1st Day of CNY: Vegetarian Yee Sang @ Ba Xian Restaurant

On the first day of Chinese New Year, we attended the morning mass at the new church (read my Angelstar blog) to usher in the New Spring and the Lunar Year of the Tiger.

It was super hot in the church due to the weather and also the church being in renovation state, there was no proper ventilation.
Anyway, when we stepped out of the church, the temperature was not any better as it was scorching HOT under the sun as well.
I must say that this is one of the HOTTEST CNY I've ever experienced; although most CNY are hot due to the new spring, this CNY is really by far and in history, the HOTTEST.
It must be the effects of global warming, sadly.

Well, on the first day of CNY, it was not easy to find food anywhere, as some restaurants are closed. In recent years, it has been better as most entrepreneurs do not want to miss this chance to make profit and therefore, there will be a few restaurants open.
Those few will be packed to the brim too; and it goes back to the basics where you drive around in frustration, seeing each restaurant's crowd and even a queue out there.

We finally ended in Ba Xian Restaurant; which happened to be a vegetarian restaurant.
Usually most are vegetarians on 1st and 15th of the month; and so is mummy. We decided not to drive around anymore as we were hungry and it was so hot out there.
We settled for a short queue, and fortunately, we found a table almost the second we stepped into the human-infested restaurant.
Thank God for the invention of A/C as well!~ =)

Everything was in a hustle bustle and we could only choose from the set lunches available; RM59.80 for 2-3 pax.

Vegetarian Yee Sang (RM23) - exclusive from the set lunch and is an add-on ordered by us.


Raw vegetarian fish slices; not bad eh?


Colorful way to toss the start of the year towards prosperity, good wealth, health and happiness!

I must say that the person who invented Yee Sang is a genius; look at how much they earn from these ingredients which probably costs less than a bomb?

Look at the prices they charge you for a plate of Yee Sang?
Don't even get me started on how some restaurants play around with the auspicious number of 8 in their pricing! *rolls eyes*



Side view; seriously, there is no difference between the vegetarian and the non-vegetarian version, right?

Of course, because the only difference is the raw slices of fish placed atop the pile.

Yee Sang or without the fish, Lou Sang is basically a vegetable-based dish and is pretty healthy; sans the oil, sour sauce and the loads of nuts and crackers you pile onto it =P


Toss your way with all the good wishes and auspicious words; i.e.: Good Health, Lots of Wealth, Promotion at work, Prosperity, Happiness, etc
The belief is that the higher you toss, the better it is =)

The aftermath after everything is mixed ("LOU")


Second dish is the Vegetarian Braised Superior Sharks Fin's soup with crab meat

The soup was rather tasty; and it was corn-based soup with lotsa pepper.
As you can guess, the mock sharks' fin are basically glass noodles (i think though the texture was rather hard compared to the soft glass noodles)
I am against the consumption of sharks fin soup and this is probably the only time you see me drink it; since it is sharks-fin-FREE =P


Third dish; Fried Vegetarian Fish in Sweet and Sour Sauce

I was definitely impressed by the way the fish turned out as a whole fish on the plate.
It even smelt like a fish; due to the thick wrapping of the seaweed around the flour texture of the mock fish.

It was really delicious and it even had a tangy touch to the texture when you bite it!~


4th Dish: Braised Vegetarian Pork in soy sauce

This is done in the "Kau Yook" style; with rather thick sauce and generous serving of the shittake mushrooms.

5th and final dish: Mixed Stir-fried vegetables

I think this dish was simple and plain-tasting; which was a rather good change from the rest of the dishes.
At the same time, I felt that the theme of this dish was rather overloaded and in confusion as there seemed to be a combination of plain vegetables dish to a combination of ingredients in a pot of soup.
For instance, there were those Chinese herbs and wolfberries, and vegetarian prawns, and even mock pork belly!~


Overall, the dish was quite good though =)

The total bill came to about MYR74++; inclusive of the Lou Sang which was priced at MYR23.
The set lunch was MYR59.80.

I think it was still reasonably priced; albeit a little on the high side but it is after all, the first day of CNY.
Another thing is; I am pleased to mention that the staff were really friendly despite being rushed and working in a hectic environment and furthermore on the 1st day of CNY, and they still smile and responded to each of our request so politely that I think they deserve a mention here =D