My 4th CNY Yee Sang dinner for the year of Rabbit happened at Toh Yuen Chinese restaurant at PJ Hilton Hotel, this time thanks to the invitation from the good people at Create Studio. Yes, I thank my lucky star on privileges like these. 
Toh Yuen Chinese restaurant at PJ Hilton Hotel, Chef Lee
Toh Yuen is headed by Chef Lee, whose philosophy in cooking is plenty simple – traditional style with good (if not the best) ingredients, and without any addictives such as MSG. Tasty but healthy food is the emphasis around here.
To welcome the year or Rabbit, Toh Yuen is offerring 3 special set menus – Happiness (RM 888++), Fortune (RM 1188++), and Longevity (RM 1388++) for 10 pax. On this review, we sampled the Longevity menu.
another yee sang ritual, this time with abalone
As usual, yee sang was our the very first dish, and on the get go, it was already unmistakably luxurious – we had the “Fatt Choy” abalone yee sang (also sold seperately for RM 180/260/300).
Some might say this is a bit of a waste so far as the method of serving abalone goes, I must confess that it actually was rather good. Abalone surely beats Alaskan salmon in my book.
braised shark’s fin soup with crab meat & roe
Next on the set menu was the sharks fin soup. I’ve already made my stance and say no to sharks fin soup, so I gave it a pass. Unfortunately, I was the only one on the table to do so. Looks like more work needs to be done for the awareness in this front.
You can substitute the sharks fin soup with double boiled chicken soup, according to Chef Lee. Alternatively, the Happiness & Fortune set menu does not come with sharks fin soup either.
deep fried chicken with two tastes,
stir fried sea king prawns with pineapple sauce
So I really got started on the deep fried chicken with two tastes. A dish that is only as fancy as the name suggest, which isn’t much at all. There’s the roast chicken ala chicken rice style, and kung pao chicken in the middle. For the lack of fanciness, however, the chicken turns out to be very good where it matters – taste. The meat was smooth, juicy, with the sauce done just right too.
We then had stir fried sea king prawns with pineapple sauce. The chef explained that this type of prawn, with its softer shell, is best eaten whole (perhaps except the head) instead of peeling the skin off. This way it allows different texture of meat and shell to be enjoyed with the pineapple sauce, pretty old way of having prawns, quite unique.
steamed pomphret with superior soya sauce
My favorite of the night has got to be the steamed pomphret with superior soya sauce. I’m positive that even my mom (who helps sell fish at wet market and usually leave the best pomphret for themselves) would approve of this beautiful specimen. Something like this can easily cost over RM 100 at wet market, especially during pre-CNY period.
Chef Lee explained that they source the fish locally instead of getting them from Thailand, which would be cheaper but of lesser quality. A lengthy lecture of the subtle differences in meat/shape/taste of pomphret from various parts of Malaysia and other places is given while we were busy enjoying this brilliant fish. It was so good, smooth, fatty, and absolutely tasty.
stewed sea cucumber & mushroom with broccoli, seafood fried rice with XO sauce
The stewed sea cucumber & mushroom with broccoli is another dish found in many Chinese New Year set menu. Over here at Toh Yuen the dish is prepared as good as anywhere else, and the sea cucumber was very good.
However, I would personally leave out the carrot slices as I don’t think I was the only one that sees that as a semi-failed attempt in giving the otherwise awesome dish some color (does not affect the taste).
The seafood fried rice with XO sauce is served with plenty of prawns, green onions, carrots, eggs, chicken, and other ingredients that were all somehow agreed to each other brilliantly. One of the better fried rice I had, the underlying taste of XO sauce really adds to the overall flavor too.
Michelle Ong, chilled honeydew with hasma, KY
We concluded the night with a classic Chinese dessert – chilled honeydew with hasma. For the uninformed, it’s just a wikipedia article away for you to find out that hasma is actually fallopian tubes of frogs. Nice isn’t it? I still eat them, they tastes good. *slurps*.
The set dinner (other than the fins) turns out to be pretty good, now does it worth the RM 1388++ for 10 pax price tag? The ingredients certainly suggests so, but I think a large part of it has to do with the sharks fin, something I try to get people not to consume. Draw your own conclusion.
Address:
Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant
Hilton Petaling Jaya
No 2 Jalan Barat
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.10235, 101.64087
Tel: 03-7955 9122
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For the past 2 years, my family and I have been to Damansara Village at Damansara Jaya for steamboat reunion dinner over CNY, and if a place passes my mom’s taste test, it will surely passes mine.
