jon.peachjon.com » chinese new year 2010

Daidomon the Japanese Barbeque Buffet Place @ Great Eastern Mall, Ampang

wyejon — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:32:07 +0000

Note: This is a severely outdated post… life is just that more important than blogging

The first day of the Chinese New Year this year happened to fall on the very same day as that most dreaded of humankind celebrations; Valentine’s Day. I’m not particularly opposed to celebrating Valentine’s it’s just that I have no fondness of crowded places. Also restaurants tend to be overwhelmed on that particular day causing service and food quality levels to drop significantly. But then again it’s the Chinese New Year, most people would have taken the chance to go back to their hometowns. So was there hope for a crowd free dinner for me and my lovely wife?

Daidomon @ Great Eastern Mall, Ampang.

YES! We actually managed to secure a booking (I think it was one or two days before) and the dinner itself was a stress free event. Kudos to the management and staff at Daidomon. They were definitely running at near full capacity that night but service was prompt and decent.

It was our first time at Daidomon so we really didn’t know what to expect and how the buffet works. The waiter who served us was quick to pick that point up so he offered to recommend us some dishes to start. Basically the process at Daidomon is pretty simple. There is the buffet spread at the middle of the restaurant where you can pick up food that’s ready to eat. Aside from that you are also given a menu from which you can order meat to barbecue.

Waiter’s recommendation #1: Mixed Seafood

Waiter’s recommendation #2: Mixed beef

Some items from the buffet spread. The egg on the left was damned nice

There are 2 premium items on the menu which you can only order once. I can understand why they are made premium items (expen$ive) but personally I don’t think they were any good. The best stuff Daidomon has to offer is definitely their red meat selection.

Premium Item #1: Oysters in butter

Premium Item #2: Scallops

Check out their comprehensive website for more details.

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Tuen Yuen Fan @ Golden Sun Restaurant, Kuchai Lama

wyejon — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:16:28 +0000

So you may be wondering what Tuen Yuen Fan is about? Chinese tradition dictates that members of a family must gather together and have dinner on the very last day of the Chinese calendar. This is commonly known as the Reunion Dinner. Not too many years ago, most families cooked their reunion dinner and had it at home. These days many families prefer to eat out. I can tell you not too long ago (10 years maybe) it was extremely uncommon for Chinese restaurants to be open on Chinese New Year eve. It’s also uncommon for Chinese restaurants to be open during the first 2 or 3 days of the new year as well but the driving force of commercialism has changed all that. Many Chinese restaurants are now open during the new year!

No Chinese New Year dinner in Malaysia is complete without the ubiquitous yee sang. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time I’m having it this year. It gets real tiring after the second time or so.

Shark’s Fin soup again. I used to love this but these days I think I can do without it. Interesting fact about shark’s fin soup in Malaysian restaurants. Chances are that the shark’s fin you’re being served is fake! How do you know if you’re getting the real deal? Beats me… frankly speaking I don’t care either

Broccoli with Mushrooms… this was the best dish of the night. Very tasty and well done.

The suckling pig. Another common dish in Chinese banquets. Not really my thing.

Stir Fried Prawns.

Glutinous Rice.

Desserts…

and the Pear Tong Sui.

Wow I just went through a whole posting without actually writing anything! The food that night was really just so-so. The service was terrible and the food came in unreasonably long intervals. It’s obvious that the restaurant could not handle the load that night. I don’t think I’ll ever come back here again for reunion dinner. I hear their dim sum is actually ok though. Might try it out one day when I have the time.

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GOLDEN SUN CLUB
Lot 35604, Jalan Kuchai Lama,
58200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +60 3 7982 6155
http://www.goldensun.com.my/

Dengkil (Ng) Seafood – CNY Sau Gong Jau 2010 Since the Chinese New Year is upon us it’s time...

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Dengkil (Ng) Seafood – CNY Sau Gong Jau 2010

wyejon — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:11:45 +0000

Since the Chinese New Year is upon us it’s time again for the annual “Sau Gong Jau” which literally translates to dinner at the closing of work. For folks who don’t know the Chinese working people have a (recent?) tradition that involves having a feast right before everybody leaves for their Chinese New Year holidays. There’s also an accompanying tradition called the “Hoi Gong Jau” which literally translates to dinner at the opening of work that you’re supposed to do right when everyone’s back from their Chinese New Year holidays.

As traditions are, we tend to play hard and fast with the rules. The dinner doesn’t have to be a dinner (lunch is fine) and it never needs to be on the very last day of work before the holidays. For us we had lunch 3 days before Chinese New Year.

Another Chinese tradition that we enjoy here is the “lou yee sang” or the tossing of raw fish which really is raw salmon (like sashimi only Chinese) plus lots of other stuff. Oddly the raw fish tossing is a tradition that originated in Malaysia and is only practiced here and perhaps in Singapore. You’re probably not going to find this happening in China.

Yee Sang = raw salmon, shredded vegetables, nuts, crunchy stuff and some sweet sauce.

LOU AHH!!

What a waste!

Really, the “lou yee sang” is done more for fun than anything. But still wasting perfectly good food is not something I’d recommend

The Dengkil (Ng) Seafood restaurant is one of my preferred joints in Dengkil. It’s a 2 story restaurant and the upstairs is air conditioned (though I still managed to sweat a lot that day when we were there). As most eateries in Dengkil tend to be, their customers are usually people working in Cyberjaya so you can expect seats to fill up pretty quick during lunch hour. Food really isn’t the most spectacular but for Dengkil it’s one of the best. Prices also tend to be on the high side unless you stick to ordering noodles.

An exterior view. With their bright yellow new signboard, this place is impossible to miss.

They had some Chinese New Year sets that day. Prices were from over RM300 onwards. Pretty expensive so we didn’t bother to try them. Thus we ordered ala-carte.

Signature Taufu (bean curd), a little bit spicy.

Thai styled chicken (really it’s just fried chicken with some supposedly Thai chilli sauce).

Fried Lotus Root and Celery (nice!)

Choi Bou Tilapia Fish

Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leafs (usually good no matter where you order this)

Omelet

Half Roasted Duck and Half Suckling Pig (sorry, lousy picture)

The duck/pig dish was painful. It cost us nearly RM100. The total bill was RM250 for 14 persons, which wasn’t that bad actually except that we didn’t order the pig (or at least we didn’t have the intention to). We ordered roasted duck but somehow got this half half nonsense. Oddly no one really grumbled so when the dish came we just ate up The pig was lousy… lacking in any crispiness and it was terribly salty. All the other stuff was ok though and I did quite fancy the chicken.

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Tuen Yuen Fan @ Golden Sun Restaurant, Kuchai Lama So you may be wondering what Tuen Yuen Fan is...

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