Grand Imperial Restaurant @ Sri Hartamas KL

14/2/2010

Honestly, I don't recall my family (mum's side), ever doing a reunion dinner at home before. At least for the past 10 years or so. Too much hassle anyway, don't you think? Dad's side of my family still retain the tradition of home-cooking nonethless. Though sometimes I still see the Tarpau-ed chicken and duck dishes anyway. lol. People say that this is a "City Thing", I don't know how people define what City Thing is, but apparently people who has a hometown to go back to normally don't dine out during festive season. Prove me wrong please.

This year round, we went over to Grand Imperial Restaurant for dinner. It was the only restaurant which still had available tables, since city people are like that right? @.@

Apologies, all pictures were taken using my blackberry, therefore, the lack of resolution.

Grand Imperial Restaurant

Road Map.....

The interior decoration was really nice, a bit on the posh side in fact, compared to the more traditional chinese restaurants I've been to.  Reminded me a bit of dining in a hotel.

[KIV: Go dinner of course sit down and eat dinner lah. Apalah go walk around and take pictures of the interior decor. Nanti people will think I'm either a reporter or a san ba person.]

Yee Sang

The Yee Sang came first. One of the best Yee sang I've ever eaten! The one we ordered came with Jellyfish as an extra side.

The waiter even gave us a brief explanation on the meaning of each vegetable in the Yee Sang. Like.. "Lin lin gou seng" etc. Due to the overloading usage of Chinese verbs and idioms, I could barely understand half of what he said.

Sorry la dude, wasted your effort a bit, since more than half of the table don't have enough Chinese vocab to boost. Thanks for entertaining my grandparents though. =p

Lou Lou Lou!!!

After that, there was a long long wait. I was feeling a little impatient and discontented. Hadn't eaten the whole day and was darn hungry. I guess everyone was willing to wait 15-20 minutes for a dish, reason being it was a peak time after all. However, since every table was only given a 2 hour slot to finish a 6-7 course dinner, I was rather dissapointed with their time management.

Subsequently, all 3 dishes came at once.

Shark Fin soup

The color of the soup looks a tad weird, a bit too orangy. Normally, shark fin soup has a slightly transparent, yellowish color to it (Artificial or not I don't know). There was a lot of lumpy egg whites in it too. Restaurant's own recipe perhaps? Shark fin and crab portions were generous.

Pigs Skin

I've never liked this. SKIN. My uncles and aunties love this though, claims that it was succulent without being overly drenched in oil.

Butter Prawns

One of my favorite dishes. The prawns were fresh and succulent and the crumbs were tastefully crispy. The one thing I really love about deep fried prawns is that I can even eat the shells with the prawn.  

Steamed Fish

One of the fish was slightly overcooked, with dried bits coming off from one side. That said, the other was cooked fine and the meat was indeed flavorful.

Abalone with mushroom, oysters and vegetables

I did not get my fair share of the abalone this time round. By the time the plate went round the table, the abalone was all gone. Sokay, better luck next time. Po po can have my portion.

Glutinous Rice.

Not a big fan of this dish also. Normally served right towards the end of the meal, this dish is suppose to fill up the remaining gaps in your stomach should the previous mains have yet to satisfy it yet. I was so full by then I only took a spoon full of it.

Dessert

Tasted a bit too sweet and microwave-like.

Chilled Strawberry, Jelly and Wintergod soup.

I like this. It's always nice to have one cool and refreshing drink to wash down all that was eaten before. This is not a typical dessert which you'll find in a chinese restaurant. Though a bit too sweet, the soup was thin and light. Was not bad in neutralising the sweetness from the dessert before.  

Overall rating: 8/10. Despite the meagre criticism, the meal was quite good also taking into account the price we paid for also. The interior decor /atmosphere come environment was a +1 as well. I guess this is one of those Chinese restaurant which is normally packed during festive season but not so on normal week nights. Happy Chinese New Year everyone =) 

Grand Imperial Restaurant is located at:

Hartamas Shopping Centre @ Plaza Damas 60 Jalan Sri Hartamas 1
Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
03-6201 3777