YANGON — The Novotel Yangon Max Hotel relaunched its Royal Pavilion restaurant on Tuesday with a new concept and menu.
Located near the hotel’s reception desk, the restaurant used to serve traditional Chinese cuisine with predominantly Cantonese flavors and will now serve Hong Kong barbecue, dim sum and seafood.
The relaunch party was for invited guests only, who got to sample signature dishes from the new menu.
Guests sampled from four dim sum dishes: steamed lobster dumplings with squid ink; steamed fish rolls with Thai sauce, deep fried spring sticks with seafood; and deep fried seafood rolls with cheese. Each was delicious and delightful.
The lobster was very soft and I cold tell how soft it was with the first bite; the dumplings were wrapped in a thin layer of cooked flour mixed with squid ink and topped with salmon roe. The steamed fish rolls were also great and did not have a fishy smell; the Thai sauce was a bit sweet, but it perfectly matched the fish. I highly recommend both.
Another of the new signature dishes is the deep fried tempura prawn, another of my favorites. They clean the whole prawn, dip it in powder and deep fry it. The result is a crispy golden shell topped with chili and coriander and a sweet prawn taste inside.
But the dish I liked most was the Hong Kong roast duck. Taking a bite, the skin was very crispy, but the meat was nice and soft. It came with a sweet Hoisin sauce and paired with the duck perfectly.
The last dish was the deep fried sea bass topped with Sichuan sauce. The fish was deboned, cut into bite-sized pieces and deep fried with tempura powder. The Sichuan sauce was on the milder side. The ingredients were fresh, but the dish was not so much crunchy as a bit hard. This one was not my favorite.
The staff was friendly and helpful and dressed in a bright red Chinese-themed uniforms. The decor was both modern and Chinese but not overdone, complimenting the quiet and clean room and its comfortable seating.
Prices range from $10 to $50 per dish à la carte. There is also an all-you-can-eat dim sum buffet for lunch and dinner on weekends for $25 per person.
The restaurant is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. for dinner.
