Review: Chinese New Year Promotion, Utara Coffee House, Armada Hotel PJ

Overall comment: A good spread of Chinese New Year dishes that's consistently tasty :)
Halal: Yes

Chinese New Year is around the corner! To usher in the Year of the Horse, Chef Chew and his team at the Utara Coffee House, has prepared a variety of Chinese New Year dishes, perfect to be enjoyed with family & friends on this joyous time of celebration.

For families who would like something different to celebrate the reunion of family & friends during this festive season, the buffet line will feature a wide variety of "auspicious" dishes from 2nd January - 14th February 2014. Some of the featured dishes are the Braised Sea Cucumber with Green Vegetables and Mushrooms, Lotus Leaf Rice, Braise Duck with Black Mushrooms, Steamed Seabass with Ginger Sauce, Herbal Roasted Duck, Chinese Baked Salted Chicken with Herbs, and Braised Chestnut Duck. Quite an abundance of ducky dishes, eh? :D The buffet is priced at RM70.00++ per adult, RM49.00++ per senior citizen & RM35.00++ per child.

Buffet Spread on CNY Eve: Sample of ingredients that you'll find in the "Pun Choy"

Yes, you won't want to miss the "special appearance" of the "Giant-Sized Pun Choy" & "Yee Sang" on the eve of Chinese New Year at the buffet spread as well (at the same buffet dinner price)!

Buffet Spread: Sample of the Lotus Leaf Rice

Buffet Spread: Sample of the Longevity Noodles

Chef Chew introducing some of the dishes of the buffet spread

Chinese New Year favourites!

Buffet Spread: Sample of Steamed Chicken with Black Mushrooms

Buffet Spread: Sample of Ingredients in the Braised Duck with Black Mushrooms dish

Buffet Spread: Sample of Fish Cake Rolls 

Buffet Spread: Sample of a rrawn dish

 Buffet Spread: Sample of fresh sashimi & sushi (yes, also available!)

  

Also available are the fresh & crispy Fruity Veggie "Yee Sang" (vegetarian), Salmon "Yee Sang", Butterfish "Yee Sang", & the Japanese-inspired Hokkaido "Yee Sang" for your "Lou Hei" from RM40.00++ per portion. Chinese New Year meals are just incomplete without having each person to toss the medley of fish, fruits, & vegetables to boost prosperity, good health & more blessings for the year ahead.

Apart from the extensive variety of dishes at the buffet spread, guests who would like to indulge in set menus will also not be disappointed with the 3 spectacular Prosperity Set Menus (minimum table of 10 pax), ideal for family, friends & even for business.

Look forward to be spoilt for choice with Utara Coffee House's Blissful Longevity Set Menu (RM988.00++ per set), Everlasting Success Set Menu (RM1088.00++ per set) & Bountiful Treasures Set Menu (RM1188.00++ per set), each comprising of a "Yee Sang" dish, plus 8 other special Chinese New Year dishes, to complete your celebration. What better way to celebrate such festivity than with a great company of family & friends over a sumptous spread of food, right?

I sampled the Blissful Longevity Set Menu that night, so here's a sneak preview of the dishes served:

Prosperity Yee Sang with Crustacean

"Lou Hei"!

The 'joyous mess'! :D

The "yee sang" has been pretty consistent since the previous years that I've had it, sweet & tangy. This year, I had the opportunity to sample a different variant of "yee sang" with crustacean, which was quite interesting, although I felt that the abalone's freshness needs to be checked prior serving. I would say that I still prefer the traditional 'fish-based' "yee sang", but this is a good change that does not break tradition too much ;)

Braised Seafood with Mentaiko Soup

Thick & flavourful broth with an abundance of seafood. The only thing I didn't fancy was the crab's soft-shells that I found while drinking spoonfuls of soup.

Pei Pah Chicken in Orange Salsa Sauce

This was "eye candy"! The colourful & pretty sight just whets our appetite & tempted us to pick up piece after piece of the chicken & the salad. It was a dish with balanced taste of savoury & sweet with a tinge of sour. Very fragrant :) The combination of textures available on the platter was a "palate-pleaser" as well. I enjoyed the orange & cucumbers salad, which had a nicely balanced dressing *thumbs up* Great innovation to a traditional dish!

Deep-Fried Sea Garoupa in Spicy Sesame Sauce

This was another favourite on the table. It's a plate of art! We found this a creative way of presenting a simple fish dish that caught everyone's attention :) You'll certainly find cameras (and camera phones) clicking away before everyone picks up a piece of the crispy & spicy bean-sauce, sesame-fragrant fish. Well done, chefs! Last year's was the "Flying Fish"; this year's a "Dancing Fish" :D

Steamed Tiger Prawns with Ginger Sauce

The prawns were fresh & the taste of the ginger was certainly evident. Fuh. "Ada kick"! There was sesame oil added to the ginger sauce, which gave the steamed prawns a slightly smokey taste, but the dish could do with a bit more salt. It would be WAY better if Chinese cooking wine was added to the dish, but the restaurant serves halal food, so too bad for people like me who prefer a touch of alcohol to such a dish :D

Braised "Taukan" with Black Mushrooms & Chinese Brussel Sprouts in Black Moss Sauce

A simple vegetarian dish that tasted SO delicious that we finished the entire plate of veggie! The "taukan"/beancurd sheets & black mushrooms were perfectly braised in the flavourful black moss sauce that it absorbed all the flavours of the sauce. You can be sure to expect pieces of silky smooth beancurd sheets, bursting with the black moss sauce in every bite of the "taukan" *drools* The crunchy Chinese brussel sprouts/"choy tam" adds to the enjoyable experience in every mouthful of this dish as well...yums!

 

Fried Rice with Pineapple

I must say that it's not too bad to have pineapple fried rice here instead of the usual "Yong Chow" style fried rice. It has good "wok hei", which is very important for Chinese-style cooking :)

Shanghai-Style Pancake

 This is a common dessert in a Chinese 8-course meal. This wasn't too sweet, but the pancake's crust was a tad too thick for my liking.

Sweet Red Bean Cream with Snow Fungus & Sago

Visually, it looks rather strange. But taste-wise, it was actually quite pleasant! The snow fungus were tender, the red bean cream was not overly sweet & the dessert overall was quite smooth in each mouthful. For a person who doesn't fancy desserts, I thought this was quite a nice twist to the usual red bean soup. It adds another dimension of texture to the humble red bean dessert.

The portions were generous, so I was stuffed at the end of the dinner. What a satisfying meal!

For reservations or enquiries on the Chinese New Year promotions available, please contact the Utara Coffee House at their contact details below :)

Stay tuned for more Chinese New Year specials with PerutBesi!


Utara Coffee House Armada Hotel
Lot 6, Lorong Utara C, Section 52
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
For reservations, please call (+603) 7954 6888 ext. 4557
URL: www.armada.com.my
FB: Hotel Armada
Twitter: Hotel Armada


Ratings:
Presentation: * * * *
Price: * * *
Environment: * * * 1/2
Taste: * * * 1/2
Service: * * * 1/2



Overall:







Looking forward to Chinese New Year,