Choice of 35 Handmade Dim Sum at Sunway's West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant

DIM SUM, a perennial Chinese favourite which means “touches the heart”, has been given a facelift at West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant in Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa.

The restaurant has introduced a new range of Hong Kong-style dim sum of sweet and savoury varieties, featuring a selection of more than 35 tasty bite-size delights.

They are hand-made fresh daily by a highly skilled culinary team headed by executive sous chef Peter Lee.

Baked item: Baked mini seafood tarts.

According to Lee, dim sum is a form of art that takes years to master.

“Everything is hand-made piece by piece and that is why these are art pieces,” he said.

His philosophy is to use only the freshest ingredients to create these dainty delights, while maintaining reduced sugar, fat and salt content.

The 42-year-old chef has 22 years’ experience in Chinese kitchens, and specialises in classic and contemporary Cantonese cuisine.

Besides best-loved items like har gao and siew mai, chef Lee has created dim sum with new combinations and textures, like steamed seafood dum-plings in fresh lettuce wraps, steamed lobster dumplings, and steamed lamb in salted black bean.

“The paste for the seafood dumplings is made from minced fish, prawns and fresh scallops, while that for the lobster dum-plings has fresh lobster mixed with prawn meat,” said West Lake Garden restaurant manager Alex Ngan.

The steamed lamb features lamb cubes marinated with herbs, steamed with black beans, black fungus and fresh bean curd.

For something with spicy, try the deep-fried spicy fish dum-plings – a serving of deep-fried dim sum drizzled with spicy Thai sauce.

Pastry fans may want to try the Shanghainese turnip puffs, baked mini seafood tarts and deep-fried sesame shrimp toast.

“The turnip puff is unique because its flaky skin is made from two layers of flour – a layer of normal flour and another layer of flour mixed with oil.

“Chef Lee wraps the skin a-round some shredded turnip, then deep fries the dish,” said Ngan. “The seafood tart features a paste made from prawns, scallops and fruits like honeydew and rock melon. The paste is stuffed into pastry cases, covered with pastry 'lids' and baked in the oven.”

Bite-size delight: Steamed seafood dumplings in fresh lettuce wraps, with a little oyster sauce for its gravy

Those who must have a bowl of flavourful congee can choose from options like shredded abalone and chicken, cod fish, dried oyster and peanut, or century egg with salted egg yolk.

West Lake Garden also has an a la carte menu offering nutritious double-boiled soups, fried rice and noodles, appetisers, desserts and other special dishes to complement the dim sum lunch.

The double-boiled seafood soup and conpoy served in whole garden pumpkin and soursop with ice-cream served during this re-view are just a sample of what diners can look forward to sa-vouring.

Ngan explained that the soup contained dried seafood (scallop and sea cucumber), mushrooms, as well as bits of duck meat and turkey ham, and was boiled in superior stock for six hours.

“The soursop is made from a blend of soursop and honeydew, served with vanilla ice-cream, which makes it a sweet ending to the whole meal,” he said.

The restaurant offers a wide selection of Chinese teas to complement the dim sum, including pu erh, chrysanthemum, Dragon well and oolong.

West Lake Garden’s dim sum is served a la carte style daily for lunch. Prices of the dim sum range from RM7.50++ to RM25++ a dish.

WEST LAKE GARDEN CHINESE RESTAURANT, Lobby Level, Sun-way Resort Hotel & Spa, Per-siaran Lagoon, Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya (Tel: 03-7492 8000 ext 3180). Business hours: Lunch (Mon to Sat, noon to 2.30pm; Sun and public holidays, 10am to 2.30pm); dinner (Mon to Sun, 6.30pm to 10.30pm). Pork free.

Source : STAR
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