Crystal Jade Kitchen (Closed)

Have you tried the recently-transformed dining experience at Crystal Jade's Plaza Singapura outlet? Hailed as the all-new Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen, this new food establishment offers steamboat buffet at wallet-friendly prices. This new restaurant is an extension of Crystal Jade's current operations, so here are 10 Things about Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen you probably didn't know.1. It's homely and welcoming!Remember all those times you visited Crystal Jade with your family, loved ones and friends? The soft lighting of the 140-seater restaurant creates the ideal warm-and-fuzzy atmosphere for great conversations to be born. Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen enhances the experience with their knowledgeable and friendly employees. I asked several questions about the origins of the food and they KNOW them all! 2. Choose from six different soup bases These include Pork Bone soup, Tomato soup, Curry soup, Miso soup and Superior soup. Those who have fiery tastebuds and would prefer something more intense, challenge yourself with the Spicy Mala soup. Each steamboat pot comes with two compartments so you can choose to enjoy different soup bases.3. All-you-can-eat steamboat with free flow of drinks and soft ice cream for lunch and dinnerCrystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen offers a wholesome spread of more than 35 ingredients including fresh chicken, pork and beef slices, mussels, mushrooms and vegetables. This is probably more than the average number of ingredients I usually have at reunion dinners at home!4. The Minced Pork Paste and Chicken Paste are home-madeWhat's so special about home-made food? Well, the recipes ignite nostalgic memories in your subconscious. I really loved how Crystal Jade enables us to be creative in shaping our meat with these slabs of paste. You can simply dunk the entire slab into the soup in one flat squarish chunk, or attempt to make your own meatballs, and trust me, that takes a lot of skill. More importantly, the intense flavours and smooth texture of the meat pastes were well-received by my tongue. 5. Daily Special: Deep-fried items to snack on while you wait for the soup to boilMost of us simply want to tuck into our food without waiting. I was delighted to know that cooked items are offered daily at the buffet counter. I tried the Deep Fried Fish Skin, Deep Fried Chicken Skin and Deep Fried Mushroom Stems. They were flavoursome on their own, but you may choose to dip them into the soup for that extra richness. My personal favourite would be the Fish skin because it was really crunchy and chock full of briny deep-sea goodness!6. Fine slices of fresh pork, chicken and beefYou don't like beef? Not to worry — there's pork. You don't like pork? Well, there's chicken. These meats are kept refrigerated and only served upon ordering. This ensures their freshness!7. Missing the traditional Cantonese favourites? They didn't forget your roasted combination platter! The Roasted Combination Platter (S$25.80/per serving) is definitely great for carnivorous beings like myself. The Roast Duck is served with a golden proportion of meat and fat. These ducks are specially selected from Ipoh duckfarms, where newborn ducks are raised to 7 weeks of age. The ducks are seasoned with various Chinese herbs stuffed in their stomachs before beingroasted. The Quality pork belly is seasoned with salt and five-spice powder, before being roasted for 1.5 to 2 hours. The crispy skin and flavourful juicy meat is not to be missed! Last but not least, the Honey Barbecued pork is glazed with a mixture of honey and sauces and skewered with long forksbefore being placed to roast. 8. The crispiest Deep-fried Yam Puff with Minced MeatAnother quintessential favourite at Cantonese dim sum restaurants, each piece is packedwith soft, fragrant yam with juicy minced meat and deep fried with delicate golden flakes. You can get this a-la-carte for only S$4 per serving (3 pcs).9. They have one of the freshest Ha-Kau you can find!The fresh shrimps are wrappedwith a thin layer of dough skin and steamed in a traditional bamboo basket until the skin istranslucent. They're really juicy and fresh! Didn't understand why they were so slippery to pick up though. The Steamed Shrimp Dumplings are priced at S$4.60 per serving of 3 pieces.10. Chewy and the colour of sunshine, this never fails to satisfy.You'd be surprised at how juicy the Steamed Pork & Shrimp with Crab Roe Dumplings (S$4.20 per serving of 3 pieces) are! They are really moist and matched the lofty standards of all the steamed dim sum. Addictive to the max!Thanks to Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen for the media tasting session. Now I know where to go for my next gathering!Weekday dinner buffet: S$20.90++ for adults and S$17.90++ for children (12 years and below)Weekend and Public Holiday dinner buffet: S$26.90++ for adults and S$23.90++ for children (12 years and below) continue reading

