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:-
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? 🙂
