Gourmet festive fare at KS Treasures

It’s good to be back at KS Treasures to dine with Frankie, his wife, Diane, and their son, along with a few friends, for a preview of the festive dishes prepared by Chef Benson Chia.

Steamed Chinese sausages and waxed duck meat
and a claypot of rice: Larp Mei Farn (Cantonese)

At the launch of KS Treasures last year, I met co-owners, Jeremy Teo, Chef Benson and his wife, May.

Now we have the pleasure of dining with Jeremy’s sister, Celine, TS Ng and Yoshiko Tsuchiya of Johor Bahru Gourmet, and her 7-year old son.

Johor-born Chef Benson, who is from Segamat, is applying the culinary skills he acquired from an illustrious career with international brand Chinese restaurants from Singapore, Shanghai to Miami, USA.

Through skills garnered from his stints with Tung Lok Singapore, the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, to award-winning Michelin Star Cantonese restaurant, Hakkasan in Miami, Chef Benson is living his dream in serving up culinary creations in his own restaurant.

Serving Braised Three Treasures Dried Seafood Yellow Broth

At the table, I’m seated next to Yoshiko and she turns to me with a polite query about my blog, My Johor Stories.

Having lived here for five years, she is familiar with local food and we have much to chat about especially since she and her son had just returned from a visit to Ipoh.

[I was impressed by her young son who has such an inquisitive palate that he is ready to taste all the food served throughout the meal!]

After tossing the platter of Salmon Yee Sang for greater prosperity and tasting it, I’m ready for the items that Chef Benson has picked to prepare for us from the eight Set Menus and Ala Carte Menu, designed for the festive season.

Taste the flavour of Mandarin oranges and yellow
mustard that coats these tasty prawns

I’m more than ready for something extraordinary and the Braised Three Treasures Dried Seafood Yellow Broth, truly makes an exceptional difference.

As I watch the serving staff dish out the soup into individual bowls, I observe the creamy texture of the rich yellow broth – prepared from chicken stock and scallops – filled with shreds of dried scallops, sea cucumber and fish maw.

As I sip each spoonful of this superior soup to savour its rich, creamy flavour, I agree that it certainly lives up to its name and reflects KS Treasures reputation for modern gourmet Chinese cuisine.

Such a great start sets the tone for our meal and I sit back, hardly able to contain my anticipation for more delights to come.

In the Chinese tradition of giving auspicious names to festive dishes, I recognize the voice of Chef Benson behind me saying, “Tai Kat Tai Lei,” as he presents the next dish.

The chef comes into my line of sight and he proudly presents the dish of prawns stir-fried in a special sauce created with slices of Mandarin oranges and yellow mustard.

At a glance I see that the whole prawns are without shells and are completed coated with the sauce. In this way, I can taste the full flavour of the delicious sauce along with the crunchy texture of the prawns with each bite.

While we are happily savouring these tasty prawns, Celine’s perceptive eyes discerned that the kids at our table were not too enthusiastic about such sophisticated flavours.

She quickly responded by placing orders for two items that she believes, are all-time favorites, popular with both children and adults: Ebi Shrimp Fried Rice and Fried Chicken Wings.

When these items are served, I can see how the adults are tempted to have some.

From the way the golden grains of fried rice and the fried chicken wings – tender mid-sections only – gradually disappeared from the platters, these are evidently popular hits!

[No, I did not have a taste but made a mental note to come back to savour them later.]

The Chef's signature Black Truffle Roasted Duck

This brief interlude allows the meal to settle more comfortably before the next dish is served: The Chef’s signature Black Truffle Roasted Duck garnished with sautéed mushrooms.

This dish is so fusion-like that I can imagine how Chef Benson cannot resist adding a French element to the Oriental preparation of his famous whole roasted duck!

Mmm… The moist and tender, fragrant roasted duck complemented by the truffle sauce, tastes just right and I don’t mind having yet another piece...

