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2013-12-10
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We didn’t get to any sandy beach for seafood dinner but dine with heart’s content with such delectable seafood treat at Jin Sha Wan. This chomping fresh delicious seafood tasting experience right in the heart of Kovan 212 last Friday evening.The boss of this “qi char” stall prefer to be known as Mr Kovan signature dish is Creamy Crab. He has been in the business for more than thirty years and Jin Sha Wan at Hougang Street 21 is currently more than a year old.As appetizer, OpenRicers were served
The boss of this “qi char” stall prefer to be known as Mr Kovan signature dish is Creamy Crab. He has been in the business for more than thirty years and Jin Sha Wan at Hougang Street 21 is currently more than a year old.
As appetizer, OpenRicers were served with Dried Shrimps with French Beans.These French beans are slim and crunchy topped with deep fried minced shrimps cooked with plenty of minced garlic and chilli was spicy and yet appetizing to kick off the dinner for that evening.
Priced at S$8 for this small portion.
Stir Fried Lotus Roots with Macadamia Nuts was one of my favourite dish of the night. For this small serving at S$12. The sumptuous flavours of a few variety of vegetables cooked with thinly sliced lotus roots together with macadamia nut is indeed a unique blend of ingredients. Lightly sauced combination without over drowning the freshness of the sliced celery, diced red capcisum, snow peas and black fungus (mok yee). I could really taste the crunchiness and sweetness of the vegetables.Though mixed with the light sauce the Macadamia Nuts was crunchy and fragrant.
Salted Egg Yolk Prawns served crispy and hot was the third dish at S$16 for a small portion.These sinful orangey balls enhanced the flavour of the king size prawns especially when the yolk are mashed and smeared and sautéed generously.
Though it’s a bit messy with the hands and served in most places with the shells, the egg yolk has enveloped each king size prawn very well. The king prawns were very fresh and succulent. The fragrant from the curry leaves added even more flavour. This dish is also one of my favourite.
Fragrant Pork Ribs at S$10 for a small portionThese pieces of tempting aromatic soft bone pork ribs were tender tasty coated with the sweet and tangy sauce. The shiny brown finish pork ribs coated with dark brown sugar were deep flavoured and really whet my appetite. The pickles that came along with this dish were crisp, crunchy and refreshing.
Assam Fish HeadThe good quality Red Snapper Fish Head Assam served with a warmer maintaining the warm of the assam gravy. Addictively sour from the tamarind combination and really an appetite booster. Healthy with lots of vegetables ingredients such as ocras (lady’s fingers), quartered tomatoes , sliced egg plants, pineapples cubes and sliced big onions. The taste of this dish was similar to the Portuguese Style of cooking fish. Relatively low fat compared to other curry fish head dishes as it does not contain coconut milk. This was the best dish for the night. I highly recommend Fish Head lovers this is a dish not to be missed. We don’t have to live near the ocean to enjoy fresh fish.
This portion of Assam Fish Head cost $22.00
Small portion of Mee Goreng or “fried Noodles” at S$4.00 was reasonably priced with fresh prawns that added seafood flavour to the noodles. I prefer this version of Mee Goreng than the Indian Muslim Mamak Mee Goreng.The sour, spicy, sweet, and tangy flavour that came through plate of mee goreng (fried yellow noodles). Though a little hot for my palate.
From our local Mee Goreng , the next dish was KL (Kuala Lumpur) style Hokkien Mee.The flavoursome thick, gooey black sauced drained the yellow thick noodles cooked together with fresh pork lard enhancing the flavour.
The fragrance and glossiness of this noodle dish basically came from the enormous sinfully lard pieces which eventually drown in a pool of lard oil at the surface of the plate. The KL version of noodles are notably known for the darkness braised together with the so look alike udon .
The noodles are firmer, smoother, thicker and rounder. Like any Hokkien Mee, without pork lard as the key ingredient the taste would be totally different.
Finally came the long waited signature dish of Jin Sha Wan, the Creamy Crab. The gooey richness of salted raw duck egg yolks combined with butter, flour and evaporated milk infused into the sweetness of the "golden" king size crabs. I like the richness of the gravy which goes so well with the dainty looking deep fried man tao (Chinese buns). The gravy was cooked just right to blend with the dungeness crabs and the man tao. The curry leaves fried together enhanced the overall fragrance of the dish. These finger licking crustaceans with their meaty princers are irresistible. Priced: S$25
The second crab dish was prepared in a piquant and flavourful chilli base. Though the size of the chilli crabs were smaller than the creamy crabs, the sauce was prepared thicker with drazzled of beaten eggs. There was a blend of sweetness and the thickness of this fabulous gravy with a good chilli kick flavour that makes us want to polish every drop of gravy with the man tao. Also priced at S$25.00.
A special dish prepared for OpenRicers was the claypot Crocodile Meat with thinly sliced ginger, plenty of spring onions stalks and diced big onions slices. This oyster sauce braised crocodile meat was slightly tough. I noticed this is the only dish that was not so popular. I ate a few pieces of the crocodile meat and found nothing special about this dish. Comparing to chicken and frog meat, crocodile meat is still the toughest. The seasonal price for this dish ranged between S$20 to S$30 per serving.
Red Garoupa Steamboat was the last dish for the night. I wished it came earlier. As a matter of fact, these Garoupa fish slices were so fresh it should be eaten raw as “sashimi”. The delicious morsels of fish slices cooked in the rich and yet light broth. Inside the sizzling smoky flavoured stock were pieces of yam, Chinese cabbages, dried seaweeds and wolfberries. Each of us had a small portion of the soup and the sliced fish. This dish was simply tantalizing. The dried sole added which was the most important ingredient to the steamboat broth has imparted a wonderful smoky flavorful taste together with the fragrant yam slices and the sweetness of the cabbage.Priced at S$35.00 for this small serving.
Tong Garden Seafood Restaurant at Blk. 477 Tampines Street 44 is the first qi char stall setup by the same boss. Golden Sand Bay Crabs and Seafood (Jin Sha Wan) is the subsidiary of Tong Garden Seafood Restaurant. Opened daily from 4.30 pm to 1.30 am.
OpenRicers were treated like VIPs with enticing menu specially prepared by "Mr. Kovan".
It was an OpenRice Food Tasting FEST (Foodie Experiencing Savoring Taste).
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