Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Celestial Court, Imperial

Considering the world is on the brink of famine, and food shortage, its rather ironic that I and fellow food blogger Lyrical Lemongrass were "complaining" (for want of a better word) about how we are under pressure to use up our Starwood Vouchers that expire 30 April. So, in the last week, I've had to drag myself to Villa Danielli, redeem my free dinner for two, free cake, AND, on on Sunday, to Celestial Court to use up my ALL YOU CAN EAT dim sum voucher for two.

Anyway, thankfully RumputLimau told me to book early, as in one month ago, as Celestial Court is fully book... and at the rate people are dying prematurely, it seems like this Celestial Court is not the only one that's fully booked.

As we were coming after church, and had to go on to meet another friend in Pavilion after lunch, I had no choice but to bring the brood of kids. I had no idea how the mechanism was gonna work, afterall, the voucher was for two, all you can eat, and it would be unfair to expect them to let the children eat free.

But I needn't have worried, they have it all worked out. I get a call from Imperial on Friday.
Hotel Imperial (HI) : Hallo, Mr FBB ah, you got reservation for Sunday at Celeschia Cor hor?
Me: Yes, I'm confirmed coming
HI: You got use voucher ah?
Me: Yes, can right?
HI: Can can, allyew ken it right? But ah, your table for 5 people hor, so the extra tree peepa ah, have to oller at least tree lishes from alakat
Me: Huh?
HI: Yala, so tree peepa, times tree is nine dishes from alakat maynoo la ha
Me: Ok ok....(it was a saturday afternoon and I was groggy)

Anyway, when I came to my senses, I called the hotel again to clarify, and to notify them that the 3 extra people were actually chewdren, aged 9, 7, and 5. So they agreed to let me order for two extra people only.

We got there in good time, as church service was shorter than usual. (this was ironic coz the preacher man was saying how kids these days dont go to coffee shops....mine do, every week, except this week).

Shortly after we arrived, another familiar couple, also rushing to meet the deadline for their voucher, plonked themselves not far from us.


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So common sense dictated that the 6 ala carte dishes I ordered should not be the ones that are in the all you can eat menu. Oooh, tough choice, as most dim sum dishes are replicated in ala carte and AYCE.

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I'm always a bit skeptical when it comes to halal dim sum (with all due respect to Muslim friends), so I was pleasantly surprised by this roast duck, which was juicy and succulent, and sufficiently fatty. This is from the AYCE menu. Theoretically, I could order more. But of course, greed in the Catholic church is one of the 7 deadly sins, as is gluttony.

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Can't for my life remember what dumplings these were, but they were good. In fact, I'll say it now, all the stuff was good. I think this one had prawns and scallops, but can't remember if it was from ala carte.

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This one is nice, its yar char kueh, chinese crullers, with some squid paste on top.

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Their egg tarts are nice too, surprisingly NOT on the AYCE menu, but ala carte. Fluffy pastry, with a gloriously rich egg filling. Meanwhile, the kids were terrorising that nice couple in the first picture.

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These are cod fish sticks, with some other paste. Also from ala carte. The kids loved it, while I quite liked the green dipping sauce. Something different.

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The cheong fun was generously filled with prawns. Again, a pleasant surprise from the AYCE menu.

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Again, I can't remember what these dumplings were. All I remember is the kid eating the wrapper, leaving us adults to deal with the filling. Mainly scallops, roe and prawn. Very nice.

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The siu long baos were decent as well. Very juicy and the meat very flavourful, presumably chicken.

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We did order other stuff too that I forgot to photograph. The yam puffs were VERY good, the Yong Chow fried rice was laden with prawns and chicken char siu, too much liu not enough rice, but tasty. The siu mai's were normal, although there was some crab meat topping. Actually, it's a very worthwhile voucher to utilise. Because of their ruling, our bill, for 5, came up to about RM39, which is fair. It would cost us usually RM 30 to eat at coffee shops anyway, after church.

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The supposedly newly renovated Imperial Hotel.


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Entrance to the Celestial Court

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, the place looks great and the food also, close up is so yummy. Lucky you la Fatboy, always eat at nice places.