The restaurant is a venture of the infamous Patrick Teoh, his daughter Melanie and Son-in-law. The original place was, and still is doing so well that they decided to open a branch right at the heart of KL. The new place is aptly named Restaurant Damansara Village at Imbi
indoor and outdoor seatings, the fish pool, and live seafood aquarium
Together with about a dozen other blogger friends, I was invited by Patrick himself for a review session. I am hesitant to be writing about the same place twice (tho different branch), but I was assured that the menu is different. Furthermore, how could I resist a an invitation from a celebrity that is named Patrick Teoh KY?
Yes, the truth is stranger than fiction.
village steamed chicken, bamboo clams
Other than air conditioned dining area (as well as al fresco) and nicer decoration, Damansara Village at Imbi also offer more than just steamboat. Our motto of the day was to sample these offerings.
According to Patrick, there isn’t a chief chef per se at this establishment. Every dish is a recipe from someone’s relative/friend, and every ingredient is sourced directly from some of the more interesting locations.
For example, the village steamed chicken (RM 49 for half) is cooked with 100-day free range chicken from their own farm (usual intensive farmed chicken is slaughtered at about 6 weeks) and steamed only with salt. The texture is quite a lot firmer and I do like the richer flavor too.
The steamed bamboo clam is served with slices of chili, fermented beans, and some spring onion. The combination worked for me, seafood with a dash of spiciness and the saltiness from the beans. I like how there put 2 clams in one shell too!
pork knuckle vinegar, pepper pork tripe soup
Next we had the pork knuckle vinegar. Fatty pork knuckle with glistering layer of fat served in sweet vinegar that is not overly strong. This dish always work for me, I kinda wished I had some sambal and rice to go with it though.
Pepper pork tripe soup (or the spicy soup 辣汤) reminded me of Kien Kee at Seri Kembangan. It was very peppery, fragrant, and full of 3-layer pork, tripes, and other innards. I wouldn’t rate this any lower than Kien Kee to be honest, it was tasty!
steamed snake head, steamed duck
Then come the steamed snake head. Instead of the more common farmed snake head, those served at Damansara Village are caught from the wild. As such, the meat is quite a lot firmer. Call me crazy, but I actually prefer the farmed variety with its’ smoother meat, though what we had was decent too.
For the first time of my life, I had steamed duck! Just like the chicken, this one is cooked with nothing but salt. Though not completely void of the strong “duck smell”, this dish still manage to end up tasting pretty good. However, I will only suggest this to duck lovers, casual diners should stick with roast duck instead.
salt bake crab, village special steamed clam
The seventh dish of the night was salt bake crab (RM 48), another traditional recipe that even I know how to make – kill crab, rub with plenty of salt, throw in the wok, fire up). And sometimes the simplest method is also the tastiest method, provided you have superior ingredients. Though they were a bit smallish in size, the taste more than made up for the size, they were very, very sweet and flavorful.
Steamed clam (RM 20) was cooked with plenty of dried wolfberrie (kei chee), cilantro, Chinese wine, and some other herbs. The clams were juicy, and I liked the combination of the ingredients too.
damansara village steamboat with herbal soup
After the eight dishes, I was already quite full, but Patrick wouldn’t let us go before trying the very dish that made the name Damansara Village famous – the Pulau Ketam style steamboat (RM 18.80 per portion) with additional Chinese herbs (RM 12)
Other than the typical servings of fish ball, dumplings, meatballs, mussels, vegetable, tofu skin, and so on, we also added flower crab to flavor the soup, and some live shrimps (RM 23 for 300g). As full as I was, I couldn’t help but to devour a few more of those oh-so-yummy shrimps. This is a must order add-on.
patrick teoh and the food bloggers at damansara village
After the excellent dinner, we hanged out till way past closing time and had a pretty good time with Patrick and the gang that includes Gareth, Kim, Suan, Reta, FA, Huey Fang, Sue Lynn, Eiling, Yiling, Cumi&Ciki, Meena, and more.
The food was honestly better than I had anticipated, and I think I’ll be bringing mom to the new outlet next year!
map to damansara village at Imbi
Address:
Damansara Village at Imbi
32, Jalan Utara, Off Jalan Imbi,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.144715, 101.717166
Tel: 03-2141 1678
First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming and made the fifth installment of our annual Xmas Eve Party a blasting success. There were some 40 people who turned up, quite a few bottles of liquors and wines brought by you, and again, Tuborg sponsored loads of free beer with their beer girl Siao Ling joining the party as well. It was awesome.
