Following tradition where a ‘treasure pot’ must consist of at least a dozen special ingredients, the Dragon-I’s version has 18 delicacies including Chilean abalone, sea cucumber, Japanese dried scallops, Japanese dried oysters, fish maw, goose web, roast chicken, braised pork belly, pork balls, three types of lovely mushrooms, black moss, dried beancurd skin, deep-fried beancurd skin and bamboo piths. In short, this treasure trove of edible goodies weighs around 4kg!
The RM 388++ is good for eight people and the RM688++ pot is good for ten or a couple more for each pot if the table’s filled with small eaters. While Hong Leong bank cardholders can grab the smaller pot for a mere RM338++. Soup wise, there are two options of either the pork bones stock or oyster and soya sauce version. The pot is available in all Dragon-i outlets around Penang.
Our take on the treasure pot: It’s a trove of textures and delicate, refined flavours of sea, vegetables and tenderly cooked meats. The ingredients and soup are fresh too. The soup’s pretty good and irresistible. Be warned, do not be too slurp-happy since it’s filling and there are plenty to enjoy within the pot.
The best part is, there’s a frozen takeaway version of the RM338-sized available at all the Dragon-I outlets on Chinese New Year’s Eve before 3pm. It’s packed conveniently in a pot (which you can keep) and packed away in a protective cooler bag (also, it’s yours to keep). All you have to do is put it on the stove to boil in the given soup and serve. It’ll feed at least eight people. For side dishes to pair with the treasure pot, we’d recommend their rather large portion of braised pork knuckle Shanghainese style with halved fried hard-boiled eggs at RM68++ and really good sticky rice. Kitty Kaye