Restoran Loon Sing, Nilai

I was the plus one.

I was tagging along, joining a group of new friends (except for amy, whom I've know for years) whom I've met once/ twice/ thrice/ never met before.

Obviously, that didn't deter me from trying food at Loon Sing.
I've seen write ups on Loon Sing years back, from my mum's cooking magazine and after my brother raved about the food when he was there on CNY, I really wanted to try it. Jun's good experience there further solidify my need to be there..hehe

We chose the RM138 (before tax, per pax) dinner set...

First was the complimentary appetisers..Stir fried greens with nuts. Either you like it or hate it. As it has some almond flavour/ essence, which to some, smells like cockcroach.

Deep fried shredded chicken with dried chillies, salt and pepper. This was delicious. The chicken was so tender that we had a hard time figuring out was this was..The waitress confirmed that it's chicken.

Loon Sing requires 1 day advance booking (they dont take walk-ins) as some dishes, such as Buddha Jumps Over The Wall, needs many hours of preparation...I was rather disappointed with Loon Sing's version though. Maybe our RM138 meal was not top range soup, hence I find the soup not as smooth as it should be. Each bowl were filled with shark cartilage, dried scallops, wolfberries, chicken, mushroom and a sliver of yunan ham.

Next was braised abalone and sea cucumber.. The abalone was braised until it's really tender yet, the texture was slightly springy. The sea cucumber had thick flesh, and was good to sink our teeth into. Though, I must say, it can be a tad fishy in flavour for some.

Some Dong Poh Yuk... Cooked in chinese red wine, the cubed pork was more springy rather than of the melt-in-the-mouth type. The sauce was pretty tasty, reminding me of the Fook Chow dish of red wine chicken. Eaten with the steamed chinese flat buns, this dish was pretty good.

However, Jun was rather disappointed as she said the original dong poh yuk served in Loon Sing tastes even better than this. She thought our order was the original one..

Next was fish slices with fish maw and leek.. I liked this dish immensely as I find the flavour light, enhancing the soft flavours of both the fish maw and the fish. The sliced red snapper was fresh and sweet, while the fish maw, was extremely thick and provided a lovely chewy texture.

I cant recall the name of this dish, but it's some deep fried combi platter.. The prawn ball (the one wth mayonaise) was huge, filled with lots of prawns and fish. The filling was still juicy when I bite into it, and the crunchiness of the exterior gives a lovely texture to this dish. The fish look-a-like is made of yam paste, shrimp and wax sausages. Very fragrant, reminds mne of eating yam cake, but a mashed version.

Last dish was fried rice cake cutlets... It smells fantastic, I was drooling the moment it was placed on the table. Bet there's zhu yau zhar..haha. They didnt stinge on th seafood too, there were loads of it. I took a bite, alas, too much msg. While others seemed contented gobbling their portion down in glee, I had to stop after 2 mouthfuls as the MSG was just too much for me (my mouth was feeling numb). Oh well.

Dessert was hasma boiled with glutinous rice balls. I thought the combination was rather weird as the hasma's taste was blanketed by the rice balls.

For the dishes I tried in Loon Sing, there were some hits and definitely some misses. Jun said the standard detiorated though.

Restoran Loon Sing is located at PT2484, Kawasan Perindustrian Nilai 2, Block D, 71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. Tel: 06-799 7787. Website: www.loonsing.com.my