Saturday, March 28, 2009

More Dim Sum....(Emperor, Sheraton Subang) (2)

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Crowd-pleasers: Flaky Mini Egg Tart and Shrimp Roll with Mango/Cheese
Yep, been overloading on dim sums lately. Thank goodness it ranked as one of my favourite food. Anyway, this is one of the more recent outings at Emperor Chinese Restaurant in Sheraton Subang.

Initially, I was only thinking to go for their ala carte dim sum but as we walked in, we noticed that they were haivng an "Eat-All-You-Can" Dim Sum promotion. Of course, ala carte orders are still available but looking at the former which was priced at RM60++, and the prices of ala carte dim sums on the menu, plus that I have the Starwood card that gives me 50% discount; it didn't take long to work out that the promotion was much more worth it.

So we settled down and ordered a very nice pot of Jasmine tea.

Basically, one can order any dim sum from their usual dim sum menu except for the shark fin dumpling in broth (kun tong kao) and chef's special. In addition, there was a selection of items on the buffet table, including roast duck and roast chicken as well as a "cook-to-order" porridge stall.
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Picture: Buffet Spread

Most dim sum items on the buffet spread consist mainly of deep-fried and pan-fried items. Our selection include:
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TOP PICTURE (Left-to-Right): Pan-fried radish cake, Shredded Duck Meat Springroll, Yam Puff
BOTTOM PICTURE (Clock-wise from Top-Left): Mini Sesame Dumplings with Peanut Paste, BBQ Chicken Puff, Mini Egg Tart, Shrimp Roll with Cheese/Mango
Maybe it's due to the fact that they're displayed as a buffet spread, we didn't really find anything that was worth going back for a second helping with the exception of the wonderful mini egg tart that has a delightful crispy and flaky crust and soft melting custard centre. Not the best I've tasted but I would rate it highly. Almost as pleasing is the shrimp roll. (Both pictured above). Some were rather alright, like the Sesame Dumplings and Yam Puffs but I think that all of them would have scored higher points if they were ordered fresh from the menu.
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Top-to-bottom: Fresh Fish Congee with Century Egg and Roasted Duck
We also ordered a small portion of the roast duck and a small bowl of fish congee with century egg. The duck was ok although a tad chewy and a tad gamey. On the other hand, the congee, which was prepared-to-order was rather good! Fresh fish meat in a thick and heart-warming gruel, I like...

The steamed items (ordered from their menu but included in the promotion) were better than those items on the buffet spread, largely due to the fact that they were made fresh to order. We tried some of the more unique-sounding ones;
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Clockwise from Top-Left: Stuffed Crab Claw, Shredded Scallop with Crabmeat Dumplings, Sharkfins Dumpling and Stir-fried Radish Cake

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Top-to-bottom: HK Cheong Fun with Scallops filling, Tea-Leaf Eggs (this was from Buffet Spread), Scallops Dumpling, TeoChew Style Dumpling

I like the Stuffed Crab Claws as it is stuffed with real shredded crabmeat (not the imitation) kind. Others ranged from mediocre to alright particularly anything stuffed with whole prawns as they were fresh and bouncy-to-bite. On the other hand, the first plate of Stir-fried Radish Cake that arrived were a let-down although it looked promising albeit slightly too dark. To give them credit, I did like the texture, as the cubed radish cake was slightly charred and crispy outside while the inside still remained slightly wet and gooey. Unfortunately, there was unmistakeable taste of "burnt-ness" to it which the waitress explained was actually the "wok-hei" (??) when we complained (perhaps too much "wok-hei" then?). Nevertheless, they willingly took the plate back and exchange with another plate that was less crispy, not as delightful to bite but minus the "burnt" taste.

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Desserts selection were not much. Some standard hotel-styled cakes, pastries, cut fruits and ice-creams which were forgettable but the Double-boiled Sea Coconut with White Fungus and Longan was excellent!

There were quite a number of items from the menu that we did not get to try this time as we were too stuffed too soon. Then again, many of items on the menu especially the non-steamed, pan-fried and deep-fried items, were already displayed on the buffet spread. Come to think of it, they might tasted better if we were to order from the menu instead of taking it from the buffet spread. Oh, well...

