The 7th day of the Chinese New Year is regarded as "Human's birthday" or Yan Yat in Cantonese. This occasion is often celebrated with a big feast with family members. My family and I celebrated this occasion at Restaurant Extra Super Tanker at The Club in Bukit Utama.
I've read some blog posts about the great food at this restaurant and how some of their signature dishes must be ordered in advance, so that I did, 1 week ahead of our dinner, in fact.
The restaurant at The Club was just recently opened. We arrived promptly at 6pm for our dinner (reservations were made for 6pm) and was shown to our table. The highly anticipated dinner did not have a good start unfortunately. After being seated we were given our menu and so begin our wait .... it was a good hour before our dinner was served! In between that time I had spoken to at least 4 restaurant captains to enquire about our dinner. Every diner at the restaurant suffered the same fate. The diner at the table next to ours had to resort to waving both his hands to get attention from the waiters!
However, once the first dish arrived, all was forgiven for if the first dish was this good, it could only get better. Our jellyfish Yee Sang arrived at 7pm and we proceeded to toss it for good luck.
Next to arrive was the Sharksfin soup with crabmeat. The soup was excellent! It was full of flavour and packed with sharksfin and crabmeat. We've had this soup many times at different restaurants and I'll have to say this is the best we've had.
Next, the Roasted Suckling Pig was served. We had ordered a quarter pig and thus our portion came with a tiny pig knuckle. The suckling pig's skin was crispy with melt-in-your-mouth fat (although just a thin layer). It was quite a sensation biting into such sinful deliciousness.
To offset the fat we ordered a plate of stirfried vegetables with Chinese bacon. The vegetables came in a very flavourful stock that was so good! The Chinese bacon added a smoky flavour to the crunchy vegetables. Excellente!
Next, the Roasted Suckling Pig was served. We had ordered a quarter pig and thus our portion came with a tiny pig knuckle. The suckling pig's skin was crispy with melt-in-your-mouth fat (although just a thin layer). It was quite a sensation biting into such sinful deliciousness.To offset the fat we ordered a plate of stirfried vegetables with Chinese bacon. The vegetables came in a very flavourful stock that was so good! The Chinese bacon added a smoky flavour to the crunchy vegetables. Excellente!The next dish was the Fried Crabmeat with Eggs and Pine Nuts. This looks like a simple enough dish, served with lettuce on the side. Big chunks of crabmeat are visible in this dish. The eggs gave it a rich flavour but the pine nuts complemented it very well. The crunch from the fresh lettuce and beansprouts combined with the soft rich crabmeat,eggs and pine nuts was a very potent combination!
The next dish to arrive is the Chef's specialty, the Thousand Layer Crispy Beancurd. The soft smooth beancurd came layered in something that tasted like ham although I am not quite sure what it is. It came bathed in soya sauce and sprinkled with fried onions. I love the contrast of the smooth beancurd layer and the "ham" layer. Quite a unique dish.
Next up was the Butter Tiger Prawns with rice cracker. Butter prawns are our absolute favourite and is a sure order at any restaurant we go to. Extra Super Tanker's version is unique in that the prawns came in rice krispies instead of egg floss. The rice krispies added a nice crunch to the extra large prawns which were sweet and fresh. I quite like this version of the butter prawns.
Our final dish for the dinner was another specialty, the Roasted Duck in "Chinese Sandwich Style". This is the restaurant's version of the Peking Duck. A portion of roasted duck was placed in the middle of the serving plate, while deboned roasted duck meat were wrapped in Chinese soft pancakes with crispy pancakes in between. It was certainly a unique way of eating Peking Duck. The duck was very nice too.
We didn't order dessert because our stomachs were already filled to the brim by then. This is definitely a restaurant that we'll come back to, although I hope they will buck-up on their service.Restaurant Extra Super Tanker (Bandar Utama) is located at No. 11 Persiaran Bukit Utama, 47800 Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel : 03-7726 8877.
Their main branch is at 48 Jalan SS20/10 Damansara Kim, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel : 03-7726 7768.
We also had Oysters with black moss, broccoli and mushrooms. The oysters are supposed to mean good tidings coming our way. This is my favourite dish for the dinner. The broccoli was lightly blanched to retain its crunchiness and was such a contrast to the smooth mushrooms accompanying it. The dried oysters gave it such an intense flavour.
Our final dish was claypot tofu. I don't think this dish signifies anything. It was just something we ordered to add variety.
The mask-changing technique is an age-old tradition in Chinese performances and takes years of training to accomplish. The performers were very quick with their hands, that much I can deduce because it takes them just a split second to change their masks. Just a sleight of the hand and a mask is changed. Incredible! 
As with tradition, at the end of the lion dance, mandarin oranges are placed on a tray for the lions to "peel" then handed over to the Manager of the shopping mall to signify prosperity to the mall. As you can see from the photos below, the mall is packed with spectators during the performance. Lion dances are so very much a part of Chinese New Year and people throng malls (or any place actually) with such performances.
The performance was absolutely stunning! I love the colour, the sounds and the atmosphere that verberates through the crowd! What a great start to the new year!
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