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Spoonfuls of delight

Deepfried chewy dumplings filled with minced chicken

For delectable halal dim sum, you have to walk into the jaws of the shark at KL Sentral. The reward, writes TAN BEE HONG, is baskets of steaming dumplings

Panfried radish cake

Braised hor fun with freshwater prawns

IAM told to look out for the glass building that looks like a shark. So I keep my eyes peeled for a shark’s fin. Zilch! Nothing in Sentral looks remotely like that. But when I drive up the ramp along Brickfields into Jalan Stesen Sentral 5 the second time, I spot a glass building with a dome-shaped top — ah, the head of the shark! This is Sooka Sentral, a new mall right across the road from the Sentral Check-In hall. You can actually park right in front of it.

The decor of Oriental Spoon is contemporary, with calla lily lamps and comfortable leather seats on raised wooden platforms in settings of enclaved privacy. Table decoration is restricted to a single red anthurium in a short, black vase. Elegant, yet unobtrusive. No dominant Chinese theme here. Dim sum is served daily, from 11am to 5pm. On weekends, the a la carte dim sum buffet from 11.30 to 3pm at RM18.80 (adults) and RM9.80 (children under 10) offers 30 items to choose from. These include must-haves like har gow, xiu mai, char xiu bao, century egg congee and egg tarts. The har gow is delicious and the prawn filling fresh and crunchy. Wu gok or deepfried yam dumplings are delicate, with a light, flaky “skin” that practically melts in the mouth. The chicken stuffing isn’t too sweet either and does not attempt to distract the senses from the aroma of the smooth yam paste.

But don’t just stop here. Dim sum chef Yu Xiaotie from China has plenty of tricks up his toque. So you get interesting morsels like steamed glutinous rice with pacific clam and chicken in plate of lor mai gai, steamed beef balls in beancurd skin, steamed rice rolls with minced chicken and sweet corn and steamed radish cake with bonito flakes. Radish cake came also comes fried plain and with XO sauce. In the latter, Yu has added cubed capsicum and beansprouts for extra crunch. I am glad to notice that egg is not added as that would mask the flavour of the radish cake.

Equally interesting is the deepfried chewy dumpling. These glutinous rice flour dumplings are stuffed with a sweet minced chicken and mushrooms and deepfried. Children (and adults too, I hear) can’t help falling in love with the steamed spinach buns. Looking like fat, slightly flattened hedgehogs, these cute little buns have a black bean paste stuffing while the spinach dough does add to the flavour.

Dim sum items are priced between RM5 and RM12.

Oriental Spoon also serves lovely a la carte dishes, rice and noodles. The braised kway teow with sang har (freshwater prawns) is a Cantonese-style hor fun in a thick broth lusciously laced with the richness of huge, freshwater prawns in their shells. The prawns are cut lengthwise for easy eating and the orange roe from the head is practically oozing into the broth.

Prawns are also fried “western-style” (RM40), with filigreed eggs and lots of curry leaves to lend that unmistakable fragrance. This is far better than kam heong crabs which I don’t enjoy at all. The crabs are deepfried and then cooked with the dark sauce that has lots of dried prawns. Unfortunately, in the process, the crab meat shrinks and becomes unpalatably dry. It’s also rather difficult to remove them from the shell, except for the claws.

However, main chef So Chee Yong’s treatment of clams results in a scrumptious dish of clams fried with salt and pepper, ginger and garlic. Most seafood dishes are charged by weight and market prices.

There are plenty of meat choices like deepfried chicken with curry leaves (RM18). The sliced chicken breast is coated with a thick sauce that’s fragrant with curry leaves. It’s a tad on the sweet side and mildly hot, unless you bite into the liberal dose of whole green chili padi. Goes extremely well with rice. Oriental Spoon is open daily from 11.30am to 8pm but, upon request, will stay open till 10 for those with reservations.

Meanwhile, those born in August can eat for free from the a la carte menu until Aug 31, 2008 (minimum two customers per table). Just show your IC for verification. Limited to one August baby per table/bill, for dinner only.

ORIENTAL SPOON 1st floor, Sooka Sentral Jalan Stesen Sentral 5 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2261 3222 phoenixbee@nstp.com.my

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