Emperor Chinese Restaurant (Halal), Sheraton Subang Hotel

Previous post on Emperor Chinese Restaurant here.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Dim Sum Lunch at Imperial Garden, Intan Square

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Imperial Garden
One fine weekend afternoon, a girlfriend and I were suddenly craving for dim sum. First choice was to go Oriental Pavilion but rather than risk waiting for a long tine without a confirmed reservation, we trudged our way to Tai Thong newest outlet, Imperial Garden at Intan Square (beside Asia Jaya).

We were relieved to see that tables were aplenty hence no waiting was required.

Ordering of dim sums was done through their menu as they are prepared ala minute to ensure freshness although I personally prefer to take my pick for the dim sum carts. Choices were sufficient although not vast. We asked for house recommendations and also picked some from their “weekends specials” menu.

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Steamed Fresh Fish Balls
According to the server, this is very popular. Not difficult to see why. The fish balls were fresh and bouncy.

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Steamed Dried Scallops and Chinese Celery Dumplings

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Steamed Assorted Mushrooms Dumplings


Rather than going for the stand “har gow”, we opted for these 2 dumplings from their weekend specials menu. Not bad although to me, they didn’t taste too different from the usual har gow and siu mai. The thing about steamed dumplings, it’s best to eat them fast while they are still warm as the “skin” tends to get hard pretty fast once cooled.

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Steamed White Radish Pudding “HK Style”
This tasted a bit weird. You can still taste strands of shredded white radish which according to my friend, reminded her of old winter melon. It’s pretty bland as well although it does come with a small plate of soy sauce as dipping sauce. It also has a strange after taste that I couldn’t really decipher nor agree with. Should have gone for the stir-fried or pan-fried version instead.

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Mini Yam Buns
According to the server again, these are really popular and so far, is only served at this particular TT outlet. These morsels were tasty alright. Soft, fluffy buns encasing a generous dollop of mashed/creamed yam.
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Cross-section of yam buns
Thinking back, they tasted pretty similar to my favourite frozen yam paus that my mom bought from the supermarkets. *lol*

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Crispy Durian Pancakes
Both of us being fans of durian, we went for this when it was time to pick a dessert. Served in a plate of half a dozen, they were pretty delicious although not the best durian desserts that I’d came across. Sliced durian flesh encased in flaky pastry. Although deep-fried, they were surprisingly light rather than oily.

Prices range between RM5.80 to RM8.80 per basket for most items.

Imperial Garden Restaurant
7th Floor, Intan Square,
No 3, Lorong Utara C, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
03-7956 6868

Monday, January 12, 2009

Something New....Lammeeya @ One Utama

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Saw a new F&B outlet opposite Kluang Station Kopitiam in One Utama recently while trying to decide on a place to lunch. As te outlet was relatively empty compared to its nighbours (aka no waiting time), we thought there's no harm giving it a try.

Like its namesake, this outlet specializes in various type of Lam Mee. My lunch partner ordered their original while I went for something slightly different, the Mushroom Lam Mee.

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Original Lam Mee. Looks as good as the one pictured on their wall (see picture at the top of this post).
The Original Lam Mee arrived first and it looked truly promising. My lunch partner was slurping the noodles up in big gulps; a sign that he has given it his seal of approval.

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Mushrooms Lam Mee
Soon after, my order arrived. Again, it looked truly tantalizing - assorted mushrooms including big glossy chinese mushrooms on top of thick noodles in a hearty and aromatic broth. And boy, I was so glad that it tasted as good as it looked. Despite my initial doubt that the serving size would be too much for me to finish, I enjoyed every slurp of the noodle up to the very last bite.

Besides Lam Mee, other typical local fares are available too. Their menu was pleasing to browse through as it was filled with gorgeous and mouth-watering pictures of their offerings. In fact, it reminded me of another outlet in JayaOne and I suspect that they could be related.

The noodles are priced around RM10 and above. A tad pricey for a plate of Lam Mee (if compared to the kopitiam version) but then again, the serving was generous, the taste - delicious, and after all, it is located in One Utama.

Will be back to try more.

By the way, Happy New Year, folks!

LAMMEEYA
One Utama, New Wing.
Opposite Kluang Station Kopitiam