Uncle Leong Seafood (Jurong East)

chefquak

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See my full reviews & photos at = https://chefquak.com/2016/05/07/much-below-par-crab-beehoon-soup-uncle-leong-jurong-east-on-6may2016/
i arranged a 5pax lunch with my OPS primary school buddies at uncle leong jurong east on 6.5.2016. ^^
i had quite many excellent crab beehoon soup at uncle leong jurong east last year (2015).
& recently a OPS primary school buddy bought a very good lunch at red house, so i wanted to let them try the crab beehoon soup at uncle leong.
price of crab has gone up from S$63/kg to S$68/kg. adding soup still S$5.
higher price is ok, but somehow the soup was not as intense & flavourful as every of the previous times i had???
if you look at the 2 past photos above, the soup previously all had a deeper yellow colour. just by the look, it appeared more delicious than what we had today!
also, as one friend mentioned immediately, the crab was not as “strong” ie the meat texture is not as firm, and i felt also not sweet as a very fresh good crab should taste.
recently i made a 6-course dinner including crab beehoon soup for a very good friend’s birthday.
the crab beehoon soup i made using 2x250g small crab was very nice. i commented that uncle leong’s was much better, but if i were to c/w what we had today, i think mine was better both for the soup & the crab. my crabs were tiny but very sweet!
the cereal prawns was still good.
however for comparison, i just had cereal prawns at red house 2 days back for another friend’s 7pax bjrthday dinner, and red house cereal prawns were so much better.
the seafood pot was still very good.
many good ingredients including fish maw, sea cucumbers etc.
this hotpot tofu was the worst dish. no comparison at all with any zi char tofu dish say the likes of kok sen etc
i used to think this was the best 3-egg tofu.
my taste buds must be different today, but while it was still pretty ok, i thought the recent 3-egg spinach at red house was better.
when we first tried the crab, immediately we told the server it was not so good.
i did not really expect anything, it was not so good but it was not like “bad”. anyhow the server arranged a complimentary longan sea coconut dessert for us.
the lunch came to S$176nett for 5pax like S$35pax. it was really quite below my expectations, much below par.
the last many times i came in 2015, i used a $51 for S$100 voucher so those meals were first super nice & second like super value-for-money. this time no discounts, but i was ok if only the food were as good, but they were not….

(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)

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DETAILED RATING

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

Date of Visit

2016-05-06

Dining Method

Dine In

Spending Per Head

$35

Recommended Dishes

chefquak

Level4

333

Read full review

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/20/the-best-crab-beehoon-soup-uncle-leong-jurong-east-on-17nov2015/
bought S$200 groupon voucher & 5 of us went to uncle leong seafood jurong east for crabby dinner on 17.11.2015. ^^
all my friends agreed this the best crab beehoon soup we had for years!
2 of us were there slightly earlier at 6.45pm. the crowd came in later & place was quite well patronised, not sure if it was because of the groupon deals.
we managed to get 2x1kg sri lankan crabs. ^^
at first the lady server said may not have 1kg (only bigger) but she went anyway to check & i went over also, and she got the 2x1kg crabs.
they had display shelves.
we decided on 1 crab beehoon soup. i asked about the dry crab beehoon but seemed that it was not a popular order. we picked the golden sand crab + 1 deep-fried mantou 馒头 (or buns).
crabs were S$63/k. we ordered 4 other dishes – a 3eggs spinach, spicy minced pork tofu (锅仔豆腐), sea cucumber seafood pot and a pumpkin prawns.
the crab beehoon soup was pure heaven!!! ^^
so intense, smooth, sweet, and the crab was firm & “solid” (there was actually a clause on the online menu saying they do not guarantee that the crabs are “solid”).
for me, heaven was a long time coming.
last time i had crab beehoon soup was december 2014 at mama kong. no comparisons really!
& before that, maybe fast backwards 15 years? at melben toa payoh ave 8.
the other dishes we ordered turned out to be good, very good to excellent too.
the spicy minced pork tofu (锅仔豆腐) belonged to the just “good” category. a very competent dish actually, can’t really criticise it, but the spicy chilli not the type i like & not so matching food.
this 3 eggs spinach was quite excellent.
one of the best tasting i had. spinach was crunchy not overcooked & you could taste the 3 eggs distinct flavours quite well.
& this was a really, really good sea cucumber seafood treasure pot.
the sea cucumber, prawns, fish, razor clams, scallops etc were all very fresh & the broth was really delicate, smooth but super tasty, par excellence!
for me, this dish can rank with what top chinese restaurants here can deliver.
the pumpkin prawns was very competent dish. prawns were fresh, same preparations basically deep-fried. only difference with wasabi, salted egg etc was the sauce.
for me, the golden sand crab was very good too. this was their signature dish.
the crab though same 1kg, somehow had smaller claws, still good but overall the crab beehoon soup trumped this.
deep-fried mantou 馒头 (or buns) to dip in the creamy sauce.
dinner came to S$234, so with the groupon voucher discount (S$119.80 for S$200), it was S$154 for 5pax, 6 excellent dishes with 2x1kg crab dishes & a really “right up there” sea cucumber seafood treasure pot. about S$31pax nett.
i must add that the service & attitude (almost entire army of chinese servers) were really good. i gave them a sizable tip when leaving.
we all enjoyed the dinner & company tremendously.
i bought another voucher when i got back.