Jin Sha Wan

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Full Jin Sha Wan review here: http://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2015/09/zi-char-jin-sha-wan.htmlLocated within a corner coffeeshop at Kovan, Jin Sha Wan is a Chinese Zi Char stall, which I understand is a subsidiary of Tong Garden Seafood Restaurant. The bustling dinner crowd at Jin Sha Wan is testament to its success, highlights here include their fresh seafood, assam dishes, and their salted egg yolk dishes.Ambience at Jin Sha Wan is decent, despite being located in a coffeeshop. The place is clean, spacious with ample seating, and brightly lit. The powerful fans make the place cool, but the smell of cooking does still linger in the air. Wet weather also somewhat dampens the atmosphere.Service at Jin Sha Wan is befitting of a coffeeshop. Staff are brusque, seemingly impatient most of the time, and don't exactly acknowlege orders. But they get the orders right, and food is churned out by the kitchen pretty quickly. Still, expect a waiting time of between 15 - 30 minutes, due to the large crowd which dines here.Food at Jin Sha Wan is above average in taste, with classic Chinese presentations. Their seafood stands out here, fresh, yet more affordable than a restaurant. Portions are designed for sharing, and communal dining of at least 2 or more people is highly recommended. Prices are wallet-friendly, budget about SGD $14 per person for a meal with seafood here.Absolutely loved the Assam Squid (SGD $9 / $15), which features large, fresh, meaty squid rings, in a strong, sour assam sauce / broth, with only a slight sharpness in taste. Along with tender chunks of vegetables (okra / lady's fingers, eggplant, string beans), this is a hearty, warming dish. Great for those who love spicy food! I understand this is the same tamarind sauce / gravy used in their famous assam fish head!The star dish here, the Salted Egg Prawn (SGD $16 / $22) features an incredibly tasty, savoury salty, thick, salted egg yolk sauce. So yummy we used the sauce on other dishes as well! The prawns are large, fresh, and meaty, yet fried well enough that the crunchy shells can even be eaten! Highly recommended! continue reading

We came here to try their speciality. Honestly, the display looks good - I like the way they display the fish slices on top a bed of vegetables. Taste wise, the fish head steamboat is just ok for me. I have tasted better ones. I think it is missing ingredients such as 'Tee Bor', the type of fish that makes steamboat taste extraordinary. The salted pork ribs sounds interesting but nothing to really shout about. However,the stir fired beans with 'hae bi' is a realy star dish. Overall, it is passable for me only. continue reading

I like the lotus roots vegetable stir fry with macadamia nuts, salted egg prawns which is creamy and not too dry. The Assam fish head is also good deal with lots of meaty fish and vegetables. The salted egg crabs and the chilli crabs are so yummy you can still dip in the 馒头。 The sliced fish steamboat is so fresh , the soup so tasty you can drink up all the soup! It's a pity they should fry the udon with less oil as when its half taken the remaining dish is very oily. continue reading

