Xin-fully Good Still

Time really flies. The last time I met Julini, that lovely Marketing & Communications Manager of Concorde, was before last Ramadan, when she invited me for the Melting Pot's Ramadan Buffet Spread preview. And before you know it, in the blink of an eye, 9 months or so have elapsed. If I had been pregnant when I last met her, I would have definitely given birth by now. Anyway, this time round, the invite was for Xin Chinese Restaurant's new items on the menu, lovingly crafted by Chef Alfie Hoh. The only drawback about going to Concorde, on a weekday after work, is the mind boggling traffic at that Jln Sultan Ismail and Jln Ampang intersection.

Nevertheless, I wasn't SO late, the food that was laid out for the press was still there and still being photographed, like a celebrity hounded by the ruthless paparazzi. It was one of those strange occasions where the other guests were all from the main stream media, and some not so main stream, like Red Tomato, and Orange ....something or other.


金汤鱼鳔海味羹
Braised Thick Soup of Golden Superior Broth with Fish Maw and Seafood

Actually who needs Sharksfins, when the alternative soups are really so fabulously flavourful. Superior here is an apt description, for the soup really is lovely, and the broth ....put it this way, when we heard how many hours goes into preparing the broth, and the amount of stuff that goes into it, from duck to chicken, it's definitely not something you can replicate at home. Unless you have an industrial kitchen...


橙汁奶皇焗虾球
Pan-fried Prawn with Orange Juice in Milk Sauce
Oh, incidentally, if any of you people think I have suddenly developed a literacy in the Chinese language, I can assure you I am still disgracefully a banana, and that Chinese script you see is courtesy of the hotel, and all I do is cut and paste.

I digress though. Fresh crunchy prawns, made even crunchier is a crispy batter. Usually I am wary of orange juice sauces, because they tend to taste like cough mixture or haliborange, but this was not so, and the tastes were really complementary.




Such a delightfully colourful dish, that one cannot but feel one's spirit lifted, though one may be heavy laden.
百合甜豆炒松菇
Stir-fried Lily Buds and Sweet Peas with Straw Mushroom. You've heard how it is prescribed we should eat 5 different colored foods, or specifically fruit and vegetables, a day. Well, there you go, the dish that says it all.



豆酱番茄焖鳕鱼
Stewed Cod Fish with Soya Paste with Tomatoes
Chef Alfie said he toyed with the idea of using Miso paste, but it seemed so common. I am not sure what exactly Soya Paste is, (the interviews with the Chef were conducted mainly in Cantonese, and my Cantonese is ...enough just to get by at kopitiams to order food, and understand 30% of Infernal Affairs), but it tasted good.


虾酱海鲜干炒河
Wok-fried Flat Noodles and Seafood with Prawn Sauce. Kueh Teow la, in layman terms. Now, apparently some people could identify the prawn sauce, (oh, I guess because it was because they had shellfish allergies) but I couldn't really pinpoint that it was a prawn sauce. The fried noodles were nice, and a bit overkill on seafood, not enough kueh teow that kind of thing.

Delicious, but more "liu" than kueh teow, but I guess in this carbo hating world we live in, it might not be a bad thing.



高丽豆沙
Deep-fried White Soufflé with Red Bean Paste. It looks a bit like puffs, but it is nowhere near the texture. The puff/souffle is actually made from pure egg white. Very skillfully using the presumably whipped egg white to form a ball around the red bean paste, it is then instantly fried. Chef explained that it requires quite a skillful hand to be able to manipulate whipped egg white, and to be able to achieve that kind of ethereal airiness.





桂花枸杞海燕窝
Chilled Seaweed Jelly with Osmanthus and Wolf Berries. An OUTSTANDING dessert. I wish I could have this everyday. Refreshing, and I don't know if it was psychological, but it felt so cleansing. Ah, I am having a craving for this as I type. Ooops, did I mention pregnancy in the first paragraph?




Part of the dinner conversation revolved around the history of Concorde, and it's Merlin days. The true test of a true KL-ite is whether or not they knew what was BEFORE Concorde, and the legendary tortoise pond that was outside the Chinese restaurant. But even now, Xin does have a certain retro charm, as it HAS been around for awhile now.



