Canton-i love you!

The roast pork belly has an absolutely crispy skin.

By Eu Hooi Khaw

OCT 24 — Each time my sister comes to KL from Perth, we would eat at least twice at Canton-i before she heads home. We love the Hong Kong wantan noodles there, which are fine and a little crunchy (not too much, else you will have wires in your mouth!). We would have these “kon-loh” or with soup, and we would definitely have the prawn wantan, some roast pork and “char siu”, and egg tarts.

We like it that the egg tarts always come first, the light pastry flaking off as we take bites of the smooth custard filling. What’s wrong with having dessert first when it sweetens your experience of what’s to follow?

The prawn wantan offers fresh, sweet and springy bites, while the roast pork belly (medium fat) has an absolutely crispy skin. The “char siu” or barbecued pork is consistently sticky sweet with a honey glaze, and has just enough fat for an almost creamy mouthfeel.

I was at Canton-i at The Gardens last week and found out that a mixture of high-gluten Canadian flour and Beijing eggs — which have very yellow and viscous egg yolks — make all the difference to the texture of the wantan noodles. The noodles are flown in from Hong Kong weekly. Now we don’t have to push our way into a tiny wantan noodle shop in Hong Kong and eat them from chipped bowls. I don’t mind having them in the comfort of Canton-i.

Congee on a higher plane — with bird's nest and abalone.

This time I tried its Congee with abalone, Japanese oysters and bird’s nest. It is simmered for four to five hours with three different types of rice – Australian long grain, Japanese pearl and Thai fragrant rice. It’s a silky and creamy congee, taking its flavours from slices of abalone and oysters, with ginger strips and spring onion giving a fragrant lift. It’s taste of luxury; the bird’s nest on top of it is the icing on the cake. Was it forbiddingly expensive? No! It’s RM38 for a bowl enough for two or three people.

You could tell a special soya sauce has been used in the Sautéed Chives with dried shrimps and shredded cuttlefish. There is just a touch of sweetness and a nice aroma about the fine chives which are fried with some beansprouts and carrot strips, with crispy cuttlefish and dried shrimps, and finished with cashews. ”We use a combination of three types of sang chow (light soya sauce) to fry,” said Henry Yip, CEO of Dragon-i Restaurant Sdn Bhd.

Canton-i is adding new items to its menu, and one of these is the Fish Maw Stuffed with Minced Pork and Cuttlefish paste. This dim sum is a mouthful of wonderful textures: the spongy fish maw against its filling that has bounce, and topped with flying fish roe. It’s surprisingly light.
We also had a dish of lotus root, black fungus, celery, magnolia petals and macadamia fried together “peasant-style”, though there is nothing peasant-like about its ingredients.

First a bird’s nest congee with abalone, now bird’s nest egg tarts, I swear I can feel the skin on my face smoothening out. There’s a delicate heap on the egg tart, and as we know bird’s nest has an eggy flavour, so it goes very well with the custard tart.

So fine — Egg Tarts with Bird's Nest.

Henry also insisted on me trying the Double-Boiled Ginger Milk, which was as smooth as tow foo fah, but even better with its distinctly hot and fragrant ginger flavour. I didn’t care for the lotus seeds on top. I know we should take the rough with the smooth, but not in this classic, excellent dessert.

You can expect Roast Goose Noodles at Canton-i soon, as well as Carp Fishballs and Lettuce Congee. ”We don’t add MSG to our food and we are trying to reduce the fat and salt too, without compromising on the flavour,” said Henry.

There will be afternoon tea at Canton-i soon, from 3pm to 5pm. There will be good coffee you can have with pastries, or the HK milk tea with a chee chai pow (piggy buns) at RM5 a set.

Canton-i is in 1-Utama, lower ground floor(tel: 7729 7888), The Gardens (LG floor, tel 03-2284 6888), Sunway Pyramid (ground floor, tel: 03-5636 2888) at the Blue Atrium.