#CNYatCOD: Chinese New Year at City of Dreams Manila's Crystal Dragon

Abundance and overflowing blessings, celebrate the Chinese New Year with a sumptuous feast at City of Dreams Manila...

City of Dreams Manila welcomes the year of the Fire Rooster with luck, happiness, and prosperity...and Chinese New Year-themed ala carte and set menus from January 16 to February 11, 2017. From its luxury resort's integrated premium restaurants to 24-hour casual dining outlets, retail shops and clubs, City of Dreams spreads good cheer and festive flavors throughout the Chinese New Year. To get you in the mood, here's a sneak peek at Crystal Dragon's special Chinese New Year-themed menu...

Inside the elegant interiors of Crystal Dragon, City of Dreams Manila's Executive Chef for Chinese Cuisine, Bong Jun Choi (R), welcomed guests to the exclusive lunch preview for the special Chinese New Year-themed dishes. And with Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi at the helm, you just know this is special.

Impressed with my previous visit back in September (see my post, Authentic Cantonese Flavors with an Elegant Spin at Crystal Dragon), I was looking forward to Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi's themed menu. The Double-Boiled Sea Treasure in Cordycep Flower Soup did not disappoint, with crab meat, fish maw, scallops, and sea cucumber.

As with all traditional Chinese New Year dishes, each ingredient has a special meaning. For the Double Boiled Sea Treasure in Cordycep Flower Soup, the fish maw represents abundance while the dried scallops symbolize the opening of new horizons. This is repeated throughout the nine-course Chinese New Year menu at Crystal Dragon by Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi. Crystal Dragon's Slow-Cooked Supreme Sea Cucumber with Abalone and Pork Knuckle in a Clay Pot is a hearty dish with even more wishful symbolism for the new year, with the tender pork knuckle for income and a wish fulfilled, and abalones representing gold and wealth. The richness of the dish captures the optimism and hopes for a prosperous new year, with bold and savory flavors from the pork knuckles, sea cucumber, and abalone.

Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi's delicate Oven-Baked Marinated Cod Fish Fillet with Fragrant Golden Garlic combines the light and subtle briny sweetness of cod fish with the creamy notes of cheese and nutty hints of garlic in another elegant dish. The cod fish symbolizes abundance, while the golden garlic represents long life. The play on balanced flavors, with not one ingredient overpowering the other, makes this dish special. 

The Wok-Fried King Prawns with Supreme Soy Sauce Reduction brings together the fresh and clean notes of plump prawns with the sharp hints of soy sauce in another finely balanced dish. 

The freshness of the prawns become apparent when you peel it, with the shells easily separating from the prawns. Each bite is announced with an audible snap, releasing its briny richness capped by the bold notes of the soy sauce reduction.

The Roasted Chicken Roll filled with Foie Gras and Wild Mushrooms is another elegantly plated dish by Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi. Almost resembling maki rolls, the Roasted Chicken Roll has a light and crisp layer of chicken skin on the outside over juicy and tender chicken with mushroom, topped with indulgent foie gras. The textural contrasts is one thing, the fusion of flavors is another. In between bites, have some pickled radishes to cleanse the palate, and you're just about ready for another serving of Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi's Roasted Chicken Roll. 

The Wok-Fried Shanghai Rice Cake Sliced with Selected Seafood is a comforting dish with soft rice cakes topped with fresh seafood and vegetables, with its abundant layers boding well for the new year. The rice cakes represent good fortune, with fillet fillet for abundance, and prawns for vigor, so why not go for seconds...

Succulent crab claws, plump prawns and soft rice cakes draped in a thick sauce, the Wok-Fried Shanghai Rice Cake Sliced with Selected Seafood brings all these together, along with hopes for good fortune, in one sumptuous dish.

Inside the kitchen, Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi and his team prepare a pair of indulgent desserts for the preview. His jovial and lively demeanor always makes it fun when watching him prepare his elaborate dishes. With masterful precision, his desserts are then ready to serve...

Executive Chef Bon Jun Choi's Steamed Dried Shredded Coconut Nian Gao is just one component of his elegantly plated Three-Flavor Chinese New Year Nian Gao Platter, symbolizing togetherness...

...along with the Deep-Fried Rice Net Water Chestnut Cake (L) representing good fortune and unity, and the velvety smooth Cashew Nuts Broken Red Bean Paste Pandan Roll (R) symbolizing gold and good fortune. Now that Deep-Fried Rice Net Water Chestnut Cake deserves another look, and another bite, seriously good...

And finally, Executive Chef Bong Jun Choi's silky Chilled Mango Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream capped an elegant Chinese New Year feast at Crystal Dragon. Savor the flavors of the Chinese New Year with Crystal Dragon's Happiness and Abundance Set Menus, each set served with the traditional Prosperity Salmon Fish Yu Shang with Fruit Salad from January 16 to February 11, 2017, and start the year of the Fire Rooster right...

Crystal Dragon is located at the Upper Ground Floor of Crown Towers Manila, Tower 1, City of Dreams Manila, Aseana Boulevard corner Macapagal Avenue, Entertainment City, Paranaque City or call 691-7772 or 800-8080 for more information.

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