Extra Super Tanker – Celebrate Chinese New Year with Extra Oomph!

It’s no secret that Restaurant Extra Super Tanker in Damansara Kim remains as one of the best restaurants I’ve discovered in the Year of the Dragon.  Well, actually we discovered it long before 2012 but let’s just say we have intensified our dining frequency there last year.  It’s just so fitting that this restaurant would also be in our radar for the upcoming Chinese New Year.  Even though we have been dining here pretty regularly the whole of last year, we have yet to get tired of any of Chef Ah Wah’s fabulous creations.

So last week, a group of us were gathered here, thanks to the invitation from Chef Ah Wah and Vincent Lam (the 2 taikos of the restaurant) to get a taste of what will be served to diners in the 15 days of the Lunar New Year.

Of course, first to appear at the table had to be the Yee Sang.  If you think the yee sang here looks a bit pale, well, that’s because none of the shredded vegetables was dyed.  The vegetables and fruits you see on the plate retained their natural colouring. Crunchy fried whitebait is added into the yee sang.  All the components are fresh, crunchy and juicy… personally I would have preferred a bit more of the tangy piquant sauce to be added in as what we had was a bit dry.  Yee Sang is priced at RM68 and RM88 for a Half and Full Portion respectively.

Mandarin’s Birds Nest with Fresh Crabmeat Soup is the perfect choice for those who do not take sharksfins.  At RM48 per individual portion, this is premium stuff… a thick delicious soup, chockful with sweet umami crab meat, roe and smooth slippery birds nest.  The thing about Extra Super Tanker is that their crab meat is always peeled fresh daily… they work through something like 50kg of those crustaceans every day!

Iceland Turbot in 2 Styles

Turbot fish is not a very common item on most menus so whenever it is available in Extra Super Tanker, one of Chef Ah Wah’s favourite interpretation is to present this fish in two styles.  Flown in all the way from Iceland, the turbot is filleted and sliced.  The fish meat is stir fried with erringgi mushrooms and fungus.  The “skeleton” of the fish is kept intact and deep-fried.  Besides being a very arresting “backdrop” for the dish, the super-crunchy skeletal frame can be just broken off and munched.  So, yes, choose the favourite part of the bones, break that portion and munch away!  The turbot is priced at RM12.80/100g and the average size of the fish ranges from 1 to 1.3kg.

Yam Treasure Trove (RM48/RM68 for Small/Large portion) is a deluxe version of the regular yam ring.  Slices of seafood, crunchy vegetables and nuts were piled high on the yam trove, with more of them left tumbling down one side, signifying “overflowing prosperity” as indicated in its Cantonese name (“Poon Moon Put Moon”!).  The mashed yam, soft and powdery inside and crispy on the outside was excellent.

A gigantic boat-like sea cucumber, thick and succulent was the vessel holding a pile of diced vegetables and fresh scallops in “Abundance from the Ocean”.  Anchored with blanched bok choy by the sides, the Philippines-imported sea cucumber looked impressive and when we bit into its wholesome bounciness, we felt the RM200 price tag for this dish is justified, knowing how exorbitantly priced those sea slugs can be, especially during the Chinese New Year.

Tiger Prawns with Chef’s Special Sauce (“Hee Hah Tai Siu”) consisted of huge shelled prawns cooked in a thick slightly-spicy sauce.  I could detect some bean sauce in it, together with other ingredients which rendered this dish a tad saltish to be eaten on its own… best to have some white rice mop up that sauce!  These babies are priced at RM10/100g and the minimum order is 300g.

I really like the Cantonese name for the next dish of Braised Mutton in Claypot… “Hei Hei Yeong Yeong”.  So perhaps the translated name should be “Jubilantly Braised Mutton”! Thick chunks of mutton, complete with skin, were braised with wood fungus together with a host of other herbs and spices which totally eradicated any strong smell of the meat.  Again I felt this dish needed rice to go with it as eating the mutton alone could be a bit too overpowering for some people.  A saltish fermented soy bean (“fu yue”) dip was served with the dish.  Priced at RM80 for a big pot of 12 pieces mutton… the portion is more than enough to feed 10 people.

The Lap Mei Fan here is singularly the tastiest I’ve had so far.  Each pot of rice is cooked individually from scratch (so therefore, advance orders are a must!), together with pieces of arrowhead.  Thereafter, sliced Chinese sausages, waxed duck, waxed pork and liver sausages are added in.  Two sizes are available: RM70 for 4-6 pax and RM95 for 8-12 pax.

 Lap Mei Fan

For desserts, we had the Double-boiled Snow Pear with Hasma (RM16 per individual portion) and Deep-fried Nian Gao with yam and pumpkin (RM4 per piece, minimum 4 pieces).

 Double-boiled Snow Pear with Hasma

The above dishes can be ordered a la carte and they also included in their Chinese New Year Set Menus which are priced at RM798++, RM988++ and RM1,398++ per table of 10 pax.  It’s best to call ahead to book your tables as I understand certain days during the next two weeks are already running full.

Restaurant Extra Super Tanker
48 Jalan SS20/10, Damansara Kim
47400 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7726=7768/69