As far as birds go, goose is one of my favorites for consumption. For the rich and fehmes, you have foie gras; for the rest of us, there is always roast goose. Glorious glittering roast goose.
Yi Kee restaurant at Taman Connaught
Unfortunately for the goose lover among us, there just aren’t that many places that offers this glorious bird. More often than not, places like Canton-i or Soon Fatt at Pudu runs out of them rather quickly.
Yi Kee is an old establishment that’s been around for a while, I guess you can sorta count the experience of the chef by his wrinkles… (and perhaps the goose fat in between, anyway I shall stop talking crap and get on with the program).
glorious roast goose drumstick
We arrived at Yi Kee on the weekends just past prime lunch hours, and luckily there were still roast goose left. Haze and I ordered goose for two, a serving of roast pork, and rice. I’ve heard they serve some good steamed soup, but we tried not to over order that day for a change.
A couple minutes later we were served with a rather huge portion of 1/4 goose, dark meat with drum stick. I stared at it for a minute, admiring the glistering fats over the layer of crispy skin that screamed at me, teasing it a little.
Then a bite, oh my. Roast goose will be roast goose, I’m not sure how great they are in HK, but this one is tasty and this one’s available, that will be good enough for me.
roast goose & roast pork, Haze & KY
Goose and roast pork are served with plum sauce, dark sauce, and chili paste. All of which tasted authentic and home made. The plum sauce’s most definitely home made, not as thick as those off the shelve type but tasted quite a lot nicer.
The skin of roast pork here comes with super crispy skin, they are also fatty but the non fatty meat are the firmer type. Old style, nice, though not as addictive as the one at Wong Meng Kee at Pudu.
Yi Kee is situated along Connaught Highway just across from where UCSI University (stupidest name ever, since UC = University College). Our lunch coasts about RM 20 per pax, guess goose is never cheap, but it was worth it.
Address:
223, Jalan Sarjana,
Taman Connaught,
Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.082398, 101.734021
Tel: 03-9132 9968
I have been a fan of roasted duck for the longest time and usually get my fix at Loong Foong in Taman Paramount whenever temptations got the better of me. While roasted duck is all good, everyone has been telling me that roasted goose is a whole other level altogether when it comes to taste, people like Horng who has been to HK on numerous occasions. As you might have guessed, roasted goose is a rather common dish there.
glorious glistering roasted goose
However, some weird cosmic arrangement has resulted in the relative scarcity of this dish back in Malaysia. They are so rare that so far I am only aware that less than handful of places offer them around KL.
It wasn’t until late last year that I got myself a taste of this Chinese/HK delicacy at a food review session on Canton-i, and I can attest to the claims. Roasted goose is really quite a bit more succulent and juicy compared to duck, not to mention the relative larger portion which makes it easier to eat too.
Soon Fatt Beijing Roasted Goose is a shack by the corner of Jalan Pasar
Since that event, I had been back to Canton-i a couple times only to find out that the roasted goose is sold out every time I get there. Something had to be done, and I vaguely recalled the availability of this dish at Jalan Pasar.
A few clicks on google and a short drive later, a couple colleagues and I arrived at Soon Fatt Beijing Roasted Goose at Jalan Pasar on one fateful Friday afternoon.
For the three of us, we ordered quarter portion of roasted goose (thigh and drumstick portion), another generous portion of char siu (bbq pork) and siu yoke (roasted pork) on the side, three rice and some drinks.
The dishes came with 3 types of condiments: a plum sauce and 2 types of chili sauce. Soup is served with rice as well.
The portion of roasted goose was actually rather big even for 3 of us. The meat juicy and very scrumptious, which leaves me wondering the differences the breast portion would bring since duck breast and duck confit do carry different taste. While the siu yok wasn’t as impressive as Wong Meng Kei, they still tasted pretty good. The char siu though, was actually better than expected, on par with some of the bests in town (such as meng kee at pudu, or Aman Suria’s famous Hakka noodle char siu)
roasted goose, roasted & bbq pork, rice, soup, bliss!
