Five Sen5es @ The Westin, KL

Five Sen5es @ The Westin, KL features a weekend All-You-Can-Eat Simply Dim Sum Lunch for RM68++ that I have been eyeing for quite some time now. During a recent visit, I was told that the Simply Dim Sum Lunch is valid on weekdays too; at a very reasonable price of RM48++ though selection may be slightly limited.

Now if any of you here wants to join me for the dim sum on a beautiful Sat/Sun morning, please give me a holler ok? 🙂 I have been craving for dim sum!

That aside, I was at Five Sen5es recently for dinner. Why the name Five Sen5es is a common question on everyone’s lips and I got the same query from my friends. Basically, the previous EEST of Westin KL as we know is now Five Sen5es with a revamped menu and a rather interesting concept of using all your sensory signatures of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell as you dine.

Let me illustrate this.
When I stepped into Five Sen5es recently my Five Sen5es experience begun with touring 5 different rooms. Each room serves to bring out one of your sensory system. We started with..

TASTE.

Secret Double Boiled “Tau Fu fa” Morel Treasure Mushroom in Superior Broth. Looks deceptively simple, but everything was in the taste; the deep rooted flavour achievable only through hours of slow simmering.
The pretty beancurd “flower” was a pretty sight, not to mention awe-inspiring as well as one couldn’t help but wonder how did the chef managed to craft the design in the soft beancurd.

Then it was Touch.

Wasabi- mayo coated prawns with katafi in a basket, eaten using cold steel chopsticks.

We moved on to Smell, probably one of my favourite senses of all time; other than taste. 🙂

The pungent petai (stink beans) hit our senses the moment we stepped into the room.

We watched hungrily as the chef busily pan fries petai, scallops mushrooms and asparagus. The giant scallops were given a final quick torch just before it was served. The melted butter on top added a rich silkiness to the overall mouthfeel.

Lusting for more, I quickly moved to the next room. This is fun! 🙂

BELOW: The Sense of Hearing. House Fried Crispy Pork Intestines Hong Kong Style.

You guessed it. The crunch as you bite into these morsels of thinly sliced pork intestines serves to stimulate the sense of hearing.

Refreshing concoctions of mocktails cleanses the mouth as we moved from room to room.

Last but not least; the sense of Sight.

Home-made silken “Tau Fu Fah” Golden Corn Oat Glaze. Wonderful finish to my Signature Sensory experience! 🙂

With that done we finally moved on to the actual dinner. Since it was my virginal visit, we selected some of the signature dishes namely Five Sen5es’s famous house smoked wild duck and parcel bun – RM22 and the Secret home-made crispy world-class pork belly – RM33.

I liked the duck though my partner didn’t. His reason? There was a lack of gaminess to it so it didn’t taste like duck. LOL! That’s a chinaman for you. As for me, I didn’t mind at all and ate most of the portion that night.

He said the same for the pork belly. The pork was too “clean-tasting” and lacked flavour for him. Thus the both of us disagreed on the meats that night.
I actually enjoyed the pork belly; the melting fat layers, crispy skin and tender meat.

For fibres, we had Wok fried Australian scallops with XO sauce and asparagus – RM58, a dish that’s a firm favourite of ours. There were enough scallops to justify the price but sadly the scallops was a tad salty and the asparagus were slightly fibrous. Ah, at least we came to an agreement on this one! 🙂

Being typically chinese, we couldn’t resist adding on a nourishing soup. This is the Imperial sun dried bamboo broth, mushroom and jumbo crab – RM22; good but not great.

Saving stomach space for desserts was a good move. I tried both the Five Sen5es ginger ice cream (1 scoop)  and their signature Ginseng Creme brûlée fritters with Honey mandarin ice cream – RM20.

If you are thinking that I chose the desserts mainly for the ice cream, you’re spot on! I just couldn’t resist. Honey mandarin ice cream? GINGER ice cream?
Chinese ingredients inspired ice creams are not common for sure.

The honey mandarin was creamy and really sweet. It would have been refreshing if it was stronger and zesty in citrus flavour rather than just plain sweet. However, when I took a bit of the Ginseng Creme brûlée fritters, I realized that perhaps that was a good thing. The ginseng cream brulee was bitterish creamy so the sweet ice cream would have worked perfectly for those unused to the bitter taste of ginseng. I didn’t have any problem with the ginseng though. In fact, I actually loved it!
The ginger ice cream on the other hand was frostier; bordering between gelato and sorbet kind of texture. Coupled with the pungency expected of ginger as well as the heat at the back of the throat after each spoonful, this was one interesting flavour. I highly recommend that you try it! 😉

So who’s up for weekend dim sum with me? You can check out the menu below!

Five Sen5es, 
Level 1, The Westin Kuala Lumpur, 199 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Malaysia.

Hours:
Lunch: 11.30am to 2.30pm, Dinner: 5.30pm to 10.30pm