Crystal Jade Kitchen 翡翠小厨 (Junction 8)

30 July 2010 Dinner

Ambience: Good

Food: Good. I ate duck noodles. The meat juice that came out from the duck was slightly salty and had the kind of meat taste that I like. Noodles and soup is acceptable as well. I would note that even for me, it is somewhat salty and that typical people would probably consider it extremely salty.

Value: Bad if considered without any restrictions. Acceptable if you consider that this is a restaurant after all and $8 for the duck noodles is not reasonable considering the good ambience and service.

Service: Good. Not excellent since the service staff was not exactly elated over my questions with the menu items, but she managed to conceal most of her expression. The staff also chatted a lot while cleaning up and is somewhat disruptive of the dining experience. However, considering that it was nearing closing time (half an hour before closing), this is not unreasonable.

I am wondering is this the same place these people are talking about. I use to come here twice monthly, not because its good, but a place to chow down after shopping at J8.

Someone said the porridge is good???? I think its way too salty and i have a sneaky feeling they added hell alot of msg! The tim sum is ok, slightly better that the ones from the wet market or the frozen section from NTUC. Seriously it is not a bad place to sit down and eat. But to say the food is good, huh, really???

What amazes me is the plain porridge. For $1.50 (if I'm not mistaken), you will get a relatively big portion of porridge. Despite the word 'plain', the porridge is very tasty because it is boiled in chicken stock, I believe...

Deep fried prawn in mayo dressing is a must try. The prawns themselves are very crispy, topped with the sweetness of the mayo dressing. The soup dishes are very nice too; they would warm your body and soul :)

I went with my boyfriend to eat dinner on last last sat and it was almost packed! But we got a table after 5mins of wait so that was good.

We were both not too well that time so we decided to order porridge.

I ordered the sweet potato porridge and he ordered the egg and lean meat porridge. We also ordered a claypot beancurd.

The food came 15 mins later.

My sweet potato porridge was very salty! Even the sweet potato inside the porridge was salty and not sweet.

I am not like some customers who complain and make things difficult for the staff, so I just asked them for hot water to mix the porridge in.

My boyfriend's porridge was also salty, but not as bad as mine.

When the claypot came, we felt that it was quite salty too. But the taste was not bad.

I must say that if you are sick, and looking for something plain and simple, do not try to eat at this outlet.

Previously I ate the sweet potato porridge at the takashimaya crystal jade and it was very nice. So I guess it depends on the outlet or chefs?

Service wise, the auntie waitress who served us was quite attentive and friendly.

My treat for lunch (8pax)..for reasons I shan't reveal. :) ssshhhhh...

Anyway, this is our usual haunt for team lunches for occasions or just for a nice meal, etc. And so, we ordered our usual dim sum orders as well as a few ala carte orders (some were new tries as well as trying to 'fleece' me, haha!).

Here goes:

1 serving of Jelly Fish $9.80

Fish Congee $6.80

1 bowl of Shark Fin Soup $20.80

Poached Spinach with 2 types of eggs $14.80

1/2 Crispy Duck with Curry Sauce $18

Ee-Fu Mien (2 portions combined into 1, as 1 portion only feeds around 3 to 4 pax) $21

1 serving of Deep-fried prawn with Mayo $18

1 serving of Cheong Fun with Shrimps $3.80

1 serving of Cheong Fun with BBQ Pork $3.50

2 servings of Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gau) $9

2 servings of Siew Mai $8.60

1 serving of Chicken Feet (Fung Zhao) $3.30

2 servings of Glutinous Rice with Chicken $8.40

2 servings of Carrot Cake $6.80

1 serving of Custard Cream Bun $3.30

1 serving of Chestnut Cake $3.30

Generally, the food is not bad and fresh. Prawns definitely fresh. :) Glutinous rice sort of drop in standard though. Same for the fung zhao.

The poached veg with 2 type of eggs is so-so. Maybe it is cos I have tried both Peach Garden's and Jade Palace's version. Shrug.

The crispy duck with curry sauce is erm...sort of a disaster. Its a lucky thing that we insisted to separate the curry sauce from the duck. By default, the curry sauce is poured over the duck. The duck itself is nice where it is actually the usual roast duck sold. But the curry sauce, erm, kind of poor attempt. It is too salty (duck already slightly salty to start with) and the mix of the curry spices used was somehow weird. *shudder*

The shark fin soup was not consumed by me so no comments on that.

Service was prompt, no complaints. :)

Felt like a good meal after the first day of work, right after CNY. Called up one of my eating buddy and we headed down to Bishan. Went for a few round to shop for stuff and we found ourselves in Jade Kitchen. Despite the small entrance, it is actually quite spacious inside the rest. (almost like a maze) with all the oriental wooden separator. Nothing like a pleasant dinner...

Menu As Follows :

1.) Season Veg with Crab Roe - Green broccoli covered with crab meat and crab roe sauce. The broccoli was just nice for me not too hard not too soft, nicely done. The sauce was just superb. ++ with rice. Yummy! Yummy!

2.) Steam Codfish - Dunno if its suppose to be this way, but the meat just melt in my mouth. WoW, not a bad dish in light sauce. Yummy!

3.) Pan fried Beef cubes with Shallot - Meat lover will drool over this dish for sure! Juicy beef cubes fried with dark sauce with onions & shallot. ++ with rice. Yummy! Yummy!

We finish 2 bowls of rice each.

Was quite happy with the service actually, the waiter even got us ice water after we finish our drinks without us requesting for it! Thumbs up.

We were served by a Cantonese speaking middle age lady who is quite bad at Chinese & English I suppose cuz whatever my buddy ask she replied in Cantonese. End up I did the ordering, it annoyed my buddy but being served in Cantonese made me feel more at home...back in HK again…++ for that too.

Kazef@HGW

11/02/08