Tai Zi Heen, Prince Hotel & Residences

Another food outing invited by BBO. This time it's in a Halal Chinese restaurant in Prince Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur. I remembered I only been to this hotel a few years ago for a wedding dinner. Hence a bit off with the direction. Now that Pavillion is just opposite, it's not that hard to find anymore. It is just behind the row of restaurants along Jalan Raja Chulan opposite Pavillion, KL. You can't miss the bright yellow logo at night.

Located at the first floor of Prince Hotel & Residences. Just take the curving stairs at the lobby and you'll find yourself at the entrance of Tai Zhi Heen. Greeted by Hwei Ming and Chris were along the invitees. This is the first time I meet Chris after reading Brought up 2 Share for quite some time already (about 10 months). We are here to taste some dishes in the upcoming menu.

Chinese tea is still the best drink to go with Chinese cuisine.

A bit of a teaser by the chef, Sweet & Sour Crab Sauce on Fried Mantau (Chinese Bun). Give me a bowl of the sauce and I can dip away for the night. Slurp.

Soup of the day (Lai Thong). Herbal Chicken soup with Shitake (Japanese Mushroom), dried Fish belly, Tong Kwai, Red Dates, Kei Chi and Dried Scallop. The most luxurious lai thong I ever drank. At first, I thought the dried fish belly is dried fish maw but Chef Ricky says it's the former. The soup is very "gau for hau" (at least 3-4 hours of boiling). Chef Ricky says it still lack a bit of kick because "yun nam ham" was not used because this is Halal Chinese restaurant. Anyway, I finished it to the last drop as what Hwei Ming wrote in his post.

Rating: 4/5





Next up, we were treated to a soon to be launch dim sum in the menu. Woah, we get to taste it even before it goes into the menu. This is the Four Season Prawn Dumplings.

Green = Spring, Black = Summer (according to Chef Ricky Thein it is because we get tanned in Summer thus black), Yellow = Autumm, and White = Winter.

I ate the Black which is squid ink prawn dumpling and the White. Tasted fabulous. Will surely come back and try the other colour after the launch.




After the Four Season Prawn Dumpling, we have the Four Direction Siew Mai. Of course the Siew Mai is made of chicken instead of pork.

East = Abalone, South = Rendang, West = Tuna, and North = Fresh Hokkaido Scallop. I had the Tuna ,and Scallop siew mai. First time eating such innovative siew mai.

After the dim sum, comes the first main dish of the night. Crispy Roasted Chicken Topped with Szechuan Sesame Sauce. Using fried shallots to suck the extra sauce thus the chicken will not look like it's 'drown' in sauce. The sauce might look very red but it's not spicy at all and the fragrant from the sesame makes the roasted chicken more appetizing. I think I ate 1/4 of the portion.

Rating: 4/5

Oven-Baked Black Cod Fillet with a Butter and Parmesan Cheese Crust. This is a kind of a fusion dish. The cod is very fresh and baked to the right timing which did not overcook or undercook the meat. The disappointment is that we took too long to take pictures and thus the cheese and the fish oil of the cod kind of solidify which eating the cod makes me feel kind of jelak. The taste is good though. This dish should be eaten when it's warm.

Rating: 3.5/5

From the presentation you'll have guess the name of this dish is Ying-Yang Prawns, Crispy Prawns Tossed with Asian Dressing and Garlic Pepper Sauce. The orange coloured is actually flavoured Thousand Island and the dark brown is actually flavoured with Marmite sauce. One thing for sure is that the prawn is very fresh because the meat is still firm and snappy when I bite into it. This is an appertizer in the menu, and the price is really affordable. With the 50% promotion currently running, it's a steal. More about that later.

Rating: 4/5




Oh tenderness. Word can hardly describe the tenderness of this Wok-Fried Diced Beef Tenderloin with Black Pepper and Crispy Garlic. Chef Ricky told us that he didn't have to use any tenderizing enzyme to soften the tenderloin because it is good grade and fresh Australian tenderloin. The only think to look out is not to overcook the beef. This only can be done by an experienced chef to control the wok. From the effortless chewing of the meat, I also noticed that there's no tendon exists in the meat, which means a very good meat cutting skill at work. Two thumbs up for this.

Rating: 4.75/5



Vegetable dish is very welcomed after a few dishes of meat and seafood. Stir-Fried Honey Peas with Wood Fungi, Pine Nuts and Lotus Root just does the trick to off load the meaty feel. I especially like the sweetness of the pine nuts and the lotus root. A very nice dish to end the course before we move on to dessert.

Rating: 3.5/5




First up from the dessert department is the Chef’s Signature Dish, Chilled Mango Puree with Ice Cream, Sago and Pomelo. A very refreshing dessert. Not very sweet which is what I like. One of the best Yong Chi Gum Lo I've ever tasted.

Rating: 4/5

Next dessert is? Mooncakes, mooncakes and mooncakes. Never in my life that I ate so my different flavour mooncakes in one night. There's the traditional White Lotus, Pandan, Assorted Nuts and Red Bean.

Then we have the "bing pei" (snow skin) with so many different flavour. The Star rated the Chocolate Whiskey one of the top five mini snow skin mooncake in the Nouveau Bites category. It really does taste out of this world with the rich chocolate taste. There's also the Gummy Bear mooncake that kids will surely like. I personally like the Lavenders mooncake that just have the right taste of lavender with is not too bland or too rich. Mango cheese is also this year newly created flavour. Custard Corn is another flavour that is served. That's five different flavour all together. So total, I've eaten 9 different flavour in one night.

Arranged in a flower, so nice.

Trying to do my own version, lol.

Chef Ricky Thein who has more than 20 years of culinary experience.

Now I know why Tai Zhi Heen is voted Best Restaurants by Malaysian Tatler for 2007 and 2008, and also won many other awards. It might be because of the food quality, taste and the innovation in creating new dishes to excite out taste bud.

Ah, not to forget the promotion that is currently running from 1st of August to 30th of September. From 6.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. you'll get to enjoy 50% discount from the a la carte menu except for premium food item. Read more about the promotion here. Anyone want to go with me?




Address:

Tai Zi Hin
1st Floor
Prince Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur
Opposite Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
No.4 Jalan Conlay, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603-2170 8888 ext: 8200 Fax: +603-2170 8999
Website: http://www.princehotelkl.com/
Click here for map.


Other ppl's view:

Hwei Ming
BBO
Makan Kings