Another Lunar New Year is just around the corner! With so many restaurants, caterers, and hotels offering their own range of CNY reunion spreads, deciding on where to hold your reunion dinner can be quite an arduous task.
This year, Park Hotel Clarke Quay is introducing four new Lunar New Year Set menus with a line up of unique dishes created by Banquet Chef James Wong, available exclusively from the 6th to the 22nd of February.The prices for the 2016 Lunar New Year set menus start from $288++ per table for the Success set, capping at $618++ per table for the premium Prosperity set.
With intriguing courses like lobster lo hei and salted egg yolk prawns on the menu, I was all ready to see what Park Hotel had in store for us.
Park Hotel Clarke Quay is located along the scenic Singapore River, not far from the electric Clarke Quay nightlife. We were ushered into the Van Kleef Function Room, an intimate space with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the tranquil poolside. Beautifully furnished with glossy-white wall facings, the Van Kleef Function Room has the perfect ambience for an elegant and cosy Chinese New Year gathering with your loved ones.
The 8-course dinner kicked off with the colorful Rainbow Lobster and Crabmeat Lo Hei, a true visual spectacle. A ring of deep-fried yam and sweet potato matchsticks replaced the traditional golden pillow crackers, adding an interesting dimension of texture to the dish. The 7 varieties of julienned fruit were artfully arranged to frame the stunning centerpiece – a huge, glistening rainbow lobster.
I thought the pairing of sweet lobster and fresh fruit was ingenious, and loved how generous they were with the shellfish. Juicy chunks of fresh lobster and crabmeat tumbled out as we tossed our way into the New Year, with calls of “nian nian you yu!” and “gong xi fa cai!”.
Park Hotel’s lo hei had a great balance, and was brilliantly refreshing. With a simple dressing of salt, pepper and plum sauce, this lo hei was light on the palette without tasting heavy or oily like most other renditions. What an auspicious way to start the feast!
Rating: 8.5/10
The second course was the Braised Shark’s Fin with Lobster and Crab Meat, which was served in a steaming claypot. Brimming with pieces of succulent lobster and crab meat, this dish was further brightened up by the sparkling orbs of shellfish roe scattered atop the soup.
Rating: 7/10
The soup was followed by the Steamed Red Groupa in Superior Soy Sauce with Soybean Crumbs. Steamed grouper is a difficult fish to cook, but Chef James’ rendition was executed with pure finesse, and steamed to perfection.
The crunch of the deep-fried soybean crumbs was a great contrast to the delicate flesh of the fish, and added a savoury element that worked excellently in enhancing the different flavours in the dish. This was definitely my favorite course of the night.
Rating: 9/10
The Emperor Herbal Emperor Chicken in a Basket was a herbal chicken like no other. This massive 5-pound bird was first deep-fried, then baked, and finally, steamed with 7 types of herbs. This resulted in crispy golden skin on the outside, yet incredibly tender meat on the inside.
The drumsticks and thighs of the herbal chicken were juicy throughout and fell apart at the touch of our chopsticks. The breast meat on the other hand, was slightly more dry in comparison.
However, this was easily countered by pairing it with spoonfuls of the aromatic herbal broth, which contains an complex infusion of herbs that include the eye-brightening Gou Qi Zi (Wolfberries) and the energy-boosting Bei Qi (Astragalus Membranaceus). This delicious, nourishing broth is said to do wonders to your complexion too!
Rating: 8/10
The heady aroma wafting off the Stir-Fried King Tiger Prawns in Salted Egg Yolk Sauce was enough to make my mouth-water. I loved how the unique frying method transformed the savory-sweet sauce into a crisp, crunchy batter that coated the jumbo prawns.
However, the salted egg sauce did not taste as outstanding as it smelt, and its flavor definitely could have been more pronounced. A richer, more robust salted egg element would have greatly enhanced this dish.
