Saturday, September 10, 2016

Vivatel KL's Seafood Galore promotion

By Laura Lee

I love seafood and thus did not turn down the invitation to review Vivatel Kuala Lumpur's Seafood Galore promotion on 2 September 2016 at its Retro Café. Its release informs me that I'll be experiencing the "freshest catch of crabs, oysters, mussels, slipper lobsters, prawns and more from the sea".

As I surveyed some of the cooked dishes, my eyes were attracted to its huge prawns wrapped around in pandan leaves. I quickly picked up a piece after most of the other media had taken photographs of the cooked dishes.

I was not disappointed either when I went for its seafood on ice, relishing its fresh oysters with lemon juice squeezed on it and accompanied with Tabasco sauce while I waited for my seafood selection to be grilled.

I was recommended by one of its staff to try its Japanese marinated baby octopus served with young mango kerabu. I like baby octopus and these were quite big sized ones.

My grilled cod fish, prawns, crab and slipper lobster was finally cooked. There is a wide choice of sauces to go with them but I opted for none as I wanted to enjoy the natural sweetness of the seafood. I finished what was on my platter except for the crab which did not get to be cooked fully.

I found out later that you can also ask its chefs to cook the seafood for you in other variations like with sambal or chilli if you like it spicy. 

Careful not too over eat, I made sure I have enough room for the fish curry. I went for a meaty piece instead of the fish head and asked its Chinese chef to put in some lady fingers, brinjal and tomatoes as well. My colleague asked the chef to whip up for him seafood curry instead and it looks yummy.

This curry dish goes well with the soft and fluffy Hainanese white bread. I opted for the prata instead and have no regrets.

The chefs here can also prepare for you different types of seafood noodle. All you have to do is to select your ingredients. I asked if the sang har noodle could be done but wasn't given a positive answer.

However, one of the chefs was quite obliging to do an oyster omelete for us but it was not what we have in mind and I was not the only one who found it a wee bit queasy to swallow those big oysters down our throats. We were dreaming of the oh chien that we get at the hawkers' stalls where some starch base is.

To wash down the taste of the oysters, I went for some ice cream at the dessert corner whose selection is quite varied but there's only so much one can take for buffets.

Although there is a section where you can also have the seafood done steamboat style, I'll be trying them on my next visit with some friends since I find its RM58 nett promotion rate for those aged 55 and above quite reasonable.

Its normal rate for adults is RM88 net and RM48 nett for children aged below 12 years old. For every 10 paying adult, the 11th person dines for free. This Seafood Galore promotion is only available on Friday and Saturday from 6pm to 9.30pm.

Don't wait too long to check it out as we do not know how long this promotion will end. Those interested can call the hotel at 03-92058888 for to make their reservations at Retro Café.








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