An epicurean feast

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IT MAY be an epicurean feast but Chef Leong Weng Heng takes pains to ensure that his creations are not only delectable but healthy as well.

For the month-long Malaysia International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) 2011, which ends Oct 31, Leong of Lai Ching Yuen Chinese restaurant (formerly known as Zing), located at the Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur, is offering six special dishes to go with a selection of the world’s finest wines.

Our meal starts with the duo seafood combination as appetiser. It consists of crispy seafood spring roll and a generous piece of scallop with assorted fruit salad served in a golden cup.

The spring roll, which is lightly deep-fried in hot oil, is crispy on the outside while the prawn and other seafood filling inside adds a softness to the crunch in every bite you take.

This excellent combination is enhanced with a glass of De Martino Estate selection Sauvignon Blanc.

Next, Leong ladles out the double-boiled sea treasures in whole coconut, a combination that will make you crave for more. The soup is paired with Longo Sincini Nero D’avola.

The soup, which is double-boiled for four hours continuously, is as clear as water but tastes sweet, thanks to the generous portions of wholesome ingredients like fish maw, sea cucumber, dry scallop and chicken.

The chef gives an assurance that no artificial flavourings are used in the making of this soup.

For the mains, Leong offers his speciality dish, the baked fillet of sea perch with wild mushrooms, which he pairs with Stanley Estate Pinot Noir.

The sea perch fillet is wrapped in thin layers of filo dough and then baked to an appetising shade of golden brown.

Although the fish can taste a tad bland by itself, the savoury stir-fried wild mushrooms add flavour to the fish.

Next comes steamed homemade spinach bean curd with Chinese wine topped with fresh crab meat sauce.

The rounded spinach bean curd looks rather peculiar in its shade of green. It does not have a distinct taste and its texture is much softer than regular tofu.

The fresh crab meat sauce gives a splash of flavour to the mild-tasting tofu.

This dish is paired with a glass of De Martino Estate Selection Cabernet Sauvignon.

The set menu rounds up nicely with Lai Ching Yuen’s best-selling fried rice with minced goose liver and pine nuts.

While the fried rice can be a bit oily for some, the flavours from the crunchy pine nuts and goose liver, which is crispy on the outside but incredibly tender inside, make for a delicious mouthful.

This dish is paired with Lyrebird Colombard Chardonnay.

For dessert, Leong offers a combination of avocado puree and durian custard dumpling in the shape of a rabbit.

The chilled puree is not very sweet but it is so smooth that it slides easily down the throat leaving a lingering taste of avocado in the mouth.

The cute durian custard dumpling serves as a great finish to this splendid meal.