Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Dim Sum buffet at Hyatt

Dimsum

Last Sunday Laura and I decided to go all out for some serious makan (eating) to mark the end of her industrial training at Kota Kinabalu City Bird Sanctuary. When trying to find a nice place, not the common shops we’re used to since it is kind of a celebratory moment, maybe something snazzy, posh and classy. I wanted to suggest we go to one of the resorts such as Sutera Harbour (we had a Chinese New Year buffet there and it was sumptuous) but figured it was a bit beyond our cost at the moment. Next we looked to places like Little Italy, the quaint and ever so popular Italian restaurant downtown with very good Italian fares, their pizzas are just lovely and the amount of cheese they put on the pasta will kill you with richness not to mention they have a lovely wine menu. The German restaurant, Gunter’s Kitchen was another candidate, but we have already frequented these fine establishments many times already and thought a change would be good. All Stars is a great Western diner, open aired and nearby to the sea, the prices of their dishes are affordable and good eating especially items like the steaks and chicken chops, but also a too familiar haunt.

Japanese is always good, but again prices thwarted us since the great Japanese buffet at Nagisi at the KK Hyatt serves a good platter. In the end I suggested we go for dim sum also at Hyatt, the Chinese Restaurant (this is the actual name mind you). She said ok since she misses the Ipoh food. I’ve been there before in past occasions before meeting Laura so I know what platter they serve. Decided on the buffet at RM23 per person. The place was packed like any other Sunday, had to wait a while as the usher cleared an opening. We were soon showed our table and promptly drinks were served, Chinese tea in the pot and accompanying ice cold water. The baskets of dim sum were being carted about to allow diners to choose which variety they wanted to sample. Got about 8 to 10 trays consisting of har kau (prawn wrapped in clear rolls), siew mai (minced beef patties), giant fish balls, wanton, kai pau (chicken steam buns), fu chuk (wrapped soya bean skins), lor mai kai (glutinous chicken rice) and hong kong chee yung fan. Also available were a variety of fried stuff such as sweet sour chicken, picked chicken legs, yar char kuay (a long deep fried flour pastry) and yam cakes. Dessert was also good with cool mix fruit jelly drinks, pastries, cakes, red bean soup, herbal soup and porridge.

Dimsum01

Had quite a feast as we slowly ate and chatted, the quite and subdued setting was great for conversations and to relax. Since the buffet lasted till 2 p.m. we had a go at a lot of the stuff and slowly washed them down with Chinese tea until we felt to full to move. It was a great was to celebrate and not too pricey too. Still it's hard to please Ipoh and Penang eaters (seriously!), Laura says it still can't compare with Ipoh's fare and having taste it once with a har kau containing 3 huge prawns inside I have to agree but it's one of the few good eats in town.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

that looks soooo good

Adrian said...

Same place we all went to last time? I dont remember, were you with us that time?

Anonymous said...

it's always hard to appease penangites taste buds

iblogme said...

Looks mouth-watering! RM23 for a buffet dim-sum is good value for money indeed.

hyelbaine said...

I must again remind myself not to look or read food related posts after lunch! :P kekekekke

Cheers!!! :D

Papi said...

just got back from lunch, and now I m craving for some siew mais...LOL!

Rm23/pax is great, man!

Kervin said...

fin: Trust me it was, love dim sum had some great ones at Penang and Ipoh and cheap to boot.

Adrian: Yup we have been there before, CNY with you and Mun Yew remember? Kuok Sum chicken out.

BawangMerah: I've stopped trying after Adrian's incessant complains that foodstuff here in KK is expensive and inedible compared to back home.

iblogme: Especially when you have a table full of heavy eaters who can stuff it in, when three of us guys were there they couldn't make them fast enough before we hit the trolley and empty them in a single go.

hyelbaine: Haha there's always tea time, a pack of keropok lekor goreng, pisang goreng and maybe a nice cuppa will do it, though you'll feel like sleeping after and kena marah bos :D

Papi: Figured as much, I love the chee cheong fun can't get enough of it. Price was cheap, would love Japanese too but the buffet was RM44 per person, pokai lor.

Adrian said...

Stop tempting me with har kau!!! have you any idea how much har kau costs in a Chinese restaurant here? Grrrr!!!

Just for a hint, one char siew pau costs 500 yen. Go figure...

problogger said...

I stayed in Hyatt KK for more than 4 times..

I was actually refused entry to the pub because we were not dressed accordingly.. was quite mad at that time

Kervin said...

Adrian: Har kau har kau har kau!!!! :p

mmulibra: High class shenanigans, yeah they have a dress code but my friend says it sucks since around 2 a.m. they cut off the music, turn on all the lights and in a very non subtle way is asking you to leave. Kk isn't that hot on night life (besides the countless prostitues hanging about) and Kl is better off in terms if nightly entertainment.

Anonymous said...

Hilton in PJ serves quite nice dim sums =)