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The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 06:46 PM PDT

Guijie (Ghost Street) which is chock-a-block with restaurants. — Pictures by Helen Ong

OCT 22 — Beijing can truly be described as cosmopolitan: parts of the sprawling city of over 17 million people are very modern, teeming with visitors from all over the world. A wealth of eateries, both local and international, has sprung up in recent years to cater for its many inhabitants, some of them offering excellent food.

When we were there recently, some kind friends took us to a rather unique restaurant that started in the hutongs over a decade ago. "Hua's Courtyard Restaurant" is in Guijie, Dongzhimen Inner Street in Dongcheng District, aka Ghost Street, presumably because the place is very busy at night. In the evening, the entire street is lit up with hundreds of glowing red lamps strung from tree to tree, and lined with restaurants on either side, and reminded me a bit of the busy Bukit Bintang night scene in Kuala Lumpur.

6872: Yong Zheng Dynasty Duck with three types of sauces.

Established by the enterprising and philanthropic Mr Hua, the restaurant serves popular ethnic Chinese food to locals and tourists. Walking in through the unassuming façade, you won't believe just how big this restaurant is: it has become so well known that there are now six branches and two clubs, which employ over 2,000 employees, which can serve up to 4,000 guests at any one time. Even by Beijing standards, it's huge.

The large, partitioned courtyard is laid out in attractive but serviceable black furniture, with private rooms leading off it. When we arrived, it was buzzing with hungry and satiated customers, the waiters, waitresses and chefs serving up platter after platter of steaming, delicious-looking food. We were lucky to get a table near the front … and I'll tell you why a bit later.

Friendly guest relations manager Rola Heng who, incidentally, is from Indonesia, was happy to take us through the menu, discoursing on the history of the place and advising us on which dishes to order.

Yi Yuan Famous Noodles served cold with a spicy, peanut butter and sesame seed sauce.

Of course we had to try their most famous dish — after all, we are in Beijing! Here, it is called Yongzheng Dynasty Duck, skilfully carved up into thin, delicate slices by one of the chefs, then served with no less than three types of thin, different-coloured pancakes to wrap it in, and six types of julienned vegetables as well as three sauces: sour plum with tips of wasabi, sweet red fruit and a unique, yellow floral osmanthus. "We've improved on the traditional Peking Duck because people have different tastes," according to Rola.

Eaten the traditional way i.e. the meat and skin rolled up in a pancake with the vegetables and one of the sauces, it was tasty, as was the Braised Eggplant with Abalone Sauce and Spinach with Chicken Soup. However, I thought their "Yi Yuan" Famous Noodles were excellent: cold noodles tossed in their own-recipe spicy peanut butter and sesame sauce, one of their signature dishes.

"It was a favourite of Anita Mui's," who called it "Bawang ji" after she tasted it the first time", Rola said. It's a bit like gado gado with noodles, but with much more delicate flavours; crunchy, nutty and quite delicious. Everything is beautifully presented, and the dishes are adorned with carved vegetables.

However, what was really interesting about this place was what happened after our meal — that is why I said we were lucky to be seated near the front. The canny proprietor lays on a floor show nightly, when their trained waiters and waitresses perform for the diners. For amateurs, they are surprisingly good, and the half-hour show of various feats including Kung Fu Tea Pouring with a two-foot long spout, plate spinning and noodle-slicing (dao xiao mian) whilst balancing on a monocycle was very enjoyable.

The large courtyard is furnished in serviceable black furniture.

The final act though was the piece de resistance: bian lian, the ancient art of face changing. It was fascinating and much too short — apparently only 200 people in the whole of China are privy to this amazing act, and one of them is based here! It's worth going just to see it.

After the evening's entertainment, we were privileged to be given a quick tour of the entire premises, when Rola showed us round the other parts of the massive place, going past their clean show kitchens where teams of chefs are busily and skilfully preparing yet more food; down dimly-lit alleyways and side streets, weaving in and out of the six yards and three courtyards which are spread over more than 30,000 sq metres and includes alfresco and fine dining areas.

Hua's Courtyard Restaurant is at 235 Dongzhimen Inner Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100007 (Tel: 512-83315).

Opening hours: daily from 10.30am to 4am.

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Wide, wide choice at Mosaic

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 06:06 PM PDT

When in doubt, go for the Indian curries. — Pictures by Eu Hooi Khaw

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Your eyes are riveted by rows of intricate pewter lights all the way into the restaurant, the Peranakan windows of the semi-private dining rooms, the mosaic walls. Then there are the many live stations in this newly-opened Mosaic, the all-day dining place of the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur.

I'm particularly taken with the grill station where you could get a piece of steak, or a helping of beef shawarma, with all the sauces and side dishes like potatoes and vegetables in various forms.

The pasta station has a wide selection of pastas and sauces.

But first the cold dishes and the sushi and sashimi counter. I liked the beetroot-cured salmon that appeared redder than usual but tasted wonderfully smooth, with a mellow flavour. Add to this smoked salmon, some oysters, lovely buffalo mozzarella with tomato and pesto, grilled vegetables and salad, and I was set for the mains.

It's a wide choice at Mosaic. There was this steamed red garoupa that was staring at me from the Chinese station, stirfried dishes and dimsum. The noodle station offered Hokkien noodles, fried kwayteow and Thai fried noodles, among others.

Strawberries and ice cream a lovely combination.

At the pasta station, where there was a wide selection of pastas and sauces, I picked out some penne carbonara, which turned out to be good. I had a small slice of beef with black pepper sauce from the grill station, and liked very much the moussaka that everyone seemed to be having.

I was still very much attracted to the Tandoori Station where the kebabs, curries and naan were beckoning. Listed on the menu there were Murgh Malai Kebab, Kashimiri Lamb Kofta, Chicken Tikka, Salmon Tandoori, Tandoori Lamb Chops and Kesari Paneer Tikka. I could have ordered some of these, but I went for the curries — Murgh Makhani, Fish Malabar, Palak Paneer and some saffron prawns with capsicums.

If the naans had been produced hot from tandoor (instead of lying cold and hard there), my Indian meal would have been fantastic. But I also had a small portion of saffron rice to go with the delicious curries. The Fish Malabar was particularly good.

Intricate pewter lamps, Peranakan decor touches inside Mosaic.

I went to survey the desserts. You could pull out trays of them from the glass shelves and take your pick, from the Nyonya kuih to the western cakes, orange sable peanut butter mousse, crème caramel, bread and butter pudding, chocolate apricot brownie, and so on.

Then there was this guy cooking strawberries with honey syrup in a pan, and he asked if I wanted some. It was topping for the ice cream of various flavours there. It was the perfect dessert. I chose strawberry and vanilla ice cream and the luscious strawberries touched with the honey sauce were just excellent with these two flavours. I was told that the coffee ice cream was very good too, and it was.

Mosaic is open 24 hours and serves buffet breakfast from 6am to 10.30am, lunch from 12pm to 2.30pm and dinner between 6.30pm to 10.30pm. The restaurant seats up to 148 diners.

For lunch it is RM88++, dinner RM108 (Monday to Thursday) and RM128++ from Friday to Sunday. To book, call 03-2179-8881.

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Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Jumaat, 21 Oktober 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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