Last weekends I attended an event organized by Open Rice at Grand Millennium Hotel’s Lai Ching Yuen thanks to the invitation from Marcky, a friend who is associated with the project, and someone who definitely loves to eat.
chef Kong of Lai Cheng Yuen showing off his skills
Lai Cheng Yuen is famous for it’s dimsum, and our host was the very friendly Chef Kong, a dimsum chef 28 years. Some of chef Kong’s signature dishes are the steamed siew mai with fresh scallop, deep fried bean curt roll with prawns, and mini durian tart.
On that day, however, we were in a treat for something different. Dimsum is usually associated wit seafood and pork as main ingredients, but Chef Kong wanted to show us that you can make yummy dimsum using all vegetarian ingredients too.
we got to try our hands on making dimsum
Even better, right after the cooking demonstration, we got to get our hands dirty and make our own dimsum as well.
The good chef prepared the all important dimsum skin from scratch (they do this everyday at Lai Ching Yuen) using Hong Kong flour as the main ingredient. The filling of the dimsum was prepared from the combination of carrot, mushroom, sengkuang, celery, bokchoi, and more.
these are all vegetarian dimsums
After the cooking demo, we were served 5 different vegetarian dim sum dishes chef Kong prepared on the spot. These were the pan fried soft bun with mixed vegetable, deep fried yam ring with mixed fruits, vegetarian lot mai fan, chee cheong fun, and a transparent sort of sui kao.
vegetarian chee cheong fun, lor mai fan, and the last 2 pieces, we made
The dishes were pretty good, and I suppose as close as you can get to tasting like real dim sum without any hint of meat or seafood ingredients. This is perfect for vegetarians who prefer real vegetarian foods instead of those menu that’s filled with fake meat & fake seafood that is popular in Chinese vegetarian offerings (always irks me especially for those who do it for religious purposes).
the five dimsum dishes we sampled
Unfortunately we did not get to try dim sum from Lai Ching Yuen’s normal menu, but judging from chef Kong’s expertise in this demonstration, I am pretty sure that they won’t disappoint.
At the end of the event, I won a lucky draw – lunch buffet for two at The Mill, Grand Millennium, and Horng walked away with a handsome voucher of RM 800+ from Slimming Sanctuary. Yuki should be happy about it. 
Address:
Lai Ching Yuen
160 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.14791, 101.71222
Tel: 03-2117 4180
As a pork loving guy, there are two types of breakfast that will always make me happy. The first is of course, bak kut teh, and the other? Proper Hong Kong style dimsum.
And when it comes to dimsum, there are plenty of choices to be had in town, but few offers as many variety as Jin Xuan (锦选). Ever since it started operation a few years ago, the restaurant steadily picked up its pace and has become one of the most popular dimsum destinations among PJ dwellers.
these golden custard buns, heaven!
Situated at Damansara Jaya right next to the mall that used to be Atria, getting a parking space is usually quite a lot less troublesome than getting a table on weekends. They have, however, a decent numbering system and waiting area under the tent, and with a few opportunistic traders offering fruit rojaks and soya bean drinks around the vicinity, the wait is usually not too tough to bear.
dim sum goodness at Jin Xuan
Once seated, like all dimsum places, ordering is usually not necessary. Servers carrying various types of dimsum will appear right in front of the table, all you need to do is to pick what you want and start eating.
Like in conveyor belt sushi restaurants, the pricing of each dish is determined by the type of plate used, this removes the need for having the server jotting down what you get on a piece of paper like what some dimsum places practice. Quite a lot more efficient.
some of the fried stuff, the scallop with salted egg is a must try
There are a few broad categories of food you can order here. Steamed dimsum, deep fried dishes, various types of bao (steamed buns), porridge/chee cheong fun, and even a few non-dimsum related dishes.
and of course, they have the whole selection of everything dimsum
Most of the dishes at Jin Xuan that I’ve tried were very yummy, with a few that are fantastic, or if you like – must tries.
To me, the number one item on the list must be their fried scallop with salted egg. I’m not sure if you can get this anywhere else, this is the only place I had this dish and absolutely love it.
The “lau sar pau” is another yummy dish that I always have. Another salted egg based item, but in liquid form flowing out all hot and tasty when you bite it down. yums!
Other commendable dishes are their fried chicken wings, porridge, and the classic dimsum items.
Prepare to spend about RM20 per person and an hour of your morning and I’m sure you’ll start your day on a good note.
