Steamboat HK style hits the right note for Parents’ Day at Elegant Inn

Steamboat is a tasty and healthy option when dining out, especially at restaurant where you know the stock for the pot has been painstakingly prepared and MSG-free, and only the freshest and quality ingredients are served with it. I have had the best steamboat in Hong Kong, and now I can have this HK style steamboat at Elegant Inn in Kuala Lumpur.

The restaurant presents three set HK Style Steamboat menus, complete with two appetisers and desserts. The steamboat is so timely for Parents’ Day in May and June (Mother’s Day in May, Father’s Day in June) at Elegant Inn. It’s being served now till June 16, which means there’s plenty of time to plan an incredible steamboat dinner on the day of your choice.

For the steamboat soup in all the sets you can opt for either the Traditional Tasty Pork Bone Stock or Parsley & Century Egg Fish Stock. The clear pork bone stock was our choice, bubbling in a claypot on a stove on the table.

Our eyes feasted on the array of seafood, meats, home-made delicacies, a deluxe assortment of vegetables and noodles surrounding the pot of soup. First it was the live dragon tiger garoupa (hence super fresh) sliced into sashimi fillets for the hotpot. The fish head and bony parts would be pepper and salt fried in that inimitable Elegant Inn style.

Half a dragon tiger garoupa would be for four diners, and a whole one, weighing about 1.1kg, for six. This fish is in the “Lavishly” and “Elegantly” steamboat sets while garoupa is in the “Simply” set.

Dining on the “Elegantly” Steamboat Set, our two appetisers were Organic Beancurd with Basil Chicken and Pan Seared Fan Scallop on Shell with Premium Soy, presented in sumptuous style and delighting palate.

Besides the dragon-tiger garoupa, our other seafood for the hotpot were sea crystal prawns, live Korean abalones and fried fish maw. The home-made goodies included fresh fish paste, unique cuttlefish pork balls, golden fried fish curd and crunchy Chinese nachos.

We assembled our dips from the selection before us – chilli oil, shallot oil, fresh and fried garlic, fresh coriander, superior soya sauce, cut chillies and spring onions. Not that you needed a complicated dip:  just some shallot oil, soya sauce and coriander and spring onions would do. The flavours built up in the steamboat as the fresh ingredients were slid into the hotpot. First to go in was the fresh fish paste and cuttlefish pork balls, yielding the first delicious bites from the pot.

Then it was the prawns and Korean abalones embellishing the soup with their natural sweetness. It was time for quick and careful cooking of the thick slices of dragon tiger garoupa, their fresh firmness and flavour coming through. For these, just a dip into premium soy sauce, shallot oil and spring onions was all this fish needed.

The fleshy head and bones of the fish went for deep frying and tossing in salt, pepper, chilli and crispy garlic. I enjoyed crunching on the crispy bits and tearing the tasty skin and flesh from the bones.

After this we added to the hotpot in no particular order, the luscious Spanish Olive Pork Slices, sweet corn, fungus, mushrooms, beancurd and vegetables. We also had Drunken Chicken with premium fungus and mushrooms under this steamboat set. The Chinese nachos (made of fu chuk or soy sheets) are lovely just dredging them through the flavourful soup and eating them with a little crunch remaining. I couldn’t get enough of these.

The HK E Fu Noodles, with more vegetables, and this was the perfect ending to our steamboat. You could also choose to add steamed rice and egg to the soup and you would have a delish porridge!

Chilled Osmanthus Wolfberry Cake and Sour Plum Toast with Natural Peach Amber were sublime desserts after such an amazing steamboat. These cool desserts are supposed to restore the yin-yang balance as steamboat is considered to be a heaty meal.

There is also an a la carte menu where you could choose the items for the steamboat or have them added on to you steamboat set. This includes the M8 Australian Wagyu Beef Slices, Supreme Whole Fish Maw, Whole Australian (2 heads) Abalone, or Juicy Meat Dumplings among others.

Our “Elegantly” Steamboat Set is RM688+ for four diners and RM988+ for six. The “Simply” Set is RM488 for four and RM688 for six. The “Lavishly” Set which offers the dragon tiger garoupa, Boston lobster and Spanish Iberico pork is price at RM888 for four and RM1,288 for six.

Elegant Inn HK Cuisine is on 2nd floor, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee, 50250 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03 2070 9399 & 603-6737 9399.