Gu Yue Tian, Chulan Square

We wanted to have dinner in KL after work and everyone agreed that Gu Yue Tian's the place. On the quiet side in the heart of KL, we wanted some decent chinese fare and had easy access to. GYT seems perfect.

The individual set menu(RM99 per person) was the choice as we wanted different dishes from the menu..

For cold dish, we tried parma ham with rock melon and smoked salmon with onion crab meat. Both were dainty in size but delicious to start the meal with. For hot dish, it was the soft boiled egg with foie gras and crispy oyster with chilli sweet potato, salsa and vinegar glaze. Both were good, the egg was velvety, bits of foie gras gave richness to the egg. The crisp oyster was juicy, tangy sauce pared down the slightly oily crust of the oyster.

As for soups, we had 3 choices of sharksfins- double boiled with pig's stomach, double boiled with chinese ham and cabbage or braised. We ordered all 3 to try.

Of the lot, I liked the braised version. Smooth and simple flavours of the soup. I do like the one with pig's stomach- but the flavour of the pepper was so intense that it masked the sharkfin's. I might as well just order pig stomach soup sans sharksfin.

Under the seafood selection, we had the grilled unagi with avocado mousse and deep fried soft shell crabs with mousseline pumpkin.

The grilled unagi was delicious- it was smoky but the flesh was still fatty and juicy. The avocado mousse, slightly tangy but airy, complemented this dish wonderfully- a surprise to me as I assumed that the mousse would be rather tasteless. The soft shell crab was a tad too oily, and the puree makes this an even richer dish.

We were given 3 choices of meat..MC likes lamb, so that seemed like the obvious choice for her..

Wok charred rack of lamb..Smoky, slightly crisp exterior with melt in mouth meat. Only gripe from her was the overly sweet marination. I took a small morsel of it and thought it was very tasty :p
Sliced sirloin with marinated oriental spice The meat was tender though lacking in beefy aroma. The thickish mushroom sauce was scrumptious nonetheless.
I had the pan fried black pig with wasabi and butter shoyu sauce..The pork was extremely tender and sweet, while the contrasting wasabi sauce gave a wonderful array of flavours to pair with the fork tender meat.

I guess the chef's plan was to end the meal with a 'filler'- just in case the earlier portions were too small for hearty diners :D.. We had the Hainan Noodles , Rice with seafood, and Braised Abalone with Rice & Assorted Meat. All 3 dishes had contrasting flavours, which was really delightful. I liked the Hainan Noodles, it's like a fusion of loh mee and assam laksa (toppings). It's tangy but light, which I thought was awesome. The seafood rice was the plainest of the lot; with subtle sweetness of the broth enveloping the rice gave a nice satisfying feel though. The most decadent was the braised abalone with rice; the sauce was aromatic and thick, serving it with the egg fried rice was a stunner. Yum yum yum!

And what better way to end the meal with a sweet note? The more popular was the mango pudding with grass jelly cubes; pleasant to the throat as it was not too sweet. The avocado moose was so thick and rich that my friends could not finish it. I had the bitter gourd pudding served with chilled coconut milk. No, it was no fear factor product- quite nice actually, but it does end with a hint of bitterness.

Gu Yue Tien is located at Lot B5-A, Chulan Square, 92, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur.Tel: 03-2148 0808.