Anonymous said...

and at the rate people are dying prematurely, it seems like this Celestial Court is not the only one that's fully booked.

Hawhawhawhaw.

And you know what, I think I spoke to that gir oso lar. Thankfully, my conversation wasn't as long, just a slight annoyance on my part when she advised me to postpone my booking to a later time. (Just as well seeing that my car got a flat tyre at a very convenient time.)

Aiyoh, my Prego voucher burn already. Tomorrow last day to use and I GOT NO TIME!! Boohooohoooo!! (no...this is not a plea for Boolicious)

msiagirl said...

Compared to my lunch of nigella's corn chowder and tortilla chips (with some lemongrass admittedly chucked in there), I want to crylah. Still not long before I get to chow down soon!

Henry Yeo said...

Did someone mention Prego? kekekeke...

finally had a chance to visit Max Kitchen to try and arrange a special evening for someone.

Breadpitt said...

those dimsum looks juicy . ops excuse
me, my sliver just drip off.

Rarebeet said...

Halal dim sum? What a waste of time. Pahh! Having said that, this does look really good despite the notable absence of pork lard. Those dumplings look fresh and springy, now if only someone would compliment me in the same way. Fresh and springy! Hah!

fatboybakes said...

breadpitt, yerr, hope you dont drip onto your pastries....

henry, wah, special evening for someone or evening for special someone?

msia girl, well, you have a gorgeous array of lovely sausages, dairy etc at your doorstep wattttt, whatchew craving for?!!! and london dim sum lagi best

LL, argh, i just realised a jacksonesque grammatical error in my celestial court sentence. fully book? aiyo!

min, i coulda sworn i asked you on your blog, bila lagi nak go commercial, with all your lovely creations, but i cant seem to find the comment.
as for eating in nice places, sometimes only lar...have to finish the vouchers ma.

Jason said...

Ooo.. so those children who were talking about Ultraman (according to RumputLimau) were actually yours lah... hehehe... :p

Anonymous said...

Nice to read both "versions" of the last-minute-rush to use up the free coupons. Hilarious, sir, hilarious! :D

But yalor, are you and LL attached at the hips or something? Makan cuma-cuma pun kad tempat sama. And what's with all these blurred-out photographs? Kinda looks like you were spying on them via some James Bondesque lens...

P.S. Hehe, I'm waiting to see Henry's answer to your question, FBB.

fatboybakes said...

kennymah, we might be metaphorically attached at the hips when it comes to culinary capers but that's about it. other than that, the very thought is enough to send shudders (and they're not of delight) down my spine....brrrrrr....
no need to spy on them, they were there in their romantic glory for all and sundry to see. yes, henry, answer please.

jason, no comment about the chewdren.

HairyBerry said...

this reminds me to seek yr oracular guidance later on the starwood card when i'm done with the darn exams...

wah, got free babysitters somemore! part of the starwood package ar? haha...well, at least long enough for you to enjoy the nice looking roast duck!

Precious Pea said...

Those egg tarts..a cross between the normal version and Portugese?

Anonymous said...

Chis bedebah. I'd much rather be attached to the hip of a lactating monkey.

Ya lor, I noticed that grammatical error, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings. After all, not everyone is blessed with good engrish.

fatboybakes said...

lyrical lemongrass, may the fleas of that lactating monkey infest your armpits....and all other hirsute parts. loud evil cackle.

precious pea, hor, you so crever hor, couldn't have described it better!!! you are absolutely right!!! they should call it the chinpo egg tart, or portchin egg tart.

nickhkl, baby sitters? i have no idea whatever do you mean. kahuna will accede to your request when you present yourself in KL next.

oh, lyrical lemongrass, and may the lactating primate squirt her lactose into your next dessert... woooohoooooo hooooo hoooo!!!

Anonymous said...

FBB, I'm afraid you got it wrong. Hirsute is certainly not applicable in my case. Tsk tsk...you haven't been paying attention.

Incidentally, I got that "woooohoooooo hooooo hoooo" translated in the Primatipedia (wiki for monkeys, apes, orangutans and other creatures that have jangguts). All I can say is..."Ooooh!! Naughty naughty!!" *wink wink* Better cover young Nic's ears. *wink wink*

And you do know that mother's milk is a delicacy in China, dontcha?

