Special thanks to Olive Tree Hotel for extending this food review invitation.
Today, Olive Tree Hotel is offering a sneak peek of its upcoming Lunar New Year Buffet Lunch. There will be two buffet sessions this year: 5 February 2019 and 6 February 2019. Like the actual lunches, today’s preview event is held at Sukkah Coffee House.
Tossing yee sang (鱼生) is a long-standing tradition during Chinese New Year. It is believed that the higher one tosses, the greater success one achieves in the new year. The Olive Tree Salmon Yee Sang is a combination of colorful ingredients like raw salmon, carrots, daikon, crackers, jellyfish, peanuts and more. Interestingly, corn flakes are included too.
Hailing from Beijing, the Peking Duck (北京烤鸭) is prized for its crispy skin that is extremely flavorful. The roast duck is typically cut into thin slices and wrapped in steamed pancakes (春饼). The delicacy is also filled with cucumber, scallions and sweet bean sauce (甜面酱).
Lok Lok is a popular street food in Penang. The snack features skewered items like prawns, squid, chicken, crab sticks, fish balls and tofu skin. Food is blanched by dipping the skewers in boiling water. Several sauces are prepared to go with Lok Lok.
Wok-Fried Prawns are cooked with garlic and chili, producing an aroma that is truly tantalizing. The pungent seasoning also strikes a chord with my palate.
The Vegetarian Chai Pah has alternating slices of vegetarian meat (素肉) and taro (芋头). The dish is also garnished with shimeji mushrooms (白玉菇) and bok choy (小白菜). Despite its meatless nature, the Vegetarian Chai Pah is surprisingly delectable.
The next dish, Braised Black Mushrooms, highlights the juiciness of shiitake mushrooms (香菇). Accompanying the mushrooms are dried oysters (蚝干), broccoli and fat choy (发菜). Fat choy is thought to be auspicious because its Chinese name sounds similar to “striking rich” (发财).
If spicy food is your cup of tea, I am sure that you will be impressed with the Siamese-Style Squid. Flavored with Thai-style seasoning, the calamari rings are capable of burning a hole through your tongue!
As for something more Western, go for Roasted Country Potato With Smoked Chicken Meatloaf. Capsicum, cucumber and chives serve as garnishing.
The Oven Baked Lamb allows diners to experience North African fare. Succulent slices of lamb are served with Moroccan-style couscous and sweet red dates. Couscous is made from semolina and has a starchy texture reminiscent of rice.
Taking a detour to the salad counter, there are several interesting choices that delight one’s taste buds. My personal picks are seasoned baby octopus, Szechuan black fungus and century eggs.
Assorted Chinese New Year cookies like butter cookies, peanut cookies, almond crisps and kuih bangkit (tapioca cookies) are elegantly presented in a tray. Meanwhile, strawberry puddings and fruit jellies are prepared in miniature glasses. Soupy desserts include Bee Koe Moy (黑糯米粥) and Tau Foo Fah (豆腐花). Tikoy (年糕) and egg tarts (蛋挞) are well received too.
The pastry section presents bakers’ confections like Carrot Cake, Cheese Cake, Praline Cake and Chocolate Fudge Cake. The cakes are meticulously decorated in Chinese New Year colors. For instance, the Carrot Cake has the Chinese character for “prosperity” (福) written in cocoa powder. Speaking of cocoa, most children will be fascinated by the white chocolate fountain.
Olive Tree Hotel’s Lunar New Year Buffet Lunch is priced at RM128.00+ per adult and RM68.00+ per child or senior citizen. The hotel offers 20% discount for confirmed bookings by 27 January 2019. In addition, the Festive Buffet Dinner is served every Saturday from 26 January 2019 to 16 February 2019. For every 3 paying adults, the 4th person’s meal is on the house.
As for customers who prefer to dine in a more formal setting, the Lunar New Year Set Menu is available daily from 7 January 2019 to 28 February 2019. On Chinese New Year’s Eve (4 February 2019), dinner will be held en masse in the Grand Ballroom. Olive Tree Hotel has arranged a series of traditional performances for the entire evening.
For the 8-course dinner, there are two menus to choose from: RM939.00+ and RM1,099.00+. There is a 10% surcharge from 4 February 2019 to 6 February 2019. For both menus, the first dish is the ubiquitous yee sang. In fact, the Olive Tree Salmon Yee Sang is can also be purchased separately for RM108.00+ each.
Signature dishes on the RM939.00+ menu are Steamed Meat Dumpling & Scallop In Soup (上汤带子灌汤饺), Curry Chicken Wrapped In Crispy Bun (香浓咖哩面包鸡) and Hokkien Fried Rice In Seafood & Abalone Sauce (鲍汁福建烩香饭).
Meanwhile, notable highlights on the RM1,099.00+ menu are Eight Treasure Seafood Chowder (八宝鱼唇羹), Honey Barbecue Chicken In Chef’s Special Sauce (香煎蜜汁叉烧鸡排) and Steamed Tiger Garoupa With Ginger & Black Bean Sauce (姜豉蒸虎斑).
Name: Sukkah Coffee House
Address: 76, Jalan Mahsuri, 11950 Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang
Contact: 04-637-7856
Business hours: 6:00am-10:00pm
Website: http://olivetreehotel.com.my/dining/sukkah
Coordinates: 5.32692 N, 100.27932 E
Directions: Olive Tree Hotel is located at Bayan Baru, just across the street from SPICE Arena. Sukkah is located at Level 1, just above a flight of elevator from the lobby. The hotel’s multi-storey parking charges RM3.00 for the first hour, then RM1.00 for each subsequent hour.