Peking duck goes Imperial - Malaysian style

Eating Out with SALINA KHALID

MUSEUM CHINESE RESTAURANT,
Level 9, The Legend Hotel Kuala Lumpur,
Putra Place, 100 Jalan Putra, Kuala Lumpur.
Business hours: (lunch) 12.00 pm - 2.30 pm (Mon - Sat), 11.00 am - 2.30 pm (Sun) and dinner from 6.30 pm - 10.30 pm daily.
Tel: (03) 4042 9888 / 2771 9888 (ext. 9082).  

ANY Chinese food lovers would relish the thought of enjoying Peking duck. 

The famous dish from Beijing has been popular since the Imperial era. It is even considered a national dish in China. 

There is something about the combination of crispy duck skin, crunchy vegetable, sweet sauce wrapped in pancakes, that makes it all the more delicious.  

Better than the usual: The Imperial duck wrapped in pancake.

The Museum Chinese Restaurant in Legend Hotel has created its own version — and it’s called Imperial Duck. 

“Compared with Peking Duck, our Imperial Duck is crispier and better.  

“It is served with beancurd skin adding to the crispiness, sauce and wrapped in pancake. 

“Diners can wrap it themselves and have it as appetizers and it is halal,” said chef Lok Wan Toy, the restaurant’s chef de cuisine.  

Only the best: Lok with some of the new dishes available in the restaurant’s ala carte menu.

The dish is one of the latest additions to the restaurant’s ala carte menu. 

The menu features 17 halal dishes ranging from appetizers, soups, main dishes to desserts available for lunch and dinner from RM12++ per selection. 

During a food tasting for the media recently, Lok had also prepared double-boiled shark bone soup. 

“We have decided to use the bone instead of sharkfins due to the concern over the killing of sharks,” he said adding that although it does not use any fin, the soup has a similar taste. 

Not if you’re watching your weight: Deep-fried crispy prawn fritters.

In addition to the shark bone, customers can also choose double-boiled arrow roots and lotus roots or yellow squash with seafood soups. 

Instead of beef, reporters were treated to venison which was sauteed with black bean and cut bell peppers. 

Lok said venison was preferred since it was healthier compare with red meat. 

Those who prefer fish can try the baked cod served with mango sauce, giving the fish a tangy twist. 

If you’re not worried about calories, then you could go for the deep-fried crispy prawn fritters that went well with rice.  

It was no ordinary prawn fritter, as the chef used salted egg yolk as one of the ingredients for the dish. 

“The salted egg-yolk is added to the batter before the prawns are deep-fried. 

“It gives the fritters additional flavour,” said Lok. 

Other dishes on the list are crispy bean curd with ma-po sauce, stir fried lotus root with celery and sauteed honey peas with lily buds. 

There is also fried rice with dried scallops. The rice is garnished with egg white making the dish all the more delicious.  

“These are simple yet delicious offerings which appeal to the young and old. 

“The dishes can be eaten with a bowl of steaming hot white rice, thus allowing one to savour the the taste and texture of the dishes,” he said. 

To end the meal, Lok served deep-fried red bean ice cream on caramel basket.  

A combination of crispy, piping hot crust on the outside that contrasted with the cold, sweet chocolate ice-cream inside, made the dessert simply irresistable. 

Later we were treated to the Museum’s signature drink — Eight Treasures Tea which combines ingredients like longan, dried wolfberry, rock sugar, red dates, raisins, chrysanthemum buds, oolong tea and ginseng slices. Believed to have medicinal properties with rejuvenating effect, the tea could also be bought to be enjoyed at home. 

This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by Star Metro.