Rating: 7/10
Served alongside this was the Deep-Fried Prawns with Green Tea Mayo Sauce. The pairing of green tea mayonnaise and fried prawns was something entirely new to me, and it worked beautifully.The prawns themselves were expertly fried; Crisp and amazingly light.
I appreciated the refreshing hint of earthiness that the green tea dressing added to the dish. It gave the seafood an extra layer of flavor, and the creamy mayonnaise brought out the natural sweetness of the prawns, allowing their freshness to shine through.
Rating: 8.5/10
The Braised Sea Cucumber and Ling Zhi Mushroom with Broccoli had a good savory profile, but the sauce remained rather one-dimensional, and there was nothing extraordinary about the dish.
Rating: 6/10
With the next course being Seafood Mee Sua, most people would be expecting a soup-based vermicelli dish. However, this turned out to be delicate rice noodles generously heaped with prawns and squid, tossed in a combination of dark sauce and egg. The mee sua smelt sublime, with the seafood stir-fried to perfection.
Unfortunately, this dish was too salty and oily for my liking. I would have preferred something less heavy-tasting to round off the savory courses.
Rating: 5.5/10
The finale of Park Hotel’s Prosperity menu was a spectacular, and unusual-sounding dessert: The Deep-Fried King of Fruit.
I have never liked durian for its pungent smell and bitter aftertaste, so I was rather apprehensive about taking that first bite. However, Park Hotel’s ingenious spin on this durian dessert was a real game-changer.
For this dish, Chef James first turns the durian into a creamy pengat (a custard made from fresh fruit and coconut milk), before deep-frying the luscious custard till puffy and golden. What surprised me was how the platter of crispy squares did not fill the room with an overpowering smell of durian, as most durian desserts tend to do.
The cloud-like cubes split open with a sharp crunch as we cut into our portions, and thick durian filling oozed out like lava, sending a wave of oohs and ahhs round the table. The sticky, sweet molten custard worked incredibly well with its crispy tempura-like coating, retaining a distinct durian flavor while keeping its potent pungency down to a bare minimum.
If there’s one thing in the world that could convert durian-haters, this would be it.
Some may find the durian dish a little too gelat, especially when served right after the fried noodles, but I felt that it was a delightfully decadent finish to an otherwise well-balanced 8-course meal. Sinfully sedap.
Rating: 8.5/10
Most restaurant set dinners tend to be heavy and overwhelming, but Park Hotel’s Lunar New Year Prosperity Set is a welcome change from the norm, offering a light and refreshing line up of courses that won’t send you straight into a food coma.
The service was notable – efficient and unobtrusive. I hardly noticed our waiter deftly clearing the cutlery in between each course.
The contemporary twists in the courses were compelling, and they highlighted the main ingredients in each dish fantastically. There’s no denying that all the seafood served to us was premium and fresh. Aside from the mee sua and the braised vegetable dish, I was immensely impressed by the well-executed courses.
I left the dinner feeling exceedingly satisfied, but not over-stuffed. The courses in the Prosperity set are very refined, with an underlying simplicity that make them taste deeply comforting. With a superb lineup of exquisitely refreshing dishes, this is one prosperous CNY feast that you can’t miss out on!
Park Hotel Clarke Quay is a 30-minute drive from Changi International Airport and is also easily accessed from Clarke Quay station, a mere 5 minutes away.
Park Hotel Clarke Quay also provides a complimentary hotel shuttle service, connecting the hotel to nearby MRT stations, the Orchard Road shopping belt, and the Central Business District.
For more information on the shuttle service schedule, visit http://www.parkhotelgroup.com/shuttle-service-en
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Period Of Availability: 6th-22nd February 2016
Address: 1 Unity Street, Singapore 237983
Time: Lunch: 12 pm to 230 pm | Dinner: 630 pm to 8 pm / 830 pm to 1030 pm
Contact: 6593 8888
This post was brought to you by Park Hotel Clarke Quay.
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