Lou Sang Episode 3 - Golden Phoenix, Equatorial

Some restaurants have been around forever. And Golden Phoenix at Equatorial is one of them. For those who love strolling down memory lane, you better stroll quickly, for the whole hotel will be closing it's doors at the end of March, to be torn down and rebuilt. While the Phoenix may rise from the ashes, it will be at least another 3 years before you can tantalize your palate with its offerings. Gasp, I will be close to half a century by the time the new Equatorial is ready.

But despair not, while the Dragon may herald the end of the Phoenix in its current form, there is still one last hurrah, and Chef Ng Chee Wah has put together traditional menus for the coming Chinese New Year.


I loved the tidbits of deep fried anchovies ( I think that's what it was), tossed in a fruit compote.


The signature Golden Prosperity Yee Sang, is different in that it has soft shell crab. Actually, judging by the number of times one partakes in Yee Sang during the season, it's a good thing that various restaurants have different takes on this dish, offering a nice variety.



Adorned with pine nuts, and their specialty chinese coin carved out of oranges, together with the special plum sauce, the Yee Sang is a lovely combination. Traditional choices of salmon, jellyfish and abalone are also available till 6th February, for lunch and dinner, with prices starting from RM58++.


The aforementioned "gold coin".


Roasted Chicken With Onions. Yes, there is a chicken underneath that rubble of onions. The onions are actually the highlight of this dish, aromatic, crispy, and imparting that glorious flavour to the simple chicken.


Braised Sea Asparagus, Black Moss with Lotus Root and Broccolli. When I was growing up, (as opposed to growing sideways), I don't recall ever eating sea asparagus. I wonder if it's a recent discovery.


Oh, this is what the naked chicken looks like without the onion make up. As the original dish was so overwhelmed by the onions, the professional photographers on the table requested another one without the garnishing.


Steamed Pomfret With Soya Sauce. Pomfrets are one of my favourite sea fish, so I was rather happy to have this dish. It was steamed perfectly, not overcooked, as is prone to happen at larger banquets.


Stir Fried Tiger Prawns Vietnamese Style. The tangy sweet sauce is actually a perfect accompaniment for white rice.


Fried Rice With Salted Egg and Diced Prawns. I wouldn't have minded some meat in the rice, but the salted egg, especially when you bite into the bits of yolk, does add a nice touch to the dish.





For desserts, glutinous dumplings (more like Tong Yuen served at the winter solstice) with ginger tea, (ah, the ginger tea was lovely. A bit searing at first gulp, but sends shivers of warmth to the body, and ginger expels wind). and pan fried nian gou with cheese. Cheese did I say? Well, to the cheese averse, it's a very subtle taste, and if it was not mentioned, only the VERY discerning could've picked it up. It lends a nice salty flavour to the sweet nian gao.

The menu above is the EARTH DRAGON Menu, and is RM1538++ per table of ten, and comes with a Chinese Tea Set. (as in, the crockery). Oh, the menu also includes a soup, which we skipped at lunch time. What kind of soup? Well, give them a call to find out.

There is also the Celestial Dragon set at 1338++ per table, and the Water Dragon at RM3838++ per table. Lest you keel over, it does come with abalone, lobster and all the other expensive Chinese delicacies.

Thanks to Carol of Equatorial for a lovely lunch.

Golden Phoenix Restaurant
Hotel Equatorial
Jalan Sultan Ismail
Tel : 03-2161 7777
Website : www.equatorial.com

Moony Moony Moony, Makes Me Happy, It's A Rich Man's World

The Chinese are never one to let go a valuable commercial opportunity. These days, a month before Chinese New Year, Yee Sang is available. In the days of yore, it only became available on the 7th Day, and lasted till chap gourmet. Now, Mooncakes are making an appearance at least two lunar months before the actual festival.

And not only do they appear, but they appear in all sorts of myriad flavours. Gone are the days where the only choices were lotus paste with variable number of egg yolks, red bean or nuts. Almost every conceivable edible substance, except meat, seems to have found its way into the mooncakes.

