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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Other reviews:-

• Kampungkayell

• fatboybakes

Chynna at the KL Hilton
No. 3, Jalan Stesen Sentral
50470 KL
Tel: 03-2264 2264Incidentally, 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? 🙂

Whenever the Bald Eagle and I have dinner at KL Hilton, we invariably end up at Iketeru. After much grumbling on my part, especially after seeing Boolicious and WMW rave about Chynna, I finally got the opportunity to dine there. After church service today, and some deception on the part of the Bald Eagle (who told me we were having dim sum at Taman Connaught, much to my disdain as I was inappropriately dressed for outdoor dining…the heat is just so unbearable these days), I was naturally quite excited when I was informed of the “change in plans”.

Located on the 5th floor of the KL Hilton, this restaurant can be described in one word as opulent. Beautiful cushioned seats drenched in rich hues of deep purple, red and green welcomed us, or at least our butts, as we sank into the chairs. We were served a welcome drink by a chap, known as the tea master, with a pigtail wearing a blue brocade chinese outfit carrying a teapot (which looked more like a watering can!) with a metre-long spout. Quite dramatic. 🙂 Teh tarik, chinese style.

The dim sum selection here is a lot more extensive than at Li Yen (Ritz Carlton, KL). I was initially under the impression that this restaurant was non-halal, as the waitress mentioned char siew pau. But after looking at the menu, I noticed that there were no pork dishes, so I guess she said it for easy identification of dishes.

The yam croquettes with minced chicken and mushroom had nice chunks of chicken in it and a slightly distinctive taste of butter. It was more like a whiff rather than an in-your-face taste, which was perfect.

I usually enjoy fried turnip cake, but the pan-fried turnip cake with chicken floss which we were served here was too soft and mushy to be enjoyable. There were absolutely no crunchy bits in it, and I can imagine how excited toothless people will be with this dish.

So my picture of the prawn dumplings isn’t so great, but I blame it on the lighting. Opulence always comes with dim lights to accentuate the eerie appearance of the entire decor. The prawn dumpling, on the other hand, was wonderful as the prawn filling was fresh and crunchy.

The dish I enjoyed most this afternoon was the oven baked Hong Kong barbequed chicken buns. The bun was soft and fluffy with a crust that was almost cake-like in appearance and flaky. The sweet bun was a good foil for the savoury chicken filling.

The Canadian cod fish topped with ginger and garlic was lovely too. The finely minced ginger and garlic concoction went well with the firmly textured cod.

The shrimp and scallop dumpling topped with tobiko roe was very refreshing due to the addition of what appeared like thinly sliced chives in the dumpling. Besides, it’s hard not to like the combination of prawns and scallops, both of which were steamed to perfection.

Our final dish, which we ordered as an afterthought, was grandiosely named octopus mousse dumpling rolled with golden thread. In layman’s terms, they’re sotong balls. 🙂

Service, was of course, excellent, with waiters and waitresses constantly changing our plates and asking us if we wanted to order more.

Chynna
Level 5, Hilton Kuala Lumpur
3 Jalan Stesen Sentral
Kuala Lumpur Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +60 3 2264 2264