I was in Kuala Lumpur on the 2nd day of CNY and took this picture at Mid-Valley Megamall. All the malls are beautifully decorated during this time of the year and naturally, the auspicious colour is red.
'Hoi Lin' literally means 'Open year', which means welcoming the New Year. Traditionally, most people will observe a vegetarian diet on the first day, so 2nd day, 'Hoi Lin', it's 'hoi jai' meaning they can have meat, seafood, etc. I also remember that my mum used to tell us that those days, daughters-in-law will only return to their parents' home to celebrate CNY after the 'Hoi Lin' lunch. I had a sumptuous dinner with my siblings and what can we Chinese think of at family gatherings ....... obvioulsy, food and more food!
First dish on the menu was 'Yee Sang' which is a must for CNY ....... 'Sang, sang mang, mang' meaning healthy, lively and active.
Tossing the 'Yee Sang' ....... the higher the better, for prosperity, luck, health, wealth, career advancement, whatever good wishes you can think of!
Shark's fin with shredded crabmeat. Tastes lovely with a slight tinge of balsamic vinegar and some pickled green chillies!
Roast duck ..... mmm the skin was just beautiful, crispy and not oily.
Stir-fried prawns with light soya sauce and sugar, another yummy but artery clogging dish!
Gosh, this Garoupa was big, steamed just right to taste. Texture was chewy and of course the best part was the cheeks!
Rice ~ the staple food of the Chinese. This is waxed meat rice .... with sausages, liver sausages and waxed duck. This is delicious and not too heavy because it's not glutinous rice, just plain rice.
Dessert ...... barley with lotus seeds, red dates and some ginseng roots, not overly sweet and with a slight tinge of bitterness because of the ginseng.
The servings were quite big, it's even enough to serve 12 persons! The whole package with rice, tea and 5% Govt. tax came to RM522.90.
Venue : Hong Kee Tim Sum Restaurant
106 Jalan Cerdas, Taman Connaught
Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur
wow..what a great feast to welcome the new year!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful feast!
ReplyDeletewow! very scrumptious dishes! So delicious! I have always wanted to take pictures of all meals every time I get the chance to visit a restaurant but was afraid I might get wierd looks from ppl! LOL! very brave of you.
ReplyDeleteHi Cheah...nice 'hoi lin' in kl. The food looks great :))
ReplyDeleteWow, so many delicious specialties! I would love to try each one of these dishes!
ReplyDeleterenaclaire
ReplyDeleteWhat else can we think of but food!
3 hungry tummies
I'm sure you miss this.
Jeannie
I was a bit scared in the beginning, but when I saw Elin's and renaclaire's blogs where they have posted pics of food at restaurant, I thought it should be ok. But I did stir up some attraction when I took pics of the dinner at Tg Malim.
Elin
That dinner was ok, big portions.
5 Star Foodie
Wish you could try each and everyone of those!
All look so delicious.
ReplyDeleteWow, you have lots of good food there. It's always a feast when it comes to Chinese food.
ReplyDeleteHi, Sonia, Divina
ReplyDeleteYes, food, glorious food!
God... $500.00 per meal! I'm not sure about that but I think this is way too expensive compare to normal days. However, the food look really delicious. I only crazy for the 'Yee Sang' and still learning to make them. haha...
ReplyDeleteI love yee sang . I had it once when a close friend brought me to a chinese restaurant in KL...MMMMMMMMM...thats all I can say.^^
ReplyDeleteWhah....so much good food! I love all of them.....especially the yee sand...yum. My friend is making for me again this Friday.....so happy :D
ReplyDeleteKristy
ReplyDeleteDinners around this time of the year are expensive, even in Ipoh, an 8 course dinner of this nature will start from Rm500. For the yee sang, can still get a takeaway portion for Rm20, enough for 4 persons.
zurin
If you love this, better go and have it before 28th Feb., that's the last day of our CNY.
Mary
Lucky you!
Wow! thats good food! The barley looks like soup rather than dessert. Lotus seeds- do you use the puffed ones? We call them makhanas.
ReplyDeleteShirley
ReplyDeleteWe call it 'tong sui', sweet drink which is equivalent to dessert, Chinese style!