REFINED REUNION FEASTS AT WAN CHUN TING

‘Horse-perity’ specialities such as Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab Yee Sang, Stir-Fried Prawns with Egg White and Black Truffle, and Golden Fried Chicken with Mango Glaze are some of the festive creations by Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara’s Executive Chinese Chef Leong Weng Heng at Wan Chun Ting restaurant, to herald the arrival of the Horse Year.

 
Available from 7 January to 3 March, Wan Chun Ting guests may choose from three curated Chinese New Year Set Menus (minimum four persons per table): Prosperity Menu (RM288+ per person), Fortune Menu (RM338+ per person), and Wealth Menu (RM398+ per person).

 
Stir and toss your way to fortune and good luck with the restaurant’s Signature Prosperity Yee Sang (from RM98+ to RM398+ in half and whole portions). Select from Pearl Abalone and Norwegian Salmon Yee Sang, Crispy Soft-Shell Crab Yee Sang, Hokkaido Scallops with Snow Pear Yee Sang or 10-head Abalone Yee Sang for the rousing celebratory ritual.

 
The Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab Yee Sang proved on-point with an ubiquitous assortment of crisps, pickles and shredded veggies. The sauce wasn’t cloyingly sweet with chunks of deep-fried soft shell crabs adding discernible texture to the tableaux.
 
We got an overview of Chef Leong’s curated menus prepared with premium ingredients evoking auspicious symbolisms whilst exuding vibrant flavours; an artful mix of cherished traditions with contemporary touches.

 
His Double-Boiled Chicken Soup with Cordyceps Flower, Tian Zhi Orchid & Sun-Dried Scallop exemplified that approach. Every drop of the clear, sweet broth was clear proof of Chef Leong’s dab hand at Cantonese cooking.

 
Freshness and precise timing ensured the Hong Kong Style Steamed California Bass garnered effusive praises. Nobody could fault the delicious fish, accompanied by house-made soya sauce dressing.

 
Fortune favours the bold as the saying goes and the Golden Fried Chicken with Mango Glaze is worth crowing about. Similar to nuggets of gold, the crisp fried chicken doused with tangy-sweet mango sauce were simply irresistible.

 
Even more sublime was the show-stopping Stir-Fried Prawns with Egg White and Black Truffle. We went ga-ga over the delicate, cloud-like clumps of egg white scented with black truffle and tender, springy prawns.

 
Let abundant good things gallop in when you partake the classic serving of Braised Sun Dried Oyster, Beancurd and Broccoli. Those huge, mildly smoky mollusks paired well with soft beancurd and tender broccoli florets.

A burst of invigorating chilli hotness from the chef’s house made XO sauce levelled up the Stir Fried Crunchy Vegetables, Celtuce and Macadamia Nuts. It’s a nice, superbly addictive change from the slew of protein-centric dishes.

Carb lovers should find Fragrant Fried Rice with Waxed Meat Wrapped in Lotus Leaf a natural shoo-in. Packed with big, hearty flavours, the only complaint would be finding restraint to stop at just one bowl.

 
As tradition demands it, every celebratory meal must conclude sweetly. Notable options of Steamed Chinese New Year Cake Coated with Grated Coconut and bowls of Chilled Peach Resin with Osmanthus, Snow Pear, Longan and Red Dates fit the bill.

Wan Chun Ting also serves extensive à la carte and dim sum selections.

Lion Dance & Live Chinese Music Performances

 
Catch lively Lion Dance performance at Sofitel KL Damansara on 26 February at 10 am.
 
Also be entertained with live Gu Zheng performances by a traditional Chinese musician on 16, 23, and 27 February, as well as 3 March 2026, from 7.15pm to 9.00pm.
 
For more information on Wan Chun Ting CNY promos, visit https://heyzine.com/flip-book/46734f9433.html or WhatsApp +6017 511 7725 or email: HA123-FB@sofitel.com
 

BOUNTIFUL CHEF’S SPECIALITIES AT NEW HARVEST

 

Not all chicken rice are created equal. In Klang, it's no secret if you wish to eat Chef Simon Lee's signature Chicken Rice (half chicken RM70 small, RM80 medium, RM90 large; whole chicken RM125 small, RM135 medium, RM145 large), you need to pre-order the dish at least a day in advance.

