Dining in the garden of plenty

SURROUNDED BY 355-rai of parkland in the Rajpreuk Club on Vibhavadee-Rangsit Road, the newly opened Man Fu Yuan offers the very best of Chinese cuisine not just to members of this exclusive club but to other patrons appreciative of fine Cantonese fare. Diners can thank TCC Group tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi for his foresight in bringing the finest restaurant of the InterContinental Singapore, which he also owns, to Bangkok’s well-heeled gourmets. 

The interior, says the deputy general manager Prathan Posayanant, maintains the original decoration as much as possible through an elegant colour scheme of beige, gold and cream and the flora-and-fauna theme in the wallpaper and carpets, which represents the meaning of Man Fu Yuan – “garden of prosperity”.

“There are a few top-notch Chinese restaurants in this area. We offer high-quality ingredients with authentic fare so there’s no need to head downtown to enjoy a Cantonese meal. The Rajpreuk Club has about 1,000 exclusive members and they prefer Chinese to Western cuisine when holding business meetings or family gathering,” Prathan explains. 

“As we’ve only been open a month, the menu is not yet totally complete but dinners can find 60 per cent of the dishes offered by the Singapore outlet.”

The restaurant can accommodate 150 and features six private rooms – each taking its name from a flower that has a good meaning in Chinese like lily, jasmine and orchid. The white-linen covered tables are elegantly set with bone china dinnerware and tea sets brought from Singapore to ensure an identical dining experience. 

The complimentary amuse-bouche changes daily and on my visit, chef Lee Kuan Foo was offering delectable deep-fried golden needle mushrooms with a brittle texture and crispy to the touch. 

The Cantonese dishes here are best paired with 10 special tea blends, among them White Peony, Royal Tie Guanyin, Dragon Pearl Supreme and Aged Pu’er. Each blend costs Bt248 a sachet. The unique in-house blend, however, is the golden-hued Man Fu Yuan Special 5 Elements with flowery notes that go well with a trio of dim sum (Bt138). 

The dim sum comprises three best-selling delicacies: prawn dumpling, glutinous rice dumpling, and chive dumpling filled with prawn and shitake mushroom. My favourite was the deep-fried glutinous dumping that was crispy outside and glutinous inside and filled with minced chicken and shitake mushroom. Three dipping sauces are available - XO sauce that’s salty and hot, soy sauce, and sour and hot Shanghai sauce. Guests can opt for the dim sum delights to be served in traditional bamboo baskets for sharing, but the personal platter is a good choice for those always reluctant to grab the last piece of a communal dish. 

The food can be ordered either a la carte or as a set. On my visit, I was served a five-course set menu for Bt3,288, which kicked off with the dim sum platter. The next course on offer was double-boiled shark’s fin with shark’s cartilage consomme (Bt988 if ordered a la carte) but as someone totally opposed to the consumption of shark fin, I opted instead for Double-Boiled Bamboo Pith with Flower Mushroom (Bt188 a la carte). The soup is made of chicken stock, pork knuckle and dried scallop and these are slowly simmered for six to eight hours for a clear and mild soup.

“The key characteristics of Chinese cuisine are smell, colour and taste,” says the young chef Foo, 24. “The aroma of a dish, which comes from the cooking process, and a beautiful appearance, are the centrepiece of every meal.

Up next was Braised 5-Head Whole Abalone with Sea Cucumber (Bt1,688 a la carte) on a bed of Chinese cabbage or bok choy topped with gravy. The number of heads refers to the size of the abalone – the bigger the number, the smaller the abalone. Abalone in restaurants normally range from two to up to 16 heads. Foo uses canned abalone from South Africa known for its fresh flavour, creamy colour, and succulent flesh. The sea cucumber adds a jelly-like texture that’s enhanced with seasoned gravy. 

The main is Fried Rice with Barbecued Pork, Shrimp and Vegetables in XO Sauce (Bt328 a la carte), which was tasty and not in the least oily.

Aside from the set menu, I also sampled another speciality, Duck Smoked with Chinese Tea Leaf (Bt788 for half, Bt1,388 for a whole), which is cooked using a combination of Cantonese roasting methods and Szechuan smoking techniques and enhanced with aromatic tea for a crispy skin with tender flesh. 

The meal ended with Pao Lava (Bt280 for three pieces), custard lava bun that can be ordered either deep-fried or steamed. On Foo’s recommendation, I tried the deep-fried version and it was superb. The crispy golden brown bun was filled with melting salted egg yolk custard that oozed like lava when torn apart. For the set menu, the bun is served together with Chilled Cream of Rock Melon with Sago for a refreshing finish. 

 

 

CHINESE CREATIONS

>>Man Fu Yuan is at Rajpruek Club of the North Park Project on Vibhavadee-Rangsit Road. It is open daily from 11.30am to 3pm and from 5.30 to 10pm. |Call (02) 955 0403 or visit www.Rajpruek.com.