We were privileged enough to be invited by William of FEEDMELAH, to sample these morsels of lunartic goodness at the Equatorial Hotel, in the Golden Phoenix restaurant no less.

Red Bean and Green Tea. Once in a green moon, you see these things.


The traditional, but low sugar lotus paste with single yolk. By the way, to the uninformed, the egg yolks are from salted DUCK's eggs, not chicken's. This, despite the large variety, was my favourite.


Lotus paste with double yolk. It's no yolk I tell ya, all these calories piling up.


A nice crunchy alternative to the pastes. Nutty mooncake.


Espresso Chestnut. Rather innovative.


Blackforest. Basically, dense chocolate, almost like a flourless chocolate cake, with a cherry in the middle. This is a western cake masquerading as a chinese mooncake. Like Peter Sellers playing the role of Dr Fu Manchu. Nevertheless, it was quite a favourite.


Red Yeast Sweet Potato. I wonder if this Red Yeast is the same as the one prescribed for lowering cholesterol. If it is, wow, what a breakthrough.


Charcoal Baked Yam. I Yam what I Yam. Yam offers a nice alternative paste as well.


Gold ingots, which are their house specialty. Fluffy margariney pastry with lotus filling.


William of Feedmelah giving his keynote address.

Having sampled most of the mooncake, I could feel myself getting full, and with all that mooncake in the system, I could hear my insides singing,
MOON LIVER, wider than a mile....


Ginseng Chicken Soup.... a hearty wholesome full of goodness soup, really fills your stomach and soul. Highly recommended. Politically correct as well, it does not contain parts of endangered animals.


Their Futt Lou (Generous) Chow Fan. (Fried Rice). LOVELY fluffy grains of rice, fried with dried scallops, scallops, and crab meat. What a luxury. Simply delicious. I could eat a whole plate of this on its own. Without the mooncakes, of course.


A new creation by the Chef, scallops and mango. Plump juicy scallops, seared to perfection, complemented by crunchy beans, lily bulbs and tangy mango.


Crispy Beancurd Skin With Prawn Filling. One of their best sellers in the dim sum kitchen. Understandably so. The prawns are crunchy, without the usual bicarbonate aftertaste that so many chinese kitchens use to plumpify their prawns.


Amidst all that, the PR Manager, Tam Poh Poh, had arranged a Lai Mien (pulled noodles) demonstration, followed by a Lai Mien competition between some of our foodies.


The Chef demonstrates how its done. By the way, he is the apparently the ONLY Malaysian chef who has achieved this magna cum laude level of pulling Lai Mien. The others you see in restaurants are usually from China.


Our Lil Fat Monkey was contestant number two. It wasn't as easy as it looks. Strands of noodle kept breaking off. The winner in the end was that sole chick contestant.


The finished product. Very delicious, actually, fried like this, with chilli, brinjals, minced meat. The noodle is nice and springy.


And for dessert, the durian pancakes.... skin thin crepes wrapped around chunks of durian and whipped cream. Durian lovers dream, but to the anti durian squad, a nightmare.


Honey Sea Coconut with Black Jelly. Lovely refreshing way to end the meal.


Ciki posing with the three kings of the orient.


The golden phoenix restaurant.

Equatorial Hotel seems to have stood still in time. The sights, smells all scream RETRO. There's a certain comfort in that, not like the cold soulless marbled floored and walls of some hotels. The Golden Phoenix has always been known for their good chinese cuisine, and have against all odds, remained NOT HALAL.

Thanks William for the invite, and Ciki too, for first asking me to attend as her plus one. My Huckleberry friend, Moon Liver, and me....

MIL's 70th Birthday Dinner

Actually, I was going to post my latest endeavour by that buxom black haired houris, with ample cleavage and british accent that can send shivers down your spine. Kylie Kwong also sends shivers down my spine with her accent, but that's accompanied with goose bumps and an inexplicable urge to throw something at the tv.

The latest endeavour being TOTALLY CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, an orgasmic something something disguised as a cookie, coz it contained like 300gms of 70% dark chocolate, AND more chocolate chips....