Using free range chicken weighing about 2kg, Lee said he sourced the Dutch breed of chickens for his speciality dish. We had the chance to sample the delectable chicken recently: its corn-yellow skin and tender, succulent meat proved scrumptious to the bite. It made perfect pairing with Chef Lee's aromatic and deeply flavourful chicken rice.

Accentuated with pandan, ginger and shallots, the rice was good enough to be eaten on its own. Rice lovers will find it hard to stop at just one bowl. 

Lee honed his skills as a disciple of a veteran Chinese chef who made a name for himself in the local Chinese restaurant scene back in the day. Having garnered a wealth of experience under his torque, Lee now holds court at his own New Harvest restaurant in Klang.

Those in the know considers New Harvest an 'old is gold' dining bastion; a haven where pricey specialities of shark’s fin and abalone command leading roles, sharing the stage with comforting chicken rice and familiar homey braised dishes.

Looks can be deceptive as the air-conditioned, austere interior of New Harvest appears like any other neighbourhood Chinese restaurant. It's simple and pragmatically furnished yet its pulling power is undoubtedly the chef’s la sau choi (signature specialities), boldly depicted on the colourful wall-to-wall backdrops.

Our lunch commenced with Stir Fried Scrambled Egg with Crab Meat (RM12 per person, minimum 3 persons per serving). Those old enough to remember will find much pleasure to taste this crowd-pleasing opener which had dominated Chinese banquets in the yesteryears.

Wrapped up in fresh iceberg lettuce, the fluffy-soft egg embedded with dices of sweet, crunchy water chestnuts and toasty pine nuts stirred up some nostalgic memories for us.

Then New Zealand shark’s fin, fish maw and Japanese dried scallop formed a luxurious combination to entice us in Chef Lee’s Braised Superior Small Shark’s Fin Soup with Dried Scallop (RM48). The unctuously gummy and superbly flavourful broth warmed our hearts, tummies and palates profusely.

According to Chef Lee, 5 kilos of chicken feet along with old chicken, lean pork and Yunnan ham were used to simmer the soup for 12 hours before it yielded the desired results. Aside from the fins, we also relished those umami-packed dried scallops and spongy fish maw.

 

The culinary bar was raised further with the Braised Australian 3 Head Abalone with Goose Web (RM118). One look at the lustrous sauce was proof enough the dish befit a king.

We were in gastronomic heaven once we bit into the toothsomely resistant abalone, contrasting against the meltingly tender goose web. Coupled with that incomparable sauce, the whole ensemble had me counting my blessings and lucky stars.

Who would have thought peanut butter was the unlikely secret ingredient to Chef Special Stewed Pork (RM48)? Similar to ‘tung por yoke’ (braised pork belly named after Song Dynasty’s famous writer, poet and calligrapher Su Dong Po), Chef Lee made his version with tong gwai, garlic, ginger, cloves and star anise. The silky, luscious sauce was soul-satisfyingly yummy although the pork belly was a tad on the lean side.

 

Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables with Almonds (RM25) lent some balance to our meal. Water chestnuts, baby corn, shimeiji mushrooms, celery, sweet peas and almond flakes formed a sublime combination, teasing our tastebuds with a medley of varied crunchiness and delicately clear accents.

By now, our tastebuds were already saturated by the earlier spectrum of unapologetically huge flavours. Still, the plate of notable Fried Prawns with Pumpkin and Butter Milk Sauce succeeded in snagging our approval as we got our hands dirty, devouring the drool-worthy crustaceans. It was such fun, licking off the creamy sauce off the prawn shells before we sunk our teeth into the sweet springy meat. 

Slices of Klang homegrown Eng Kee pineapple and cantaloupe wrapped up our lunch on a delightfully refreshing note. 

For reservations at New Harvest, call tel: 03 3345 2288. Address: 19, Jalan Goh Hock Huat, Klang, Selangor

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.