Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Holland Village)

one of my favourite places for comfort food despite being a caucasian. xiao long bao is the best in town, but certainly not perfect.

Down to Holland Village for Crystal Jade Steamboat/Xiao Long Bao Buffet dinner!

Steamboat Buffet Dinner starts from 5:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. (First Seating) and 8:30 P.M. to 1 A.M. (Second Seating)

As the restaurant is quite small (compared to some other outlets), I strongly recommend everyone who intends to go for the steamboat/xiao long bao buffet dinner to make reservations in advance (Preferably 2 or 3 days before the actual day as seats run out very quickly.)

For this steamboat and xiao long bao buffet dinner, do not expect too much from the steamboat. The main lead of the dinner are the Xiao Long Baos (Steamed Pork Dumplings), therefore, the steamboat dishes are just mediocre (although I totally loved the shabu shabu beef.)

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For the Steamboat, Some of the choices and dishes you get to choose from are:

Soup Base

Pork Bone Corn Soup
Ma La Soup
Century Egg and Coriander Soup
Yuan Yang (Two types of soup)

Steamboat Ingredients

Limited 100g Fresh Prawns per person
Shabu Shabu Beef/Mutton/Pork
Chicken Pieces
Salmon Balls
Mushroom Balls
Fish Balls
Hot Dogs
Fish Glue
Golden Mushroom
Fried Beancurd Sheets
Shanghai Nian Gao (Rice Cake)
Seaweed
Liver
Vegetables
etc.

Drinks

Coke
Sprite
Barley
Chinese Tea

Desserts

Beancurd (with almond sugar syrup)
Red Bean Cake (MUST TRY)
Osmanthus Cake (So So)

Most Importantly,

Unlimited flow of Xiao Long Baos - 5 pieces per basket.

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Personally, I love Crystal Jade's Xiao Long Bao as they have thicker skins ( I prefer Xiao Long Baos with thicker skins. I know I am weird. HA!) so it would not tear easily, thus being good at containing the soup in the dumplings.

The Xiao Long Baos are made batch by batch in the restaurant therefore, every single basket of Xiao Long Bao I ordered came steaming hot and delicious.

For the steamboat, oh wells, please do not place too much hopes on it.

We ordered Yuan Yang - Pork Bone and Corn Soup and Ma La Soup. Honestly, It is one of the blandest (if there is such a word) Ma La Soup I have ever tasted.

However, the Shabu Shabu beef cuts are superbly heavenly.

I would recommend to only take Pork and Beef Shabu Shabu cuts. Forget about the mutton.

For desserts, the red bean cake is superb! Fragrance from the coconut milk is great and chunks of red bean could be tasted. I LOVE! Almond Beancurd is just so so but my mommy loves it!

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Overall, I paid SGD 78 for 3 persons, which works out to be around SGD 26 per person. Also, currently, UOB cards are having a promotion - SGD 8 dining voucher with every SGD 60 spending!

Service was good but there is one extremely puzzling incident which happened -

I made reservations for the 8:30 P.M. seating. We ordered Beef, Pork, Mutton Shabu Shabu meat slices for the first round.

However, our Pork Slices never came.

Why?

Because by around 9 P.M., the staffs told us that they are OUT of Pork Slices. HELLO? How can you be out of food when the second seating just started?! Many diners complained about that matter, which I felt that Crystal Jade should do something about it as everyone paid for it but some did not even get the chance to taste it.

OH WELLS, the Xiao Long Bao made up for it though. HA!

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Please visit my blog at APPRÉCIER for more pictures and reviews on other places! =))

At only $19.80++ for its xiao long bao steamboat buffet, this is probably one of the most value for money buffets in town.

For the steamboat, patrons get a choice of around 4 soup bases. My party of 4 chose the pig bone soup which tasted like a blander version of clear brothed bak ku teh.

Customers get an ordering form to tick what items they want for the steamboat, eg chicken/pork/beef slices, various types of balls, mushrooms, tofu, pig liver, cuttlefish etc the items you would normally find in a steamboat. I personally liked their jiao zi(meat dumplings), it tasted similar to their xiao long baos(soup dumplings) except that there was more meat and less jap(soup).

Each person is also entitled to 100g of live prawns(which translate to 3 per person) for the steamboat. The prawns were really fresh and everyone felt it was a pity that it wasn't one of the buffet items that we could just spam.