Chef here being fielded by the media.

In my book, Xin has always been consistent in their Chinese food, and these new dishes introduced give me no doubt that they will be as good as they were during the press review.

Melting Pot Ramadan Buffet, Concorde Hotel

Mention Melting pot, and I am transported back in time, to that nostalgic era when we'd go to Melting Pot for their supper buffet after a night out...these days, I am yawning by 10pm, so supper buffets are out of the question. When Julini Yusoff, F&B Manager invited me for their Nasi Padang pre Ramadan tasting, it was a rather opportune time to revisit I felt.

Traffic was DIABOLIC, I could see Concorde in front of me for half an hour.... joining me for the evening's soiree were Saucer, (The other half of I AM THE WITCH), J2KFM (Ipoh Motoromouth) and Memoirs of a Chocoholic. The Melting Pot was a melting pot of all the press people, including us bloggers.

Mother and son duo, Nurdeli Mansorman (Mak Deli) and Irwan Arifin are the two chefs responsible for dishing out the Padang specialities for this year's Ramadan spread.

Now, Nasi Padang is not rice eaten at the soccer field, or grown in one. It is the cuisine of the Mingkabaus, from West Sumatra, and is distinctive for its succulent coconut milk prevalent in most dishes, and spicy chilli.


Alright, sashimi is definitely not part of the Nasi Padang repertoire, but at the Melting Pot, they have to retain some constant favourites, constantly....


Ooops, neither is the Teppenyaki Theatre part of the Padang show....


More teppenyaki...okay, this is like the supporting dancers at a Star's Concert before the main show... and nowww...tah dahhhh


My all time favourite, dendeng paru. I love lung just like I love tongue. Chinese think that eating a particular organ of an animal will strengthen your own corresponding organ, so eating lung should theoretically strengthen mine, if the cholesterol doesn't kill me first.


Daging Dendeng Balado.


Terung Balado. Hmm, must find out what Balado means. It appears alot.


Ikan Goreng Lado Hijau...crispy fried fish with green sambal...





Rendang Ayam... cant really go wrong with this. These kinda foods are the anti carb squad's worse nightmare, because they go SOOO well with rice, and LOTS of it.


Gulai Cincang Kambing. Tender pieces of mutton.


Lamb stuffed with rice. The rice was gorgeous, fluffy basmati, almost like a briyani. Oh, it was briyani.


Hainanese Chicken Rice...


Dried Figs. Do you know how EXPENSIVE fresh figs are in this country? They're about RM6 per fig! WHAT THE FIG! Being the chink that I am, I love to zoom in on expensive items. So I was completely figged out.


Not even Ramadan yet, and I've already had a date!


People almost always comment, "wah, you eat ulam ah?" whenever I pile my plate with ulams, esp ulam raja, etc with dollops of Sambal Belacan. I love ulams...my favourite being ulam raja, which I am trying unsuccessfully to plant.





Kalio Hati. As we all know, hati is commonly translated as "HEART". Sakit hati, etc... but hati is actually liver.





We're back to the non Padang stuff...part of the regular buffet. The ubiquitous boiled prawns and raw oyster bar.








Ah, now this is something you dont see everyday. SOUP GEARBOX. I am mechanically un-inclined, and I couldnt tell a Gearbox from a Matchbox, so I am assuming the size of the gearbox is about the size of this boner.


That's one big bowl of soup. The soup itself is a clear broth, very wholesome and clean. You can use a straw to suck out the marrow.


A trio of bubur pulut hitam, pengat pisang and one other...pengat pisang as we know it is actually called Pangek Pisang.








An assortment of nyonya kuehs.



Operrraaa...


That's me sucking the marrow...


And that's the blogging crew. Not in pic is Memoirs of Chocoholic.

Melting Pot is offering a 20% discount during the 1st and 4th week of Ramadan. Priced at RM89++. If you ask me, its pretty good value for your ringgit. To reserve call 03-21442200.

Selamat Berpuasa To all my dear Muslim friends.

