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2014-10-31
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For full review: http://www.amiehu.com/2014/10/crystal-jade-kitchen-holland-village.htmlCrystal Jade Kitchen serves an array of typical Cantonese selections that might entice you to order everything... but with such a glaring golden embossed branding on the wall, the dinner plan is obvious: La Mian and Xiao Long Bao, of course!You know a food has achieved cult status when they have their own acronym. Crystal Jade's XLBs come in a bundle of four, the perfect number for everyone to monopolize one
Crystal Jade Kitchen serves an array of typical Cantonese selections that might entice you to order everything... but with such a glaring golden embossed branding on the wall, the dinner plan is obvious: La Mian and Xiao Long Bao, of course!
You know a food has achieved cult status when they have their own acronym. Crystal Jade's XLBs come in a bundle of four, the perfect number for everyone to monopolize one entire bundle. The natural comparison would be against the famous Din Tai Fung's. Crystal Jade's XLBs have slightly thicker skin, but somehow all four of them are leaking through their bottoms. Taste-wise I would say I still prefer Din Tai Fung's... However, to settle a regular XLB craving, Crystal Jade's still suffice.
Onto the la mian! This totally reminded me of pasta varieties! I was super surprised to find that Crystal Jade offers 8 different types of la mian types: (1) Dragon Beard La Mian (2) Double Width La Mian (3) Triangle La Mian (4) Flat Face La Mian (5) Broad Face La Mian (6) Double Line La Mian (7) Hand Torn La Mian (8) Hand Sliced La Mian. Number (7) and (8) require extra time to produce, I suppose the chefs need to take extra effort to make it. I wanted to try those but was too hungry to wait so I went ahead with the standard Number (1) Dragon Beard ones.
Out of all the la mian flavours, I chose my favourite Zha Jiang La Mian to try Crystal Jade's version of this dish. Many restaurants have this dish in their menu, and I actively try many types from Din Tai Fung, Paradise Dynasty, and Nan Xiang Restaurant. Crystal Jade's Zha Jiang La Mian is arguably the most distinctive from the rest. There is a thick coating of pretty intense sweet and spicy sauce around the smooth and finely textured la mian. I liked how the spiciness is adjusted to make it more tantalizing and also the minced pork was also quite savoury. The overall portion was super huge and almost felt like it was neverending.
There are many restaurants under the Crystal Jade Culinary Concepts franchise - the other two I've been to is Crystal Jade Korean Ginseng Chicken & BBQ and Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen.
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