Set for sparkling evening

It’s a dinner designed to put the sparkle back in your spirit after a long week. TAN BEE HONG has a preview of what you can expect at dinner this Friday at Toh Lee Chinese Restaurant

EVEN before you step inside Toh Lee Chinese Restaurant this Friday evening, the bubbly will start to fizz and flow. Doesn’t sipping glasses of JP Chenet Sparkling and nibbling on hors d’ouvres sound like a promising start to the weekend?

But only 40 people will get to share this intimate Sparkling & Bubbly Wine Dinner at Hotel Nikko. The dinner is priced at RM180 nett, a steal considering the amount of bubbly served. Six varieties of sparkling wine will be served throughout the dinner. Each 750ml bottle pours about six to eight glasses and diners are expected to drink between two and three glasses of each, which works out to an average two bottles per person.

For retail prices of the wines, read on.

The JP Chenet (RM59.90) is a medium dry sparkling wine in pale gold, with fine bubbles to tickle your palate. The delicate fruitiness is refreshingly delightful with the choice of hors d’ouvres designed by chefs Loh Chon Hor and Chan Chong Yan.

There are springy anchovy rolls, mini Teochew sesame balls with red bean filling, Sichuan sauce Bang Bang chicken on bun dough and panfried chive dumplings with a juicy fresh scallop encased inside the pastry.

Diners are seated for the dinner proper which begins with a serving of cold Imperisal noodles with goma sauce on a bed of shredded yambean, carrots, spring onions and lettuce leaves. The flavour of the sesame-based goma sauce goes with a crisp and clear Nederburg Cuvee Brut (RM99.90).

From the cold appetiser, temperatures soar with the next dish, double boiled clam soup in whole crystal pear paired with Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir (RM79.90). Think soup in a bun and you’d get an idea of how big this Korean brown pear is. Each fruit weighs about 500g.

According to Loh, the soup stock requires a whole day of simmering. Then it is poured into the half-hollowed pear together with white fungus, kei qi (boxthorn berries), a slice of ginger and dried scallops. The pear is then cooked under high pressure for another 30 minutes. First, drink up the soup. Then scoop out the flesh of the pear. This is very fruity and juicy and has absorbed a bit of the flavours of the soup. Be careful though, as it’s very, very hot.

There are two main courses — baked freshwater prawn and stewed duck drumstick with Chinese herbs. The prawn is paired with Billecart-Salmon Reserve Brut (RM228.90), a truly elegant straw yellow sparkling with a great aroma of floral freshness and ripe pears.

But it’s the duck that takes the breath away. Slowly stewed with Chinese herbs like yuk chuk, pak kei and tong sum, the drumstick rests on mashed, purple sweet potatoes. With this, diners sip a purplish red Wyndham Estate Sparkling Shiraz (RM122) with a spicy, berry bouquet that highlights the best side of the duck. The soft tannins of this non-vintage blend go well with the herbal flavours.

Dinner ends with a glass of chilled lemongrass pudding with banana, paired with Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé (RM319.90). This delicate rosé is a pale almost imperceptible pink hue with fine bubbles that rise and burst to release bouquets of red fruit.

It lends an air of the sublime to the lemongrass pudding with cubes of banana inside and topped with whipped cream, whole strawberry and a banana crisp.

TOH LEE CHINESE RESTAURANT
Hotel Nikko KL
Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2782 6188