Rich and creamy Steamed King Crab Chawanmushi. — Photos: LOW LAY PHON/The Star Classic Bomb Alaska featuring 70% Valrhona chocolate, vanilla and glazed blood orange.
The ideal Christmas meal often conjures images of classic European festive fare.
However, this year, Klang Valley diners are invited to experience a holiday menu that marries these familiar traditions with a sophisticated, modern culinary touch, including intriguing Asian influences.
Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill in Sunway Resort Hotel in Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya’s festive a la carte menu comprises a selection of traditional wintry courses with an artistic twist.
Ora King Salmon ‘Escabeche’.
For starters, there’s the Steamed King Crab Chawanmushi. Nestled inside the warm, milky and frothy chawanmushi are tender crab pieces.
The meat’s clean and sweet aroma awakens the senses with its briny, fresh taste beautifully contrasted with a finishing touch of vin blanc sauce.
The other seafood starter features delicately seared Hokkaido scallops cradled in a silky, rich sea urchin hot sauce.
The dish offers an initial wave of sweetness, followed by fiery spice sneaking in to assert itself.
There is also the Ora King Salmon “Escabeche” with an intriguing combination of wasabi-like taste and tanginess.
Langoustine Agnolotti is a bisque with black truffle and delightful yellow lobster meat parcels.
Besides seafood starters, diners can opt for Beef Consomme with exceptionally soft and tender beef immersed in a broth cooked with bone marrow.
For a non-seafood starter, an interesting find is the Pate en Croute featuring rich duck foie gras studded with sweet prune and crunchy pistachio served alongside piccalilli.
Pate en Croute, a rich French charcuterie, takes diners on a textural journey with an outer rim of soft savoury pastry framing the foie gras and pistachio.
For mains, there’s Roasted Wagyu Prime Rib.
This dish delivers three perfectly harmonised textures – crisp golden-brown crust, tender lean meat and melt-in-the-mouth fat to delight the palate.
Langford says the festive menu is designed to be family-friendly, perfectly capturing the spirit of the Christmas season.
Served alongside are savoury sauteed wild mushroom and duck fat roast potatoes.
Another menu highlight is the Bronze Turkey Wellington.
Encased in buttery puff pastry with mild herbaceous taste is tender turkey meat.
Roasted parsnip and braised red cabbage are served together for a layer of sweetness that further enhances the dish.
There is also Seared Japanese Flounder with mushy saffron potato and lemongrass veloute.
The outer layer of the flounder is delicately seared to prevent the fish from drying out.
Steamed King Crab Chawanmushi is rich and creamy.
The Langoustine Agnolotti stands out as a much-loved favourite.
This silky bisque, enriched with earthy black truffle shavings and delicate yellow parcels with tender lobster meat, is an indulgent dish.
What’s a festive meal without Christmas pudding?
The warm pudding with sweet raisins is served with prune ice cream and brandy anglaise.
A blast from the past is the Bomb Alaska – a dramatic dessert featuring decadent 70% Valrhona chocolate and vanilla ice cream, complemented by bright, glazed blood orange.
Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill Sunway Resort Hotel executive chef Giles Langford said the menu was primarily designed to be family-friendly, perfectly capturing the spirit of Christmas.
He said the menu was built around traditional European Christmas elements and classic winter ingredients.
“Though it is around 32°C in Malaysia every day, I believe that Malaysians will be able to enjoy these dishes as well,” he quipped.
The dishes, he said were slightly tweaked to incorporate local ingredients such as torch ginger flower (bunga kantan) and ulam raja.
The menu is available until Dec 31.
GORDON RAMSAY BAR & GRILL, Sunway Resort Hotel, 1, Persiaran Lagoon, Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya, Selangor. (Tel: 03-7495 1572). Business hours: 7am to 10.30pm daily.
This is the writer’s personal observation and not an endorsement by StarMetro.
