Enak Kicks off the New Year with a Bang
Enakers celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year (CNY)or the Spring Festival which falls on 29 January 2025 at Ruyi and Lyn Restaurant in Bangsar Shopping Centre on 3 January 2025. CNY is one of the most important festivals in the Chinese culture. It signifies a new beginning with the end of winter and the beginning of spring. 39 Enakers attended this festive celebration with a specially prepared menu, hosted by Christine Siew, Eileen Lim, Julie Goh and Dato’ Pat Chia.
Enak members paid RM70 per person, and 34 members and 5 guests were present to welcome the Enak 2025 new year.
CNY 2025 marks the start of the lunar year of the Wood Snake, which occurs once in 60 years. Since it is a Chinese tradition to dress in seasonal colourful clothes, dominated by the red colour for good luck, there was a sea of red among the sporting members with islands of other rainbow colours.
To kickstart an auspicious beginning, there was a lucky draw. Each of the four tables was tagged with a dotted bowl the owner of which was given a prize. A hand made hat, compliments of Lam Lai Meng, was won by Rosidah Radzian. Edna Ong and Phaik Luan received a set of Oriental Teochew spicy sauces each, courtesy of Christine Siew. George Vasaris won a set of batik coasters, courtesy of Dato’ Pat. Everybody turned out a winner with every member receiving a CNY money bag, to signify prosperity and good luck for the coming year.
Each of the menu Items was chosen for its auspicious meaning which was given in Cantonese on the menu. The starter is the CNY raison d’etre, Lou Sang with crispy enoki mushroom and prawn ( Lou Hei). The salad was tossed 10 times which led to bits of it falling all over the place since it was believed that the higher you toss, the better. The well trained server uttered different auspicious sayings with each toss starting from the numerals one to ten eg Yat fan foong soon – smooth sailing throughout the year. The hall reverberated with shouts of “Received” by Enakers to signify that each blessing was well received.
The Lou Sang was followed by deep fried Kam Foong fish (Tilapia) with superior soya sauce (Nian Nian Yau Yu -year of plenty),
Golden roast chicken with sliced almonds and crispy garlic (Kam Yoke Mun Tong- house filled with gold and jade), braised arrowhead root with preserved beancurd (Fuk Luk Shang Quan-blessed with good luck and prestige), dried oysters, fatt choy, with homemade beancurd and broccoli (Ho See Fatt Choy- prosperity with many good things) and rounded up with fried rice with smoked duck, Chinese chicken sausages and leeks (Wong Kam Mun Dei- floor strewn with gold / Soon Soon Lei Lei- everything smooth sailing and profitable).
By this time, most Enakers would have had their fill but the food continued to be served and somehow everyone also managed to do justice to the two desserts, a sweet ginger soup with glutinious rice dumplings ( Tuan Yuan) and osmanthus jelly with water chestnut (Fah Hoi Fu Gui).
with many thanks toThe following comments were given as the meal progressed:
“I felt like being injected with a lot of energy to live a healthy life for the year ahead.“ Kyoko Hidaka
“Excellent food…” Henry Gan
“Value for money, generous portions, beautiful presentations and excellent service, well thought out menu….” Paul Moine and others at the same table
“The event became more meaningful with the explanations on their auspicious meaning of the yee sang and the other food items in the menu…” Angela Wijaya
“Wonderful introduction and explanation about CNY…” Rosemary Chin
“ good ambience, good company and good food…” Melinda Klanderman
“… is there a prize for enjoying the lunch?” Jagdev Kaur
To get a glimpse of the fun and laughter, please see the wonderful pictures taken by Terence Perera, Vicki Fennessy, Rosemary and several Enakers, which could be accessed in this LINK. https://photos.app.goo.gl/tQACwtcz3emJ8qNm8
For those who wish to savour the taste again, they can do so not only at Ruyi and Lyn but in any of the15 restaurants in the Oriental Restaurant chain in the Klang Valley. The plus point for Ruyi and Lyn is that it is a pork free restaurant serving premium and creative Cantonese style cuisine.
Review with many thanks to Dato’ Pat Chia
