The iconic Golden Phoenix pops up once again at EQ Kuala Lumpur for Chinese New Year. Some traditional dishes of its past are served up, together with some new dishes.
We dined off a Bright Auspicious menu in a preview recently, which also replicated a Golden Phoenix dining room. The Ten-piece Abalone Yee Sang got us off to an early festive start. The sauce for the Yee Sang was well balanced, fruity and less sweet. An abalone for everyone carried guarantees of prosperity.
Ten Abalones Yee Sang with guarantees of prosperity for everyone
Double-boiled chicken soup with matsutake mushroom and fish maw was lovely: all the flavours of chicken, mushroom, scallop were in the clear soup and the size of the fish maw was eye-popping.
Double-boiled chicken soup with matsutake mushroom and fish maw
Who would ignore abundance every year by eating a fish? This was the steamed grouper with cordyceps flower and red dates. The fish was steamed to perfection, there were fragrant hints of mandarin peel in the fish gravy.
Steamed Tiger Grouper with cordyceps flower and red dates
Apple wood smoked chicken roulade with BBQ sauce, mixed mesclun salad was western, served with mashed potato and a salad with sesame dressing. I quite enjoyed this dish. The roulade was smoky and springy and it paired well with the creamy potato mash. A nice break from the usual Chinese New Year dishes.
Applewood smoked chicken roulade with BBQ sauce, mixed mesclun salad
There was the classic Wok-fried tiger prawns with dark soya sauce, They were done well — plump prawns covered with a dark, sticky sweet sauce.
Braised whole sea cucumber with dried oyster and sea moss
Braised whole sea cucumber with dried oysters and sea moss would just fill you up pleasingly. It was a fat sea cucumber surrounded by vegetarian fortune pouches filled with water chestnuts and mushrooms. Think of all that collagen from the sea cucumber going to your skin and knees!
Wok fried tiger prawns with dark soya sauce
I liked very much the Braised seafood with noodles and crabmeat sauce, the noodles capturing the marine essence of the light sauce.
Braised seafood with noodles and crabmeat sauce
Dessert was the auspicious Golden Phoenix rice cake, baked peony filled with lotus seed paste and chilled peach with white fungus and red date.
Golden Phoenix rice cake, baked peony lotus seed paste, chilled peach with white fungus and red dates
The yee sang choices this year are Norwegian salmon and jellyfish, with fruit and red dragonfruit sauce, ten-head abalone, and two advance order variants – fresh Canadian geoduck and Austrian lobster. Portions start from RM128 for a small serving for four to six persons, to RM668 for a large portion for six to ten featuring imported Australian lobster.
There are set menus for the Reunion meal priced at RM288+ per person, Prosperous Atmosphere menu at RM388+ per person, Wealth Treasures menu RM488+ per person, Great Prosperity menu at RM688+ per person, Happy Reunion menu at RM288+ and Vegetarian menu RM188+ per person.
For reservations and enquiries, please email dineateqkl@kul.equatorial.com or WhatsApp +60 12 278 9239 or call +60 3 2789 7722. You can check out the menus at https://www.eqkualalumpur.equatorial.com/chinese-new-year/