THE yee sang at La Moon is extra auspicious, featuring a whopping 88 ingredients tossed together in an aromatic fruity-spicy sauce.

It is the signature Lunar New Year dish at this award-winning Thai restaurant in Kuala Lumpur helmed by chef Korn Yodsuk.

The yee sang has organic fruits and nuts, sprouts, seeds, and fresh and dried vegetables, with a choice of salmon or abalone.

Among the components are roasted white coconut flesh, pumpkin seeds, roasted chickpeas, dried figs, dried persimmon, dried kumquat, dried mango, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, seasoned seaweed, enoki, alfalfa sprouts, beetroot, ginkgo cooked with honey, rose apple, green mango, pomegranate, goji berries and jellyfish.

The lightly sweet sauce is amazing. It’s made of mandarin orange juice, sour plum, red curry paste, roasted chilli paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, tamarind juice – and secret ingredients.

“I’m constantly fine-tuning it,” said the chef.

Our yee sang experience here was mind-blowing. We kept finding little “treasures”, savouring them with the lip-smacking sauce.

We went with abalone, but salmon would’ve been just as good.

We also ordered the Corn Salad, Rawaeng Beef Curry, Steamed Garoupa with Spicy Garlic Lime, Crabmeat Curry with Cha Om, Salted Egg Tofu with Seafood, New Zealand Spinach with Spicy Shrimp Paste Prawns, Deep-fried Calamari, and Tamarind Sauce Duck.

I was hooked on the Corn Salad – shaved pieces of fresh sweet corn drenched in a sweet citrusy dressing, together with crispy fried dried prawns, salted egg, cherry tomatoes and cashews. Truly an addictive combination!

The fragrance of lemongrass wafts from the Rawaeng Beef Curry, a mix of southern Thai- and Malaysian-style curries.

The green curry lovingly embraces tender chunks of beef and creamy tendon.

“Lemongrass is used as a vegetable here. We simmer a lot of it in the curry, and then take it all out,” said Korn.

The skill is knowing when to put in the lemongrass, and when to remove it.

The Steamed Garoupa with Spicy Garlic Lime strikes the perfect balance between sweet, sour and hot.

Chopped garlic and cili padi, lime juice and fish sauce come together in the “milky” broth derived from the juices of the steamed fish.

The sting of chilli and tartness of lime, along with “heat” from garlic, give a thrilling lift to the dish. Wild sea bass is usually on the menu for this style of steamed fish.

Big knobs of luscious meat from king crab are in the Crabmeat Curry with Cha Om.

The red curry carries the distinctive aroma of the fern-like cha om (Acacia pennata). I’m crazy about this herbal vegetable, whether in Thai curries or omelettes.

The chef does delicious things with salted egg, which, besides the Corn Salad, also features in the Salted Egg Glass Noodles and Salted Egg Tofu with Seafood. The latter, with prawns and squid, is simply irresistible.

The Tamarind Sauce Duck, meanwhile, is reminiscent of duck confit.

The crispy-skinned duck is doused in a sweet-sour sauce, and topped with fried shallots. The rich meat, which falls off the bone, is scrumptious dredged through the sauce.

If the slightly slimy New Zealand Spinach with Spicy Shrimp Paste Prawns is not your thing, you can opt to have the greens replaced with petai. I’m crazy about that, too.

For dine-in, the yee sang with salmon is RM288++ for eight to 10 pax and RM388++ for 12 to 15 pax, and with canned New Zealand abalone, RM338++ and RM438++.

There is also a takeaway option, with the yee sang packed in specially designed boxes.

The prices of the other dishes range from RM30 for the Corn Salad and Salted Egg Tofu with Seafood to RM98 for the Crabmeat Curry with Cha Om.

La Moon is located at G-02, The Green Terrace in Jalan Wan Kadir 3, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000, Kuala Lumpur. Bookings can be made at +6012-289-5575.

The restaurant will be open on the second day of the Lunar New Year. – January 25, 2020.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.