I was very honoured to join OpenRice's food tasting session at Jin Sha Wan 金沙湾 (Kovan) where it was a sumptuous seafood spread for all of us to enjoy. Jin Sha Wan is a subsidiary of Tong Garden Seafood Restaurant at Tampines which has been in the line for 40 years. Mr Kovan (a moniker that actually sticks to memory, see above), the boss of Jin Sha Wan, introduced their signature dish – Salted Egg Yolk Crab – which is the reason for their signboard name as salted egg yolk resembles the golden sand on the beach.Kovan is a little far - but the prices are promised to be the cheapest in town and the quality of their seafood is not compromised at all! In fact, the crabs and prawns actually have a lot of substance to chew and enjoy, and it is very fresh too. Definitely worth it to make the trip down.Read on to find out what are the dishes to order!Wondering what food tastings look like? You always serve the camera first... even if you are desperately craving to eat already. Look at everyone dishing out their cameras to snap a picture of the food!French Beans with Shrimps - $8 (small) Pleasantly surprised by this vegetable dish - the french beans were really crunchy and juicy (you would never think vegetables could be juicy but this is for real), complemented with fragrant shrimp bits! The chefs insisted on only using younger and quality french beans, hence maintaining a high standard of this dish! Very suitable for a family with young and old. Lotus Roots with Macademia Nuts - $12 (small)This - another vegetable-based dish but lo and behold - it is more than an ordinary tze char dish. You can't find this anywhere else because it is the innovative creation by the boss himself! There's lotus root slices, carrots, mushrooms, green peas, and a generous serving of macademia nuts. I think it's an okay dish but extra brownie points for the creativity. Salted Egg Yolk Prawns - $16 (small)Oh prawns... my favourite of all the seafood creatures when it's on a platter. When doused with Jin Sha Wan's signature salted egg yolk goodness, it's a mess to eat but it's so goooood! The prawns are easy to remove from the shell, the prawn flesh doesn't stick and actually has a lot of substance to bite too. Juicy, sweet and freshness bursting from each of the prawn. I'm lazy and wish that they'd peeled the shells for us... but somehow, working for some good prawns make it even better.Assam Fish Head - $22This is my favourite dish of the night. A clear winner among fellow diners on the table as well. The assam sauce has a strong flavour, very delectable and fragrant. There's a slight spiciness to it. I'm not one who can take spicy stuff but this is within tolerable level. The fish head also has a lot of tender meat to go around. It's also much cheaper and more enjoyable than the usual fish tze char dishes around which are priced at around $50 for the same serving size. Extremely recommended!Fragrant Pork Ribs - $10 (small)This one is an okay dish for me, not particularly impressive and the taste is rather one-dimensional... sweet dark sauce. In fact it tastes like chicken rather than pork ribs. Not that I'm complaining because I love chicken more than pork! This one is not as spectacular as the Assam Fish Head.Mee Goreng - $4 (small)This is surprisingly spicier than what I would say is tolerable level. Beneath the spice, it is actually very yummy and has a wok hei fragrance that can live up to the reputation as one of the better hawker mee goreng standards.KL Hokkien Mee - $5 (small)This hokkien mee is unlike the prawn yellow noodles of the Singapore rendition... not all hawker centres have this, the other place in Singapore I can think of is at Malaysia Boleh. This has a richer flavour than Malaysia Boleh's, the gravy is thick and melts lusciously with the chewy udon-looking noodles.Salted Egg Yolk Crabs/ Chilli Crabs - 2 for $25I really love the fact that these crabs are extremely full of flesh in their pincers and the carapace. I could actually tear actual crab meat from it multiple times (unglam but in the name of good food, who really cares! ;)) and it is so sweet and delicious! Between these two crabs, I would prefer the salted egg yolk crab because it is much creamier and the sauce (relatively only) didn't drown the original flavour of the crabs itself. So I would recommend the Salted Egg Yolk Crabs!Crocodile Meat Claypot - $20/30 (seasonal price)The sauce is similar to the frog leg claypot porridge sort of sauce but it's crocodile meat! It tastes somewhat like frog leg but much less tender. Very interesting and in case you are looking for some crocodile meat to enjoy, you know where now - Jin Sha Wan!Red Grouper Steamboat - $35 (small)We had this steamboat to round off the seafood dinner, which was really a wholesome touch to such a seafood feast! The red grouper fish were sliced very thinly and yet maintains its flavour and you could taste the distinct freshness. I liked the steamboat soup base a lot. At this point, I was certain that the boss of Jin Sha Wan is really meticulous about the freshness of his seafood served - so much reassurance dish after dish! For more photos, please visit http://spherepiece.blogspot.sg/2013/12/food-feat-jin-sha-wan-kovan.html continue reading

The OpenRice Team together with a group of OpenRicers came down to Jin Sha Wan 金沙湾 for a Food Tasting session on 6 Dec 2013. Based on feedback from our fellow OpenRicers, here are some of the highly recommended dishes!•Assam Fish Head •Red Grouper Steamboat •Creamy Crab•Salted Egg Prawns If you're interested to join us for future OpenRice Food Tasting sessions, do check out the latest updates on www.makanhunt.com ! continue reading