Due to the hectic schedule a week (including a trip to Singapore) prior to the party, my housemates and I only managed to put up some minor decoration and set up the place in the last 2 hours. I bought some x’mas lights for my two x’mas trees, reuse the deco, got some snacks, mixers, a Coleman huge ice box filled with ice from 7-11 and we were good to go.
free Tuborg beer, and lotsa socializing
The party got started at around 9pm with Terence, Chris, and Anthony arriving first. Sheryl, Cindy, and Simon arrived there after, and joined by Eiling, who managed to fetch Huai Bin to my place despite being already 3/4 drunk before the party even got started.
Erna, Michael, Elfie, Reta, Cindy, KY, Siao Ling, Huai Bin, Mohan, Firdy, Simon
Suan, Alan, and Wei Yi were around when our favorite Tuborg girl Siao Ling showed up with all those beer just as my new ice box was yearning for some attention. We quickly set things up and the party really got started right after that.
Chan, Huey Fang, Kelvin, Sheryl, Terence, Yee Hou, Aireen, Chris Tock
As the resident alcohol pusher, Terence was doing a fine job ensuring everyone a fair chance to get royally drunk by mixing 2 huge glasses of alcohol laden concoction named Life and Death. Erna was very fortunate to have a few gulps and ended up missing half the party by passionately hugging my gate with a really stoned facial expression. Elfie was embarassed that her fellow Sabahan can’t hold her drinks.
Naufal, Gareth, Shamsul, AC, Faye, Kim & chef, Adrian, Alan, Wei Yi, Suanie
There were some new faces in this year’s party, Shamsul, AC, Faye, Chris, Anthony, Rebecca, Jenson, Aireen, Daniel, and Debra are friends of friends or people whom I got to know via the blog but never met prior to this party.
Cindy, Selina, Siao Ling, Tock, Yee Hou, Firdy, Huai Bin, Elfie, Michael, Eiling, Erna, and Zoe are certainly are friends who attended the party for the first time. I got to know some of them via blog, random events, and via other friends.
Chris, Anthony, Zoe, Horng & Eiling, Amanda & Rachel, Enoch & Alice, Jenson, Rebecca, Daniel, Debra, Selina
There are also those who are no stranger to our little yearly celebration, Reta, Naufal, Nicholas, Alan, Adrian, Rachel, Kelvin, and Mohan all came to the party at least once before.
Then there is the group of my closest friends who were here since the get go. My housemate Horng, Suanie, Gareth, Kim, Huey Fang and Chan, and Terence. I am glad that my exgf Sheryl was able to make it after being away in Europe for post graduate studies for the past two years.
some of the more embarassing gift exchange moments
We didn’t actually have a dress theme this year. Instead, the legendary gift exchange has a little twist in it: It has to be something you can wear, and you must wear it after opening. This idea came from Horng, blame him if you were one of the victims.
Some of the more messed up gifts include a purple bra (I hope the size fits you, Elfie), disposable undearwear, a few boxes of condoms (Huai Bin wore one in public, scaring off all the girls), numerous underwear, socks & stockings, headgear, and lipsticks. The gift exchange was pretty intense, very dangerous.
the Heineken hat exchanged hands 5 times, stupid Michael!
The most saught after gift item was this Heineken hat brought by Michael. The hat was snatched up 5 times and ended up back to Michael just because Elfie wanted it (that’s wh4, stupid Michael). I think we should make it a rule that you can’t pick your own gift next year onwards.
some of the things people do when they are slightly influenced
Things got a little wilder after the gift exchange session as the blood alcohol mixture gets a bit out of hand for a few people. There’s this particular “Patrick” who can’t seem to walk properly and ended up passed out all over the place. The best thing was he kept saying “careful! careful! the earth is moving” and “are you guys ok?” everytime right before he passed out. Patrick is seen sleeping in two places with “James” sitting in both places in the collage above.
There were also some toe licking actions by Faye and Huai Bin, Siao Ling was, tragically, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The party was great, and it was only appropriate that we had to end it after the cops came at 3:30am saying we were a bit too loud. Some of us then headed to Ming Tien for an early morning breakfast where Rachel promptly vomit out the wan tan mee after consumption. I think she was eager to join Patrick and James as the third person to throw up.
Again, thanks for coming, Merry Christmas and see you guys next year!
More incriminating photos can be found on facebook.
KY’s album 1, album 2, album 3
Suanie’s album
Horng’s album 1, album 2
Reta’s album
Kim’s album
It never ceases to amaze me how communication technology brings people together. Ever since my old batch of ex-housemates moved out of my place over a year ago, we actually haven’t met for the longest time.
It wasn’t until a week ago when Huey Fang finally joined facebook that Carol decided that we should meet up again after such a long lay off. So we did just that last Saturday.
