Chinese New Year is right around the corner and Malaysians could not be more ready for it.
No doubt most Chinese families would have already booked tables and restaurants for their annual reunion dinner. But if you haven’t yet, don’t panic!
Until Feb 5, Spring Garden Chinese Restaurant at Tropicana Golf & Country Resort (TGCR) is serving up a festive feast with its set package, making sure you and your family get to enjoy a terrific meal with impeccable service – and at reasonable prices, too.
Meanwhile, TGCR’s other F&B establishments, The Palm Coffee House and Twenty7, are also offering sumptuous Chinese New Year buffets.
FMT was given a little sneak peek at what is being cooked up at Spring Garden, and you’d be delighted to know that a bounty of food awaits your palate.
As Yee Sang is a must-have at the table of any Chinese family, toss your way to good fortune with several varieties of this dish, including salmon, jellyfish, and fruit and nuts.
For folks who prefer the classics, you cannot go wrong with the Traditional Yee Sang with fish skin. As flavourful as it is colourful, each bite is an explosion of deliciousness, further accentuated by the crunchy fish skin.
Soups have long played an important role in Chinese culinary culture, and no table would be satisfied without a big bowl of it right smack in the middle.
Spring Garden’s braised shark’s fin and sea cucumber soup is a symbol of prosperity, its broth fragrant and flavourful, big pieces of gelatinous sea cucumber absorbing the rich flavours.
Generous bits of dried scallop and fish maw litter the broth, making it a seafood bonanza for the slurping.
Up next is the traditional roast duck, a classic Chinese New Year dish made to impress all who look upon it.
Its crispy, reddish-brown skin lies atop a layer of meat that is juicy and tender, with a strong gamey flavour.
The tempting slivers of duck skin are crunchy upon first bite, before melting into sweet, smoky, fatty goodness!
It’s on to more seafood. Caught and hauled in fresh from the coast, the steamed dragon tiger grouper is a marvel to behold and a delight to savour.
Served in a bath of superior soy sauce, the fish is accompanied by a portion of cordyceps, that crunchy caterpillar-esque fungus with many health benefits.
The flesh of the fish is sweet and tender, with a slightly salty taste courtesy of the soy sauce and an added crunch from the cordyceps.
Eager to sink your teeth into culinary treasure? The braised abalone with sea cucumber and oyster sauce fits the bill.
This dish uses 10 head abalone, which denotes the substantial size of the mollusc, so you can expect a large, salty and buttery treat.
There are also plenty of broccoli florets to go around, best eaten with a dollop of oyster sauce and a chunk of sea cucumber.
For the carb portion of your meal, the XO seafood fried rice is served with generous portions of prawns and scallops.
If you’re hoping to get tipsy, though, better luck next time – the “XO” is a misnomer as it doesn’t have any alcohol in it!
As one must end the feast on a sweet note, Spring Garden has a pair of desserts perfect for the job.
There’s the Chilled Soy Bean, Bird Nest & Peach Gum, a sweet cold soup you won’t be able to get enough of despite your stuffed belly!
And for a traditional treat, you have the steamed Chinese New Year cake, better known as “nian gao”, with a sprinkling of nuts or coconut.
For folks wishing for a more private and intimate setting during their meal, Spring Garden has several highly sought VIP rooms available.
The lunch and dinner set packages cater up to 10 pax, with prices ranging from RM1,199 to RM1,988.
For more information and bookings, call Spring Garden Chinese Restaurant 03-7803 8274. You can also find out more about the buffets at The Palm Coffee House and Twenty7 by calling 018-2330 830.
Tropicana Golf & Country Resort
Jalan Kelab Tropicana,
47140 Petaling Jaya, Selangor