All You Can Eat Dim Sum @ Five Sen5es, The Westin KL

In our quest to find the best all-you-can-eat restaurant, we were at Five Sen5es (The Westin KL) to try out their dim sum buffet. As Five Sen5es serves All You Can Eat Dim Sum on weekdays too, this worked very well for us. Not only little carebear was with his nanny but we also get to avoid the weekend crowd.

Firstly, this is a halal restaurant. If you’re looking for pork goodies, you might want to check on Lai Ching Yuen and Ah Yat Abalone restaurant, that serve non-halal All You Can Eat dim sum.
We love the posh oriental design which has a China palace-y feel. The dining place was rather huge and we don’t have to sit too near to ‘neighbor’ (Hint: Lemon Garden Shangri-La) and spared anyone from hearing our mundane gossips.

At Five Sen5es, ordering method was no different from usual dim sum outlets. On their order sheet, tick on the items you wish to order and the quantity. Items marked with asterisk* are recommended.

The Steamed Dim Sum

We started off with the classy *Poached Prawn Dumplings in Crab Roe Bisque. The smooth creamy bisque has a rich briny taste to it. We love how the fish roes topping added some crackling texture to a mouthful of bisque.

Steamed Crystal Dumplings Filled with Scallop was disappointing for distinct lack of flavors. In a word, this is a case of “looked like scallop, felt like scallop but didn’t taste like scallop.”

* Steamed Prawn with Black Truffle Har Kow. Five Senses is one of those that did har kow’s skin right. Flimsy translucent skin that won’t fall apart when held up with chopsticks.

* Steamed Shrimp, Chicken with Mushroom and Tobiko Siew Mai. Nothing could go wrong with the only siew mai on the menu.

* Sichuan Style Poached Wanton in Chili Oil. Its garlicky spicy punch was gratifying. Its firmly packed shrimp filing was a contrast to the steamed crystal dumplings.

The Fried and Baked

All You Can Eat Dim Sum Buffet @ Five Senses — Left: Deep Fried Net Spring Roll Wrapped with Prawns and Mango Right: Deep Fried Crispy Prawn Dumpling in Mayo

Deep Fried Net Spring Roll Wrapped with Prawns and Mango was very different from what we imagined. We thought it would be a crispy spring roll but the dish turned out like sweet and sour fish slices coated with mango sauce. This dish could have been better if the fish were crispy instead of mushy.
* Deep Fried Crispy Prawn Dumpling in Mayo (geez.. why were all the dishes have such a long name?).

* Deep Fried Crispy Yam Puff filled with Fresh Scallop. This is the STAR item – one of the softest yam puff, with very crusty edges on them.

Traditional Baked Mini Egg Tart. The flaky skins were perfect but we wished there could be more egg custard.

Steamed Rice Roll with Scallop. No… just no. Whoever made this, need to practice a hundred times on how to roll the rice film decently, before ever making any rice roll for customers. This is a crime! Rice roll was so thick, lumpy and we could hardly find any scallop.

Xiao Long Bao. The fillings were tough and dry. Plus, there’s no soup in there. Somehow, the chef decided it’s better to have the soup in the spoon, instead of INSIDE the dumplings. We weren’t sure if it deserves the name ‘Xiao Long Bao’.

Added to the Hall Of Shame are; the starchy Fishball, Steamed Honey Barbequed Chicken Buns with hardly any chicken, Loh Mai Kai that fell below kopitiam standard, overcooked lukewarm Chicken Feet and Peanut Congee. Promise me, you will avoid them like plague.

Five Sen5es Desserts:

We only tried 3 out of the 5 desserts from its menu and soon regretted not starting our meal with the desserts first.

* Chilled Mango Pudding

* Crispy Avocado Kataifi. I never knew that we can fry avocado puree in this amazing way.

* Chilled Mango Puree with Pomelo and Sago topped with Ice-cream was perfect. It’s not too sweet with a tangy aftertaste which was best to clear our palate after savoring so much meaty dim sum. I had 3 of these. No judging, ok?