BUT, a distant acquaintance remarked that my last picture of the mint choc chip cookies resembled turd. I would have dismissed that, had it not been for the collaborating opinion of Lyrical Lemongrass, the golden standard by which I measure my thing by. Here is her sms:

Luckily, I don't have an SLR, so I can still blame my tools for my poor picture quality.

So instead, I shall just share my lovely weekend dinner with all, as it was my MIL's 70th birthday. The Equatorial Bangi is like 2nd home to the IL family, and it would have been UNTHINKABLE to hold an important dinner like this somewhere else. In any case, I have no complaints, for the food here (for us anyway) is always par excellent....

A well meaning friend of the MIL's said these occasions MUST begin with longevity baos. Wife warned me, "there's more food after the baos so dont fill yourself on those". Just how duhh does she think I am. Having said that, after having to eat up the balance of the kids half eaten baos, I was pretty full after the baos.

Longevity Buns. I dunno what the connection between peaches and long life is, but who are we to question age old oriental tradition.

Then came the 3 seasons, I guess winter was omitted. When planning the menu, I had thrown in my 2 sen worth to say skip this dish, which I almost never really like, anywhere. More often nicer to look at that to actually eat, this course takes up precious stomach space that could well be utilised with other dishes. The same can be said at wedding dinners, when the 2 hour wait for the entrance of bride and groom makes this, by default, the most popular dish.

Our seasons were already pre apportioned. They comprised some fish cake thingie, cold baby octopus with jelly fish, and a fried tuna yam puff.




Such care into decorating the fish into a lotus flower.

Next up was the ginseng soup with black chicken, fish maw, scallops, abalone..... oh, the chilli padi is my own addition. I must have chilli padi with my food. Whole chunks of dried scallops, in a gorgeous black chicken broth, that really WOULD be chicken soup for my soul.... it's like a mini "monk jump over the wall" without the "payer hitting the ceiling" when they get the bill.

Adolescent lobsters, probably hanging out at the Beach Club, having an oyster shooter or two before they ended up stewed in superior XO stock with chinese wolfenberry. My personal opinon is that Chinese do lobster the best way. All that thermidor and mornay stuff just overpowers the lovely taste of lobster.

Honey Glazed Cod. I'm not a cod fan. Nor of their liver oil. Memories of Scotts Emulsion being forcible shoved down my throat with threat of cane in hand.....does nothing to make me feel any affinity for this deep sea fish. Fortunately, I have offspring that lurve Cod, and can find space to stuff two slices of these into their stomach. A debate ensued as to what herb that was embellishing that dish, as I silently rolled my eyes, and muttered, "Hey, thyme's up, everyone who said ROSEMARY or OREGANO or SAGE is sagely wrong".



By this time, the soup was helping the longevity baos expand like a horrified puffer fish in my stomach, and I was feeling very full. Luckily, we were already onto our vegetable dish, braised mushroom with more scallops and more abalone. Initially they thought it was abalone mushroom, but nope, it's the real mccoy.




And finally, the longevity noodles. Lovely flavour, and certainly very long.




What's that proverbial saying, there's always room for dessert? Yup especially when it's my favourite durian pancake, (have mentioned this before in my CNY post), but especially good this time, was the avocado kataifi. I haven't heard this word kataifi before this year, maybe it's the culinary word of the year, but I gather it refers to that fried meehoon-ish thing that wraps your filling. The first time I'd heard of it was at friend;s birthday at Max Kitchen.



Look at that glorious yellowish pungent flesh bursting forth from its pillow cover like an overstuffed eiderdown pillow.



The avocado kataifi is gorgeous. Subtley sweet, not like your "teh tarik kurang manis" that can still yield 2kg of sugar after you evaporate the whole cup, and the kataifi was nice and crisp.



And the cold dessert, a very complex Chinese cold errr...soup? Chilled snow jelly with sea nest and american ginseng. Gosh, no wonder it was up all night....




The bowl of the chilled snow jelly rest atop another bowl, which contains live decorations, such as this neon tetra....

Finally, the fruit platter.




Is it any wonder why I'm at my fattest ever?

SIGH.