the right amount of saltiness and ginger lending a pleasant piquancy to the overall taste.
Up next was the Stir-Fried Two Varieties Prawn featuring prawns fried with oats and egg yolk as well as the mayo salad prawns.
Arguably the highlight of the menu, the prawns were fresh and chewy with contrasting seasonings making for an unforgettably interesting experience.
Popular dish: The Steamed Red Snapper Hong Kong Ginger Soy Sauce is a tasty fish treat.
The oats and egg yolk variant is crunchy and salty as the smooth buttery taste of fried oats enhanced the flavour of the prawn.
The mayo salad prawns served with a side of fruit salad is soft and sweet, with a hint of tartness which was not overpowering.
We were served the Braised Lucky Charm on Vegetables, which was crunchy and will sit well with veggie lovers.
The dish comprises eight different ingredients including celery and mushrooms wrapped in beancurd skin and tied up to imitate moneybags.
The moneybags sat in a pool of light-coloured but thick gravy served with crunchy broccoli.
Biting into the moneybag is a messy affair but one is immediately rewarded with the juicy explosion of assorted flavours emerging from the delicacy.
For a dose of carbohydrate, the kitchen served Fried Rice with Waxed Duck in Lotus Leaf.
The team: (From left) Junior sous chef Chan Yong Sin, chef de cuisine Lee Sai Ying and Chinese chef Chew outside Tai Ping Restaurant.
This dish is served wrapped up in a lotus leaf, with bite-sized pieces of carrots, corn, peas, prawns and chopped duck meat in the rice.
Although the rice itself is common fare, the waxed duck makes the dish a memorable one.
Chinese cuisine chef Chew Nee Sian said the duck was marinated in herbs and spices and left to sit in the freezer for one month before being smoked to perfection and fried along with the rice.
For dessert, Colour Mochi was the treat.
The mango-flavoured rice-flour dessert came with a thick mango paste filling and was the perfect refreshment to end the meal with.
Tai Ping’s Chinese New Year menus are priced at RM1,588+, RM1,888+ and RM2,088+ per table of 10.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
