Recommended: Very good dim sum @ Concorde Hotel KL (non- halal) – Xin Cuisine

Becky’s 1 Minute Summary:
What: Semi fine dining Chinese restaurant serving nouvelle Cantonese cuisine and Hong Kong dim sum.
What to order here: This marks my 3rd visit to Xin for dim sum. I have since tried almost everything on the dim sum menu. You can’t go wrong with the basics of prawn and pork dumplings. Desserts are a must.
The steamed pork bun (char siew) and the signature ‘Lau Sa Pau” is best eaten hot!
Overall experience: Good.
Price: RM6.50 – RM18.00 per portion of dim sum. Some comes in sets of 3 morsels.

For the long story, read on.

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Xin Cuisine is one of the “old but gold” Chinese dining restaurants in KL hotels.
Not many outlets in hotels are non-halal; and out of the few non-halal ones, even less serves consistent and good quality Chinese cuisine with justified prices.
At Xin, you are assured of taste and quality for the prices paid.

I’m a bao lover so both the Char Siew Bao and Lau Sa Pau (RM9.50) are staples for any of my dim sum meals.
This Lau Sa Pau is one of Xin’s signatures and it is simply divine. Tear the soft, thin skin apart to release the rich lava of salted egg custard within. Proceed to savour with caution as it is hot!

The fillings for the char siew (pork) buns were just nice for me; not too sweet and the mix was more lean meat than fat. It wasn’t too saucy (wet) either.

Another shot from a previous visit:

The egg tarts are recommended as well. The quintessential flaky crust and wobbly rich custard made it hard to stop at one! There goes the diet. 😀
Egg Tart RM8.50. Fried Yam Puff RM9.50.  

While most “normal people” sip hot tea with their dim sum, I prefer Chinese sweet soups (tong shui) with mine. On this visit we tried the Mango Pudding (RM8.50) and was rewarded with a lovely puree perfumed with the fragrance of ripe mangoes.
The recipe was mangoes blended with coconut milk (which explains the silky, rich mouthfeel) and an added scoop of creamy mango ice-cream and sago pearls.

For a less calori-fic option, this Refreshing Aloe Vera sweet soup was my alternative. In fact, this is my standard order here at Xin.

A unique item of the menu would be this Smoked Duck Dumpling RM10.50. We had thought it was smoked duck ham but it turned to be smoked minced duck on top of Xin’s housemade fish paste. As with all things smoked, proceed with caution as it could be salty.

While dim sum is only available for lunch (weekdays) and brunch (weekends), the ala-carte menu is available for order for lunch and dinner everyday. You can order noodles, meats, seafood (basically Chinese dishes) from the ala-carte menu.
I would recommend the Honey Baked Pork Ribs.  The meat was tender with a nice outer crisp and coated with the most finger-licking-good sweet sauce.
The smallest portion (as pictured here) is priced at RM16.00 which I thought is reasonable for hotel standards since a similar pork dish is priced about RM15 – RM20 at our local coffee shops/Chinese tai chou restaurants.

Another must for my dim sum sessions – fishballs. I’m very fussy with fishballs as I love mine redolent with fish flavour and bouncy in texture. These fishballs hits all the prerequisite criteria for me!

Scallop Dumpling: RM15.00. Can’t complain with such nice plump scallops.

The fried radish cake here was much more flavourful than the usual with the addition of dried shrimps and chilli. The fresh radish cake is made in-house which explained the soft texture with a nice flavour of radish (rather than just the taste of flour).
This was pan fried leaving a thin crunchy texture on the outer layer while remaining soft in the middle; exactly how fried radish cakes should be. 

The rice rolls (Chee Cheong Fun) here were never to my liking somehow. I find the rolls too thick and not silky enough.

Pork paste wrapped in beancurd skin. Good.

We were always too full with dim sum to sample items from the Noodle Bar.
On my recent visit I tried the KL Hokkien Noodles and was suitably impressed. You can read about that HERE.
The Noodle Bar also serves various types of dry/soup noodle dishes, congee and other specialities during lunch. I must make it a point to review the noodles dishes here soon! 🙂

Entertaining, soothing sounds played by resident artiste using traditional Chinese musical instruments of pipa and quzheng serenades diners as they enjoy their meal here in Xin. Xin is rather busy during lunch but quieter during dinners.

Xin Cuisine
Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur
2 Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603 2144 8750 or +603 2144 2200 ext 2338
Fax: +603 2144 1628

HOURS:
Mon-Fri: 11.30am – 2.30pm / 6.30pm -11.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am – 2.30pm / 6.30pm -11.00pm
Sun & Public Holidays: 9.00am – 2.30pm / 6.30pm -11.00pm