WE chose Elegant Inn HK Cuisine for our first dine-in experience since movement restrictions were eased after three months of lockdown. While dining out was barred, the restaurant had been teasing us with its takeaway menus, specials at giveaway prices and a half-priced birthday menu to mark its sixth week of opening.

The four of us, being fully vaccinated, had never felt safer or more comfortable in a large room by ourselves. The food never tasted better, too, in a restaurant instead of in a takeaway package.

The special treat for the week was braised stuffed whole Australian sea cucumber with flower mushrooms in abalone sauce at the half price of RM298+, so it was one of our main selections.

Clay pot rice with fish maw, foie gras and Iberico pork, another special made available to us, lotus root pork meat cake and braised assorted mushrooms with homemade tofu made up the rest of this dinner.

The braised stuffed sea cucumber was certainly the star of our dinner. It arrived dark and glistening, filled with pork, shrimps and Chinese parsley and bathed in the finest abalone sauce.

The sea cucumber was springy and smooth, drawing flavours from the stuffing and the delicious abalone sauce which I told everyone to slurp up. Flower mushroom and broccoli completed the dish.

The Australian sea cucumber was 600g (dry weight) and just nice for four.

We started with the lotus root pork meat cake that was both crispy and crunchy, with yummy meaty bites, textured with sweet, chopped water chestnut in the pork.

The braised assorted mushrooms with homemade tofu stood out for its creamy, silky beancurd bursting out of its golden fried skin at the bite. It was drenched in a light sauce with shimeji and enoki mushrooms and wood ear fungus.

Claypot rice with fish maw, foie gras and Iberico pork made an entrance at the end. It was scrumptious; the rich sauce of the iberico slices and foie gras drizzled over and flavouring the rice.

It was pork that melted in the mouth and I was delighted when I turned up fish maw in the rice which was peppery and aromatic with onions and spring onions. The best part of it was, of course, the crust, which was crispy and chewy in parts.

As we are in the run-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 21, the Elegant Inn mooncakes were a must for dessert. 

The spiral taro mini mooncakes were amazing, served hot and fresh from the oven. They were flaky and buttery, with a smooth, lightly sweet taro paste studded with salted egg yolk.

I took home a box of snow skin mooncakes (RM9.80 each) in the flavours of pandan, matcha and organic sunflower seeds, and red bean, black sesame and organic chia seeds. Both varieties are superb, with the sweetness level just right.

Of course, the durian Musang King (RM24.80 each) crowns the collection with the unmistakable flavour of the fruit flooring the palate at each bite.

My favourite dessert of the meal was the almond cream with hasma, and the buttery and delicate E.I golden custard cake or malai koh that is pan-fried. I had these and my dinner was complete.

There is a Mid-Autumn menu for takeaway and dine-in (for four or six people) until October 3. For dine in, it offers a double-boiled soup, four main courses and two desserts at RM888 for four. View the menus at Elegant Inn Hong Kong Cuisine Facebook.

Elegant Inn is open for dine-in from Friday to Sunday, public holidays and the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 21.

Fine Hong Kong dim sum is available for lunch.

The restaurant is on the second floor of Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. Call 03-2070 9399 or 012-722 3518 for reservations and takeaways. – September 11, 2021.

* 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.