Steam Boating At Celestial Court, Sheraton Imperial

It suddenly dawned on me, as I stared at the title, where on earth did the term "Steam Boat" come from?  It must, MUST have been a translation from somewhere, but it does sound so much more imaginative than "HOT POT"....Can't be cantonese, which if translated, means "Beat Roadside".

In my mind, steamboats are best appreciated in Winter... and since well, we here on the equator have no winter, (unless you count some shopping malls airconditioning as winter...and CINEMAS! Can they reduce the coldness and save some money and reduce the price of tickets??  Cinemas are frigging frigid cold rooms here)... steamboating is usually not high on my to do list or to do eats.

After regretfully having to turn down many an invite from the kind marcomm people at Sheraton Imperial, I was relieved that I could finally say yes to the invitation for the Celestial Court special 5 broth steamboat.

As fate would have it, it was a cold rainy day, almost wintery, and as far as I'm concerned, in KL, if the temperature drops to below 27C, it's winter.  So it was perfect weather for steamboat!!!

Platters of raw ingredients were laid out .... some merely as "teasers", cos it was "see no touch".... We absolutely must discourage this kind of thing, and have an "if show, must touch" policy.  Snigger.

I always feel some things are kinda wasted in steam boats, and fresh oysters would be one such item, BUT of course, there is NOTHING to stop you from slurping up these babies before they hit they find themselves in hot soup.

There was some debate as to whether or not sausages were suitable steam boat food in the meat platter, or did some wayward sausage lose its way enroute to a barbeque.  Actually I thought it was fine.  We should think beyond the boat, and explore new horizons while sailing the steam boat.

This Salmon ...(not Rushdie), was a decorative item on the table.... interesting centrepieces they use these days.

The seafood platter, consisting of fish, prawns, scallops, flower crab, crabsticks (eugh), oysters... the fish was particularly fresh.

The choices of soups for the night were... (from left top, clockwise), Lui Yee Hong Chinese Wine with Cordyceps Herbal Soup, Spicy Slipper Lobster soup, Jade Porridge and a Chicken Ginseng Soup.

The reigning Queen of the Bloggers ....

Familiar faces of long time bloggers, CityGal (the other half of KgBoy)... And Ivyaiwei... with Youhe looking on.

Roe Roe Roe Your Boat ....

This lovely prawn with the head of roe intact... the soup in which it was boiled became super rich.  (Mine was spa-ing in the spicy slipper lobster soup)...

The jade porridge is a spinach and porridge combo, very wholesome and yet, light, despite the fact that it's porridge. My favourite was the cordycep one, because of the herbal flavour, which was a close tie with the ginseng chicken.

I didn't know this nugget of trivia about the wine in cordycep broth... I just assumed it was a natural oriental viagra...
"‘Lui Yee Hung’ Chinese Wine, Made of glutinous rice and wheat, evolved from the Shaoxing tradition of burying it underground upon the birth of a daughter, and serving it at the wedding of the daughter."
Must be a gift to the husband la.

The spicy slipper lobster broth was lovely too, and goes especially well with the other seafoods.

Chef Vincent Loo Weng Soon started his culinary journey at a tender age of 18 and since then, his passion for cooking began to grow, especially in regards to Chinese cuisine. Since Oct 2013, he has helmed Celestial Court as the Chinese Restaurant Chef, and his role includes menu engineering and development, budget and forecasting, food costing, staffing and implementation of various food promotions

He has experience with many Chinese restaurants and his long devotion and dedication to the cuisine provided him with the opportunity to be a part of the banquet kitchen team. “As of my dream or future goal, I hope to be able to lead in operations as an Executive Chef or Director for Food & Beverage,” so says the chef as he spoke of his dream.

Desserts from the Ala Carte menu of Celestial Court are always a treat. I love LOVE LOVE this osmanthus jelly dessert...

I had to borrow Ivy's ball to take a picture.

This Oriental Steamboat promotion is available for dinner from 1 August to 30 December 2014. Set menus are available (for a minimum of two persons each) with a choice of vegetarian Mushroom Set priced at RM49.90++ per set, Poultry Set priced at RM55.50++ per set and Seafood Set priced at RM68.80++ per set.

A la carte orders will also be available and will be priced from RM19++ onwards per portion. We recommend that you try our King Crab and Tasmanian Ocean Petuna Fish (oops it wasn't a Salmon that was on display, it was this Petuna Fish) specialties at RM30++ per 100 gram and RM25++ per 100 gram respectively.

For more details or to make a reservation, please call 03-27179900, e-mail at restaurants.imperial@sheraton.com or visit www.sheratonimperialkualalumpur/celestialcourt