Address:
Jin Xuan Hong Kong Dim Sum restaurant
59, 61, 63, Jalan SS22/19,
Damansara Jaya,
47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
GPS: 3.12708, 101.61549
A few weeks ago I was invited by Ollie to a mooncake sampling session at Li Yen, Ritz Carlton. The trouble about having a review session over lunch, and one that is set up more than a week in advance is that… there is a risk that I forget about them.
I was happily walking out of the office heading to lunch when my phone beep and I was reminded about the event on the day. I quickly made my way to Ritz Carlton, and of course did not have my SLR or my trusted Canon S90 with.
So you will have to be content with these photos taken with my phone under poorly lit condition.
Li Yen at Ritz Carlton, Jon & Cheng Yi
Our primary goal was to have a taste test on several types of mini mooncakes on offering here. I do like my mooncakes, and for me, a lunch consisting of pure mooncake actually sounded rather lovely. Furthermore, the session is conducted at Li Yen, a pretty posh Chinese restaurant of which I’ve tasted the food, but haven’t yet stepped foot in as yet at the time.
the glorious mini mooncakes from Ritz Carlton
We were served four types of mini mooncakes, two of which were new flavors introduced this year – the green tea with custard and salted egg in snow skin, and wasabi with lotus paste.
The wasabi mooncake is very subtle, you really need to let it swirl a little the mouth before getting the wasabi taste, I do like it. On the other hand, I like the salted egg in the green tea flavored mooncake, but not too big a fan on the custard bit, tends to be slightly too jelak I think, but not something a sip of hot tea can’t fix.
Then there’s the interesting Moët & Chandon Champagne with snow skin that has the most exquisite taste of any mooncake I’ve ever tasted. It’s like eating normal chocolates, and then having those with liquor inside, it’s definitely a different experience, and one that I received positively.
Lastly, the pink Rosé mooncake in snow skin too offers the experience as the name suggest, a hint of the flavor of rose that is unique to your typical mooncake tastes.
dimsum for lunch – spring roll, har kau, siu mai
As I stuffed my stomach at least 70% full of mooncakes, they brought in dimsum and some other dishes as a supplement for lunch, and how could I deny?
The spring rolls and prawn rolls gave a welcoming change of taste from those sweet mooncakes, then the har kau and siu mai were as good as any out there. Li Yen is a non-halal outlet, and thus these dimsum were made with the ingredients as dimsum should.
pork buns, seafood noodle, custard buns
The pork buns and custard buns at Li Yen were really, really, awesome! At this point I was already over-full and still I couldn’t stopped myself from stuffing another serving of each of them.
As I was going to surrender, the seafood noodle arrived… I noms down all the seafood, and left the noodle pretty much intact. It was a good session, and I am going to get more mooncakes before the end of the season, yes!
The mid autumn festival falls on the 12th of September, get your mooncakes before the date, you still have a week.
Read about Jon and Cheng Yi’s reviews too, and thank you Ollie for the invite.
Address:
Li Yen @ Ritz-Carlton Hotel
168 Jalan Imbi,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.146960, 101.715406
Tel: 03-2141 8000
When it comes to dimsum, Ming Court Hong Kong Tim Sum restaurant at Ipoh is gotta be one of my all time favorites. I always try to make it a point to stop by Ming Court whenever I drive between KL and Penang in the mornings.
For evening commute, I sometimes head to Pun Chun for wantan mee and chicken biscuits instead.
Ming Court Hong Kong Tim Sum restaurant
The restaurant is located at the heart of Ipoh city in an unsuspecting shop lot, opposite another dimsum behemoth that is Fu Shan. While some swore by Fu Shan, I personally had the experience of rather disappointing meal there, hence I stick to this old school outlet these days. (the reason why I don’t blog about Fu Shan).
Parking can be a bit challenging, but there’re private car parks nearby. Like Hong Kong, sharing table is pretty much obligated here due to the volume of customer.
glutinous rice with chicken, braised phoenix claws, stuffed eggplant
The glutinous rice with chicken, braised phoenix claws (chicken feet lah!), stuffed eggplants, and of course, the usual hargao (prawn dimsum) and siumai (pork dimsum) are must orders. The portions are slightly smaller than those found in KL, but packed a bigger punch in flavors.