Crystal Jade started its restaurant operations at Plaza Singapura in 1999 as Crystal Jade Kitchen. In recent years, due to growing demand, it also offered steamboat during dinner time. This outlet had recently been revamped to "Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen" whereby you can find all-you-can-eat steamboat with free flow drinks and soft ice-cream. How about their usual Cantonese ala-carte dishes and dim sum? Good news for their die-hard fans. Traditional Cantonese favourites such as dim sum, roasted meats, congee etc will still be served for lunch and dinner so that you can have best of both worlds. Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen offers a wholesome spread of more than 35 ingredients including sliced meat (beef/ chicken/ pork), mussels, mushrooms and vegetables.The sliced meat here were for display purposes only. Those that you order are kept refrigerated and will only be served to you upon orders. This is to ensure freshness of the meat. Let us walk through the buffet section...There are many different types of condiments for buffet diners to create their own dipping sauces. Looking at the colourful bowls here make everything so appetizing. For me, I took a bit of each condiment and mixed them together. I like the sesame sauce and their housemade special sauce, so I put more of these 2 sauces into my dipping bowl. Other condiments include Sambal Belacan, Thai dipping sauce, fresh cilantro, spring onions, garlic etc. To make the steamboat buffet even more value-for-money, you can also find free flow of drinks (Soft drinks or hot beverages such as coffee and tea) and soft ice-cream here. All are included in the buffet! As we were happily chatting away, we didn't realize that the induction cooker was actually embedded in our table until Samantha showed us. See! It was nicely camouflaged in the table. For this tasting session, we were served with two different types of soup bases, namely pork's bones soup (left) and curry soup (right). Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen offers diners six different soup bases. The other soup bases include Tomato Soup, Miso Soup, Superior Soup and Spicy Mala soup. The temperature control was found underneath at one side of the table. It is really easy to operate, just need to press either the "up" or "down" button to control the temperature.While waiting for our soup bases to boil, we enjoyed their cooked items such as Deep Fried Fish Skin, Deep Fried Chicken Skin and Deep Fried Mushroom Stems that were offered at the buffet line. They served as pretty good snacks, crunchy and not oily.We were served with some of their popular ala-carte roasted combination platter and dim sums before we dipped into the steamboat.Roasted Combination Platter ($25.80/ per serving)This is one of your "must-order" dishes if you are here at Crystal Jade. As I was typing this post, just by looking at this photo of the roasted combination platter, made me drool and want to go back so much to the restaurant. The roasted duck meat was tender and I loved the caramelised crispy duck skin. The duck meat had a rich flavour as it was seasoned with various Chinese herbs stuffed in the stomach before being roasted. The roasted pork belly was juicy with a crisp pork-crackling. The quality pork belly was seasoned with salt and five spice powder and roasted for 1.5 to 2 hours. Last but not least, the honey barbecued pork, with fats that melt in your mouth, was flavourful and tender too. Plum and mustard sauce were served with the platter as dips. It is recommended to dip the roasted duck meat with the plum sauce and the roasted pork belly with mustard sauce. Dim sums served at Crystal Jade definitely are of a certain good standard.Steamed Shrimp Dumpling "Ha-Kau" ($4.60/per serving of 3 pieces) Deep-fried Yam Puff with Minced Meat ($4/ per serving of 3 pieces) Generous minced meat fillings inside. Steamed Pork and Shrimp with Crab Roe Dumpling "Siew Mai" ($4.20/per serving of 3 pieces) Pan-Fried Fish Cake with Radish ($4/ per serving of 3 pieces)This dish was something new to us. We were introduced to this old-school dim sum in Hong Kong that is now difficult to find and of course, I have not seen this in Singapore so far. This dim sum is made by stuffing minced fresh fish cake and radish between two layers of wonton skin. After feasting on the roasted meat platter and dim sums, let us get back to our steamboat. Beef slices - note that they are all very thinly sliced so they will be cooked easily. Chicken Slices. Pork Slices.Home-made Minced Pork Paste and Home-made Minced Chicken Paste were served in small square trays. Diners can try to scoop them and shape them into meatballs to cook them in the soup. I tried the pork bones' soup first as I was afraid the curry would numb my taste-bud. In fact, I love the pork bones' soup so much that I had several bowls of it until I was too full to really try the curry soup. The soup was light and sweet. Will be great to end off your meal with a sweet note by having some soft ice-cream.It was an enjoyable meal at Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen. Sam and I had a great steamboat dining experience in a very cosy and comfortable setting. Thanks Joh Ju from Pinstripes Communications for this invitation and of course, Samantha from Crystal Jade for hosting the dinner. continue reading

Walking around Plaza Singapura, my dining companion and I eventually ended up in Crystal Jade. I think they recently had a change in concept for this store as there is now steamboat available. In fact, there are quite a number of patrons there for the steamboat buffet as we saw lots of people with the pot. Nonetheless, we wanted something simple, so we just ordered dim sums for our dinner. There is a small range of dim sums available, and we stuck with the usual items like siew mai and har gow and chee cheong fun etc. The har gow is my favourite as the prawns are bouncy and crunchy and the skin is not too thick. I would think it is preferable for three to enjoy since the dim sums come in a basket of 3 each. We also ordered one non dim sum item, the vegetables for some greens. Overall, 5 dim sum dishes and one vegetable works out to around $40 for two which is quite alight. Also, do note that water is chargeable at 30cents each. continue reading

