Contemporary Chinese Cuisine

The March event of the International Wine and Food Society Kuala Lumpur took place  at the Four Seas Restaurant on the Bangkung Row in the upscale area of Bukit Bandaraya.

Four Seas was the latest addition to The Bangkung Row or Restaurants and served contemporary cuisine from all the major culinary regions in China. Bangkung Row is known for offering top notch cuisine from around the world, with Spanish cuisine at Cava, Mediterranean at Opus Bistro and Italian fusion at Leonardo's, all being operated by the same foodie entrepreneurs.

The Four Seas interior featured a modern twist to the typical Chinese round table décor. The fish dishes here were exceptional, especially their steamed live fish, with a crowd favourite being the smoked duck with fruit salad and the Sang Har Mee with prawns. Sadly the restaurant didn't seem to navigate the business seas too successfully and has now made way for a venue called Madisons featuring Australian Italian fusion style cuisine.

At the Kitchen helm of the Four Seas was Chef Ong Kim Guan. With many years of experience in a variety of restaurants, Chef Ong knows how to create a wide range of dishes from all the main styles found in China. These include Cantonese, Sichuan, Shandong and others.

A total of 39 members and guests signed up for the dinner, and proceedings got underway most pleasantly with a welcome glass of Morton Brut Methode. This regular award winning blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir was a deliciously refreshing, delicate sparkling wine with a steady bead and well rounded flavours. The palate was fresh, clean, bright and lively, exhibiting classic fruit flavours, complexed by excellent bread and yeast aromas. It is full bodied and finishes with excellent length. It became a great mouth cleanser for the Appetiser Trio Combination of Wasabi Prawn, Salt and Pepper Shimeji Mushroom and Hurricane Bay Scallop. The Wasabi Prawn was a quite inspired use of the Japanese staple, stinging the mouth with a tingle rather than a blast. The scallops were fresh with enough crunch to stimulate the teeth whilst the mushroom rounded out a textural blend that was most balanced and enjoyable.  A good start.

Next came the Special Double Boiled Soup with Escargot, Dried Scallop, Red Date, Chinese herbs, Dry Fig, Black Chicken and Chicken feet. The concept of double boiling is to allow preparation of delicate foods to ensure there is no loss of liquid or moisture (its essences) from the food being cooked. The food is generally covered with water and put in a covered ceramic jar and then steamed for several hours. Well, and yes, but often the effect on a western palate gets a bit lost and so it was with this offering. The whole came across as a sweetish clear soup with differing textures of the seafood and poultry. A little thin, I have had better at other establishments. Certainly a tough dish to pair a wine with, the Torbreck Roussanne Marsanne Viognier 2009 did what it could. Alone, it was ripe and fleshy with a silky texture of apple and peach. Paired with the soup, it somehow ended up a bit waxy. Seems they use mineral water rather than tap water for the soup. Maybe that was it. I left the chicken foot paddling in the soup.

Next up was the Delicately Smoked Duck Breast with a dash of English Mustard and crusted with Garlic. Served with Black Pepper Coulis and Fruit Salad. This was most pleasant, the duck coming across tender with a hint of coffee on the skin from the coulis whilst the fruit nicely counterbalanced the richness of the sauce. The pairing with the Pinot was a no brainer, and the Villa Maria Cellar Selection Marlborough Pinot Noir 2009 was the perfect choice. Red and dark cherries, black plums and spice on the nose with a full bodied and elegant palate rich with fruit flavours. Concentrated, rich and well balanced with fine tannins that cut through the oil and fats in the duck beautifully.

On to the main courses, and there would be two. For the first we had their signature dish of Four Seas Sang Har Mee. This is Hong Kong Noodles dry fried with Fresh Water Prawns (the "sang har") and paired with a Pierrot Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2010. Texturally, the noodles had good "bounce" - just as pasta needs to be al dente, so noodles need bounce to give a a bit of spring in the bite. The prawn is ladled with a thick egg sauce so the combined sensation in the mouth is one of viscous texture with the crunch of dry noodle. The prawn was excellent, the egg combined nicely with the noodle. Another winner.

I don't remember much about the Pierrot, except that it felt thick. The notes told us it owed "much of its complexity to the production regime of some grape components undergoing stainless steel or barrel fermentation; some undergo malolactics while some do not; different yeasts are used for different batches; and some batches are fermented at warmer or cooler temperatures." A lot of work. Perhaps it was the unctuous nature of the wine in combination with the goo of the egg sauce that brought out the thickness. Whatever, the mouth felt a bit coated.

Second main course was a choice of either Pan Seared Black Angus Tenderloin served with Carrot, Broccoli, Onion and Barbecue sauce or Slow Braised Chicken Drumstick with Chinese Herbs. Bothe were being paired with the Voyager Estate Cabernet Merlot 2001.

Opting for the tenderloin was perhaps a mistake. The meat felt like it had been battered with a nine iron and coming out covered in gravy should have aroused suspicions. Ultimately, the taste of the meat was totally masked by the sauce so there was little to comment upon. I feel that  to present a chunk of tenderised meat covered in sauce came across as a bit sad. Tastewise it reminded me of a school dinner - meat and veg doused in gravy. Which was a shame since Chef Ong had done such a sterilng job on his Chinese cuisine. The steak failed. Not even the beautifully dense and elegant Voyager could save it. A wine of this calibre needed barely cooked meat to let the flavours and tannins mix and mingle. As it was, the cassis blackberries and dark plums got clubbed into submission. 

Dessert of Lemongrass Jelly was a good mouth cleanser with its strawberry and mint leaves and went down well with what was left of the Morton fizz.

In all, a nice evening. Not the best Chinese cuisine I have eaten but a pleasant enough dinner. The question of whether it is worth returning to the restaurant is now academic since it has closed. I think that maybe that was the problem - there was no real reason for the general market to return. Food of this style and quality is available in abundance at restaurants all over the city and the niche that I guess the operators were targeting didn't quite materialise. But credit to Ed Soo and Peter Yew of the Bangkung Row group that they closed the Four Seas quickly and are now trying another tack. Thanks for the memory, guys, and see you in the Madisons. 

Please view the menu here.