Contributed by Mei Yee: Toh Yuen @ Hilton Petaling Jaya

A RED Chinese New Year Dinner with the DJs. In just a matter of days, the Year of Rabbit will welcome us in all its furry glory. Are you excited? This year, various restaurants in KL are running Chinese New Year set menus to usher in the new year. One such restaurant is Toh Yuen at Hilton Petaling Jaya. What better to celebrate the new year than with a bunch of fun-loving and chirpy DJs from Red FM?
 It was a privileged to be invited to sample the Chinese New Year dinner menu together with Aly (Red FM Eleven2Three), Terry (Red FM Drive), Lexie (Red FM’s Late Night Love Songs) and Jeremy (Red FM Breakfast Show). Also, if you noticed, the ladies were all dressed in the traditional Cheong Sam just for this occasion. Puts us in the mood, really.

Contributed by Mei Yee or Iamthewitch.com

Mei Yee with Debra, Jin, Esther and the Red FM DJs Lexie, Terry, Jeremy and Aly
So the four of us bloggers started ‘work’ once the first dish was out. And by that, I meant all of us got prepared with our gear and started shooting away. The DJs found it fascinating that all of us girls had huge cameras!

Girls in cheongsam working

The first dish was the “Fatt Choy” Abalone Yee Sang, where “Fatt Choy” means prosperity and fortune in Chinese. Known for the Malaysia Chinese’s way to commemorate the occasion, Yee Sang comprises assorted condiments, which differ in their auspicious meanings.

“Fatt Choy” Abalone Yee Sang

Cracker represents happiness, peanut and sesame symbolize harvest, oil represents wealth and pomelo means good luck. Complete the selection with fresh seafood sashimi as raw seafood symbolizes life and longevity. The ritual to enjoy this delicacy is to gather family members and friends to toss and mix the ingredients and dressing with chopsticks, while hollering auspicious phrases such as “Good health!”, “Better fortune”, “More money” and so on.

Yee Sang with all the condiments

A photo before the toss

Tossing of Yee Sang

The Chinese believe that the higher the Yee Sang is tossed, the more prosperous one will get in the coming years.

The higher the better! (Check out Aly’s expression)

Toss for prosperity and good luck – “Lou Sang” or “Lou Hei”

The more well-tossed the Yee Sang is, the better it tastes! The slices of abalone hidden within this mountain of treasure were chewy and gave the combination a delightful twist! The plum sauce and peanut gave it a tangy and nutty finish, and don’t forget the crackers! They are my favourite!

A well-tossed plate of Yee Sang

Since we had Longevity Set Meal, the next dish offered was Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Crab Meat and Roe. The broth was thick and and flavourful, with plenty of crab meat and roe found within. It was hearty and wholesome, especially with a dash of vinegar.

Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Crab Meat and Roe

Thick broth with Crab Meat and Roe

The next dish was Deep Fried Chicken with Two Tastes, with the the deep fried chicken forming a perimeter around chicken cubes cooked with dark and sweet sauce. The deep fried chicken was golden brown, with thin and crispy skin and no hints of fat. I thought this would be my favourite of the two, until I had a bite of the dark-coloured chicken cube. It was coated with a thick and black sauce, almost caramel-like, with a sweet and slightly savoury taste to it. It was heavenly!

Fish or “Yu” in Chinese represents Abundance, and hence is a must in almost all Chinese New Year menu. We had the Steamed Pomfret with Soya Sauce, which was fresh and had a firm texture. The fish on its own is usually bland, therefore the soya sauce used makes a whole lot of difference to it.

Stir Fried Sea King Prawns with Pineapple Sauce was served next, in a colourful platter of red, green, yellow and brown. It was already a feast to the eyes! The prawns were huge and succulent, while the sweet and sour sauce complemented them well. Unless you’re watching out for cholesterol, this dish will not go wrong with anyone!

After dishes of meat and seafood, we had the Stewed Sea Cucumber and Mushroom with Broccoli to balance our diet. I love eating sea cucumber and I thought the chef did an amazing job with this dish for the sea cucumber was soft, melt-in-your-mouth and yet gelatinous! Almost like a sponge-like texture, it absorbed the savoury gravy within, making it burst with flavour upon each bite.

The second last dish of a Chinese New Year menu is usually noodles or rice, and this time we had the Seafood Fried Rice with X.O. Sauce. Now before you go on thinking that this dish has alcohol in it, X.O. sauce is actually an alcohol-free sauce, made from chopped dried seafood and mixed with chilli, garlic and oil. The resulting combination is flavourful, wholesome and tasty. More importantly, the rice was fried to perfection – fluffy with each morsel well-coated with sauce.

To Be Continue.........Next Page

Toh Yuen @ Hilton Petaling Jaya
No. 2, Jalan Barat,
46200 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.
Tel no.: +603-7955 9122
Fax no.: +603-7955 3909
Website: http://www.hilton.com/

Contributed by Mei Yee
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