Catching up with Kim has always been done over a meal; this time round she suggested having halal dim sum lunch at China Treasures, Sime Darby Convention Centre. I was early and met up with Precious Pea who was there on company business. She told me she would join me for lunch if only she could slip away, hahaha...well you see, she wasn't expecting her lunch to be as good as the dim sum fare in China Treasures. She was disappointed but that didn't stop her from walking me right to the doorstep of the restaurant and we sadly said goodbye to each other :o).
I was on time but Kim was running late. Maybe she somehow knew that I would keep myself busy. The pickles served was a distraction (if only for a while) - not only did I munch on it but I took several shots of it too. Kim arrived just as i had ran out of objects to photograph and I proceeded to let her do the ordering as she's a regular here. We opted to order ala carte rather than attempt to gorge ourselves with their current Dim Sum Lunch Buffet promotion at RM33++/USD10 per pax.
Deep Fried Yam Paste with Chicken (RM6/USD1.80) was served first. I was pleasantly surprised when I took a bite of this. The crispy exterior crumbled along with the very soft yam paste as it melted in my mouth. It wasn't heavy on the tastebuds considering it was deep fried.
The Fried Carrot Cake (RM8/USD2.40) with Chili was really such a tasty dish. Fried with thick beansprouts aplenty (with both heads and tails trimmed!), this was definitely one of the better fried carrot cake dish I've tasted so far. It was flavourful; eggs, dried prawns, garlic and spring onions make this a must order for me when I come back here next.
Now, I've heard tales of their famed Steamed BBQ Chicken Bun (RM6/USD1.80). It's suppose to be so good that it's as good as the "real" thing (pork's the word). Even Precious Pea told me to eat it without thinking that it's chicken ;o).
Well I must say, it didn't taste like the "real" thing to me; I tasted chicken but of course! However, I loved how light and fluffy the steamed bun was and the chicken filling mix was tasty. I could understand why this was a favourite of many.
When the piece of quarter Crispy Aromatic Duck (RM25/USD7.50) was brought to our table before it was rolled up, it didn't look good (hence no pic of it!). However, it quickly turned from an ugly duckling (pardon the pun) into a swan when they brought it back to the table; the duck meat along with the skin shredded was rolled with julienned cucumber and spring onion. However, do eat the rolls up as soon as you can as the pancake skin hardened when I ate it at a later time. And so, I found it a tad dry but slathering some extra hoi sin (oyster) sauce on it helped.
The Steamed Chicken Siew Mai (RM7/USD2.10) looked promising but failed to deliver. It was the least tasty compared to the rest; rather bland and boring.
By now, we were quite stuffed but Kim said that she must order her favourite...
Baked Sweet Potato Puff (3 of these for RM6/USD1.80). This puff surprised me yet again, crispy flaky exterior peppered with lots of black sesame seed with such a soft sweet potato paste filling. The sweetness of it tasted so natural, hence it was not too sweet but spot on for me.
The Mini Egg Tart (RM6/USD1.80) was nice but didn't have any WOW! factor for me. Once again, plus point goes to the fact that it was not too sweet.
Good news for those who are HSBC credit card holders - you'll get a 15% discount off all ala carte orders. Am not sure when this offer is valid till though. Well, Kim and I ate and chatted for almost 2 hours before we went our separate ways, promising to catch up over another meal again soon! As I made my way to the car park, I sent an sms to Precious Pea;
Me : I'm leaving now, am so full!
a few seconds later, a reply from her
I grinned as I got into my car...
Precious Pea : My lunch sucks!
21 comments:
haha apparently my gf was there too on conference! she called me to say that she saw pea and she was on a "business food tasting session"
I should have joined you for the dim sum. I tell you, my asparagus soup was watery, pan seared salmon looked like boiled salmon and it was fishy in taste and the creme caramel lacks of ommphh!! :(
NJoe: That was a separate day. The day i met your gf was for food tasting. The day i met WMW was a week later. That is why i knew in advance, food sucks lor! :(
sucks or not, you've got some rather smashing pics there...lurve the Crispy Aromatic Duck and the siew mai pics...so karlerful!
Have heard good things abt this place. Is dim sum served everyday?
hehe, ivy, sometimes you have to eat below standards too :)
LOL. Will be going to the Convention Centre for HP screening of an Inconvenient Truth.
Joe : Was wondering what you meant about Precious Pea going on business food tasting till I saw her reply...
Precious P: Ah...we shall go again, together!
Nic : No woh, it was Precious P's lunch that sucked...mine was quite divine (with the exception of the kalerful siew mai!).
Lyrical L : Oh yes it seems....everyday. But do call to confirm to be absolutely sure!
Terri : We all come across food that are below standard at time ;o)
Simon : They are showing it again? Hmm...so make it a point to go to China Treasures for dim sum lunch first?
hie.The price quite reasonable.
At first, i thought it must be very expensive. For example, the
quarter Crispy Aromatic Duck.
My uncle sold it RM42 in his restaurant.
Ooh! Is that chicken woo kok? i think I still prefer the non-halal
Sorry couldn't really speak to you the other day @ Sime Darby CC. As PP said, our lunch sucks! Mine worse that PP. I had the salmon changed bcos it was so raw and the flesh is rotten :( There are no asparagus taste in the soup! Next time I'll go for vegetarian meal.
Dear WMW,
You have posted several of our favorites Dim Sum items.
Crispy duck skin. We always try to persuade Little Dragon from ordering that because it is US$25 per Peking Duck! The photo of the duck skin in wrap do look delicious. The green onion almost look like a flower.
Little Tiger's favorite is Turnip Cake (Carrot Cake in your article?).
My favorite Dim Sum is Deep Fried Yam/Taro Paste. Something that I have not replicate from home (yet). I doubt that I will ever try making this snack as Cantonese Dim Sum is readily available at our local restaurants, unlike authentic Malaysian Foods.
The usually vibrant orange top of siew-mais did look quite off-colour huh.
ya la, the pics are absolutely out of this world.. so kalerful all... hahahaha
I really have something against halal dim sum....
jeromefo: Really??? Shhh...then! Hahaha...
Wonda : Yup, chicken-but nice too!
live2talk : Awww..that's a shame. You folks should have change the menu then.
Lee Ping : I love Peking Duck...well, I love duck. Period. Hahah! Yah, carrot cake is the same as turnip cake. Yes, the woo kok is hard to master, only a few places have nice woo kok.
Tummythoz : The colour is exactly what you see in the pic, pinkish! I thought it was sweet looking..but tastewise not so good.
Bernsy : Have you tried this place? If not try the dim sum here, you might just change your opinion about halal dim sum ;o)
Does the lack of pork make some of these dishes less tasty? Cant imagine siu mai and char siu pau without the pork. I am impressed with the trimmed beansprouts in the carrot cake. They must surely be using some cheap illegal labour in the kitchen to bother with that!
That looks like exquisite dim sum. I wld love to try that carrot cake with spicy chili. I'm a fan of fried carrot cake.
Hazza : It was surprisingly good given the fact that it's halal. Dunno about the cheap illegal labour though, LOL!
tigerfish : Then you must try this! Visiting anytime soon ;o)
Jackson : But lots of other good stuff, just don't order the siew mai!
wei, your photos made the food looked more delicious than they probably were. hehe ... must learn a thing or 2 from you.
Haha, poor Precious Pea.
j2kfm : No wor, the food was nice (except siew mai!), not because I made it more delicious looking :o)
Jason : Yahloh, but couldn't help laughing when I read her sms! Hahaha...
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