Horng, Heuy Fang, KY, Carol
Just as we were struggling to find a venue, I received an sms from Xaviera inviting us to Bondai Grill & Pub‘s soft opening at Curve. Perfect timing, so Horng, Huey Fang, Carol, ah Chan, and I went there right after dinner and joined by Suan, Ee Laine, Bob, and Jack.
Of the three ex housemates, I’ve known Horng (also known as Honry) for 24, Huey Fang for 15, and Carol for 12 years and counting. They are some of my best friends whom I know I could count on for anything, and I do mean anything.
ah Chan, Jack & FA, Xaveira and Suan
I’ve known Suan virtually for at least 8-9 years and in person for over 5 years, FA for just a bit shorter than that, and Xaveira, ah Chan, and Jack pretty much before the conception of this blog. They’ve all been very good friends over the years.
I haven’t had such a great time since forever. Lotsa laughters, lotsa chit chats, and even a few heart to heart sessions. Thank you guys, and here’s to friendship.
p/s: We need to do this more often.
p/s 2: facebook album here
p/s 3: I wish I have one, with LCD tv please
Merry X’mas to everyone! The 4th X’mas Eve Party we had last night was awesome, I want to thank everyone for coming, and for the few who didn’t manage to make it (eg. my hot chick), hopefully we’ll do it again next year. I hope that everyone had fun and enjoyed the party, if I wasn’t a good host, please file your complains elsewhere cos I’m not gonna give a crap.
There are more photos on my facebook album and flickr set
Gerald, Suan; Kim, KY
Chan, Huey Fang; Alicia, Su Li, Mohan
Like the previous year, we have the regulars and some newcomers. Lets see if I manage to count how many of us were at the party.
That makes 40 even, pretty good turn-out I’d say.
Albert, Ringo; Aysraf, Sueter
Esther, Sew Jin; Jessica, Arthur
The party got started at around 9pm. I had gotten the place ready with plenty of drinks, the few bottles of harder stuff I have laying around, and 3 crates of Tuborg beer that were given to me by this nice lady from Carlsberg after reading the X’mas Eve Party invitation post. I guess everyone at the party was grateful of Mr. Ole, the GM of marketing and Mr. Teh, the Brand Manager of Carlsberg.
Reta, FA; Nicholas, Rachel;
Kelvin, Skyler; Justin, Simon
As the night went along, people were starting to get friendlier, probably alcohol had something to do with it. They started chatting up and doing some camwhore sessions.
Dree, KY, FA, Jack, Naufal; Winson, Damien, Douglas, Dree;
Skyler, Kelvin, Reta, Esther; ST, Nicholas, Esther, Alicia
The theme was Ah Lian and Ah Beng outfit, but most of the guys were not really up to task. Credit must be given to FA, Reta, Chan, and Huey Fang for going the extra mile. Ringo had an interesting harajuku type of outfit though, while Alicia didn’t even need to try, she is from Klang after all 
Adrian Low and friend; Arthur, Audrey
Suan, Jack, Reta; Carol, TBG, Ed
At midnight, we started the gift exchange program. This time around, everyone who contributed a gift is given a number. We then draw and call each number from the hat. Whoever has their number called will get to choose a gift from the pile, or anything that is already opened from the previous person. As always, the later you get your number called, the better selection of opened gifts you’ll get to choose for. If you chose a good gift early, someone can snatch it off, as we shall see.
The various gifts we got
Jack, being a noob as usual, inadvertently chose something Carol gave, a packet of adult diapers. Nicholas got a toilet survival kit from Suan. There were also condoms, KY jelly, crayon set, bubble blower, puzzle, CEO cafe, and even a Basic Instinct 2 dvd. I gave away a curry dinner meal with raw fish, prawn, curry powder, and all the vegetables.
the bacon bak kua went through 8 people!
The hottest gift this year was the bacon bak kua from Kelvin. The gift was snatched up 7 times, Skyler was the lucky last person to bring back that delicious bag of bacon. Douglas promised he will bring the most sought after gift next year, like how he did the previous year (a set of keyboard)
The bacon trail: Alicia -> Aysraf -> ST -> Audrey -> Su Lin -> Reta -> Kim -> Skyler
it was a great party, we must thank the Tuborg beers from Carlsberg
I think the whole bacon debacle got everyone excited and police actually came to ask us to quiet down at around 1am. Luckily the uniformed officers were nice (though they didn’t want to take a photo with me when I asked) and just politely asked us to keep it down and end the party soon.
I had a great time, and I want to thank you for coming. See you again next year!
