Six restaurants in Klang Valley that offer the best yee sang in celebration of the Chinese New Year
A Chinese New Year special, yee sang is a salad of shredded vegetables, raw fish and condiments tossed together to symbolise abundance and prosperity. Here are six restaurants around Klang Valley where you can find the best yee sang dish that are believed for generations to usher in good luck and prosperity.
Li Yen, Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur
Helmed by Executive Chinese Chef Leung Kwai Hong from Hong Kong, Li Yen does an especially colourful yee sang. The base – comprising red ginger, onion, yam flakes, papaya, ginger, jellyfish, pomelo and winter melon to mimic the colours of the sunrise – represent the seven fortunes. The centrepiece is a choice of fresh salmon, jellyfish or abalone, with special advanced orders for lobster and geoduck. Top it off with other special New Year dishes such as braised dried oyster with dried fish maw and sea moss in a special abalone sauce, or the highly popular steamed claypot rice with Chinese waxed meat.
Chynna, Hilton Kuala Lumpur
The award-winning Chynna at Hilton Kuala Lumpur has plenty of tricks up its sleeves when it comes to yee sang. This year, the Tang-themed restaurant’s signature yee sang is the Kanzaki pumpkin and Korean pear, representing wealth and prosperity respectively. Styled as a golden bowl, it’s a gorgeously presented dish of luck, longevity and good fortune to usher in the Year of the Ram. Other yee sang specials include roasted dried chicken meat and Korean pear yee sang, Japanese sweet prawns and jellyfish yee sang and a unique Caesar salad with grated Parmesan cheese and Norwegian salmon yee sang.
Noble House
The upscale Noble House has a reputation for fine Cantonese cuisine, and the food is worthy of its repute. Its yee sang has two options for its underlying base, the traditional yee sang with the inclusion of pickled vegetables and another with modern vegetables such as purple cabbage, lettuce and Chinese turnip. To make it vegetarian, ask for the golden crispy enoki mushroom as a topping instead of the usual fish. But if you want it decadent, go for the Hokkaido scallop and spider crab meat. You can even request for an additional side order of white truffle to make it quite an unforgettable dish for the celebrations.
Toss the ingredients as high as possible while shouting loh hey to boost your fortunes for the coming year
Yuzu
Japanese restaurant Yuzu does its own take on yee sang for Chinese New Year. Fresh Norwegian salmon is tossed with a delectable combination of fruits and vegetables such as pumpkin, carrots, white radish, purple cabbage, raisins, Japanese plum and fresh-tasting mizuna leaf. Yuzu’s Japanese chef has included tempura fritters and specially marinated jellyfish and seaweed to the mix, which is topped with a homemade plum sauce and garnished with salmon roe. As a seasonal special, Yuzu is importing a whole tuna from Kyushu, so you can have your pick of the fish from tip to fin and have it specially prepared the way you like it.
Five Sen5es, The Westin Kuala Lumpur
At Five Sen5es, the Unity Chinese New Year specialities offer a variety of yee sang. This means yee sang with fresh salmon from Norway, Australian spring abalone and a sumptuous sliced two-head abalone. Vegetarians are not left out with the Five Sen5es’ crystal pear and mango yee sang. Have it with their special Chinese New Year menus that feature delicacies like honey-glazed baked black cod fish and the definitive Poon Choi, a seasonal treasure pot of premium produce such as tiger prawns and abalone.
Thirty8, Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur
There isn't a dedicated Chinese restaurant at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, but that doesn't stop it from celebrating Chinese New Year at Thirty8 and JP Teres. The former offers a variety of cuisines, including steaks and sushi, and for the season, a Chinese New Year menu with a choice of salmon, jellyfish and abalone yee sang. Its location in Kuala Lumpur City Centre and elevated position on the 38th floor means exquisite views of the Petronas Twin Towers and the city skyline as you toss your way to prosperity and abundance. But if you want to keep it casual, opt for the ground-floor JP Teres.
