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2014-09-11
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Group gatherings in town. Where to go for affordable meals? Sounds like the exact dilemma that many people have. Presenting your solution: Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen at Plaza Singapura. They've recently undergone an overhaul and came up with a new dining concept of affordable steamboat buffets along with our traditional Cantonese dimsum favourites. Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen's 90-minute buffet spread has more than 35 ingredients including fresh chicken, pork, beef slices, mussels, mushro
Group gatherings in town. Where to go for affordable meals? Sounds like the exact dilemma that many people have. Presenting your solution: Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen at Plaza Singapura. They've recently undergone an overhaul and came up with a new dining concept of affordable steamboat buffets along with our traditional Cantonese dimsum favourites.
Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen's 90-minute buffet spread has more than 35 ingredients including fresh chicken, pork, beef slices, mussels, mushrooms and vegetables. One of the outstanding features is their commitment to keeping everything fresh for consumption. If you would like to have chicken/pork/beef slices, the chefs will retrieve them from the freezer where they are kept upon request.
How many condiments and sauces can you spot in this picture? With their more-than-enough options for you to create your own dipping sauces, be sure to be spoilt for choice. One of the sauces that I recommend is the Sambal Belacan and Peanut Sauce because I find that they are the most outstanding in terms of thickness and shiokness! Others include: Thai Dipping Sauce, Sesame Sauce, Fresh Cilantro, Spring Onions, Garlic, Chilli Padi and more.
Instead of just normal white rice, you get fragrant QQ rice here. QQ rice is a lovely blend of Thai Jasmine Rice and glutinous rice, giving it a chewier texture as compared to normal white rice. I like how premium the choices are at Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen that makes it a more value-for-money experience. For more flavour pop in your rice, mix in a small spoonful of freshly made scallion oil.
If the ingredients at the buffet section aren't enough to satisfy your appetite, you can also order cooked items such as deep fried fish skin/ chicken skin/ mushroom stems. Pro tip: dip them in the soup base for a few seconds to absorb the flavours.
The steamboat table is made of induction cooker. I'm bad with the technicalities, but trust me that it's extremely easy to operate. The white pot is also not too hot on the outside and you can actually touch it even though it's boiling in there. It makes the steamboat experience much more family-friendly when they've got all the safety issues all sorted out.
If you're wondering how many different soup bases you can choose from... the number is six: pork bone soup, tomato soup, curry soup, miso soup, superior soup and spicy mala soup! You can't have the best of six worlds, but at least you can have two with the duo-compartments in each steamboat pot.
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For me, the highlight and ultimate must-try is their signature in-house pastes - Minced Pork Paste and Minced Chicken Paste! They are also kept in the freezers to ensure utmost freshness. I just loved these because they are super chewy, delicious and soak up the soup base adequately well. Simply scoop out spoonfuls of minced meat and drop them in the soup. Please try this when you are here!
The steamboat kitchen buffet includes free-flow drinks and desserts. The best part is that the soft ice-cream tastes awesome and not the low-quality types! Ice-cream is available in vanilla, chocolate or vanilla-chocolate. You can also add as much rainbow or chocolate sprinkles as you like. I think children will love these!Prices
Weekday dinner buffet: $20.90++ (adults), $17.90++ (children below 12)
Weekend/ PH, dinner buffet: $26.90++ (adults), $23.90++ (children below 12)
Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen also retained their most popular perennial Cantonese dishes for your enjoyment. Check out some of my recommendations.
This deep-fried yam puffs ($4 for 3pcs) are stuffed with succulent and tasty minced meat with dense yam paste. I found them to be well done because the exterior is very crispy and wispy.
I would consider siew mai ($4.20 for 3pcs) to be above average as well because it has a bouncy bite to it. The wonton skin also does not reek of any strong smells that people sometimes associate with siew mai.
Prawn dumplings, or more affectionately known as har gow ($4.60 for 3pcs) , is a signature dish in Cantonese dimsum that can't be missed. The fillings were pretty good though the skin was slightly thicker than desirable.
This is a rare dish that you can hardly find in Singapore dimsum restaurants nowadays. The pan-fried fish cake with radish ($4 for 3pcs) has a multi-dimensional bite to it with layers of wonton skin and chopped radish stuffed in the golden envelope. Pro tip: pair it with Crystal Jade's blend of chilli oil for the best effect.
Order the Roasted Combination Platter ($38.70 for 6 persons serving as pictured, $25.80 for 4 persons serving also available) for a complete Cantonese meal experience! There are three portions to it: Roast Duck, Roast Pork Belly and Honey Barbequed Pork (or char siew). The roast duck from Crystal Jade is specially sourced from Ipoh farms, and well-marinated with Chinese herbs stuffed in its stomach before being roasted! The chefs personally monitor the process to ensure its roasted to perfection by turning it periodically. The sweet glaze also helps to caramelise the crispy skin. Roasted for 2 hours, the roast pork belly is seasoned with salt and five spice powder for a flavourful, delicious finish. The char siew is also wonderfully glazed with a mixture of honey and sauces.Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen
Plaza Singapura
68 Orchard Road #02-32
Singapore 238839
T: 6336 2833
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