CHINESE NEW YEAR MENUS AT ELEGANT INN HK

 

Fresh, natural ingredients form the mainstay for the customary Bountiful Harvest Salmon Yee Sang at Elegant Inn HK Cuisine (E.I.). 

Never mind about the muted colours; at least the whole platter was a natural composition of shredded carrot, radish and cucumber with pickled onion and ginger, pearl clams and sesame seeds. A dedicated member of the E.I. kitchen team painstakingly prepares this speciality throughout the celebratory period.

In addition to the house-made sauce, the raw salmon slices are sliced on premise, to ensure food safety and hygiene standards are met. Every mouthful of the delicious salad with its myriad of textures and flavours left us raving with sheer delight.

To welcome the Dragon Year with a bang, E.I. is offering 8 special CNY menus for groups of 4-10 persons and 3 individual set menus, available from 8 January (minimum 3 days prior notice) and throughout the festive period from 22 January onwards.

During our sneak preview, we sampled festive offerings selected by lady boss Jeannette Han from the different celebratory menus. A traditional soup of Double Boiled Spare Ribs with Night Blooming Cereus, Fresh Cordyceps, Organic Black-Eyed Beans and Topshell came hot on the heels after the yee sang salad.

 

The edible night blooming cereus is said to be rich in antioxidants; to help protect the body from free radicals, reduce inflammation, boost the immune system, improve digestion, and reduce the risk of certain diseases. Together with E.I.’s cachet of fresh cordyceps, topshell clams, black eyed-beans, Yunnan ham, chicken feet, dried conch and dried scallops, the resultant broth was soul-satisfyingly sweet.

Specially sourced from a Penang farm, the Free-Range Chicken cooked with Fish Maw, Lotus Root and Wild Termite Mushroom in Premium Soy Sauce wowed us with its impossibly tender and toothsome texture. We like the slightly resistant bite of the flesh; a far cry from the mushier mass farm-raised chickens. Of course, we couldn’t pass up the chance to lap up the slick, savoury-sweet sauce with all that chicken jus.

Fluffy-soft, crisp and succulent textures integrated nicely in the Trio Seafood Platter. The delicate, flake-like Fried Japanese Dried Scallops and Golden Coin Shark’s Fin is meant to resemble osmanthus flower petals hence the dish’s Cantonese ‘kwai fah chi’ name. A tricky dish that demands deft handiwork on the chef’s part, to prevent the scrambled egg from clumping into large clods.

Airy-light crunchy E.I. Salt Pepper Fried HK Silver Fish contrasted nicely with the earlier appetiser. Completing the tasteful trinity was delectable Hokkaido Scallop Bacon Roll.

 

The evening’s show-stopper of Braised Five Treasures Stuffed Pork Belly with Black Garlic, Chestnuts and Lotus Seeds garnered rapturous praises among our dining party. We found the black garlic’s fleeting licorice-like nuance lent a muted sweet earthiness to the meaty, collagen-rich sauce.

Almost too indulgent to savour, the expertly prepared slab of pork with its alternating streaks of fat and lean meat was sumptuously moist and sweet with rich, lustrous flavour. The chestnuts and lotus seeds lent a delightfully subtle crunch.

From the individual menus, the lady boss indulged us with Aromatic HK Liu Ma Kee (LMK) Red Beancurd Pork Belly and French Beans on Sesame Sauce, and Braised Fish Maw with Pork Cartilage Ribs and Prosperous Chicken Meat Ball in Crab Roe Sauce.

The first reminded me of an amped up version of Hakka jar yoke (fried pork); the pork belly marinated with Hong Kong’s famous and established LMK nam yue (fermented red beancurd) then fried to light crispness. Utterly yummy without being too cloying thanks to the crunchy French beans dressed in sesame sauce to balance things out.

Some clever textural interplay made the latter porky dish memorable, especially the tender meat which came off easily the soft cartilage bones. The varied softness of the velvet-soft fish maw and chicken ball with seamoss heightened the dish’s overall appeal.

To fulfill our quota of greens, we tried Fish Maw with Organic Spinach, Silky Egg White and Crab Roe. Primed up with pricey fish maw and crab roe in addition to custardy-soft egg white, the Japanese spinach would certainly induce even non-veg fans to succumb to its allure.

Instead of 'lap mei farn' (rice with waxed meat), the lady boss chose to treat us to a winsome Claypot Rice with Chicken Fillet, French Goose Liver and Fish Maw. Personally, I love it as a nice departure from the tried-and-tested. With the supremely rich-tasting foie gras oil coating the fluffy rice grains, each spoonful was a sheer joy to eat.

 

Tender boneless chicken fillet, dulcet smooth fish maw pieces and dices of melt-in-the-mouth foie gras added extra appeal to the offering. We also clamoured for the charred, smoky rice crust scraped up from the bottom of the pot.

We wrapped up our lavish preview with a light yet befitting dessert treat of Double Boiled Fuji Red Apple with Organic Apricot, Chinese Almonds and Snow Fungus. It was clear, nutritious with delicate textures; a sweet ending to another outstanding experience at E.I. 

Prices for the CNY Menus start from RM1,688++ per table of 10 persons. Festive set menus for 6-10 persons from RM2,088++ upwards and individual menus from RM228++ upwards per person are also available.

For reservations at Elegant Inn HK Cuisine, call tel: 03-2070 9399. Address: 2.01, 2nd Floor, Podium Block, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.