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.