Dim sum with a twist at Luk Yu Teahouse

For first-timers, searching for Luk Yu Teahouse is quite an adventure. Expect to traipse around the maze of Feast Village, looking into every corner and crevice to find this pork-free restaurant favoured by the elite for its remarkable dim sum and Cantonese cuisine. Situated opposite of Shook! and right next to a descending escalator, its encasing ornate metal-and-stained-glass façade shielding its bustling interiors from view.

A word of caution: getting a table in late mornings at Luk Yu can be a challenging task. Often packed and bustling with regular customers in its compact space, Luk Yu’s Oriental baroque décor (filled with blue-and-white china, ornate wooden cupboards, etc) is juxtaposed against a central, open and modern kitchen humming with activity. You might even see its head chef, Chai Chee Leong in action along with his team.

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The best of teas and peanuts
Much can be said about the food at Luk Yu once you realise that even its appetisers are delicious. Plump and sizable braised peanuts are soaked in essences of tea for an extra dose of flavour, resulting in its juicy texture and moreish appeal. Wash down these peanuts with sips of cooling lily and jasmine tea – a brew believed to be beneficial for women due to its youth-preserving properties.

Befitting its name as a ‘teahouse’, Luk Yu pays tribute to China’s fascination with tea by its extensive selection of teas that are carefully curated to complement the dim sum choices on its menu. Do try its Chrysanthemum Eight Treasures tea or a premium Aged Pu Erh King tea as an excellent alternative.

Steaming wonders with scallops and prawns
When they finally arrive, the dim sum dishes definitely live up to our expectations and more. The steamed scallop dumplings win brownie points with this writer for its ‘skin’, which has the right amount of thickness for texture and enough thinness for the flavours of the scallop pieces to seep through at a bite.

Uniquely, Luk Yu’s crystal prawn dumplings have slightly thicker ‘skins’. Nonetheless this increase in thickness does not dampen the experience of biting into the succulent, fresh prawn fillings one bit. Another dim sum choice we highly recommend is Luk Yu’s steamed chicken and prawn dumpling – also known as siu mai. Typically found in other restaurants, Luk Yu takes this dim sum up a notch by painstakingly crafting its presentation and taste. Fresh and packed with flavours, the siu mai here at Luk Yu pass our critical judgement most satisfactorily.

More than just dim sum in Luk Yu
As its reputation is especially focused on its dim sum repertoire, our sampled selections revolve around these bite-sized morsels more than it’s a la carte dishes – which we mean to keep and review for another day. Nonetheless, we agree to try one of Chef Loong’s off-the-menu, seasonal item as we wait for our dim sum to arrive. Simple in its presentation, his braised dry oyster, Chinese mushroom with broccoli brings an assortment of flavours and textures in one plate. The sweetness of the Chinese mushroom and topping of black moss gels well with the dryness of the oyster and the crunchiness of the broccoli.

We then try Chef Loong’s aromatic roasted crispy pigeon served with crackers – another seasonal item that we learn takes a whole day to prepare. Hence, it is a limited menu selection. Its meat lean and bony, the pigeon (a staple dish in HK and China) is roasted so that its flesh yields enough juiciness that goes very well with its side dish of dry crackers.

Last but not least, we cleansed our palate with the restaurant’s signature mango sago in pomelo, a treat often associated with China to cool off after a long, hot summer day. Made by hand, the silky-smooth mango sago is delightfully creamy with the right amount of bubbly froth to fill us up during our breakfast visit.

Luk Yu Tea House, Feast Village, Starhill Gallery 181 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur; Tel No: 03-2782 3850; Website: http://www.starhillgallery.com

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