The Light Hotel

This article is part of my Chinese New Year 2020 compilation.

Special thanks to The Light Hotel for extending this food review invitation.

When it comes to festive decorations, The Light Hotel never fails to impress me. For the Chinese New Year later this month, the hotel is welcoming the Festival of Spring with a mesmerizing cherry blossom garden in the lobby.

This evening, The Light Hotel is giving a sneak peek at its upcoming Chinese New Year buffets. The main event is the Grand Prosperity Reunion Buffet Dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve (24 January 2020). Held at The Light Grand Ballroom, the buffet is expected to draw a crowd of 1,000.

Yee sang (鱼生) is often served during Chinese New Year as it is a symbol of one achieving greater heights in the upcoming year. This round, The Light Hotel's Fatt Choy Yee Sang is decorated to spell the Chinese character for "prosperity" (福).

The Hot Pot action station is the main attraction this evening. Diners can choose from a variety of marine delicacies like freshwater prawns (udang galah), tiger prawns, slipper lobsters, flower crabs and green-lipped mussels.

Hot Pot comes with 3 choices of soup: clear soup, tom yam soup and spicy shrimp broth. I opted for clear soup, which is very rich in flavor. I must also say that the seafood ingredients are extremely fresh. Be sure to try the Hot Pot!

Diners who love Seafood On Ice can help themselves to tiger prawns, snow crabs, scallops and mussels. Once again, the seafood items are absolutely fresh. Various dipping sauces are provided.

The buffet menu includes homemade Dim Sum (点心) that is prepared by the hotel's full-time dim sum chef. The large steamer baskets contain siew mai dumplings, baozi and yong tau foo.

Jiu hu char (鱿鱼炒) is a salad of dried cuttlefish, jicama and carrots. Diners can also help themselves to crab cakes, crab sticks, money bags and meat rolls.

Roast Lamb Leg is served with black pepper sauce, barbecue sauce and mint chutney. As for poultry, there are Roast Chicken and Char Siew Chicken too.

Moving on to chafing dishes, Kam Heong Chicken is easily one of my favorite ones. The chicken cutlets are stir-fried with fragrant "kam heong" (甘香) sauce, and then garnished with bell peppers of various colors. This gives the dish an attractive look in line with the festive spirit of Lunar New Year.

There are several Western dishes in the buffet menu; Chicken & Potato Pie is a notable one. The dish is quite satisfying despite its simple appearance.

Next, Italian cuisine is represented by Seafood Lasagna and Pasta Carbonara. The former has prawns and squids between layers of pasta.

Malay cooking is best represented by Telur Masak Lemak. The hard-boiled eggs are cooked in a creamy curry infused with coconut milk.

The Light Hotel is also renowned for its nasi kandar fare. The dishes are elegantly presented in fancy brass pots.

Nasi kandar dishes this evening are Nasi Briyani, Mutton Curry, Fish Varuval, Vegetable Dalcha and more.

Finally, the dessert section offers interesting choices like Shanghai pancakes, Chinese butter cake and mandarin orange cake. There is also an assortment of Chinese New Year cookies like bahulu (鸡蛋糕).

Tangyuan (汤圆) is quite popular during Chinese New Year as it symbolizes family reunion. The dessert consists of glutinous rice balls cooked in ginger-infused syrup. The larger rice balls are filled with sweet black sesame paste too.

Western confections are also present this evening. Examples are chocolate cake, mango cake, chocolate tart and French pastries.

The Grand Prosperity Reunion Buffet Dinner is priced at RM138.00+ per person. As for customers who are unable to secure a seat on Chinese New Year's Eve, The Light Hotel is serving buffet high tea and buffet dinner on the next 2 days. These buffet sessions will be held at Spice Brasserie.

Furthermore, The Light Hotel also offers 8-course set dinner, yee sang and pun choy (盆菜) throughout this festive season. Make a reservation today before the seats are taken up!

Name: The Light Hotel
Address: Lebuh Tenggiri 2, Pusat Bandar Seberang Jaya, 13700 Seberang Jaya, Pulau Pinang
Contact: 04-382-1111
Business hours: 12:00pm-3:00pm, 6:30pm-10:00pm
Website: http://thelighthotelpg.com/offers/january-promotion/grand-prosperity-reunion-buffet-dinner
Coordinates: 5.39429 N, 100.39853 E
Directions: From Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan (North-South Expressway), take the Seberang Jaya exit and head west. Turn left just before the pedestrian bridge and drive all the way to the end. When the road splits, keep right. The Light Hotel is the first building on the left. The Light Grand Ballroom is located at Level 1, while Spice Brasserie is located next to the lobby. There are parking spaces within the hotel's compound. The parking fee is RM6.00 per entry.