Festive Feast A Chinese New Year special, yee sang is a salad of shredded vegetables, raw fish and condiments tossed together to symbolise abundance and prosperity Text Tan Lee Kuen Photo SooPhye Props and Styling Rohani Jelani
Li Yen, Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur
Helmed by Executive Chinese Chef Leung Kwai Hong from Hong Kong, Li Yen does an especially colourful yee sang. The base – comprising red ginger, onion, yam flakes, papaya, ginger, jellyfish, pomelo and winter melon to mimic the colours of the sunrise – represent the seven fortunes. The centrepiece is a choice of fresh salmon, jellyfish or abalone, with special advanced orders for lobster and geoduck. Top it off with other special New Year dishes such as braised dried oyster with dried fish maw and sea moss in a special abalone sauce, or the highly popular steamed claypot rice with Chinese waxed meat.
Chynna, Hilton Kuala Lumpur
The award-winning Chynna at Hilton Kuala Lumpur has plenty of tricks up its sleeves when it comes to yee sang. This year, the Tang-themed restaurant’s signature yee sang is the Kanzaki pumpkin and Korean pear, representing wealth and prosperity respectively. Styled as a golden bowl, it’s a gorgeously presented dish of luck, longevity and good fortune to usher in the Year of the Ram. Other yee sang specials include roasted dried chicken meat and Korean pear yee sang, Japanese sweet prawns and jellyfish yee sang and a unique Caesar salad with grated Parmesan cheese and Norwegian salmon yee sang.
Noble House
The upscale Noble House has a reputation for fine Cantonese cuisine, and the food is worthy of its repute. Its yee sang has two options for its underlying base, the traditional yee sang with the inclusion of pickled vegetables and another with modern vegetables such as purple cabbage, lettuce and Chinese turnip. To make it vegetarian, ask for the golden crispy enoki mushroom as a topping instead of the usual fish. But if you want it decadent, go for the Hokkaido scallop and spider crab meat. You can even request for an additional side order of white truffle to make it quite an unforgettable dish for the celebrations.
A sweet sauce, usually plum, is poured over the mixture to indicate a sweet life, while crushed peanuts symbolise a household filled with treasures
Directory Li Yen The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur 168 Jalan Imbi, KL Tel: +603 2782 9033
Chynna Hilton Kuala Lumpur 3 Jalan Stesen Sentral, Kuala Lumpur Sentral, KL Tel: +603 2264 2264
Noble House Restaurant 19 Jalan Delima, KL Tel: +603 2145 8822
Yuzu 3rd floor, Mid Valley City, The Gardens, KL Tel: +603 2284 7663
Five Sen5es The Westin Kuala Lumpur 199 Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL Tel: +603 2731 8333
Thirty8 Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, KL Tel: +603 2182 1234