As is the trend of many hotels in town these days, most Chinese restaurants that were previously not halal have decided to be more inclusive, and have converted to pork free status. It's an interesting process, by the looks of some of the photos, whereby the religious authorities come and perform "samak", or a ritual cleansing, which in this case, took nearly a week. So now, Dynasty Restaurant at the Renaissance Hotel Kuala Lumpur is pork free.
However, one missing element or ingredient in a cuisine doesn't limit a chef's creativity, as we noted with Executive Sous Chef Kok Chee Kin's new pork free menu. We were given a preview of the dim sums that are available, and also some of the ala carte menu items.
Crispy Prawn Toast with Sesame. Crunchy toast wrapped around a crunchy prawn....
Prawn Wantan with Chilli Vinaigrette... Love the generous use of prawns in the dim sum dishes.
Green dragon chive dumplings, ...I've always been a fan of chive dumplings. So far so good, I didn't miss the absence of pork at all.
To me, this dish was the piece de resistance. Golden Yam Puff. Perfect yam to meat ratio, and the yam was creamy and soft, whilst the exterior was fluffy and crispy. This alone makes it worth a visit to Dynasty for dim sum.
The fabulousness of the yam puff itself totally eclipses the fact that this dish traditionally made with pork is now made with chicken. Tastes just as good.
Minced Chicken Dumplings topped with dried scallops, aka siu mai. No complaints here, the texture was great, crunchy and the flavours were good too. A generous topping of roe as well gives it that extra kick.
Pan Seared Shanghai dumplings, chinese gyozas so to speak. Plump and well filled, and well seared. I liked the skin, which was the right thickness. One doesn't want to get full on just dumpling skin, afterall.
Deep fried oyster appetiser. Well, a pint of ice cold beer would go well with these babies.
Chicken Char Siu isn't as unbelievable a concept as it was say 10 years ago, when I first chanced upon it at the Chicken Rice Shop. It's fairly common these days, so the non pork eaters can now enjoy the full flavours of char siu without the pork. In fact, I like this so much, I am going to attempt making it as well.
Another outstanding dish, Baked Cod Portuguese style...I don't know how Portuguese made its way to a Chinese restaurant, but who cares, this dish is splendid. Petai, long beans, brinjal, four angle beans...sound familiar? It's the 4 heavenly kings dish, with the added cod and Portuguese sauce.
Aromatic Duck Breast with Tea Leaf. This particular duck must have been working out in the gym a lot, cos I found it rather tough.
Oriental grilled lamb with Mongolian sauce, sauteed greens and diced mango. A must for lamb lovers. Moist lamb meat, with a lovely char, accompanied by a rather palatable sauce.
Szechuan style bean curd with assorted vegetables in claypot. You cannot go wrong with a dish like this, all the familiar comfort food. I could eat this with a bowl of rice and be happy. Or even without the rice, since rice is EVIL. (so say the modern day nutritionists).
And finally, sweetened mango puree with sago and pomelo. A wonderfully tangy refreshing way to end the banquet.
Upcoming highlights include the Beggar's Chicken, now rebranded as the Emperor's Chicken, available from 6th April to 11th May. It is afterall the year of the rooster. Prices start from RM38 nett for half a chook to RM68 nett for the entire fowl. Which is very reasonable, Of course, since this dish requires an inordinate amount of preparation, 24 hours notice is required.
For reservations and restaurant enquiries, call 03-2716 9388.
Renaissance Hotel Kuala Lumpur
Corner of Jln Sultan Ismail and Jln Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2162 2233
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