Being typical kiasu Singaporeans, 4 of us ordered 10 baskets of xiaolongbao(5 per basket). Maybe it's because this is a buffet style crystal jade, but I felt that the xiaolongbaos here are slightly less tasty that one's you get from their ala-carte menu at other branches. The dumpling skins are slightly tougher and dryer and might be caused by over-steaming but it was nice nontheless.

At this price, I was very surprised that the buffet included drinks(tea, coke, barley), as well as a few choices of appetizers, dim sum and desserts. Their char siew paos tasted nice but I didn't like the Gui Hua(Sweet Osmanthus or Cassia Flower) jelly dessert. I thought it tasted weird and the jelly didn't have the springy konnyaku jelly texture that I like. My friends liked it though so maybe it's just me.

The staff was also very friendly and though it was very crowded and busy, we still managed to talk cock with them on various occasions, making our visit there a very homely one.

Great place to just chill out and catch up with friends...

I went twice in the last few weeks because it's so good! Costing only $19.80 ++ per person, the buffet is on from 8.30pm every day. Towards the weekend, it gets so packed out you need to book. The first time I went was on a weekday so we got in without a reservation but for Sunday night, we had to make one. It's amazing to see so many people eating.

You get to choose your own soup base, then you get a list of dim sums, drinks and ingredients to choose from and you just keep ordering until you are full.

After my crappy brunch at Mykii today, I was so happy to return to this Crystal Jade because it's always so affordable and the food has a certain standard that just does not disappoint.

In the end, it's not how much you can stuff your face with but what quality of food you have been given. I have never been disappointed at Crystal Jade.

Well done!

The shanghai xiao long bao here is one of my favourite, along with ding tai feng's.during my visit here. seems like they've added the crab meat xiao long bao to the menu. Nice and juicy, not much of the seafoody smell, which is good. but i guess my favourite would still be the usual pork shanghai xiao long bao

Ordered the SzeChian la mian. Good! not too oily,not super spicy with just the right amount of peanuts grounded into the suace. Too much of the peanut would make the sauce very dense and "heaty".

Another dish which i would not fail to order here is the chilli vinegar dumpling.it comes in 8 pieces soaked in chilli and vinegar oil!!!When you need a kick from something sour and spicy, go for this!

When I want something simple, cost effective and fast, I always go to Crystal Jade at Holland Village. This is not only because I live within walking distance to this restaurant, it really does serve quality food again and again without fail.

I usually order the la mian noodles if I am alone and if I am with some friends, we order more dim sum dishes.

The service is always pleasant and the pace is brisk. You get your order filled within 8 minutes I would say and you always leave feeling full and satisfied without burning your wallet!

i never knew this outlet of CJLMXLB served a steamboat and dim sum a la carte buffet ($18+++ per pax for weekday after 830pm) until my mates brought me here. it sounded almost too good to be true, considering that your typical bugis steamboat buffets are almost around that price and here you get air conditioned comfort, much better hygiene plus dimsum/desserts/drinks on top of steamboat fare.

there's only a small selection of dim sum under the buffet but it includes xiao long baos, and i happen to think that CJ serves the best in sg. hence, for xiao long bao fans, you don't need to hesitate!

for the steamboat, we had a yuan yang steamboat pot of century egg and coriander soup and pork bone and corn soup. prawns are limited (only about 3 per pax, very fresh tho) but everything else is free flow. i felt the meat cuts were just ok though my mates lapped up the pork/lamb slices. there wasn't a wide variety of seafood for the steamboat but to be fair all in all it was enough and the quality was decent.

for dessert, the osmanthus jelly was light but moreish and the almond tofu was surprisingly good. you also get free flow of home-made drinks unlike the crappy syrup drinks at standard steamboat buffets.

12th OCT 2008

Actually been to HV Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao awhile back...
The reviews on this place have been rather mixed (2 good, 1 so-so, 1 bad). My visits to this place >5 times have all been rather positive.
Maybe its because they serve my favorite Deep-Fried Scallion Pastry ($2.80) and Chili Sauce Pork Dumpling ($4.80). Some of their desserts are quite nice too.

Based on the receipt I kept, the three of us had quite a spread including 2x La Mian (one with extra noodles), the Chili Sauce Pork Dumpling, Scallion Pastry and Pan-fried Pork Dumpling.

