Sunday, April 15, 2007

Sunday Discovery at Chynna, KL Hilton

chynna
Today, Chynna introduced a special dinner menu called Sunday Discovery. The menu lists out certain dim sum and à la carte dinner items at half portions (equivalent to half price). This is especially wonderful news for people like me as I normally dine with smaller groups (translated: 2 people) on weekends. It is also good strategy on the part of Chynna which recognises that the crowd is the smallest on Sundays and this new promotion will thus encourage more people, especially couples, to dine out on a Sunday night.

chynna
Chynna serves Cantonese style cuisine which has been somewhat Malaysianised to suit local tastebuds. As such, a number of the dishes can be rather spicy.

fried cod with thousand island sauce
Having tried their dim sum before, we decided to try the other items on the à la carte Sunday Discovery menu. The crispy canadian cod fish with chilled icelandic sauce was actually fish fillets, deep fried, and then tossed in a thousand island sauce. What I liked about the sauce was the fact that it was rather crunchy due to the addition of finely chopped celery and garlic. Minced chilli added some oomph to the sauce and made it very tasty. I understand why cod is better served deep fried, as it is impossible to get fresh cod here, but the texture of the flesh loses its smoothness when it is deep fried. The assistant manager of Chynna, however, assured us that if we wanted it steamed, Chynna had a claypot steamed version of cod which was quite good.

claypot chicken

claypot chicken
We liked the stewed claypot chicken with peanuts in XO sauce and garlic. The sauce, in this instance was rather smooth and garlicky, albeit a little mild in flavour, and the chicken pieces had fully absorbed the flavours of the sauce.

scallops with hongkong kailan
The dish of stir-fried Australian scallops in XO sauce was originally supposed to be served with broccoli, but they had run out of broccoli and offered us a replacement of Hong Kong kailan instead. Feeling quite accommodating that evening, we agreed. The Bald Eagle thought the kailan was nice and crunchy but I found it a little overcooked. The scallops and mushrooms went well with the XO sauce which was apparently the chef's secret recipe. I liked the fact that the XO sauce had identifiable pieces of shredded dried scallops, dried prawns, garlic and chilli.

Mint lamb
What was undoubtedly the best dish of the evening for me was the sautéed sliced lamb. Soft, tender and smooth (or in the words of the Bald Eagle, melt-in-your-mouth), the lamb did not have the strong smell that is normally associated with lamb/mutton. The sauce complemented the lamb perfectly - made of mint leaves, garlic, onions and chillies, it had the right amount of spiciness without overpowering the rest of the flavours. Sprinkled with sesame seeds, this dish was perfect.

fried seafood noodles
The fried noodles dish with scallops and prawns was very good and sufficiently charred. At RM20, it was good value.

chynna
The entire meal came up to approximately RM160 (before Diamond privilege discounts!). The most expensive dishes were the cod fish and scallop with kailan at RM32 each.

chynna
I love the ambience at Chynna and we were served by knowledgeable, articulate and attentive waiters. What a wonderful end to the weekend!

chynna
Other reviews:-
Chynna at the KL Hilton
No. 3, Jalan Stesen Sentral
50470 KL
Tel: 03-2264 2264

Incidentally, KL Hilton is having the La Dolce Vita, An Italian Affair promo, from the 19th to the 29th of April, 2007. Lots of guest chefs, workshops, etc. Looks interesting. Anyone interested in joining me? :-)

14 comments:

Pink Elle said...

Woohoo, I'm the first to comment for once :D Heh..it's the Monday blues!

What's the Diamond privilege discounts? And how much is their La Dolce Vita? Are workshops on for all 10 days or do we choose which day to go for?

Anonymous said...

How come claypot so big, portions so small ? ;p
Such "promotion" or special menu usually give value for the buck. And it's good that they maintained the food quality. I think I will like the lamb dish too...looks like pai kut wang.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

pink elle: we're facing leaner times....:-P hahahaha. Diamond card entitles the holder to certain discounts while dining at Hilton (KL/PJ). Of course, u have to be a frequent user to be able to enjoy the full benefits of the card. Details for the La Dolce Vita promo can be found at: http://www.kl-studio.com/home.html. You can pick and choose what to go for. Btw, I'm not paid by KL Hilton to promote their stuff, yar. hehe. I just like their food. :-)

tigerfish: last night was the first night for their new menu. Maybe they didn't have half size claypots. hehe. The lamb tasted strangely like pai kuat, actually. But cannot be lor, coz this is a halal restaurant.

tankiasu said...

The deco in Chynna is simply out-of-the-world.

wmw said...

Ahhh....one of my fave. Food is nice but love it more for it's ambiance.

boo_licious said...

So many dishes which we have not tried before. The lamb looks good, must tell bf since he loves meat.

The Italian affair thing looks interesting. Gee, so many stuff happening these few months. I'm saving up for the Australian fair next mth at Westin. Has Mark Best, Sydney's top chef coming with Andrew McCornell, Melbourne's top chef also.

boo_licious said...

the amedei chocs one looks interesting since they are suppose to be great stuff.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

looooks kinda normal actually but the deco looks awesome...definitely if i manage to con my parents some day i will take them to chynna..i just had shangai in jw marriott and it was bloody damn goood..

sc said...

really stunning deco! and i love lamb..hmmm, should try this place soon

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

tankiasu: yah, I love the decor too. Can spend hours here...except that parking kinda kills ya. lol.

wmw: I can understand why it's one of your faves. I love this place too.

boo: if your bf likes lamb, we were told to try their house specialty the next time - rack of lamb spiced with cumin. Supposed to be really good. Btw, I just got the Starwood card, so maybe I'll go pig out at Westin too. *wide grin* But I still wanna go for the Italian promo at Hilton. So much to do, so little money. sigh. Must KIV the choc thingy.

SWICC: The food is definitely good in Chynna...try it some time.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

sc: The deco is so romantic. Do call and make reservations before going.

backStreetGluttons said...

for dining so affectionately here with partner means still very fresh lah right or not !
anyway that must be a great outing and a super place to dine from yr tender pixs & all the other rave reviews .

Anonymous said...

Such a great weekend meal! The lamb looks good to me too. Diamond Privilege huh? *wink*

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

team bsg: it's more like fermented tofu already lar. but even fermented tofu tastes good when cooked with the right stuff.

jason: ok ok...come here and we'll go makan using da card. :-)