Healthy Colourful Yee Sang @ Si Chuan Dou Hua

January 13, 2014

Last week I have been invited for a food review session at Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant which is located opposite Chatz Brasserie for Christmas review. Both resides at Park Royal hotel, strategically in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

上个星期我受邀去四川豆花饭莊参与新年套餐的部落客试吃宴。这饭莊位于上次我去圣诞节试吃宴Chatz Brasserie 的对面。两家位于坐落于吉隆坡市中心的Park Royal 酒店。

The difference between Chatz Brasserie and Si Chuan Dou Hua is that the later only serves Chinese cuisine and cooks upon order.

Chatz Brasserie 与四川豆花的区别是后者是提供中餐而且是叫菜后才烹煮的。

For the interior design, I found this tea pot is interesting! That is a handle with dragon body! Well, you know Chinese like dragon as that assembles good thing.

在室内设计方面，我觉得这个茶壶很特别！这是有个龙体的茶柄！好，你们也知道啦华人都喜欢龙因为他代表好的事物。

Next, what amazed me that day or my first visit is that there is a man carrying a tea pot with long spout! Yes, I had the same expression like that girl that day because I worried if the hot water spurted to my body. But no worry, the man is trained for many years in China and been hired by Park Royal to practice this when serving tea for every customer at Si Chuan Dou Hua.

接着，最令我惊喜的是这个拿着长壶口的男生！好，当天我也有以上这女生的表情，原因是深怕他倒水时，水会喷到我身上。不过不用担心，因为这男生是有在中国受过多年训练以及被Park Royal 特聘来为每一位来四川豆花用餐者提供这倒茶艺。

Tropical Fruits Yee Sang

I ate varieties of yee sang from many places. This is my first time trying tropical fruits yee sang. The condiments and the sauces are come together with the plate of yee sang.

我在很多地方吃过各种各样鱼生。这是我第一次尝试热带水果鱼生。调味品和酱料是与鱼生一起送上。

Tropical Fruits Yee Sang

It's so colourful yet healthy because they are rich in different antioxidants coming from sliced kiwi, dragon fruit, mango, strawberry, apple and pomelo to name a few. All are so freshly prepared!

它色彩缤纷但却很健康因为它富有来自切片奇异果，火龙果，芒果，草莓，苹果，柚子等的各种抗氧素。全部都是新鲜制作！

I would like to have whole plate by myself :) Yee Sang is like a Chinese style salad which is good for health because all ingredients has not been cooked or processed and all nutrients are sustained.

我真的超想一个人吃完整盘 :) 鱼生就如华人的沙律，对健康有益因为所有材料都是没经过烹煮或处理，所有的营养成分得以保存。

For those who have no idea about yee sang, this is a special cultural dish eaten by Chinese during Chinese New Year celebration as a symbol of prosperity and good health. This practice is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore but almost unheard in Hong Kong which I'm also not sure the reason behind.

When everybody was here, we began to toss the shredded ingredients high up and saying auspicious wishes loud!It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the diner's growth in fortunes, thus we toss enthusiastically until the table is messed.

Braised Coral Shark's Fin with Crab Meat, Bamboo Piths and Dry Scallop

Chinese love shark fin. So in Malaysia, Chinese restaurant still serving shark fin to diner.

华人喜欢吃鱼翅。所以在马来西亚，中餐厅一般还会为用餐者奉上鱼翅。

Deep Fried Cod Fish with Pomelo Sauce

Coming up next is my favourite here! OMG! That's so scrumptious! The fish is so juicy, sweet, crunchy and I can't even describe more with words how delicious is it till you try it yourself! I want to have second piece but all finished by my friend, thus I only able to capture the taste in my mind now.

跟着就是我在这里的最爱！天啊！这实在太美味了！这鱼非常的多汁，甜而不腻，脆口不油以及我无法在用任何言语去形容多么的好吃直到你们自己去试一口！我想要吃多一块可惜朋友们都吃光了，所以我只能把那味道稳稳的锁在我脑海里。

Traditional Chef's Specialty Smoked Farm Chicken

I think the second favourite here might be the chef's specialty smoked farm chicken treated with traditional way! When it served on the table, the smoke smell filled up the air in the room (even though no smoke really coming out from the chicken) and everyone is asking about it. Regardless the smoke smell, this is delicious! Somemore this is farm chicken which is freely roaming around, therefore the meat texture is nicer.

我想这里第二受欢迎的菜肴非这厨师用传统方法特制的烟农场鸡。当它端上桌的时候，有种烟味弥漫着整个房间（虽然没有真的烟从那鸡冒出来），当时每个人都在问是否有闻到相同的气息。尽管那烟味在房内充匀着，但是这鸡的味道一流！再加上这是农场鸡，平时是自由走动的，所以肉感也非常好。

Sauteed Fresh Water Prawns with Butter and Corn Flakes

For Chinese New Year menu, we never miss out prawn （虾-pronounced as 'ha' in Cantonese, hahaha= laugher）So Chinese believe prawn brings happiness in new year. I love prawn especially big prawn like shown above but for me this one is quite rich in taste and I can't have second piece anymore.

在农历新年的菜肴里面，我们都不会漏掉虾。因为虾代表欢乐。我特别爱虾尤其是大只的虾如图上所示不过这次这个味道可能过于丰富所以我吃一片就已经觉得够了。

Braised Sea Cucumber, Black Mushroom, Dry Oyster and Black Moss with Greens

Well, we have enough of meat and now it's time for some vegetables! Sea cucumber is so expensive and now I can have it here! They also added in black moss （发菜=发财,pronounced as 'fatt choy' in Cantonese）as that represents great wealth/fortune.

好咯，刚才我们吃了好多的肉类，现在是来吃菜的时候！海参是很昂贵的食物，想不到我可以在这里享用到呢！他们也加了发菜代表发财，希望吃了大家在新一年都赚钱赚到手软。

Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles with Scallop

Then, we served with Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles which is not common during Chinese New Year in Malaysia. This is my first time having it. However, I still love the overall taste, the spiciness from the soup is not strong but acceptable.

接着上座的四川担担面，在马来西亚的农历新年是不普便的过节食物。这是我第一次吃。无论如何，我还是很喜欢那味道，烫的辣味刚好，不会太辣，乃可以接受。

Steamed 'Nian Gao' with Shredded Coconut

Last is the common dessert during Chinese New Year. Normally we being served fried 'Nian Gao' but this time we have more healthier version of 'Nian Gao'. The taste is not bad overall. For those we never eat before, this is a sweet dessert made from glutinous rice and finishing look is sticky and appears in brown colour. Some people translate and call it rice cake or year cake.

From Wikipedia:
It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during this time, because "nian gao" is a homonym for "higher year." The Chinese word 粘 (nián), meaning "sticky", is identical in sound to 年, meaning "year", and the word 糕 (gāo), meaning "cake" is identical in sound to 高, meaning "high or tall". As such, eating nian gao has the symbolism of raising oneself taller in each coming year (年年高升 niánnián gāoshēng).

最后是我们农历新年都会吃的年糕。通常我们是吃炸年糕，这次来个健康点的蒸年糕。味道也还好。

Dishes above were randomly selected by the chef from the 6 menus below. Here are the pricing comes together with the dishes available in each menu set. (1USD ≈ RM3.26)

上面的菜肴都是厨师在这以下6种菜单内随意挑选出来让我们品尝的。这里有每个菜单的菜肴以及价钱。 (1美金 ≈ 马币3.26)