And when this platter was retrieved completely empty, it certainly shows how this dish went down (positively!) with us!

Stewed Port Knuckle with Sea Cucumber

We are licking our lips and agreeing that the Black Truffle Roasted Duck wins – hands down – when the next dish is served: Stewed Pork Knuckle with Sea Cucumber.

Maybe it’s the lighting but this eye-catching dish of a plump pork knuckle sitting in a ring of giant size mushrooms and chunks of sea cucumber, appears to be glistening and glowing!

We cannot help but admire the plating and presentation, and agree that we have no alternative but to destroy such exquisite splendor so that we can savour this dish.

Then TS requests for a fork and knife and rises to the occasion.

Skillful handiwork by TS
in lifting the bones out of the tender pork knuckle

He stands up and with skills that rival a trained surgeon, he neatly dissects the tender meat and lifts the bones out!

As we applaud TS for his skillful operation (he insists this is his first time ever!) he cuts the pork knuckle into portions.

Then we help ourselves to the fall-off-the-bone tender meat and its rich flavours that Chef Benson achieved from painstakingly stewing this dish for two and a half hours!

We also enjoy a green leafy vegetable dish before rounding off the meal with Cantonese style Larp Mei Farn or rice steamed with Chinese sausages and waxed duck.

I can smell it before I see it.

A drizzle of dark sauce on steamed Larp Mei Farn
before it is mixed and served

This familiar aroma sends me straight back to No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng, where our grandmother used to prepare this dish for the family during Chinese New Year.

Chef Benson tells us that he timed the cooking of this rice dish in a claypot, according to our pace so that it will be ready just on time to serve at the end of our meal.

Just as our grandmother did, the chef placed the Chinese sausages and waxed duck meats on top of the rice and are steamed so that its fragrant oils and rich flavours are soaked directly into the rice.

The sausages and meat are removed from the rice and sliced, and then served separate from the claypot of rice.

At the table, the serving staff adds the sliced sausages and meats back onto the rice and drizzles a special dark sauce over the dish before mixing the ingredients with the rice.

Each serving is a bowl of rice mixed with the preserved meats and as I taste each comforting mouthful, I cannot help having a flashback to Chinese New Year at grandfather or Ah Kong’s house where our family had a tradition of eating this fragrant rice dish.

I know Chef Benson is mighty proud of this dish and I congratulated him on serving such an agreeable, nostalgic taste.

But I have to break his heart by telling him, “My grandmother’s tasted much better.”

The chef generously accepted my comment and goes on to explain that the Chinese sausages and waxed products of today cannot be compared to those of yesteryears.

I agreed that this is because in a bygone era, the China products were preserved with high quality wine and ingredients, quite unlike what is happening now.

The chef explains that the preserved meats used at KS Treasures are premium products from Hong Kong [I can picture the type traditionally shipped out in metal tins!].

Dessert of Chinese style Pumpkin Puree

Like the others around the table, I’m more than satisfied with this spectacular meal and am ready to end sweetly with dessert.

Our dessert is a platter of Chinese style Pumpkin Puree with a hint of coconut milk, similar to Teochew Or Nee (Yam Puree).

Just like Or Nee, a serving of the pureed pumpkin may not look good but everyone agrees that it certainly tastes so good!

A glance at the Set Menus shows a price range from as low as RM788, RM988, RM1,188 to as high as RM4,688 for a table of 10 persons.

Chef Benson has also prepared a Chinese New Year Ala Carte menu of festive dishes and in our meal, the prawn dish and the steamed rice are from the festive Ala Carte menu.

To allow sufficient preparation time, one day advance notice for reservations of set menus is recommended. Tel: +607 – 665 1133.

KS Treasures Restaurant [Non-Halal] is located at No. 155 & 157, Jalan Sutera, Taman Sentosa, Johor Baru, Johor.

Open daily, from 11.30am to 3pm and from 5.30pm to 10.30pm, with an afternoon break.