Tradition has it that come every Lunar year, the Chinese folk would celebrate and gather together as a family on the eve for a reunion dinner to usher the Chinese New Year. Even the furthest far-flung member of the family would make a trip back to their hometown to celebrate this joyous occasion with their loved ones.
But in this modern and urban era, most families opt not to go through the hassle of preparing and cooking up scrumptious dishes after dishes in huge portions to suffice everyone's appetite. Simply said, it is definitely much easier to eat out.
Lemme share with you how your family can do it yet maintain the personal touch during your reunion dinner – just like in the comfort of your own dining room.
This oriental mansion of a restaurant is called the House of Tang
located in One Bangsar
The 1st thing that made my jaw drop was the beautiful garden they have at the entrance of this mansion. Lush green grass, Chinese Lanterns hanging by the potted plants, the red-brick pathway and boulders embedded into the ground will certainly recreate the ambience of al-fresco dining to a whole new level
Thanks to Sidney of bigboysoven, us foodies have been getting requests to review numerous restaurants for the upcoming Chinese New Year. The moment I stepped into the House of Tang, I was amazed. The interior was splendid! Very state-of-the-art yet retaining traditional architectural designs of the Chinese culture.
Chinese style home-cooking cuisine has never been this easy ๐
The first dish we were served was the very popular Yee Sang. Believed to bring prosperity, health and wealth, the Yee Sang is a must-have every Chinese New Year for everyone to devour. Complemented with a special sauce, this dish is one which carries legacies of tradition yet still loved by all until today.
But how do the Chinese eat this dish? Neatly with fine table manners like the rest of the dish? Oh no. Simply incorrigible, but that's as far as traditions take us! ๐ Only for the Yee Sang in particular, this dish is to be messed up as savagely as possible – the more mixed up the better.
Yes it's pretty normal to see bits and pieces of Yee Sang flying across the table ๐
House of Tang's offers Yee Sang with salmon strips and crunchy top shells on top too!
When the next dish arrived our table, we were astonished and rather amused at the bright green melon placed before us. Surely we aren't expected to munch down the entire melon with our bare hands?
When we opened the lid of the melon, our questions were answered.
The Shark Fin, Crab Meat & Dried Scallop Soup served in Winter Melon was simply novel! ๐ It's smooth texture was warm to taste and the ingredients were a good handful! Such love. I've always had a thing for Shark Fin's Soup even as a child. This version of it was simply marvelous, if I do say so myself.
But we didn't only have a melon plopped to our table, we also had a Coconut to our pleasant surprise!
Aptly called the Black Chicken Soup, this traditional Chinese soup bursts with aroma, flavours and natural fragrants of the herbs and chicken. Matched extremely well with a sheer coconut taste! And yes, the chicken is really black.
Next up, was the Stir Fried Prawn with Oats and Fragrant Salted Eggs. The carrot carving of a pagoda as the centerpiece was indeed eye-catching. This dish is a personal favorite as well, but nothing comes as close as the one I had today. ๐ The aroma was to die for!
Roasted Chicken with Herbs *points to above picture* was superb too. Totally reminds me of Nando's Chicken but obviously this one was prepared and served in Chinese style instead. Very tender with each bite too ๐
The Double Boiled Soup too, was very tasty, a typical dish during every Chinese meal! You know how one would always associate rice, soup and chopsticks with the Chinese? Yup, this soup is definitely a must-have to complete this Chinese New Year feast as well
The next dish was enough to get our appetites running a marathon across the universe and back into our stomachs. It's deep aroma coming from the insides of the kitchen tells that it could only be nothing but the Braised Pork Trotters. You can recognize its distinctive smell from a mile away!
I apologize to all my Muslim readers in advance
but this is a non-halal restaurant ๐
Cut up in the center, we could all anticipate the succulent meat as we proceed to chomp it down
As expected, it was tender, juicy and bursting with flavour. Someone's gotta thank the Chef for that! Amazing work done. I can certainly forsee my granny salivating if she reads this and views the tantalizing photographs of the Pork Trotters above. ๐ She's a pork fan yo!
