RM888 Dragon Yee Sang @ Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant, Hilton Petaling Jaya

Yes, you read right... this Dragon Yee Sang from Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant in PJ Hilton costs a whopping RM888++! How's that for prosperity? I have to say, we were thoroughly impressed when we first saw the yee sang as it was very beautifully crafted. 

Usher in the Year of the Dragon with this impressive yee sang

This was our first time dining at Toh Yuen, and we got to sample their Longevity Menu (RM1388++ for 10 persons, inclusive of 1 bottle of wine) minus the seasonal fruit yee sang which comes with this menu. Instead we were treated to the exclusive Dragon Yee Sang with Abalone and Salmon Fish. Other than the Longevity Menu, they have two other set menus specially crafted for CNY -- Fortune Menu (RM988++) and Happiness Menu (RM1188++). Click here for the full menu.

Restaurant interior

Mini dragon

The splendid handcrafted Dragon Yee Sang is a work of art, specially created by Master Chef Lee which should be admired. Look at how intricate the head, legs and tails are! They are painstakingly carved from pumpkin to depict a dragon. Its body is made up of fresh fruits and vegetables such as mango, dragonfruit, honeydew. just to name a few. In front of the dragon's head is the "fireball" -- so well thought out, right?

Anyway the fireball is pear, topped with cucumber, pomelo and generous amounts of luxurious abalone and salmon slices. The cracker represents happiness, peanuts and sesame symbolise harvest, oil represents wealth, pomelo means good luck, and raw seafood symbolises life and longevity. You will need to pre-order this 3 days in advance if you want it.

A symbol of glory and mightiness

Dragon breathing out fire!

A closer look at the fireball

Nice handiwork 

It looks as if the dragon is flying in the air, blowing out balls of fire... so cool!

Fresh fruits make up the body

It was a real pity that we had to destroy the beautiful dragon when the time came. But toss we did... for prosperity, health, wealth, happiness, new car, new home and for all things good in 2012.

For the next course, we were served the braised "hu die" shark's fin with crab meat soup. Those who do not take shark's fin can opt for the braised chicken soup with chinese herb "chong chao hua" and sea cucumber. The shark's fin soup here is the thicker variety which needs to be eaten rather quickly before it gets too starchy. I like that the chef was very generous with the crab meat.. I definitely enjoyed this.

Copious amount of crabmeat!

Next up, was the Braised Chinese Herb Chicken with Black Fungus. As soon as the top of the pot was opened, the lovely aroma of the Chinese herbs filled the room. The chicken has been marinated for 6 hours and then slow braised for 3 hours to achieve the tender, flavoursome meat. Furthermore, sea cucumber, mushrooms and chestnuts are stuffed inside the cavity of the chicken to absorb all the wonderful flavours from the slow braising.

Hubby named the Steamed Fish Sea Garoupa with Spicy Garlic Sauce as his favorite dish of the night. It must be the largest sea garoupa we've seen (on a table).. weighing close to 1.2-1.5kg it seems! The flesh was moist and the sauce was light (though not really spicy). I also enjoyed eating the tang hoon (glass noodles) which sits below the fish... the noodles have absorbed the sauce, so it was lovely to eat too.

Instead of the usual dried oysters, Toh Yuen serves up a Braised Sea Cucumber with Mixed Mushrooms. Since I love all sorts of mushrooms and sea cucumber, this dish worked for me.

Hubby kindly did the dirty work for me and peeled some prawns for me to sample. The prawns were fresh and the portion was quite large for 10 people.

Sauteed Fresh Prawns with Black Pepper Sauce

The Sauteed Toh Yuen Fried Rice with Seafood came with lots of plenty of prawns and scallops.

One of my favorite things that evening is the Deep Fried Crispy Chinese New Year Cake (Nian Gao).. so simple yet absolutely delicious. Since most of my fellow diners were too stuffed for dessert, I had 3 of this. Yes, 3!! Greedy me :P

This was paired with the double boiled red dates with papaya and white fungus.

The CNY promotion is available from 9 January to 6 February 2012. Click here for the full menus.  There will be a lively lion dance performance at the hotel lobby on 31st January 10am.

Thanks to Shiuan of Hilton PJ for the kind invite.

For more photos of the dragon yee sang and more, click here.

Pork-free.

Location: Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant, Level 1, Hilton Petaling Jaya, 2 Jalan Barat, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: 03-7955 9122 ext. 4118

Website: http://www.zestpj.com/

GPS Coordinates: 3.102164, 101.640573

*This is an invited review, i.e. complimentary.