Jumbo Seafood (Serangoon Gardens Country Club)

As most of us well know.. Jumbo is a famous seafood restaurant chain in Spore alongside names like no signboard and long beach.. where they pride on their chilli crabs n cereal prawns etc.. so is the food really mambo jumbo? haha.... ;p

Well there r many branches of Jumbo all over Spore n i've patronised a few... if u wana get e bustling seafood centre feel for your tourist frens then go to East Coast.. if u wana finer dining version go to riverwalk.. but if u want e real good food that Jumbo can offer then head to SGCC where e standard has not plummet... Haha of coz with me staying in e area.. i tend to go to e sgoon garden more .. so let me review on my most recent visit n here's e dishes we had tried:

Scallop with Yam Ring ($14) - my mum n i lurveee this dish.. i might b a bit biased since i lurve yam so to me this dish rock! but i do suggest giving it a try for e scallop n yam n e sweet sauce makes a good starter...

Stir-fried French Bean with Prawns ($8) - this is my 1st time ordering this n it turns out to b a pleasant surprise.. not too bad esp when e rest of e dishes r kinda "heavy"..

Beef fillet with Pepper ($24) - my bro absolutely adores this dish! n who can blame him when it's so yummy? it's $8/portion so we ordered 3 portions... e beef's tender n e pepper sauce really complement e meat so it's a yum dish! must-try!!! n pls ask for extra sauce!!! it's that yummy!

Salted Egg with Prawns ($20) - normally i would go for e cereal prawns coz i still feel tat Jumbo makes e best cereal prawns .. so do give e cereal prawns a try! but back to e salted egg with prawns.. a new dish on e block.. it turns out to b fab .. but then again i lurrve salted egg so haha of coz i would love this dish.. but this is good...on return visit this is not tat fab though... but on another return this is FANTASTC!! it's e wet wet version tat i likey! yum!

HK Steamed Soon Hock Fish ($35) - e fish is fresh but wat rocks is e sauce... i do like e way jumbo do e HK steam n it goes great with steamed rice!! update: there's another fish that is wayyyy better than soon hock n that's "ni luo hong" or red tilapia (not e grey or black tilapia mind u)..fresh from e tank so it's super fresh n goes great with e sauce! !

Chilli Crabs with man tou ($64) e crab was abt 1.6kg so it's pretty big... jumbo's chiili crab sauce tend to b on e sweeter side... i guessed more chilli n tomato sauce go in .. but it's very delish as well.. i tend to prefer jumbo's chilli crabs to long beach.. although if u prefer a less sweet more spicy version than e curry one at no signboard is good... fresh crabs n great sauce make a great dish!

Mee Goreng ($12) - e mee goreng at Jumbo again tend to b on e sweeter side... it's nice but i tot e one at Eng Seng's one rocks! but it's still one of e best ard! tons of tau gay though...

Sharks fin ($30) - we got e 50% for sharks fin so for $15/bowl i tink it's a good deal... e soup is flavourful n is not "corn-starchy".. generous with e fins although would prefer it to cook longer coz it's a bit hard. For $30 might gona think twice since e portion's not that big.

Overall i tink e food at Jumbo is good.. unlike some places where e crabs good but other dishes sux (eg mellben)... Jumbo's food across e board maintains a certain standard n is value for e $$$ so great place for great seafood!

** on a return visit we had e $388 set dinner for 10 pax n i gotta say tat e 1st dish.. e 4 items appetizers has this interesting thai style ikan billis like dish tat's pretty zesty! not a big fan of set meals coz i alwaz tot tat e standard would fail but since most of e dishes we wanted r on e set so cheaper option! **



(8.5 - all good's and a family fave!)

abalone slices never tasted worse. the waitress recommended the abalone slices in a weet sour sauce. it was. indeed. sweet and sour. and the abalone was drowned in that horrible tasting sauce. *think lousy brand type of thai chilli sauce. sigh. the mee goreng was too oily. but the rest of the food was ok. as with any other branches of jumbo. i liked the yam rings with scallops. it's bite sized and doesnt look as intimidating as normal yam ring dishes at other chinese restaurants that require some sort of strength to portion out the yam ring.

Had dinner with my family at Jumbo Serangoon Gardens to "commemorate" its 20 odd years of business in the area, just before its swan song at the end of October. Apparently the rent has at the club has shot up by quite a bit so Jumbo has decided to take its business elsewhere.

The interior looks a little dated but boasts a quirky blue ceiling with concealed lights to give an impression of dining under the sky - not that it really worked though but studies have shown that blue is a calming colour, which could have been useful, judging from the crowd that evening.

Kailan with Garlic - You can't really go wrong with fried kailan and garlic so no surprises or disappointments here. Portions are a little small for $12 though.

Chilli Crab - The crab seemed rather small for its purported weight (1kg) and it didn't help that this signature Jumbo dish failed to live up to expectations. The gravy was rather watery and didn't go very well with the oily, insipid mantous that used to be an object of greedy desire (for me at least) some 10 years ago. How quality has deteriorated over the years!

Homemade Beancurd - I liked the generous amount of golden mushroom that buried the homemade beancurd. What I didn't like was the lack of silkiness and savouriness in the beancurd. Sure, it was soft but didn't slither down my throat and came across as bland.

Deep Fried Red Tilapia - Tilapias don't go for much in the markets but we were charged $32 for it - hardly fitting. Inflated prices aside, the fish was nicely deep fried and crisp on the outside, coupled with firm flesh on the inside. I didn't appreciate the tons of bones within though. Overall an averagely decent dish.

Cereal Prawns - The prawns weren't fresh and the flesh tasted a little soft and "powdery". I certainly didn't expect that from an established seafood restaurant like Jumbo. On the upside, the prawns were deshelled, leaving only the head, something which most places don't bother to do. I did like the cereal dressing though - mildy spicy, crunchy and sweet. But then again, it wasn't enough to salvage this dish.

Mee Goreng - One of the staples of Jumbo ever since we started patronising them some 10 odd years ago, the mee goreng was a shadow of its former self. Overly sweet would be most apt in describing it, with the noodles carrying no taste except being sweet. Apparently the sweetness is used to cover the alkaline taste present in the egg noodles, but this is really an overkill.

I don't know about you, but $188 ($138 with a $50 discount) for a sub standard dinner for 6 pax just doesn't cut it for me. Service was decent in a haphazard sort of way. Final words? Good riddance to overpriced and commercialised sub quality food!

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