Next up on the menu was yet another soup, but a thicker and spicier one. It was the Assam “Tom Yam” Garoupa Fish soup. It's thick gravy was fantastic – too spicy for me, but then again I'm one whose tastebuds generally fail me in front of spicy food!
I had to down gallons of water in between each spoonful of this Tom Yam soup but I insisted on finishing my lil bowl. It's extremely tasty like that! So what if it's spicy? Nothing stops me from savouring a palatable dish. So heads up to peeps who loves spicy food! ๐ Very recommended
The following dish is another non-halal meal, it is the Braised Pork in Tangy Sauce, served with adorable little white Mantaus! For those who have no clue on what a Mantau is, this is it! *points below*
Those white Chinese pastries, meant to be dipped into the fruity Tangy Sauce and eaten with the Braised Pork! A dish which comes usually with Dark Soy Sauce, House of Tang gave us a new variant of it instead. Oh, do check out the glory of lean meat and pork lard braised to perfection below!
Makes you wanna jump into the photo and have it all for yourself, no?
๐ it was the nom-noms. Excellent!
Now, let's have something lighter shall we? After all the irresistable meaty tastes, it's now time for some greens and staples. TheBraised Dried Oyster with Fatt Choy, Top Shell & Sea Cucumber and Blenched Brocolli was a personal favorite as I've always had a thing for brocolli! Love it when it's cooked this way.
The 2nd photo is KL's version of Hokkien Mee. Nope, not Penang's version of Hokkien Mee (a.k.a Prawn Mee). There are shrimps accompanying it too ๐ The 3rd photo is the Claypot Pork Belly with Lotus Root whereas the last one on the right is the Steamed Rice with Waxed Meat in Lotus Leaf.
See those brown chunks there? It's known to the Chinese as Lap Cheong, the Chinese version of sausages. Yums!
One of the lightest, simplest dish served was the French Bean with Preserved Olives and Minced Meat. Never underestimate the power of a simple meal. It was superbly crunchy to taste and the minced meat packed a punch too! I think my mom would like this – she favours green beans!
Towards the end of our oriental gastronony, the Chef behind the scrumptious feast came out to mingle with us. You gogo Chef Koh! We paid him compliments which I reckon will turn his ego to the size of the Nile River! haha. What else could we say? It was indeed a spectacular menu for this coming Chinese New Year
Despite having to prepare various meals, he was remained unscathed. We were impressed with how friendly, down to earth and affable this Chinese chef was. Kudos!
One very familiar dish for me would be the Homemade Layered Beancurd. Soft with every bite you sink your teeth in, I adore how it goes so well with the minced veggies on top. My granny used to make these for me as a child and taught my nanny how to cook these as well. Love it! It's well known to the Chinese as Tau Foo.
Every dinner feast should wrap up with a good desert, no? House of Tang served us a Chinese desert, well known as Glutinous Rice Dumplings and Crips Fried Brown Sugarcakes. Below is a piccie of the Sugarcake being stabbed by my fork ๐
Perfect to taste and chewy as it should be ๐
I couldn't help but to check out the garden again as I exited the House of Tang. Love that marble round table with ancient Chinese sketches emblazoned to the surface! I've also included the piccie of how it looks like downstairs at the dining area. We were upstairs all the while ๐
This wholesome dining experience comes nothing short of a perfect power combination of ambience and eats. They say you can never get the best of both worlds but in the House of Tang, you're proven WRONG to your bottom dollar. Each and every meal was perfect to taste and the homely yet elaborate environment will make you not wanna leave!
I certainly don't ๐
I fully recommend this place this coming Chinese New Year! Be it a family reunion or a friendly get-together, House of Tang has everything suited to your palate. Head on to their website to check out the menu!
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