Delectable festive dishes to usher in the New Year

The Sea Prawns Fried with Carrot Cake in Chef’s Special Sauce is appetising. — Photos: SAMUEL ONG/The Star

A BOWL of piping-hot steamed rice with waxed meat is often savoured during the Chinese New Year celebration.

At Grand Imperial Restaurant, the dish is also a hot favourite among diners during the festive season.

Its version of waxed meat rice is served with Chinese sausage, liver sausage, waxed pork and duck meat imported from Hong Kong, with bok choy on the side.

“The rice dish is made from our own recipe using waxed meats and Chinese sausages ordered from Hong Kong,” said Grand Imperial Group business development manager Maggie Chow.

“Our sausages are 70% lean meat mixed with 30% fat to give it a nice texture.

Fried ginger slices enhance the flavour of the crispy roast chicken with Japanese Yama sauce.

“It also has the alluring fragrance of the Chinese wine which makes the dish more wholesome,” she added.

The sauce that oozed out from the waxed meat coated every grain of rice, making the dish savoury and appetising.

Grand Imperial’s version of yee sang features shredded mixed fruits and vegetables.

It is served with abalone and deep-fried noodlefish and flavoured with a house-made sweet-and-sour sauce and abundantly garnished with gold leaf.

The fried nian gao is the perfect dish to end the meal.

While the pomelo flesh, shredded mango, honey melon and rose apples give a refreshing taste, the deep-fried noodlefish and almonds offer added crunch.

The yee sang is priced at RM198++ for half portions and RM328++ for one portion.

Grand Imperial also has several new a la carte dishes this Chinese New Year.

The Deep-fried Japanese Ayu Fish accompanied with Bacon Scallop Roll (RM38++ per potion) was a delight.

Restaurant manager Ken Lee (left) and Wong with a platter of yee sang.

The bacon’s saltiness complemented the fresh Hokkaido scallops, while lemon wedges once squeezed over the sweetfish added tanginess to the dish.

Meanwhile, the Crispy Roasted Chicken with Sliced Ginger (RM108++ for a whole chicken) was a rather interesting combination.

Marinated with Japanese Yama sauce (a type of sesame sauce), the crispy skin that was peppered with white and black sesame seeds was the proverbial cherry on top of the juicy, tender meat.

Pairing it with a fried ginger slice further enhanced the taste of the chicken.

Whole Five-head Abalone with Dried Scallops incorporates luxury ingredients associated with prosperity.

Head chef Anthony Wong said the chicken was marinated for four hours.

“It was then roasted for 40 minutes to make the skin crispy while keeping the meat moist,” he said.

Diners can also try the restaurant’s Whole Five-head Abalone with Dried Scallops (RM78++ per portion) and Sea Prawns Fried with Carrot Cake in Chef’s Special Sauce (RM138++ per portion).

Chinese New Year sets that cater for eight or 10 people will be available and priced from RM999++ and RM1,188++ respectively from Jan 10 until Feb 15.

Some of the dishes mentioned here will be featured in the set menu.

The Four Combination Chinese New Year Cake is available for take-away.

There will also be set menus for groups of four or six.

Customers can check out the Chinese New Year cake takeaway gift set: the Four Combination Chinese New Year Cake, that is available from Jan 7 to 31.

The box, which contains Dried Scallop Yam Cake, Red Bean “Nian Gao’’, Chinese Waxed Meat with Shrimp Radish Cake and Chinese New Year nian gao, is priced at RM88+.

Alternatively, customers can opt for the gift set that comes with a jar of traditional XO sauce which is priced at RM108+.

GRAND IMPERIAL RESTAURANT, Sunway Velocity Mall, 5-01, 5th Floor, Jalan Cheras, Maluri, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel [phone]) Business Hours: 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 10.30pm (Monday to Saturday), 10am to 3pm, 6pm to 10.30pm (Sundays and public holidays). Non-halal.

This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.