Here's another stunning lion dance performance that we caught in the shopping mall on Chinese New Year. This time the lion dance was performed by the Lion Dance World Champion, the Kun Seng Keng Lion Dance troupe. It isn't the first time we've watched a performance by Kun Seng Keng but they have never failed to entrall us each time.
The performance was stunning, even jaw-dropping at times. At such performances you can almost hear the crowd hold their breaths, then letting out a collective "phew" when it's over. The lion dancers were extremely agile with their footwork and jumps.
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.
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!
I love Perut Ikan which is a sourish curry made with preserved fish stomaches. I know it doesn't sound quite right, in fact it sounds offending even to some people, but this dish is a delicacy found only in the best Nyonya homes. Lots of shredded herbs are also added to this dish that imbues it with a delicate herbal fragrance. I could usually eat a whole bowl of this all by myself. Nyonya Delight serves this curry, but sadly it doesn't quite lived up to my standards. I'm used to the Perut Ikan served by Nyonyas in Penang and unfortunately something seems to be missing here. I suspect they must have added a little bit of coconut milk to the curry. I didn't like this dish at all.
The stall owner has graciously offered us a free plate of sambal petai prawns which were excellent! The prawns were deliciously smothered in thick sambal paste with the perfect balance of spiciness. 
Nyonya Delight @ Rock Cafe Food Court is located at Dataran Sunway. They provide food catering as well and can be contacted at 017-3144942 (Lawrence).
At the end of the performance the lions distributed mandarin oranges to the crowd to signify good fortune. 
If you haven't caught your first lion dance of the year, make your way to the various shopping centres this week and next. There will be many lion dances to make your Chinese New Year an exciting one!
Also made Chocolate Almond cookies although they don't look too pretty, just so long as they taste good!
I tried Almond cookies this year too. The cookies are made with ground almonds and topped with sliced almonds. I love almonds because they impart such a rich flavour to the cookies & cakes.
And finally, the kiddies' favourite - cornflakes & raisins cookies :
The photos don't quite do the cookies justice, I'm afraid. I was in a hurry hence the bad photography!
The buffet spread areas are large with well-stocked food counters (at least for the first time we were there). At a corner was the drinks counter with free-flow sweet young coconuts which was quite popular with diners. Other fruit juices and herbal/flower teas are also available although I suspect the coconuts are the most popular.
My favourite sections at Tenji remains the teppanyaki and tempura counters. There is a variety of items at the teppanyaki counters which you can order by dropping your table no. tags onto the plate. We ordered the tiger prawns, salmon and mixed mushrooms teppanyaki. The tiger prawns were large and succulent, absolutely delectable. It was so good we had three helpings!
The teppanyaki salmon was good too. The salmon was fresh and was a hit with our daughter. Our only gripe was that the serving was a little too small, even for a child.
Unfortunately, the mixed mushroom teppanyaki didn't fare too well in the taste section. It looked good on the plate but we thought it was rather bland. We ended up dousing the mushrooms with soya sauce to give it a little flavour and still, something seems to be missing.
The tempura comes in a variety of prawns, soft-shelled crabs and crystal fish. The tempura batter coating the seafood was very light and crispy and was quite good. However, the tempura were fried in small batches so the plates are almost always empty. I've had to resort to waiting for the chefs to fry the tempura to ensure a share.
I also liked the noodles section where we could pick the items in a metal basket and hand over to the chef to cook them in either miso or spicy soup. I chose the miso soup which I thought to be a little bland. The soup was sent to our table in a cute little paper bowl. 
There is also a Chinese counter where dim sum, soups, stir-fried vegetables and steamed fish can be ordered. We tried the stir-fried Hong Kong kai-lan which we thought to be rather good. The kai-lan was crunchy and fresh. I also tried the Chinese herbal soup which was not bad either. The steamed fish was steamed a little too long however. 
There's also a Western section where soups, grilled lamb/roasted chicken, pasta, fish & chips etc are served. We didn't try those as after almost 2 hours into our meal we're almost filled to the brim. 
The other desserts are worth a mention too although we didn't try the cakes. We did try the sesame, strawberry and melon mochi which were pretty good. 
We spent a total of 2 hours at Tenji where we ate to our hearts' content. And the price? RM29.90 for the first hour and an additional RM10.00 for the next hour. So all in we paid RM39.90 per person. For all that food, it's well worth the price we paid! 
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