Dim sum in Grand Imperial – 1 Utama, Hartamas Shopping Centre

For the Grand Imperial group of restaurants I would normally patronise these 2 outlets. One was due to the proximity to my home and another due to the ease of parking on weekends. On Raya day this year, instead of lemang and ketupat, my friend Clifford treated me to some dim sum after our meeting.

I wasn’t complaining. I had always enjoyed my dim sum at Grand Imperial. And after 20 ramadan buffets, the thought of eating another lemang makes my stomach churn.

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Prices are not to be compared to the coffee shops/chain outlets like Jin Xuan of course. Though slightly on the higher side, you do get what you pay for; ie big prawns, meaty dumplings, translucent skin for the har kau, smooth slippery chee cheong fun and pretty some innovative dim sum.

Chee Cheong Fun. Lumpy with fat crunchy prawns.

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This is the average size of the prawns in the chee cheong fun. Not bad right?

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Scallops Chee Cheong Fun. Happily enough, there were thick chunks of scallops within its folds.

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I happened to be dining with prawns lovers. They ordered both steamed and deep fried prawns dumplings. Though I’m not a fan of prawns it was hard to resist such well made dumplings. 🙂

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Even fried, these dumplings were non-greasy with crispy skin and you will find substantial amount of shrimpmeat within, enough to justify its price.

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More prawns. This time on top of each siew mai.

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In case you didn’t notice, it’s one whole fat prawn. Fortunately there were 3 of us so in reality we didn’t consume that many prawns in one sitting. 😀

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Char Siew Pau – BBQ pork buns.

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This could be better, but after 5 visits, I realized that this is their standard for char siew pau. It tasted the same the 1st time I ate one, and it tasted similar on my 5th visit.
I didn’t have a problem with the bun though my dining partner said it could be fluffier (yes I agree it could) but for me I was more concerned with the fillings. I prefer my pau fillings to be less sweet with more meat.
Well all of us would like more meat in our paus don’t we?

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This is was something I haven’t tried before and I never knew it existed on the menu. These are jellyfish boiled and served soaked in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, chilli, wasabi and whatever else.

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It is unique and I would recommend you to order it if you like jellyfish; crunchy, cold and a bit of sting from chillies and wasabi. A nice fusion-ed preparation from the common cold jellyfish appetiser.

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I’m a huge fan of fish balls and though the fish balls here at Grand Imperial are not my favourites, fish balls are a must for me in every dim sum meal. As usual I ordered the steamed ones, followed by another that says “Giant Fried Fish Ball” on the menu. The steamed ones was as how I remembered it; a bit too firm for my liking but “fishy” enough.

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The “giant fried” one turned out to be this; which I assumed that since it’s so big they had it cut into 2 and sliced for our convenience. The accompanying green chilli sauce reminded me of the green chilli that was usually served with pan mee which was spicy and a bit tart.

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Give the pork ribs a skip. Nothing majorly wrong with it other than being a tad bland while some pieces of the meat was tough. Oh wait, that is a major problem isn’t it?

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The Double Boiled Hasma is my standard order here and I like how it is not too sweet and generously loaded with dates, longans and most importantly hasma.

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Another must -order and also my first time trying it is the Squid Cake. Squid has a very mild taste and firm texture, which was replicated very well in this squid cake. As I bit into a piece I detected some crunchy bits inside which by itself is pretty tasty and that helped to impart more flavour to each piece of squid cake.

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There are merits dining in establishments such as The Ming Room, Grand Imperial, Tai Thong group of restaurants for dim sum. You pay more yes, but you’re also paying for comfort, air conditioning and more often than not, premium ingredients and better portions. I won’t say much about service since service charge applies here and when the restaurant is packed, service is just as good as none.
However after numerous visits, I did notice that the staff at Grand Imperial does a good job even when it is full house. You just have to wave harder and get their attention! 😀

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The damage for 3 pax.

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Grand Imperial Restaurant
Hartamas Shopping Centre
1 Utama Shopping Centre
Bangsar Shopping Centre
The 19 USJ City Mall

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Sean Eat Drink KL

    ooo, i like how all the seafood really does look so fresh & springy in the dim sum 😀

  2. Cal

    They have a few restaurants & quality is maintained throughout all the outlets. I’m a regular at their outlets too. Good stuff for the price.

  3. Gayathri

    Thanks for the recommendation. I saw the big juicy prawns and I’m sold!

  4. daniel

    I had dim sum every weekend without fail for the last 2 months since I came back!
    I’ll try this one next week. Care to join me? We catch up over yumcha

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