Regent Restaurant, Seremban

This year, we celebrated Hubby's birthday with a Chinese meal in Regent's Restaurant in Seremban. Regent Restaurant has been around for over 25 years and is one restaurant which has stood the test of time. In this little town of ours, this restaurant is rated as one of the finer Chinese restaurants.

A few years ago, this restaurant underwent a makeover and is now sporting a much newer and sleeker interior.

One of my favorite dishes here is the Four Happiness Cold and Hot Starters (RM60). You can select the items you want, depending on availability on that day, or allow the chef to make the selection for you. We usually request for the scallops with sugar snap peas, and leave the rest to the chef. I am a real sucker for scallops and this dish tastes really delicious! The selection from yesterday's Four Happiness are steamed pork and fish balls, deep fried fish balls with salted egg centre, and honey BBQ ribs. Yum yum!

Or Five Happiness, if there's more dining in your party.

Duck is the birthday boy's favorite, so we ordered the Peking Duck (RM55). You order a whole duck and the chef will prepare it in 3 ways. Firstly, the crispy duck skin is masterfully carved off the duck, which is then wrapped in pancakes with shredded cucumber, spring onions and hoisin sauce. All done in front of the prying eyes of the diners. The serving style is a little bit like Crispy Aromatic Duck you get in Chinese restaurants in UK except that Crispy Aromatic Duck uses shredded duck meat.

Fully dressed

The art of deskinning

The naked duck

Crispy duck skin in pancakes

Look at that beautiful crispy skin

All wrapped up ready to devour

Then, the duck is brought back into the kitchen, and the meat will be stir fried - Stir Fry Duck Meat with Spring Onion and Ginger. The meat was very tender and soft.

Nothing goes to waste, the bones are then used to make a soup, Duck Bone Soup with Pickled Vegetable and Noodles. The soup is slightly sourish from the pickled vegetable and is quite appetizing.

There is also Roasted Duck here but it's not as good as the Peking duck.

We also ordered the Sea cucumber, fish maw and brocolli braised in abalone/oyster sauce (RM50). What a flavoursome dish. The sea cucumber was gorgeous, but the fish maw was a tad salty.

Some other good food we have had here in the past:

Shark fin's soup , this is an excellent Chinese delicacy.

We had Steamed pomfret at one of my cousin's wedding, and it was absolutely ginormous! The pomfret was fresh, fleshy (lol it rhymes), and firm.

Another really great dish here is the roasted suckling pig. The skin is really crispy. With Chinese style sucking pig, there isn't much meat served but whatever there is, the meat is really flavoursome.

Since Chinese New Year is fast approaching, I feel obliged to write about the Yee Sang served here. Yee Sang is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor by the Chinese. This is served throughout the CNY period and a little beyond, where families and friends gather around the table and on cue, toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks to mark the start of a prosperous new year. Last year, Hubby challenged my dad to see who could toss higher! Apparently the higher you toss, the greater your fortunes! The ingredients in this dish includes fresh salmon, carrot, red pickled ginger, Chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers, jellyfish, five spice powder, shredded red cabbage topped with a sweet honey-like sauce. An exquisite Chinese salad, if you like.

Unmixed

Mixed Yee Sang

Regent Restaurant is a very popular venue for wedding banquets, so do call to reserve a table. Yesterday, we were given a private room, so it's much quieter and you can dine in peace.

Service: Very good.
Price: Mid range.

Food: Fine Chinese cuisine.

Location: Regent Restaurant (Seremban) Sdn Bhd, 2390 - 2395 Taman Labu Utama, Jalan Sungai Ujong, 70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Tel: 606-7639909

GPS Coordinates: 2.719639,101.920896

The Yogi Tree, The Gardens

The Yogi Tree is a cafe/bistro/restaurant in The Gardens, serving both Western and local delicacies.

What makes this restaurant unique?

The good people of Yogi Tree strive to promote well-being and awareness of the food we eat. So, the ingredients used in the food here are fresh, natural and largely organic. No preservatives, additives, enhancers, colourings, chemicals.... so you can be assured that the food is good for you. So does the food here taste good?

I wanted something light, so I ordered the Spaghetti Carbonara with bacon, mushrooms and egg (RM22). Carbonara here is cooked the original Roman way, with no cream, using only eggs and cheese. Well, usually it calls for no mushrooms too, but perhaps the chef wanted to balance the dish with some "fibre". The spaghetti cooked al dente smothered with a peppery carbonara sauce was delicious.

Hubby ordered the Chargrilled pure Aussie Cheeseburger (RM27), served with thickly cut homemade fries, organic coleslaw, and gherkins. The beef was cooked medium and still very juicy. Burger probably doesn't exactly scream "healthy" but at least the ingredients are fresh and natural.

Hubby also had a Focus Factor drink (RM12), freshly squeezed juice of beetroot, carrot and apple. Beetroots and carrots are rich in folic acid, good for producing healthy red blood cells and maintaining an alert mind. Refreshing and not too sweet.

I would like to come back and try the Roast Rib Eye Beef, which is available on Saturday and Sundays. And maybe the afternoon tea too between 3-6pm (RM38 for 2 persons).

The Garden Club members are eligible for 10% discount.

Service: Friendly staff. Efficient food service although the cafe was very busy at lunchtime.

Price: Mid-range.

Location: The Yogi Tree, Lot F237B, 1st Floor, Garden Galleria, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-22826163