The dimsum here always tasted super fresh and steamy hot too.
har gao, siu mai, black sesame soup
One of the must-order signature dish at Ming Court is their black sesame soup. While the black colored soup might look a bit like diluted mud from the photo, the combination of it’s smell and taste really blew me away when I had this. It was rich yet really smooth, there’s no “jelak” feeling afer consuming the whole bowl either.
deep fried dimsum, chee cheong fun, pork ribs
Other than traditional steamed dimsum, there’s a wide variety of deep fried dishes too. I’ve tried their prawns with mayonnaise, wu kok, and quite a few other items completely foreign to me. They all tasted pretty awesome.
Their chee cheong fun and pork ribs were A-OK too.
Horng, KY, FA, on trip to Penang Jan 2009
The dimsum here are priced between RM 2.00 to RM 2.80 with a couple items at RM 4.00. We usually spend slightly more than RM 10 per person for an awesomely satisfying brunch.
Gareth, Cheesie, KY, and Kim just before Porject Alpha shooting, Jan 2010
Address:
36 Jalan Leong Sin Nam
30300 Ipoh, Perak
GPS: 4.597068,101.086137
Tel: 05-255 7134
A few weeks ago I went to Room Eighteen at Berjaya Times Square for a food review. I was in fact, already quite a fan of this relatively new franchise from Tai Thong group ever since the branch at Tropicana City Malls opened. However, this was the first time I visited the BTS outlet.
I brought along Terence, Jaclyn, Eric, Kerol, and Cheesie for the session. I love food reviews where I can bring friends along, it always make the occasion a lot more fun.
room eighteen at BTS, eric, jaclyn, cheesie, kerol, terence, KY
Coincidentally, the senior manager of the chain hailed from the same high school as me in Penang, my junior in fact. Since he is also from the same island that is known as sort of a food capital of Malaysia, I placed a higher trust on his taste and let the guy handled food selection for the evening.
And just like how the pork gang’s dinner always go, we over ordered.
siu mai, papaya cream puff, herbal xiao long bao, tofu skin with pork
We were first served with some dimsum as appetizer. The siu mai (steamed pork dumpling) and tofu skin with pork were really tasty, as good as some of the best dimsum I’ve had. The papaya cream puff too was quite good, albiet a little different from what you’d expect from dimsum.
We were served two different types of xiao long bao. I felt that the normal version was just rather average, and favors the herbal version (photo above) a bit more. However, it wouldn’t be something I’ll necessary order again, they weren’t really on par with those I had from Dragon-i.
roast duc, char siu, and roast pork, fried venisen with you char kwai, vegetable
The roast duck and char siu were really done very well, I particularly love them with their really fragrant chili oil. The roast pork though, didn’t particularly capture my attention, but perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the excellent roast pork at wong meng kei at pudu, literally just a stone’s throw away from BTS.
The fried venisen with you char kwai was quite an interesting combination. The meat was tender and juicy, with the contrasting texture of the you char kwai it was rather good. We ordered a plate of Hong Kong choi sum as the vegetable dish to counter all those meaty dishes. Always have your vegetable!
wanton soup, fragrant chili oil, fish ball noodle soup
The wanton soup was one of my favorites at Room Eighteen. Instead of prawn or pork, the wanton filling was half pork and half prawn, that really gave it the best of both worlds in terms of taste. Quite excellent!
The fish ball noodle soup was quite good too. The fish ball quite firm and tasty, together with the noodle and soup it can make a pretty simple meal when you feel like giving the taste buds a bit of a rest.
lotus leave rice, steamed chicken rice, two types of porridge
Lotus leaf rice and the steamed chicken rice with mushroom were two more dishes that I really liked. The chicken was really smooth and delicious I wish I can have some right now, writing this at the wee hours. Ah well…
And as if we were not already overly fed by then, our host insisted that we should try out their porridge. Both the two different porridge we tried were really good, but at this point I seriously couldn’t really take more than a spoon full.
black sesame soup, drinks, blueberry shaved ice
We capped the evening with some desserts to share (seriously couldn’t finish one by myself anymore). The sesame soup was decent, and the mango sago wasn’t bad either. My favorite of the bunch though, was the blueberry shaved ice, really “kao” and really sour with just the right amount of sweetness. That freshened me up pretty good, I liked it.
Prices at Room Eighteen are comparable to Canton-i and Dragon-i, a typical meal would fetch about RM 15-30 per person, but of course what we had here would have been more than that if we split 6 ways.
Address:
Room Eighteen
Berjaya Times Square
LG 50 & LG 18C
Lower Ground Floor
No 1, Jalan Imbi
55100 KL
GPS: 3.142444,101.710621
Tel: 03-2148 8688
