It’s almost as much of a challenge to find good Cantonese food in Malaysia’s capital as it is to cook it. The cuisine of China’s Guangdong province makes serious demands on its culinary professionals: ingredients need to be fresh, flavours should be delicately balanced, and its numerous cooking methods – namely steaming, stir-frying, and roasting – must be expertly handled. It’s therefore all the more impressive that Xin Dau Ji Malaysia, which opened at EkoCheras Mall this year, offers so many classic Cantonese signature dishes. There’s suckling pig and a lobster platter with steamed egg white – both perennially popular house specials – sweet and sour pork spare ribs, and steamed rice with mud crab and ginger, all cooked by their team of Hong Kong chefs.
The Xin Dau Ji brand itself hails from the original Hong Kong restaurant, which was established in 1972 and quickly rose to fame for the unassailable quality of its Cantonese and seafood cuisine. Having been featured multiple times in Hong Kong’s Michelin Guide, it has since expanded to Macau and Shanghai, with the spotlight repeatedly cast on the excellent quality of its suckling pig.
Now that it’s reached our shores, Xin Dau Ji has found a home in Cheras, spanning six units of linked retail space that measure over 1,000 sq m, allowing for a dining hall with 30 tables and eight VIP rooms. Expect to encounter dim sum lunches that are all killer and no filler, kampung egg tarts with sunshine-yellow custard, Typhoon Shelter-style spicy crab topped with fried garlic and salted black beans, and Guangzhou goose roasted to perfection.