Henry Yeo said...

hello, 11th may is a very special day. that's all I have to say.

fatboybakes said...

henry yeo, wow, now my curiosity is piqued.

lemongrass, "mother's milk is a delicacy in china" .... yarhor, so i guess if primate lactose is a delicacy for you....hmmmm..... i shall say no more....i hope your edition of primatepidia is the most current one. wink wink.

Anonymous said...

*simply wonders if lactating monkeys have fleas, and if they do, wouldn't professor lemongrass's armpits be a less endurable habitat?*

And oh, Henry, I'm sure you can say a lot more than that... ;)

HairyBerry said...

ma big kahuna, oh, i was referring to lyrical lemongrass and bald eagle being babysitters, well at least for a few moments...so that you could enjoy the duckie...haha!

oh, btw, your comment box is also quite happening wat. where got abandoned hacienda? hehehe

aside to lemongrass, i oso got janggut...how ar? haha!

Henry Yeo said...

to fbb and kenny, can you people please look up 11th May and see what day it is, please. If you guys still don't get it, I hope you guys have booked a place for your special persons too.

fatboybakes said...

henry, ohhh, chehhhh, so anticlimax.

nickhkl, heh heh, so you qualify to be well versed with primatetipida. awww, so sweet of you to console me about the hacienda. still, one can only aspire towards the popularity of other food blogs. yours, for instance.

kenny mah, you are one brave soul hor. even i wouldnt dare go to them nether regions.

Anonymous said...

Looks like a nice place to have yum cha(that's what it's call in Australia). How does Starwood vouchers work? Where can I purchase them for my next holiday to M'sia? Excuse my ignorance, lah. Haven't been back for 2 years!

Henry Yeo said...

to fbb: thank you for getting the 'hint'.

fatboybakes said...

hi myfoodsafari, welcome. have u visited before? actually, if you come back from australia, aiyo, the last thing you want to eat is yum cha lar, surely. yum char there is so good, and these hotel ones are devoid of that all important ingredient..oink oink. you need to purchase the starwood card, at RM588 or something like that, which gives you a free night in westin, sheraton, OR lemeridien, plus a stack of other vouchers that you can use. if you and friend go and dine at any of the F&B outlets, basically one person eats free, so for two ppl, its 50% off, for 3 ppl its 33.33% off, etc.

henry yeo, heh heh, a bit obtuse hor.

Anonymous said...

Henry: What FBB said. Chehh... so anti-climax. Me will be booking for special someone a week earlier since she and her rambunctious husband is off to Europe for two weeks. I bet they are just trying to avoid their nasty lil bugger of a son... :P

FBB: Not brave lar. Call me adventurous. I do have a thing for entering and penetrating forbidden territories.

Anonymous said...

I was sure I left some comment here. Halal wat, this post. Did I end up in your spam bin as well??

I just looked at my starwood card - it says Europe, Africa and Middle East. I'm guessing I won't be able to use it when I get back.

What's all this about abandoned hacienda? Exclusive mah.. ;)

Henry Yeo said...

to fbb and Kenny: don't know why you guys were making such a big fuss of it, especially when I dropped the date.

Argus Lou said...

Wow, what a lovely spread, FBB. Where did you get such good-value vouchers, lah? Must try when I next go to KL.
(Looks like only their Siu-Loong-Pau are not as pretty as those made by Jaden of Steamy Kitchen and Mrs HBT of Hip Food. But, of course, those ladies did their pau with tender loving care for their cute families.)

Simon Seow said...

Looks like dumpling in red oil. Was it a bit spicy?

fatboybakes said...

simon, no, it wasn't particularly spicy.

argus, welcome back from your climb every mountain, ford every stream...
the voucher came with the starwood card.

henry yeo, aiya, forgot about that date la, not so filial.

kat, how could you possibly end up in my spam bin? no lah, i dont think you commented here, in fact, your absence was so sorely missed, hence the hacienda comment.

kennymah, what can i say. May the gods of adventure also be your protector, in that case.