Halal Hand Made Dim Sum in Kuantan @ Moonlight Pavilion in Air Putih

Halal_Dim_Sum_Kuantan_Moonlight_Pavilion_Air_Putih

On day two of our Kuantan trip, we went to Moonlight Pavilion for dim sum breakfast. (Moonlight Pavilion's Halal certification is in progress.)

At Moonlight Pavilion, they hand make their artisanal dim sum right there at the restaurant, so we get freshly made and cooked dim sum.

I avoid factory made dim sum - I am snobbish like that 🤭 Hand made artisanal dim sum have fresher and better ingredients as well as are skilfully crafted and cooked. The difference in feel and taste is obvious.

The xiao long bao at Moonlight Pavilion are freshly made with chicken meat.

Chee cheong fun or rice rolls are also made from scratch.

Moonlight Pavilion has two levels, air conditioned, bright and clean. The decor is modern Chinese, minimalist yet elegant. Furnishings are very comfortable.

We were served by Faiz. We met several of Moonlight Pavilion's Malay staff who are multilingual including in Chinese and Cantonese.

Moonlight Pavilion has a full range dim sum menu but we tried only a part of it, as much as our tummies could take 😁 We were on a 3 day dawn till midnight Kuantan food trail and hunt 😅

Siew mai is one of those dim sum which I won't normally order as I don't like overly meaty dishes. But, the savoury sweet fish paste and shrimp combo in Moonlight Pavilion's siew mai suits my less meaty preference well. The ebiko (salted prawn roe) topping added a bit of subtle umami flavour to the savoury slightly sweet siew mai.

Freshly made and steamed soft tender rice rolls with choice of chicken, shrimp or crispy you cha kway (Chinese fried crullers) filling served steamy hot and doused with savoury aromatic soy sauce and oil blend. Garnished with savoury sweet chicken floss.

Chee cheong fun (rice roll) with crispy you cha kway (Chinese cruller) filling.

I love carrot cake and always order it when I have dim sum. This at Moonlight Pavilion was good. Crisp outside while inside it was tender and slightly moist. I also enjoyed its savoury and slightly sweet flavours.

As I like crunchy juicy bean sprouts and fluffy chicken floss, the garnishes were just right for me too.

The iconic xiao long bao which literally means "little basket buns" were wrapped in thin skin, savoury juice (soup) filled, with a ball of tender well seasoned minced chicken meat inside.

Crystal shrimp dumpling is an exquisite, better way to enjoy shrimps. It is simply shelled, fresh meaty shrimp, wrapped in a rice flour purse and cooked by steaming. The fresh shrimp's natural sweetness and tender crunchy texture are complemented by tender chewiness of the subtly sweet rice wrap.

Chicken (spicy) chili oil dumpling.

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Stewed fried chicken feet. Go ahead and try it. Once you tasted it, you cannot untaste it 😆 and you may become addicted to its soft subtle crunchy feel and layered savoury taste.

Me? It's too late for me already and cannot be helped. I need my chicken feet fix regularly. I will order this dish wherever I can find it 😋

Moonlight makes a good pair 😁

The BBQ chicken siew buns were the cheery happy "open smiley mouth 笑口张开" type with the filling peering out shyly 😀 The type of look that fussy steamed bao connoisseurs would approve.