An Exquisite Taste of Classic Nanyang Cantonese Cuisine at the Oriental Group of Restaurants

I was fortunate to be one of the invited guest to savour a scrumptious meal in conjunction of Oriental Group of Restaurant's up and coming Guest Chef Promotion which offers a taste of CLASSIC NANYANG CANTONESE CUISINE specially prepared by renown Chef Peter Tsang and Chef Justin Hor. 

Firstly, let me introduce to you the 2 amazing chefs behind these beautifully crafted and delicate creations. Meet Chef Justin Hor (left) and Chef Peter Tsang (right).

Chef Justin Hor is the Group Executive Chef at the Oriental Group of Restaurants with 33 years of experience, He has headed the kitchens of many reputable restaurants including the six-star Tower Club in Singapore. He is known best for creating new and tantalising dishes that preserve the traditional flavours of Chinese cuisine.

Chef Peter Tsang started his career in Hong Kong and is currently based in Singapore. He is the Master Consultant Chef at Si Chuan Dou Hua at Parkroyal Singapore. With 47 years of experience, he is honoured to work with Chef Justin to create this year's mouth watering menu for the CLASSIC NANYANG CANTONESE CUISINE, made available at all Oriental Group of Restaurants from 21 August 2017 till 30 Sept 2017.

We sampled some food from the Royal Platter and  from the Majestic Platter. 

We started off with 6 Tapas Platter as appetisers from the Majestic Platter and 2 Tapas from the Royal Platter.

The first item on the list was the Deep-Fried Salt and Pepper Sea Cucumber (from the Royal Platter). This is my first time eating sea cucumber in a deep fried state. The salt and pepper goes so well with the deep fried and crispy coatings of the sea cucumber. It's a burst of flavours in my mouth with the soft sea cucumber surrounded by crunchy deep fried coating on the outside.

The next item from the Royal Platter we tried was the Pork Kyuri Roll with Spicy Sauce.

The meat is coated with this flavourful sauce that is so yummy. Loved the combination.

Chilled Chicken with Szechuan Peppercorn Sauce.

This cold starter dish stirs up my appetite with the yummy sauce. These are one of the authentic dishes in Chinese cuisine back in the days of my grandparents. Can you imagine the history behind this cold dish? I am glad that in this time and generation I am able to savour this type of cuisine right here at the Oriental Group of Restaurants. I really appreciate this dish that is so rich in Chinese history.

Capsicum and Apricot Mushroom in Miso

Drenched in Miso sauce this tasty started dish is so full of flavour. It is so pleasing to the eyes with a great mix of colours in terms of food presentation too.

Liver Sausage Prawn Roll

Rolls wrapped with liver sausage and fresh succulent prawns. Yes, we're still at the appetisers stage!

Fragrant Black Sesame Flat Noodle. 

Well, this dish amazes me! Lots of handmade work done here. According to Chef Justin Hor, all these noodles are handmade fresh on the very day! Noodles cannot be prepared earlier or kept in the fridge overnight. Everything has got to be freshly prepaped on that day itself. The noodle's texture is thick and gives me a mouthful flavour with lots of "hou gam" and chewy. My first look at this dish, it never occured to me that this is a noodle dish. How unconventional!

Chilled Bitter Gourd in Sweet Chilli Sauce

This is one new dish that is easy to prepare according to Chef Peter and is a healthy cold dish. On first bite, I am amazed by the texture of the Bitter Guord. 

It's surprisingly crispy! 

Most of the time, the Bitter Gourd dishes I have outside in other restaurants are either pan fried or steamed and the texture is usually soft. 

According to chef Peter, the slicing from thick to thin of the bitter gourd is important. Thereafter soak it in ice water for an hour and it will begin to curve beautifully. Soaking in ice water helps maintain the bitter gourd's freshness and also to lessen its bitter flavour. This dish excited me and thus began my mission to interview the chef on how this is done. Hehehee! Stealing some tips so I can experiment and do this on my own at home! 

Wish me luck! 

And lastly on the appetiser list, we enjoyed the Radish Cake in "Typhoon Shelter" Style. I have always been a fan of Radish Cake especially fried ones. With huge cubes and a generous amount of crunch.

Moving on to the next dish on the MAJESTIC PLATTER, I tasted the Double-Boiled "Haruan" Soup with Fish Maw served in a Paper Wok. The soup is starchy and thick and I can really taste all the goodness of the soup on a bubbling paper wok. 

A chunk of fresh Haruan Fish meat, with Fish Maw makes me want more! A tofu slice was also in the soup to balance out the meaty mouthful.

Treasures Chest Duck, braised with Abalone and Soft Boiled Quail Egg.

Chunks of stuffed treasures found when we "open sesame" the duck.

Crystal-wrapped Steamed "Soon Hock" with Radish and Green Ginger.

Food presentation counts! This dish comes with a cloud of mist from the dry ice and is beautifully presented to us.

Once open, you can see the beautiful white radish with a good mix of green ginger on top of the freshly steamed "Soon Hock"

OMG! The green ginger is sooooooo smooth and fine!!!!! I loved it! Time to probe the chef again on how I can make this on my own to try! It's a blend of Lou Keong (Old Ginger) and the tail ends of some "chung" stalks and blend it away. 

Next comes a very interesting live cooking demo by Chef Peter Tsang.

Scallop in Golden Egg White Souffle

Can you believe it? These are made totally from egg white only.

Fried to a golden perfection with a soft texture on the inside and slightly textured on the outside,

The ready dish served with some vege.

On another cooking demo session. Chef Peter Tsang demonstrates how he cooks the 

 Yin Yang Rice with Lobster and Crab Meat in Superior Crab Soup.

See for yourself and tell me if it made your mouth water just by looking at the video!

What started off as a soupy dish was transformed before my eyes to a plate of fried rice. I witnessed the transformation where the lobster soup is absorbed by the rice as he stirs it. Amazing!

So much of "hou liu" all in this dish. The Yin and Yang Rice is a mixture of loh mai fan and crispy  rice. According to Chef Peter Tsang, the amount of crispyt rice must be more than the loh mai fan. It's super aromatic as he cooks it in front of me. I can smell it!

This, I find is a super interesting fried rice. I have never tasted anything like this before.

And for dessert we had the Chilled Peach Resin in Snow Pear. Talk about food presentation! This is done with careful and delicate preparation. Loved this to bits!

 So "Yun"

The MAJESTIC PLATTER 

(RM1,888 nett for a table of 10 pax)

The ROYAL PLATTER 

(RM3,888 nett for a table of 10 pax)

For those who want to catch Chef Peter, he will be making an appearance in a series of grand diners on the below dates:

21 August 2017 : Noble Banquet

22 August 2017 : The Han Room

21 August 2017 : Oriental Pavilion

24 August 2017 : Noble Mansion

25 August 2017 : Noble Banquet

The many flavours in the menu will be available for a limited period from 21 August to 30 September 2017 at all participating outlets under the Oriental Group if Restaurants. Diners can also enjoy these dishes on an ala carte basis from 25 August to 30 Sept 2017.

Thank you for having me! It was indeed an eye opener (more like mouth-opener) to have these 2 renown chefs around me. I also took home some cooking tips from them!

Call the respective restaurants for bookings  on these special set menus.

Oriental Pavilion 03-7956 9288

Oriental Banquet 03- 7957 8488

Nobel House 03- 2145 8822

Noble Mansion 03- 7932 3288

The Han Room 03- 2284 8833

Tang Room 03- 7733 9866

Oriental Viva 03- 9283 8833

Maju Palace 03- 2691 8822 (Pork Free)