Craving Cantonese @ Makan Kitchen

We recently dropped by to Makan Kitchen, located on the 11th floor of Hilton DoubleTree, to sample a special menu created by Chinese Sous Chef Cheong Boon Fei. Entitled ‘Craving Cantonese’, the culinary experience for this month of October, features an array of signature appetizers, BBQ specialities and premium a la carte dishes for a buffet dinner. This is in addition to the regular buffet spread of Malay, Indian and other cuisines prepared at the live stations. A choice of four season, pu erh, or lung ching chinese tea is complimentary with the dinner.

A beautiful consort practises water-color painting

Makan Kitchen has 3 live cooking stations and several seating areas. Each of the live stations focuses on a particular type of cuisine and decorated with Chinese, Malay, Indian and Borneo Tribal artifacts, in respect of its culinary offerings. On that day, we dined in the Chinese section where a beautiful consort practiced her watercolor painting while her pet goldfish plays with a pearl.

Jiaozi Dumplings or wo tip, flat fried dumpling and wanton

For our appetizer, the chefs at Makan Kitchen whipped up a fresh variety of jiaozi dumplings. We had pan-fried wor tips, boiled wantons and fried flat dumplings. Filled with a stuffing of chicken, beef, otak-otak, prawn and mushroom mince, the dumplings were a scrumptious affair.

Buddha jumps over the wall soup served in a winter melon

The ever popular ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’ soup is nutritiously good with mushrooms, abalone, dried scallops, fish maw, melon fresh and red dates. So named because, as a vegetarian, the Buddha was forced to sneak out of the monastery and jump over the wall to enjoy it, the soup typically calls for such expensive ingredients as abalone, scallops,fish maw etc. This clear soup was sweet and packed with flavour. In each mouthful you could taste the seafood and concentrated melon essence all over again.

Scallop with black bean sauce and glass noodles

Fresh scallops with black bean sauce, served on a bed of chewy glass noodles were a sight for sore eyes. Here, the Chinese fermented black beans was stir-fried with garlic and ginger, was a delicate, well-balanced mix, that would have complemented all sorts of grilled seafood even, and especially so, these plump sea scallops. The sweet scallop and the chewy glass noodles counterbalanced the saltiness of the beans.

Fish of the Day: Steamed red coral grouper in Chef’s Specialty Sauce

For our sampling, we were served a red coral grouper which was the Chef’s choice. Perfectly steamed, the grouper’s flesh was still tender and flaky. The fish’s natural flavors was not overwhelmed by the soy-sesame based sauce. Definitely a joy for us and our dining companions.

Noodle dish of the day: Traditional Village Lo Shi Fun

For the noodle of the day, we were served stir fried silver needle noodles (Lo Shi Fun) with minced chicken and dried vegetables. Ground chicken, garlic, scallions and vegetables flavor this delectable, savory hot plate of chewy rice noodles with meaty goodness. If there had been a just-cooked poached egg to top it all off, adding richness to the sauce, that would have been perfect!

And as if the dishes weren’t filling enough, we ventured out to other cooking stations of Makan Kitchen to discover what else there was on offer.

There are 3 live stations at Makan Kitchen and many chefs manning them

We found that the selection was huge, and diners could enjoy a spread of Malay, Indian, Portuguese, or even Iban (indigenous food from East Malaysia) cuisine, such as the Pansuh Manuk (Chicken cooked in bamboo).

Some Tandoori and chutney?

Amongst many other desserts, fried ice cream with choice of condiments

Don’t forget to feed the spirit masks at Makan Kitchen

And say hello to the cats, hornbills, elephants…

Craving Cantonese dining is available until 31 October 2013 and priced at RM98++ per adult (Thursday to Saturday) and RM92++ per adult (Sunday to Wednesday). Children below the age of 12 years dine at half price. For further inquiries or to make dining reservations, please call +60 3 2172 7272 / 7680 or check out www.makan-kitchen.com