Poon Choi at Six Happiness Restaurant

**Non-Halal Post**

Tantalising Poon Choi photo to whet your appetite... details to follow up soon.



Holy moly! Did you know that Poon Choi is even listed in Wikipedia?? Read on...

Poon Choi (Chinese:盤菜), also known as Pan Cai or Big Bowl Feast, is a traditional type of Chinese food served in wooden basins instead of the porcelain or metal kind.

Poon Choi includes ingredients such as pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, abalone, ginseng, shark fin, fish maw, prawn, crab, dried mushroom, fishballs, squid, dried eel, dried shrimp, pigskin, beancurd and mooli.

Poon Choi is special in the way that it is composed of different layers of many ingredients. It is also eaten layer by layer instead of "stirring everything up", but those who cannot wait will often choose to pick up the juicy radish at the bottom first using shared chopsticks.

It is often served during religious rituals, festivals, special occasions and wedding banquets. Poon Choi can also be enjoyed at many restaurants in the autumn and winter or on special occasions throughout the year.

It was said that Poon Choi was invented during the late Song Dynasty. When Mongol troops invaded Song China, the young Emperor fled to area around Guangdong and Hong Kong. To serve the Emperor as well as his army, the locals collected all their best food available, cooked it, and put it in wooden washing basins. By doing so Poon Choi was invented.

You may read more over at Discover Hong Kong.

Poon Choi gotten popular in Malaysia when the Hong Kong based channel, WLT on Malaysian satelite TV showed some travel series that showcased on Poon Choi. Somehow, it got caught on here with the restaurants here for dishing new stuff for patrons.

The one pictured above is one Poon Choi we ate at Six Happiness Restaurant which was running a promotion where one Poon Choi cost RM238++ (10% service tax and 5% Government tax) that came with free taro (yam) rice and fresh fruits for dessert. It was meant for 10 people hahaha... quite a huge pot, in fact can feed for more than 10 with the taro rice to go with it. This is the modern and more presentable version where a base pan filled with water is placed on top of a portable stove. Next the huge pot of nicely arranged food is placed on the pan. The hot water will keep the food nice and warm whilst we eat layer by layer. The top layer usually consist the "dry" food and the bottom layers are those with sauces and gravies.

Let me recall the layers of food found... pacific clam, stir fried prawns in a chili garlic sauce, steamed chicken, roast duck, crispy roast pork, deep fried mashed tofu with seafood cooked in sauce, vegetarian beancurd skin with Chinese cabbage and glass noodles, fish maw in a sweetish sour sauce... gee, I can't remember what else is inside cos I was too busy eating and hubby was piling my side plate with loads of food hehehe...

Overall, it's not too bad, best to enjoy the dry layer first and try not to mix and dig into the different layers of ingredient with the ladle, very enjoyable when you have great company. The taro rice is nothing to shout about... no much taro can be found but who cares when the star of the show is the Poon Choi. I've eaten the slighly more expensive version at Chuai Heng Restaurant in Jalan Bukit Bintang, about rm55 per person. I have to say they tasted better but hey, check out the price differences! Since I'm not the paymaster that evening, I'm not complaining either. I've heard there is one place in Sungai Buloh selling cheaper and nicer Poon Choi. I think we should be checking this place out later this month hehehe... Watch out this space for my next Poon Choi outing...