A "Xin"ful Dining Experience

Who amongst you remember going to the Merlin Hotel, in the days of yesteryear, when P Ramlee movies were the toast of the town, and our local leading ladies in the silver screen wore sarungs just enough to cover their bosoms, in bathing scenes, when life was much simpler, Malaysians more friendly to each other, when racial divide did not feature as a daily thing in the Malaysian papers. You may say I'm a whinger, but I'm not the only one... Imagine all the people, living life in peace.... woo hoooah.

Merlin, the definitive hotel, one of probably a handful, a treat to a innocent child whose eyes pop open in amazement at the ornate tortoise ponds, the dainty dim sum treats served by waitresses with cheong sam slits to their waist. Ok, perhaps it was all Imagine, but oh well, one can dream.

Today, all that remain of that era are two ornate dragon pillars, in what is known as Xin Cuisine, in Concorde hotel.



And actually, till today, I reckon dim sum in Xin is still one of the better ones in town. Xin, despite the fact that most Chinese restaurants in other hotels are halal, still serves pork, preserving its lure as a Chinese restaurant for the flers who need their porcine fix.

Again, thanks to Aly of Red FM, who has posted her review HERE, I was invited to sample the Mid Autumn Festival Menu, which is priced at RM888++, for a table of ten. We were warmly hosted by Mr KT Lee, Janet Leong and Julini Mohd Yusof, who made us feel very much at home. Alvin & his lovely wife, YY, both Aly's photographers were also there. Check out their lovely shots at Aly's post.



This was taken after dinner, actually, when the restaurant had quietened down. Xin is also used to host smaller wedding crowds, and I think can seat up to 30 tables.


Pan Fried King Prawn with Chef's specialty sauce. It was a rich creamy sauce, almost buttery, fortified with prawn roe, always a good thing, of course. The prawns themselves were fresh and firm. Actually this dish is crying out for noodles to make it into a Sang Har Mee kinda dish. Apparently the Chef does make a fabulous Sang har hor fun dish.


Braised Chinese Cabbage with Dried Seafood, mainly scallops. Very traditional, and comforting. I could eat this dish alone with a bowl of rice, and be happy.



Pomfret (Tai Tou Chong) cooked 3 ways. I thought 2 ways was impressive enough, but THREE ways! One side was steamed, another side pan fried, and the skin deep fried. Considering this is one of my favourite fish, I have to say this dish would rank as my favourite. Loved the crispy deep fried bits of skin...a healthy version of chee yau char. (pork lard)




This is an awfully taken pic, but me and soups, and me and meats...we just don't go. The soup was a superb clear broth, and a piece of chicken drumstick filled with lots of good stuff!!! It was like a child breaking open a pinata and finding all the goodies within!!!


Claypot Chicken Rice. Got my carbo fix right here. Tender pieces of lovingly marinated chicken, slowly cooked in claypot, tossed with rice, the quintessential chinese meal, I'd say.


KT Lee, Janet, the Master Chef Foong Ah Wai, who has more than 30 years of experience under that apron, Red Hot Aly, posing for Alvin, actually, hence the "not looking at my camera" pose.


Concorde is also offering a variety of mooncake, and did I mention, they throw in a complimentary box with the Mid Autumn Set menu. (Not just the box, but filled with four mooncakes)


Ah, very rare, pure almond milk, as a dessert. Different from almond jelly that uses fake almond essence, and smells like cockroaches. This pure almond milk makes you feel that if you bathed in it, you'll have skin smooth as a baby's behind. Lovely.


Lotus and sweet potato mooncake. Okay, I'll be frank, give me a good old salted egg yolk any day. A sweet potato masquerading as an egg yolk...harumph. But if you are the healthy sort, then yeah, go for it.

Incidentally, the real mid autumn festival is on 22nd September, or the 15th day of the 8th month of the chinese lunar calendar. So if you want to catch this menu, better hurry.

Thank you, Mr Lee & Janet for being delightful dinner company, and to Aly, of course!

CONTACT

Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant
Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur
2 Jalan Sultan Ismail,
50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 03 21448750/21442200 extn 2616