Paradise Dynasty @ Paradigm Mall

Singapore-born Paradise Dynasty is our top pick for now at Kelana Jaya's Paradigm Mall, thanks to its intriguing interior and innovative food selection.

Stroll past the open kitchen of surgical-mask-wearing cooks, take a table by the Buddha statue and order the Legend of Xiao Long Bao signature sampler of eight steamed dumplings, each with different-colored skin and different-flavored soup stuffed within.

Original, foie gras, black truffle, crab roe, cheese, ginger, garlic and spicy Szechuan (RM24+). The hot broth in each of these is distinctive and delicious _ bite into the truffle one and let its earthiness wash over your tongue; the foie gras and crab roe varieties, on the other hand, bathed our taste buds in uncompromising richness.

Somewhat less successful: la mian in pork bone broth with pork belly and boiled egg (RM18+). Essentially a ramen recipe, but with Japanese noodles swapped for Chinese ones. The soup tastes cleaner but less satisfyingly complex compared to, say, Menya Musashi's.

Finish with a flourish: scrambled egg white with scallops, fish, raw egg yolk and vinegar (RM20+). Mix it up for a luxurious softness that bears the flavor of shark's fin soup, minus the guilt.

No wine is available; customers can presumably bring their own and pay a corkage fee.

Paradise Dynasty is part of the Paradise Group that also runs the popular Paradise Inn at Sunway Pyramid and Kungfu Paradise (also here at Paradigm Mall), which is a little less lovable, but that's likely a tale for another time.

Prowling through Paradigm Mall in search of booze is a tough task, since few eateries here have liquor licenses, but Plan B saves the day. It's The BIG Group's second Plan B to open this month, following the 1 Utama branch; another may launch at Mid Valley soon.

Paradigm's Plan B is only serving a test run menu of coffee and cakes for now, but the service team obliged our wine request, even though no wine glasses were ready yet. Thanks!

Paradise Dynasty,
Level One, Paradigm Mall, Kelana Jaya.
Tel: 03-7887-5022