I don’t normally look forward to these meetings, but when at the end of the day I get fed- well, meetings aren’t too bad after all (yes, I am a pig)
I dined once at Chynna and was impressed with the rich decoration , the food and of course the bill.We did a last minute reservation and manage to get a private room, once we stepped into the private room, everyone Ohhhhh and ahhhhs over the posh decoration, nice heavy thick burgundy curtains, the lantern ( which was hanged pretty low) above our table, the crockery …everything about the room spelled opulent ( and expensive)
Almost everyone wanted to’take’ the beautiful crockery home
Once we were seated (where most of us were trying not to make it too obvious that we do not want to sit next to Da Boss), the serving of tea begin, the waiter came around the table with a pot with a long sprout and ceremoniously poured 8 treasure(八宝茶) into our cups , we commented that in China they do some acrobatics while serving tea and only then did our friend ( who was from Qingdao) did some elaborate movement of swinging the teapot over his head, around his body etc before pouring the tea into our cups ( identity of the pumpkinheads were withheld)
I didn’t get a chance to view the menu, so the names mentioned here will be basic without the flowery language . First up – Beijing duck, the duck was carved at the side table ,
and each of us were served 3 small pieces, and each piece had different toppings, the meat was a bit cold, with the slightly oily layer beneath the crispy layer, nothing to shout about.
We wondered where was the rest of the duck, and was told that they will serve this to us in a pancake. I find the pancake a bit heavy and floury, and after taking a bite, I tasted more flour than duck. The sauce was tasty though.
Next up was the soup – this was served in a ceramic pot , the ingredients include : old cucumber, dried scallops, dried oyster, sharkfin, chicken, dried octopus. This was delicious with layers of taste from the different ingredients, you could taste the goodness and richness of the soup with each sip . The portion was a bit too large though ( I think this was more maybe even more than 3 small bowls) and although it was tasty, it still took a bit of an effort to finish. ( I guess people will complain about everything and anything, small serving –complain, big serving, also complain, bahhh ! hamburg )
Salmon with inoki mushroom – the dish was beautifully presented. Although the distinct taste of salmon was still retained. I find the salmon a bit over cooked- the meat was overly dry- the sauce that was dribbled over salmon was like the chili sauce for chicken rice, which was a weird combination..someone bit into the chili padi and had to gulp down beer very quickly..or maybe that was just an excuse to have more beer…The inoki mushroom- tempura style was a bit wet and not as crunchy as I would expect of a tempura style thingy
Duck feet with dried abalone and shitake mushroom ( I guess this would have a more glamorous name than this) ..the duck claw was yummylicious, . The sauce was just nice and the claw was cooked to perfection . the skin was smooth, moist and came off easily, the abalone was soft and chewy- the shitake mushroom was soft, juicy, succulent with the gravy..major yum !! the Mat Sallehs braved the horror of ‘HUH, what ? duck feet …errr…are you sure this is safe to be eaten , don’t they walk with these ..? ‘ and took a few bites of the kaki, and I think it wasn’t as bad as they thought.
Prawns with lobak- the prawns in light batter were deep fried – the gravy was thick and sweet ( maybe a tad too sweet) . lobak was ok..the taste of 5 spice powder was not as prominent as the regular roadside lobak Penang is famous for ..Weird combination for a cantonese restaurant, this is what they call fusion food, I guess ..the lobak had some chili sauce on it ..initially I thought it was keropok lekor..if they did serve this combination, I would be flabbergasted…a scenario like where Hang Li Po meets Nik Aziz
Black pepper beef with cashew nuts …the beef was succulent, tender and well marinated , ozzing with the taste of black pepper . Very tasty..not sure was it wagyu beef, I never had eaten a cow that was massaged, and neither have I ever massaged a cow… so , I wouldn’t know..but the crux of the matter was – this was very good.
Wantan – I think the wan than in my bowl looks like a goldfish..the filling was fresh, sweet and succulent prawns and with some minced meat, the broth was tasty .This was yummy , the skin was smooth and soft and just slip through your throat…Although by then I was up to full tank capacity, this still tasted very good.
We were also served noodles with minced meat in bean paste, well marinated minced meat – sweet-spicy bean paste gravy , noodles texture was good. Good blend
For dessert we had a choice of sago with ice cream and tau fu far..most of us grabbed the ice cream and left a few disappointed Mat Salleh with the tau fu far , I don’t think they liked the idea of having tofu as a dessert lahh….the taste of vanilla ice cream wasn’t too prominent, and I would have liked the evaporated milk that the ice cream was swimming in to be a bit sweeter to bring out the taste.
The damaged came to ~ RM3K + inclusive of 3 rounds of beers which, from passed experience was less than what I was expecting we would have to pay, turns out that this was a set menu, so the pricing were ‘special’
Overall, there were a few outstanding dishes like the black pepper beef , with the duck feet and wan tharn would come a close second and third , the other dishes were average lah.
Operation hours:
Lunch
Monday to Saturday – 12:00 noon to 2:30 pm
Sunday & Public Holidays – 11:00 am to 2:30pm
Dinner
Daily – 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm
Chynna
Hilton Kuala Lumpur
3 Jalan Stesen Sentral
Kuala Lumpur Sentral
50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 2264 2264
Fax: +60 3 2264 2266
Web site: http://www.kl-studio.com
