In a quick flash, we bid farewell to 2013, said hello to 2014 and in less than 3 weeks, we’ll be greeting the God of Fortune at the Lunar New Year. To welcome the Year of the Horse, Chicago Rib House is riding the festivities with its Porkalicious Joy Luck Sets – special set menus to bring family, friends and food lovers together. Along with other well-known influencers and members of the media, I got a special media preview of the festive menu.
While not a conventional place to hold a reunion dinner, a very traditional Yee Sang platter is served before the start of the meal. The complimentary appetiser consists of Norwegian salmon, shredded mango, carrots, red cabbage, white radish, cucumber, cilantro, spring onion, sesame seeds and crackers, and served with the restaurant’s special in-house Plum Sauce. Special auspicious phrases muttered in Chinese are not included.
To kick off the feast is the Signature Platter. Overflowing with abundance is likely to be an understatement as the generous-sized platter comprises juicy spare ribs, pork sausage, grilled fresh water prawns, grilled mussels and vegetable sticks served with a creamy cheese dip. Certainly a big platter, and I’m not surprised if you are quickly filled up with this introductory dish. The cheese dip is delicious.
Looking a lot like a moist chocolate cake was the CNY Braised Pork Belly – a melt-in-your-mouth cut of pork belly served with an Asian-inspired sweet sauce made with passion fruit, spices and wine. We joked that it looked like an enlarged (10x) piece of char siew. Delicious nonetheless, and notably the sweet, tangy sauce. The pork belly was a tad dry, but I liked that it wasn’t overly fat, and the crispy skin had plenty of flavour.
The Chicago Rib House signature ribs is its jewel in the crown, and served with its well-known range of sauces, made from secret recipes guarded over the last 70 years. For the Chinese New Year set, the creative culinary team has created a special Chinese-style plum sauce to be served with the famous baby back ribs. The ribs were tender and moist, and slid off the bone easily. I thought the plum sauce was excellent, and I went back for seconds even though I was pretty stuffed by then.
We also had a sample of the intriguing Drunken Prawns (RM68.80) – white wine steamed prawns, flambéed with brandy.
The Porkalicious Joy Luck sets are available from 18 January to 14 February 2014. Prices range from RM88.00 (for 2 pax) to RM168.80 (for 4 pax). The Signature Platter is also available for individual order from 9 January onwards and priced at an affordable RM39.90.
To complement the scrumptious feast is the Jade Empress, a refreshingly cool cocktail made with green apple and cranberry syrup, cranberry juice, soda water, cinnamon powder and garnished with green apple and orange cubes (RM23.80 per jug).
For “Yum Seng” afficiandos, Carlsberg Beer is available at RM38,80 per jug.
Feeling lucky? Chicago Rib House will be offering an Ang Pow Dip to customers during the CNY campaign. For every order of the Porkalicious Joy Luck Set (2 pax), customers are entitled to one lucky dip, and 2 dips for every order for 4 pax.
A la carte customers are not left out, though, as customers are entitled to one lucky dip for RM100 spend, and two lucky dips for RM200 spend. Whilst stocks last.
For reservations and more information, visit www.chicagoribhouse.com.my
