A Gastronomic Chinese New Year Celebration at Cheng Ho Court

Sometimes the environment of your dinner location is as important as the food itself. If you are looking for that serene, beautiful resort that also serves amazing Chinese New Year dishes, look no further than Cheng Ho Court, located within Philea Mines Beach Resort, or formerly known as Mines Wellness Hotel. The resort is still undergoing some face lifting before the major name change so sign boards still point to Mines Wellness Hotel coming in.

Take a left turn from the lobby and down one floor, I found myself at the entrance of Cheng Ho Court, the traditional looking Chinese restaurant. It was really a great place to indulge and be treated like a king for a day. Cheng Ho Court signfies Mariner, Explorer, Diplomat and Fleet, Admiral in Chinese we were told.

I love the table setting, it was very classy and luxurious with the maroon red.

The table is actually really big so we were given these long Yee Sang chopsticks to be able to reach the Yee Sang. The table can sit 10 people very comfortably.

Cheng Ho Court will be serving four options of Chinese New Year sets as pictured above. I would be reviewing the first one, Wealth in Aplenty Set.

There were also Ala Carte dishes for add ons or to be ordered separately during the Chinese New Year season. All the special dishes, Yee Sang and set menus are available from January 4 until February 22, 2016.

As with all Chinese New Year meals, the Jelly Fish Yee Sang 海蜇捞生 is the main star. We upgraded with Salmon that night. Tossing Yee Sang with loved ones and friends and colleagues is so significant for the CNY dinner as it is believed we are stirring up good fortune and wealth with every toss. The two masters chefs, Chef Heng and Chef Chin enlightened us that the sauces contained Strawberries and Apricots which they whipped up just for the special menu, thus giving the Yee Sang a sweet and sourish fresh taste. The salmon was really generous in portion too.

The Yee Sang optional accompaniments include abalone, salmon, Chinese carp, jellyfish and even a vegetarian choice.

Seriously, it was more fun to toss with long chopsticks. I also noted that we were served like VIPS in this restaurant. The waiters and waitresses were literally waiting by standing behind our tables and I just needed to turn around to ask her anything. We get our plates changed very often too, nearly after every dish. The waitress that prepared the Yee Sang was super well versed with all the ingredients and what every ingredient meant when she poured it in.

While waiting for the main dishes to be cooked, we were served their ala carte signature Dim Sum. I was so pleasantly surprised at the taste, what really stood out for me was the Siew Mai and Har Kaw, both containing very fresh and crunchy prawns.

I also loved the way it was presented…a little different from the usual Dim Sum in baskets, don’t you think?

We had some Chicken Pau to fill our tummies, the pau is really soft and the meat tasted like Pork but actually it was chicken, so I guess you can say they were successful to make it like Char Siew exactly.

The next dish was the Wok-fried Prawns with Kiwi Fruit Salad 奇异果脆虾球. Honestly, I did not expect that the dish would be served so beautifully like this. The centre of the dish was the cut up Kiwi fruit salad and laden with fried prawns too. The ‘bowl’ containing the salad was even made of slided tomatoes and the bottom spread with lemons, it was really interesting and beautiful to behold.

While the outer Kiwi fruit had the meat cut out and a fried prawn sitting on top of it. I must tell you, that this was the freshest most crunchy prawn I had ever tasted! It was too awesome, and the mix with the sourish Kiwi really bring out the tantalising specialty of this dish.

Another rather memorable dish for me was the Braised Broccoli with Black Mushrooms and Clams 西兰花，冬菇，鲍鱼. I was surprised at the size of the clams and the softness of the mushrooms. Josiah also loves mushrooms so it somehow made me love the dish more. The things mothers do eh.

I personally found the portion of pacific clams so generous. Sometimes we only get one each in a table setting of ten but in this case, we had more than enough for each person.

We then enjoyed the Deep-fried Chicken with Plum Sauce 梅酱脆皮鸡. Initially, the chicken looked quite common but it was really the best roasted chicken I ever had. I don’t know if you ever had that feeling after eating a piece of chicken that you would automatically reach out for more. The sauce used was something different and the chicken was well marinated, and skin was full of taste and so was the meat inside and the meat was really really soft and juicy. I just don’t know how the chefs did that.

My son Jordan asked for more and more when I gave him to try the chicken. Usually, he doesn’t even really like any type of chicken, bbq or fried.

Fish is of utmost importance for me in any Chinese dinner. We had the Steamed River Patin Fish with Nyonya Sauce 娘惹蒸巴丁.

The Nyonya Sauce was really a little like laksa paste, sourish and sweet yet not spicy which I liked. I loved Patin fish, or any fish, so I had to give a thumbs up to this dish. The meat was soft and fresh for sure.

Finally, we had the Steamed Fried Rice with Preserved Duck 腊鸭腊味饭. This may look like Glutinous rice but it was not. It was quite special in that it used duck meat, and preserved too, a first for me. Many of the diners thought this was the best fried rice they ever had, I am not a huge rice eater so I only tasted a bit. I found the duck meat to be a little too salty, but I guess that was because it was preserved. Maybe a fresh smoked duck would be my preference.

For dessert, we had Chilled Honey Sea Coconut with Snow Fungus 雪耳海底椰. It was very refreshing and sweet, this was a dish served warm.

Another dessert was the Fancy Duet 美点映双辉, and this was actually the CNY cake (nian gao) that was cut in rectangles and fried, and served with mochi. I loved both of these sweet delights a lot as I think I may have a sweet tooth.

Check out the famed award-winning restaurant for your CNY reunion dinner. Picturesque dining with a great view and photo ops everywhere in this hotel would be a great place for family reunions.

The Two Master Chefs, Chef Leong Weng Heng and Chef Chin who cooked our awesome meal, one serious and one cheerful, as they say, two opposites make a perfect match, in our case, the perfect match of whipping up delicious dishes.

Dim Sum is served daily from 11.30am – 2.30pm.
Operating Hours

Monday to Saturday:
Lunch – 11.30am – 2.30pm
Dinner – 6.00pm – 9.30pm

Sunday & Public Holiday:
Breakfast – 9.00am – 11.30am
Lunch – 11.30am – 2.30pm
Dinner – 6.00pm – 9.30pm

Cheng Ho Court 郑和苑
Philea Mines Beach Resort
Jalan Dulang,
Mines Resort City
43300 Seri Kembangan,
Selangor
Reservations and enquiries: 03-8943 6688 ext. 1122