It was a satisfying lunch but also one that came with a pretty steep price. The meal was some RM70 for three of us, still, RM 20+ per person isn’t too exuberant for something you don’t get very often. Now if only this place has air conditioning…
Address:
Intersection of Jalan Pasar and Jalan Yap Hin,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.135315, 101.716479
Tel: 012-212 9018
While I was at work a couple Fridays ago, Mr. Kong, one of my readers who handles PR business for Dragon-i called up
“Sorry for the late notice, but would you be available for a food review tonight at Pavilion? There will be abalone.”
How could I say no to such invitation? After all, it’s not like I get to taste abelone abalone on weekly basis. I grabbed my gears during the extended lunch hours and headed to Pavilion right after work.
Dragon-i’s flagship restaurant at Pavilion
I’ve actually reviewed Dragon-i at 1-Utama almost 3 years ago when it first came up, and been to quite a few of their restaurants over the years. However, this was my first trip to their flagship outlet at Pavilion. Together with me were a few other journalists and photographers from Sin Chew, the Star and China Press, as well as Mr. Kong, his wife, and the CEO of Dragon-i, Mr. Henry Yip.
cold dish: five appetizers
Instead of ordering from the menu, we were sampling the special set menu available from 1st to 14th of September to coincide with Mid Autumn Festival.
First to come were the appetizers comprising five dishes. I absolutely love the chilled chicken with rice wine that tasted a little like steamed chicken but with an extra kick from the rice wine. We ended up having to order another serving of this. The edamame with bamboo shoots, while more commonly associated with Japanese food, was very refreshing as well.
Fried bean curd with shredded scallops was both sweet and crunchy. The sesame oil marinated cuttlefish was very fresh and had a very nice texture to chew on. While the cold minced spinach, traditionally prepared with another type of vegetable only found in China, was pretty interesting and provided another dimension for the set. A very interesting way to start our dinner, varying tastes and ingredients.
goose web with abalone, xiao long bao
Next up was the famous xiao long bao (Shanghainese meat dumpling) from Dragon-i, served steaming hot with soup within the dumpling. Dipping it with some vinegar and accompanied with some ginger is the way to go, very satisfying.
Abelone and goose web followed the xiao long bao. While I had braised abelone before, this was the first time I tasted goose web. The texture is something like a cross between chicken feet and fish skin (or fish lips you find in big fish head), very soft and slightly chewy while the taste was very good! However, it does taste a little “jelak” and hence they have the asparagus to provide a balance. Very nice.
aromatic crispy duck, sichuan prawn
I guess a traditional Chinese cuisine isn’t complete without duck. The aromatic crispy duck was as good as the one I had at Kensington, Seremban. However, at Dragon-i they served it in pieces instead, I personally still prefer the shredded version. The duck was served peking duck style.
Prawn sauteed with Sichuan sauce came next. It was nice to have something slightly spicy after all the previous dishes. The giant prawns were very fresh and according to Mr. Yip, sourced locally from Pantai Remis in Perak. I like the fact that they’re all peeled too! Again, a very delicious dish.
pomelo mango dessert, crispy noodle with dried scallop and crab meat
The last dish in the main course was deep fried wantan noodle with dried scallops and fresh crab meat on top. I actually finished it despite having a stomach that was already pretty much filled. Crunchy and yet very sweet of the seafood taste from the seafood laden sauce.
Dessert was an over sized glass of mango puree mixed with sago and some fresh pomelo on top. Refreshing. A serving of fresh fruits followed, but I was already too stuffed to have any of it.
It was a very good dinner indeed, very very satisfying.
Well, this set meal for 10 is priced at RM 1388++, while half a table would be RM 688++. Not exactly light on the pocket, but then again it is fine dining. A box of moon cake comes free with the meal for 10 too.
More pictures of this review here.
Address:
Lot 1.13, Level 1,
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-3224 0888
