What’s New and Nice in Tai Thong Restaurants?

Tai Thong is the largest chain of Chinese restaurants in Malaysia and it’s almost a household name when Chinese dining is mentioned. Whether it’s for dim sum or a wedding banquet, Tai Thong pops up as a popular venue. They’ve been around for ages – since 1971, to be exact (many of you were not even born then!) so yes, it’s an established brand alright. Their chefs have won many awards in local and international culinary competitions so credential-wise, they are pretty solid.

Personally, I’ve always felt Tai Thong’s offerings are mostly traditionalistic Cantonese cuisine , in line with their promise of “Cuisine & Culture”. I love Cantonese cuisine for its variety and clean authentic flavours (“ching” in Cantonese). While sticking to its brand forte, I’m glad to note that Tai Thong’s culinary team has ventured beyond tradition by injecting some new and interesting items to their regular repertoire.

Starting 1 August to 31 October 2015, Tai Thong restaurants will be showcasing their “Black Temptations” dim sum items.

Cheese is not widely used in Chinese cuisine but if you love it, then the Pan-seared Dumplings with Fish Paste and Cheese (RM9.80) will be right up your alley. I really like the yin-yang black-and-white presentation of those dumplings. You have to eat these while they’re hot to fully appreciate the gooey cheese inside that’s mixed with the fish paste stuffing.

Charcoal Buns with Durian & Salted Eggyolk (RM9.80) – this is a new twist to the regular “lau sar pau”. Mashed durians gives an extra kick to the salted eggyolk custard filling – good news for durian lovers!

Glutinous Dumplings with Sesame Paste (RM6.80) – this is my favourite. The soft pliable texture of the glutinous dumplings gives way to a lovely aromatic sesame filling scented delicately by the pandan leaves encasing them.

Chilled Coffee Jelly (RM5.80) – I can have several servings of these in one go! The coffee flavour is really robust in these wobbly slices of chilled jelly. The texture is really nice – slightly chewy and not too sweet at all.

Spicy Dim Sum

“Spicy” is seldom a taste option for dim sum although we Malaysians (most of us anyway) love to dunk our siew mais and har gaus into chilli sauce. Tai Thong’s chefs have gone a step further by creating several dim sum items with chillies and spices.

Take the Chicken Bun Nyonya-style (RM10.80) for example. Encased within a cheerful yellow fluffy bun I found turmeric glutinous rice with a topping of spicy minced chicken. Zesty flavours of lemongrass, shallots, turmeric and chillies can be discerned in this appealing parcel.

You just have to love the pretty lacy “sails” attached to the Pan-seared Spicy Dumplings (RM8.80). Minced chicken and prawns with chillies are the main ingredients in the stuffing of these delectable dumplings.

Besides those pretty pan-seared dumplings, I also like the Spicy Dumplings in Pepper Soup (RM9.80). Essentially a big fat “sui kow”, the dumplings here come with tasty bouncy stuffing of minced chicken, prawns, carrots, chillies and black pepper. The soup was really hearty and heaty with lots of white pepper, so slurp with caution ya!

Seafood Curry with Puff Pastry (RM11.80) is Tai Thong’s take on the popular puff-pastry-with-soup concept. However, instead of soup, this version has a rich tangy curry of seafood inside the deep ramekin. I’m not so fond of this as the curry was a bit too oily and I hope they have toned that down. The pastry was generous in portion, baked to a nice golden crust on top but some work needs to be done to really puff it up.

If you are hankering for these spicy stuff, you have to be a bit patient as they will only be available from 1 November 2015 till 31 January 2016.

Dim sum aside, if you are thinking of having a regular meal in Tai Thong, check out their Baked Jade Perch with Chilled Garlic & Pickled Cucumber Sauce at a special promotion price of RM68.80 nett. The flavours are well balanced and I love the chunks of tangy gherkins used as they go perfectly with the sweet flaky perch. If you like perch, hurry over as this Jade Perch Promotion is until 31 August 2015 only.

At the same time, there is a BBQ Promotion as well and the must-try item is their Flaming Beijing Duck (RM88.80) served with Crispy Buns. A whole golden-skinned roast duck is flamed at table-site to crisp up the skin. The glossy crispy skin is then sheared off with a layer of meat and served with deep-fried buns. The balance of the duck is then chopped up and deep-fried salt-and-pepper style. Two dishes for the price of one – pretty good deal.

The BBQ Promotion goes on until 30 September 2015.

For more information on Tai Thong Restaurants – location and other promotions, please check out:

www.taithong.com.my

Or call 1800-88-2338 for reservations.