Buffet Dinner @ Celestial Court, Sheraton Imperial

After renewing my Starwood Privilege Card I realized I have not used a single coupon from last year’s membership which ends at the end of this month. Scrambling to use them I gave a few away and decided to use Celestial Court’s RM75 dinner voucher.

Remembering the last time we visited during Chinese New Year, my family and a couple were the only customers. It’s a little unfortunate because the food is very good and the price is reasonable.



For this reason and going on a Wednesday evening we were anticipating the place to be completely empty. However we were wrong. Besides us (May and Wayne) there were three other tables and a small private function. The same people that gave us all the attention previously were now on red alert keeping not just us but the other tables happy.

Wondering how they could be so busy just serving a few tables? Well, the restaurant is offering a buffet of 88 cooked to order dishes for only RM88 per person. Furthermore, the portions were small enabling groups of 3 or 4 hungry people to actually try a wide variety of dishes. This definitely kept both the kitchen and wait staff busy as each table were constantly ordering food.



The 88 dishes comprised a wide variety of dishes that included the following sections: Appetizers, Soups, Barbecued Meats, Fish of the day cooked in different styles, Seafood Dishes, Chicken Dishes, Beef Dishes, Fried Rice, Vegetables Dishes and even Desserts!

Hungry, we ordered twenty-five dishes from all sections including 8 different types of fried rice. And to our pleasant surprise all the dishes except for one were either decent or excellent.

Barbecued Duck and Roasted Crispy Chicken were delicious. Both their skins were really crispy and the meat was well-seasoned and juicy.





Soups we enjoyed included the Crabmeat and Corn Soup and Crabmeat with Tofu Soup. Despite being a buffet the chef was generous in the amount of crab meat and both soups had a nice thick consistency.





Loving fish we ordered quite a few dishes and our favorites were the Steam Fish with Wolf Berries and Stir-Fried Fish with Szechuan Peppercorn Sauce. I think the fish used was grouper given its thick and meaty texture.





For seafood we had Stir Fried Prawns with Asparagus. The prawns were large and had a nice bite and the asparagus was crunchy. This is such a simple dish but the fresh ingredients and skill of the chef made it very good.



Signature chicken dishes were also a hit. Kung Pao chicken was not oily and the sauce was delicious. We only wished it was a little spicier. Lemon Chicken was moist and tender with the sauce not being too sweet. Wayne however would have liked it to be a little more crispy.





The Stir-Fried Beef with Bitter Gourd was also very good. The beef was really tender and the bitter gourd did not taste bitter at all.



We also ordered a few vegetable dishes. Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts were not overcooked and salted. Lotus Root and Assorted Vegetables was also cooked perfectly. And my favorite was the Braised Eggplant with Minced Chicken. The eggplant wasn't oily like many places and the sauce was really flavorful.







We were really stuffed by the end of the meal but ordered two desserts to try. Both the Red Bean Soup and White Fungus with Sea Coconut Soup were decent and not overly sweet.





At the end of the meal we were definitely surprised by the consistency of the dishes that were served. They're not all amazing but it's hard to beat when most of the dishes were decent and some were very good. The only thing we all disliked was the Hot and Sour Soup which was a little watery and did not taste Hot nor Sour.



Our bill came up to RM210 after the RM75 voucher and 20% Starwood Privilege member Discount. The restaurant rewards the discount differently where groups of 2-5 gets a flat 20% discount and 6 or more gets 33%.

Despite the great food I can understand why the restaurant is always empty at night. I don't think there is enough publicity done on any of their special promotions. It is not even on the Starwood Privilege site. Had I not gone there because of the voucher we would have missed a great opportunity to sample a wide variety of their signature dishes. For more food pictures from this meal you can visit my Flickr Site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwongeats/

Contact Information:
Address: Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur 50250
Tel:+60 3 2717 9900
Website: http://www.sheraton.com/imperialkualalumpur