“Prosperity Begins With A Good Reunion Dinner”
A celebrated Chinese restaurant since its opening in 1987, Peach Blossoms has established its name as one of the restaurants serving authentic Cantonese fare, as well as unique dim sum delights.
Usher in an auspicious Chinese New Year filled with prosperity by experiencing Chef Chan Shun Wong’s (陈顺煌) Lucky 7 Special sets. Grant your friends and family good fortune for the year with a generous serving of their delectable set menus.
Chef Chan spent over 14 years working his way up the culinary ladder and has served under the tutelage of various chefs in Hong Kong. The young and innovative chef was responsible for revamping Peach Blossoms’ menu, while contributing his own creations and reinventing the classics with a modern twist.
Peach Blossoms (Marina Mandarin) never seems to disappoint with its signature quality cantonese cuisine and hong kong style ambience to match. Today, we had the pleasure of trying out their new CNY menu, complete with staples such as Yu Sheng and Pen Cai, amidst other CNY delicacies.
Marina Mandarin Signature Mixed Fruits Yu Sheng ($78/$118).
We started the meal off with a big ‘Huat ah!’ yu sheng- a refreshing and ingenious pairing of fresh fruits with crispy fish skin and of course, raw salmon sashimi. In this innovative fruit-centered dish, patrons will be pleasantly surprised with how well the tangy goodness of common fruits (kiwi, mango, strawberry, rock melon, papaya and jackfruit) seem so seamlessly well incorporated into the mandatory classic CNY special.
Lightly sweet, citrusy and very refreshing. One of the best yu shengs I’ve tried this year.
Peach Blossoms continued to keep up appearances with their next dish, the Double-Boiled Superior Bird’s Nest with Morchella in Clear Broth (part of Imperial Set). Served in bamboo casings, it gives one a feel of prosperous authenticity, following the festive CNY vibe.
However, the real treasure lies inside, with a generous portion of whole bird’s nest, quality Morchella mushrooms, abalone and conpoy. With a complex yet robust taste, their double-boiled soup definitely clinched a spot as one of my favourite soups. What would have made it even better is if the bird’s nest was just shredded more finely to facilitate an even mouthful with each scoop.
Supreme Braised Buddha Jumps Over The Wall ($528/$898).
I was thoroughly impressed by their consistency in taste. Consisting of 8-headed whole abalones, fish maw, shark’s fin, sea cucumber, goose web, pig’s trotter, dried scallop, flower mushroom, abalone mushroom, black moss and baby Chinese cabbage, you’ll definitely be in awe with their generous servings and quality ingredients used. The sea cucumber, along with other ingredients used in this hearty dish were perfectly braised, taking in sufficient marinade to make it a notch above the rest.
Next on the menu was the Roasted Crispy Goose, marinated with a special blend of herbs and carefully roasted to perfection. In my opinion, even though it was a tad salty and slightly dry, the crispy skin was roasted uniformly and it held the special herb blend pretty well.
After all that heavy eating, this slightly sweetened dish was a welcome change, aptly placed in helping to cleanse our palates. Depicted above is the Wok-fried Glutinous Rice with Chinese Sausage and Preserved Meat.
For last, we had Marina Mandarin’s new creation, the steamed Cheese Nian Gao. If you’re an avid nyonya kueh fan, this might appeal to you. However, I felt it was a unusual and abrupt end to the otherwise wonderful 6-course meal, tasting not much like a nian gao at all. Instead, it felt pretty artificial. Call me traditional, but I would have much preferred if they had just served the classic nian gao fried with egg.
Overall, it was still a pretty delectable meal, and I still am unable to get over the succinct yet tasty double-boiled soup we tried. Scoring through their CNY menu, I found the Imperial Set ($1698 ++ for 5 persons) the closest to what we tried, and I strongly recommend it for an authentic and memorable CNY Reunion dinner.
Click here for Peach Blossom’s Chinese New Year menu 2015 which runs from 12 Feb – 5 March 2015.
Expected Damage: $100 -$300++ per person.
