8.357

28 (Thu) December 2017

Lobster with Mushrooms and Noodles in Truffle Sauce

4.0

at Grand Imperial Restaurant

-Pinnacle Annex, Bandar Sunway-

with W and the Boyz

Winter Family Vacation to Malaysia, Day 4 (see previously 8.256 Nasi Lemak…).

In Kuala Lumpur.  Here for Sunway Lagoon – a theme park and resort.  Monday thru Thursday.  Back to Manila on Friday.

Sunway is a vast commercial complex that includes Sunway Lagoon, Sunway Pyramid Mall, Sunway Medical Centre, Sunway Condominiums and other residential properties, Sunway University, Sunway Le Cordon Bleu (!), plus numerous hotels, including the flagship Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, and many restaurants in between.  Located in Bandwar Sunway (Sunway City), a township in the greater metropolitan area of Kuala Lumpur, about 20 km from downtown.

Pinnacle Annex

Grand Imperial Palace is a Chinese restaurant. Specializing in seafood. Cantonese in style. High end, but just a tad. My kind of place.

My birthday: the one day a year when the food matters.  Every day matters, of course, but I try to make it matter on this day.  Previous birthdays throughout GMTD history:

• 2016 (7.358 Chili Lime Shrimp Tacos)
• 2015 (6.357 The World’s Best Tasting Tender Beef)
• 2014 (5.357 Chicago Cowboy Steak)
• 2013 (4.357 Pear & Honey Tonic)
• 2012 (3.358 Crystal Hot Pot)
• 2011 (2.357 Churrasco)
• 2010 (1.357 Steamed King Crab)

Fresh Prawn Dumpling in Sze Chuan Style (3.0)

Steamed Prawn Dumpling (3.5)

Salt & Pepper Squid (3.5)

Steamed Cheong Fan with Prawn (4.0)

Shanghai Xiao Loong Bao (2.5)

Hot & Sour Soup (3.0)

Roast Duck (4.0) – best duck I’ve had in recent memory.

As shown in the photos above, we’d eaten here for lunch upon arrival on Monday, so we had even higher hopes for dinner.

Beijing Duck (3.5) – yes, it’s a Cantonese joint, but whatever.

Best pancakes … ever.

Soya Cake with Abalone (4.0)

Deep-Fried Tofu & Edamame (3.5) – free appetizer.

Sauteed Cucumber with Egg (2.5)

Salt & Pepper Live Prawn (3.5)

Beef Fried Rice (3.5)

The food awesome, all of it.

The highlight was the lobster.  Whereas any dish with truffle tends to become all about the truffle, the pungency here was artfully demure, adding but a delicately enhancive twang to the sweet brininess of the lobster meat, as if the lobster had been carefully aged to taste that way.  White pepper lobster remains my favorite lobster dish, but this one had a more more complex and dynamic flavor profile.  Thankfully, the noodles sopped up every last drop of that perfectly balanced sauce, along with the drippings of the lobster.

I see us returning here very soon.