La Mian - Stewed Beef with extra noodle [Rating: 7/10]
A normal serve of stew beef la mian usually goes for $7.50. It came up to $10.00 with the extra serving of noodle. The soup stock was solid, and the thick pieces of stewed beef cubes and other parts were tender and tasty.

La Mian - Pork & Veg Wanton [Rating: 6/10]
This was what my brother ordered... Somehow, it came last. I tried a spoonful, but everything felt average to me. Perhaps I was too blissfully filled by that time (with the Scallion Pastry) to have any objective comment about his La Mian.

Pan-Fried Pork Dumpling [Rating: 6.75/10]
The Pan-Fried Pork Dumpling did not really leave a deep impression, which meant that it was average at best. I am not very sure, but I felt that three pieces for $3.50 seemed to be a littler pricy compared to other eateries.

Chili Sauce Pork Dumpling [Rating: 7.5/10]
Ahhh... loved this!! I don't think we ever fail to order this whenever we visited. It was perfect this time. However, I have to comment that the consistency may not be there (I remember being served sub-par chili-dumplings once). So it may depend on your luck! Anyway, what makes it nice is the few condiments that come together with the 8 pork dumplings. All these goes extremely well with the not too spicy chili oil. Personally, this is one of the MUST TRY item.

Deep-Fried Scallion Pastry [Rating: 9.5/10]
This HAS to be my favorite!! There are two different versions to 葱油饼, and majority of them are usually pan-fried, which tend to be either too oily or blend or both. The other is deep-fried pastry type. I simply love the latter, and the ones served at Crystal Jade has yet to disappoint! This is another one of the MUST TRY item…

We were too full to go for dessert after all these. I'd come back again just for their Scallion Pastry!! However, I MUST remember to reject their not so appetizing appetizer (usually $2.00) next time I visit!

If interested, other reviews can be seen here...

I used to go there because I love the la mian. But i think the standard drop a lot, so i probably wont be going back again. The tables for 2 is too near the next table. As for the xiao long bao, i think i rather go to Din Tai Feng if i wanted that. I think other crystal Jade branch is better, this one has no services.

Revisited this place again and to my horror it has not improved. Most xiao long bao I ate has no soup inside. I ordered a set meal for my family, and paying the similar price for set meal, I think dian xiao er could have offered a much better meal. I'm sure anyone who has had set meal at both places would know the huge gap.

Restaurant's been around for quite some time and tho I do dine out at other Crystal Jade outlets, this was one that I avoided after 1 try a couple of years back due to smaller than usual portions and overly generous use of salt. However, last week while walking pass the entrance after my trip to a bank nearby, I noticed a poster outside saying that they serve buffet steamboat after 8:30pm daily priced at only 18++ per pax (additional $2 on weekends & ph)! I thought it was rather good value and how wrong can steamboat be since we cook the stuff ourselves.

I love and crave for steamboat dinners at least twice a month...real comfort food for me. Hence, 4 of us made the trip yesterday. Decor wise, nothing's changed and typical of Chinese restaurants. We were seated on level 2 where the 'steamy affair' takes place. Level 1 reserve for a la carte orders. We were seated at a booth promptly...a little crammed and we are not big.

There's choice of soupbase: pork with sweet corn, coriander with century egg, dan dan (some peanut broth) and spicy sichuan. We chose the coriander & century egg which was very good! Delicate, quite oil free, fragrant with lots of tofu & century egg. Yes, keep in mind there's tofu already as we didn't know and ordered extra tofu....had to really struggle to finish the tofu at the end. Given a paper menu for us to tick and order the items. There were free flow appetizers like Xiao Long Bao, Bao and some other sides replicated from their main menu (smaller portions), desserts, drinks (barley/chinese tea/soya bean milk)and the usual steamboat ingredients like sliced meats, dumplings, veg, etc... Not a huge variety honestly but of ample quality and freshness. Oh, there's also 2 free big fresh prawns for each person. For sauces, there's a makeshift table where you can mix your own concoction.

The best thing about this meal was that none of us felt thirsty despite us drinking lots of soup! Many other places that I'd tried were normally very msg-laden.

Service was very prompt and generally they leave us alone to enjoy but topped up our drinks and changed our plates constantly. When spoken to and at bill time, the staff were friendly and patient.

All in all, we enjoyed the dinner very much and will definately be back for my future steamboat craves!.... I'll just ask for a bigger table next time!