For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/09/dinner-at-crystal-jade-steamboat.htmlI recently attended a food tasting session, organized by Pinstripes and Crystal Jade, with my friend Wendy. Crystal Jade has recently revamped their menu from casual Cantonese dining to a new hybrid concept that includes a All-You-Can-Eat Steamboat Buffet plus Ala Carte Cantonese delights. We will be sampling steamboat buffet with two recommended soup base and selected all time favorites from the Ala Carte menu.The customized Steamboat table that has a built-in induction cooker. The digital temperature control is located by the side of the table, that means no more having to adjust temperature with greasy buttons...cool!The brand new Ala Carte menu still contains quite a bit of offering from the former Crystal Jade Kitchen's extensive menu. Popular Cantonese Roast Meats and Dim Sum items are retained, along with a range of popular HK style dishes.A glimpse of the price points of their affordable Steamboat buffet that includes a wholesome spread of more than 35 ingredients, free flow beverages and soft-serve ice cream.We did a quick recce around the buffet counters and found a good spread of ingredients including fresh mussels, mushrooms and assorted vegetables. A few kinds of carbos like instant noodles, beehoon, steam rice and porridge.Fresh meats includes thinly sliced shabu pork, chicken and beef and two kinds of marinated minced meat paste (chicken & pork) for making meatballs in the soup. The meat slices are stored in the fridge where patrons can make unlimited orders thru the waiting staffs.The condiments station, has a myriad of more than 10 types of sauces including Crystal Jade's Homemade special sauce, Sambal belachan, Sesame sauce etc. and fresh scallions and coriander to add flavor to the sauces.Crystal Jade's QQ rice that is a blend of quality Thai jasmine rice and glutinous rice with a springy texture. A special Scallion oil is available for pairing with the QQ rice.Drinks and Dessert stations, with assortment of soft drinks, coffee & tea and soft-serve ice cream (3 flavors) with two choice of toppings. We were served with two kinds of soup base, the most popular Japanese style Pork Bone soup and the new HK style Curry soup. Four other soup choices available are Tomato soup, Miso soup, Superior soup, and Spicy Mala soup. Patrons can select two kinds of soup bases per pot. We munched on some snacks available at the buffet counter while we waited for the soup to heat up. Crispy Fish Skin, Fried Chicken Skin and Fried Mushroom Stems, they were pretty addictive to eat.Apart from Steamboat, we were also served a Roasted Combination Platter $25.80++ and a couple of Dim Sum items for sampling. We had Roast Duck, Honey BBQ Pork (Char Siew) and Roast Pork Belly, served with Plum sauce and Mustard sauce. Needless to say, the roasted items were prepared with quality ingredients and high standard execution. The roast duck meat was plump, tender and moist with a slightly crispy skin, the roast pork belly has nice crackling skin and the char siew was sweet and juicy. Recommended.Shrimp Dumpling $4.60++, has chunky fresh prawns wrapped in translucent skin. Prawns were crunchy and succulent, delish.Siew Mai $4.20++, with well marinated minced pork and topped with a whole prawn and a dollop of crab roe. Another nicely done dim sum item.Deep fried Yam Puff w/ Minced Meat $4.00++, light and crispy birdnest-like crust with smooth fragrant yam paste beneath and savory minced pork filling. Very tasty albeit a little messy to eat though.Pan-fried Fish Cake w/ Radish $4.00++, an old-school dim sum in HK that is now difficult to find. Fresh fish paste with shredded radish sandwiched between crispy fried wanton skin. It'll be perfect if served with some creamy mayo dip.Our soup is finally coming to a boil, we quickly added in the raw ingredients to cook. I had a taste of the lighter pork bone soup first, and found it to be sweet and flavorful, with or without the ingredients. It was really good and I had 3 servings of it before moving on to the curry soup.The curry soup has a heavier taste and was a tad greasy, I felt a bit jerlak after having only 2 small servings. I personally prefer the pork bone soup to this one.At the end of dinner, I was feeling rather full but still gotten myself one serving of the soft-serve ice cream to complete the meal. Soft-serve is a type of ice cream that is softer than regular ice cream, as a result of air being introduced during the freezing process. It was light, velvety smooth and not too sweet...yummy.We had a great time sampling the new menu items from Crystal Jade. The Steamboat Buffet is good value for money, with unlimited serving of shabu meat, beverages and dessert. We would've prefer them to include fresh prawns to the spread though, but for the price they are charging, one wouldn't feel short changed. I would recommend it to my family and friends. continue reading

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.FFor 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!PricesWeekday 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 KitchenPlaza Singapura68 Orchard Road #02-32Singapore 238839T: 6336 2833 continue reading