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2013-11-25
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My family and I went to Crystal Jade for a family dinner and ended up waiting for close to 30 mintues for seats. I think that is partially because we are a big group (8 pax). It has been a long time since my last visit to Crystal Jade but even then I held high expectations.The outlet practices an open concept kitchen where in the front, at certain timings; you can see the chefs making dumplings. The interior of the restaurant is decorated with a few paintings or panels. The whole restaurant is n
The outlet practices an open concept kitchen where in the front, at certain timings; you can see the chefs making dumplings. The interior of the restaurant is decorated with a few paintings or panels. The whole restaurant is not very spacious, but still has room for the waiters/waitresses to move around.
Once seated, we started looking at the menu and ordering our dishes.
Top row from left: Fried Rice with Conpoy, Fish and Egg White, Pan-fried Pork Dumplings and Fried Shanghai NoodlesMiddle from left: La Mian with Chicken Soup and Xiao Long Baos
Bottom from Left: Spicy Chicken in Sichuan Sauce, Dumplings with Chilli Sauce and Spicy Cucumbers
One of my favourite dishes was the Spicy Chicken in Sichuan Style ($8.80). The chicken was served cold so when you take the first bite, it was a little surprising. The chicken was so tender and the spicy and yet tangy sauce complements the chicken very well.
When you dine at a Chinese restaurant, one of the things you must order has to be the Xiao Long Bao ($5.20) right? Well the Xiao Long Baos were nice. That’s about it.
As one of our starters we also ordered the spicy cucumbers ($6.50). The cucumber didn’t taste like it soaked up much of the sauce or the sauce itself wasn’t very strong. I do love to munch on these for the crunch factor but otherwise it tasted quite average.
The Pancake with Scallops and Pork Floss ($4.50) looked and tasted very much like the roti prata you buy from hawker centres. This is kind of ironic. Nevertheless it’s one of the nicest dishes after the spicy chicken.
I was keen to try out the Dumplings with Chilli Sauce ($7.50) but I find that the sauce wasn’t as nice as the one used in the Spicy Chicken so my siblings and I ended up dipping the dumplings with the sauce for the chicken. It has an added kick as compared to the one the dumplings came in. Not one of the best dumplings in Crystal Jade in my opinion.
I find that the Pan-fried Pork Dumplings ($4.80) fared much better than the Xiao Long Baos. The soup was salty and thus flavoured the dumpling very well. Thumbs up for this one!
I had the
($13.80). When the dish came, my jaw nearly dropped. The portion was so big that I doubted I could have finished the entire serving myself unless of course I am feeling starved. I liked the presentation of the dish which was served in a mini-wok. The fried rice tasted quite normal which was disappointing as I used to like their fried rice a lot previously.
The same goes for the Fried Rice with XO sauce and seafood. Instead of XO sauce, I think it tasted more like sambal sauce. It was a little bit spicy.
The Fried Shanghai Noodles ($12.50) were tasty with a slightly burnt taste, but I think that’s because of the way it is cooked. It tastes great in my opinion.
My brother ordered this
($10.80). Whilst the chicken itself and the soup were nice, the accompanying la mian was a bit bland. I feel it’s best to order the Chicken Soup itself and spare the noodles.My siblings ordered the Spicy and Sour La Mian ($9.50) and that was the first to arrive. True to its name, the soup base tastes quite spicy and sour at the same time. I like that the chopped onion and celery are not directly placed atop the noodles. For people who do not really like these two vegetables, it makes removing them a much easier task. Still I have the celery does make the noodles nicer with its slightly tangy flavour.
The staffs made frequent attempts to refill our drinks (Chinese tea) and were polite.
Overall I felt that the standard of their food wasn’t up to par and only enjoyed some of their dishes.
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