It's been a long time since i last visited Golden Peony at Conrad Centennial and i remember being rather impressed on my first visit. The restaurant is helmed by Executive Chinese Chef Ku Keung who has over 20 years of professional culinary experience in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore. Over our Chinese New Year tasting menu, i noticed that Chef is actually quite playful and adventurous when it comes to incorporating new food trends and also elements from other cuisine.
We started our feast with an appetizer inspired by the Indian Puri snack. This Pao Pao minced duck reminded me of the typical second dish when having Peking duck, except that puri is used in place of lettuce. A savory sweet mix of minced duck and diced vegetables filled the crispy puffs, providing textural delight.
The Fortune OX Yu Sheng with salmon and wagyu beef contained a surprising element, which is mock salmon. Chef wanted to give us a taste of this vegetarian replacement and the texture was surprisingly decent and almost fish-like (it was a bit more like jellyfish).
Next, an abalone ingot pastry served with sliced abalone rolled with asparagus and prawn paste. The seafood roll is apparently a new item and i'm sure it'd be a crowd favorite for all seafood lovers.
If you enjoy Pen Cai, know that it's included in the Diamond Ox menu ($1998 for 8 pax). Among the usual delicacies like abalone, scallops, prawns, lobster, sea cucumber, fish maw, conpoy and roast meats, lies a homemade meatball, made using Impossible meat! If we were not told of this, we wouldn't have thought the meatball was anything but the regular sort! Sneaky Chef but it is a great way to change diners' mindset on alternative meats/meat substitutes.
The Stewed Lamb Rack made me consider ordering lamb more often. The meat fell off the bone readily and was not gamey at all. An herbal mix is used to stew the lamb, similar to that of the typical herbal chicken and i found the flavors to be delicate and balanced.
The Duo Jade Perch uses locally farmed perch and presents it in 2 ways- spiced coconut milk sauce and capsicum preserved chili. Support local and new tech Chef said. Great texture despite the fish being industrially farmed. The spiced coconut milk sauce tasted much like sambal, flavorful but a tad salty. I much preferred the sweet and sour preserved chili, which was very appetizing.
The Roasted Suckling Pig with Seafood Saffron Rice (24-hours advance order req) ($388 whole pig) is another interesting dish that Chef changes up annually. This time, the piglet is stuffed with paella style Japanese rice, and in its core, a lobster otah rolled in beancurd skin lies hidden. Have it with the appetizing tangy preserved mushroom sauce, it also helped to mask a bit of the porkiness.
To HUAT your way to the new year, end the meal with the Chilled pineapple jelly ($16.80/portion). I was afraid that it would be overly sweet but my fears were unfounded. Quite a refreshing dessert in fact. Also, that little round of fried nian gao pairs the jelly perfectly.
Golden Peony offers various menus for dine-in starting from $148/pax and also reunion dinner takeouts for 10pax starting at $1388. For more info, check out their website.
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