Reunions and festive meals at Wan Li

The Lunar New Year of the Boar is just around the corner and Chinese Head Chef at Wan Li Chinese Restaurant in the Renaissance Johor Baru, Go Yong Jia, better known as Chef Jay, is taking the lead to serve traditional festive meals.

Prosperity Yee Sang raw fish salad and the
delicious spread in Set Menu A

I join guests at Wan Li for an experience of the festive menu that Chef Jay and his culinary team will be serving in the coming festive season.

In the traditional practice for Lunar New Year celebrations, the Yee Sang, an auspicious raw fish salad, is served as the first course of the festive meal.

I watch as the excitement builds and everyone stands up with their chopsticks poised for a rousing lo-hei celebration… and I wait to see if the serving staff was ready to recite the respective traditional auspicious phrases as each topping was added to the salad.

And he did so, before inviting the guests to toss for greater prosperity.

Reciting auspicious phrases as
each topping is added to the Yee Sang

In addition to traditional, colourful and auspicious ingredients, this platter of Prosperity Salmon Yee Sang comes with slivers of organic vegetables, fresh fruits and jelly fish.

The meal in Set Menu A continues with piping hot, individual bowls of Double-Boiled free-range Chicken Soup brewed with American Ginseng.

Following the tradition of auspicious festive meals, this menu comes complete with meat, fish, prawns and vegetables.

Cantonese Crispy Roasted Chicken is followed by Hong Kong style steamed Dragon Tiger Garoupa fish and wok-fried Sea Prawns with Garlic and Pepper.

A must-have auspicious vegetable dish for this festive season is Ho See Fatt Choy, prepared with Braised Dried Oysters with Fish Maw, Mushrooms and Vegetables, topped with black moss, an ingredient that resembles wispy dark strands of hair.

These savoury dishes are then completed by a serving of Steamed Rice dotted with Yam and bits of Chicken Sausage, all wrapped in a Lotus Leaf.

Don't burn your lips while you enjoy this piping hot
bowl of Double-Boiled free-range Chicken Soup
brewed with American Ginseng

The menu ends sweetly with refreshing Chilled Lemongrass Jelly with Passion Fruit, served in individual bowls.

Set Menu A, an eight-course meal for 10 persons is priced at RM1,688 nett per table and RM988 nett per table of six people.

For Set Menu B, the meal begins with Prosperity Abalone and Salmon Yee Sang and continues with individual bowls of soup prepared with high-value ingredients, dubbed Mini Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

The poultry dish is a combination platter of Cantonese Crispy Roasted Chicken and Roasted Duck and this will be followed by Hong Kong style steamed Pomfret fish from Pontian.

Sea Prawns fried in Garlic and Pepper

Next, the Sea Prawns dish prepared in a special Hong Kong style will be followed by an auspicious dish of Braised Sea Cucumber with Ten Heads of Abalone and Broccoli.

Steamed Yam Rice with Chicken Sausage wrapped in a Lotus Leaf rounds off the menu and ends with dessert of Chilled Mango Puree with Pomelo, served in individual bowls.

Set Menu B, another eight-course meal for 10 persons is priced at RM2,388 nett per table and RM1,388 nett per table of six people.

A traditional must-have auspicious dish for the
Lunar New Year is Ho See Fatt Choy!

Tables for 10 persons for Set Menu A will enjoy complimentary one bottle of red wine per table while Set B Menu for tables for 10 or six persons are inclusive of one bottle of red wine per table.

For Reunion Dinners on the Lunar New Year Eve, Wan Li has arranged two sessions from 5.30pm and from 8pm with two Set Menus for groups of 10 or six persons.

Traditional Poon Choy, a veritable banquet in a basin, is also served for dine-in or takeaway in two sizes: Large (for 10) at RM850 nett and Small (for 5) at RM480 nett.

The two Poon Choy choices, Cantonese-style Fortune Abalone and Dried Seafood Treasure Pot, are topped with heads of abalone, whole sea prawns, broccoli florets, black moss and dried scallops.

Refreshing dessert of Chilled Lemongrass Jelly
with Passion Fruit

Arranged layer-by-layer within the claypot, are high-value ingredients like whole Chinese mushrooms, fish maw, dried oysters, sea cucumber, and poultry like juicy pieces of steamed free-range chicken, roasted duck and goose feet.

All these tasty and auspicious items are resting on a bed of Chinese Tianjin Cabbage, lotus roots, pumpkin, white radish, soaked in the rich flavours of golden garlic and abalone sauce.

Two choices of Yee Sang in two sizes, are also available for dine-in or takeaway.

Prosperity Salmon Yee Sang: Large at RM128 nett and Small at RM98 nett while the Auspicious Abalone Yee Sang is: Large at RM178 nett and Small at RM128 nett.

Traditional lo-hei for greater prosperity with the team at Renaissance Johor Baru

Wan Li Restaurant [Pork-Free] is on the lobby level of the Renaissance Johor Baru Hotel, 2 Jalan Permas 11, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, 81750 Masai, Johor. 

Advance orders are recommended for takeaways.

For orders and reservations, Tel: +607 – 381 3388.

Email: rhi.jhbbr.wanlirestaurant@renaissancehotels.com