Posted on Mon, 31 Oct 2011
Surprisingly Good Chinese Fare
If you’re located a little askew of the central districts in Singapore, there’s still good Chinese food to be had. I am not talking about hawker centres and kopitiams – they are everywhere with perhaps the best food in Singapore! – but nice restaurants for when you want some air conditioning, carpeting and comfort.
Jade Garden, at The Chevrons Club all the way out at Boon Lay Way, Jurong, is an airy, bright, sprawling contemporary Cantonese restaurant with no pretentions of overt elegance and finesse. It’s interiors are streamlined, very comfortable, and easy on the eye even if innocuous. Tables are spaced well apart from each other. Despite its ‘nice but unremarkable interiors’, what will surprise you however, is the quality of the dishes! A la carte offerings are of a very high standard, and apart from its dim sum menu, offers many creative dishes that’s certainly far from run-of-the-mill.
Little wonder because the restaurant’s owners, brother-and-sister team Jenny and Chris Eng come from extensive F&B backgrounds. Each have over 20 years of experience – Jenny as a restaurant manager at a hotel and Chris had logged in 21 years as a hotel’s executive chef.
It was rather quiet on the weekday afternoon I lunched there, but from my tasting, I concluded it was no reflection of the prices or the quality of the dishes. I liked the food, even though it is halal. Removing pork from Chinese cuisine is a huge component omitted, so it says a lot for the chef who can still serve up good food with this limitation. Case in point is the dim sum menu. No earth shattering new creations, but I enjoyed the classics like siew mai ($4.20 for 4 pieces), har gau and in particular, the deep fried yam ($3.80 for 3 pieces) stuffed this time with mince chicken instead of pork.
For me, the main dishes were the stars of the feast. Very indulgent for midweek lunch, I know, but if you’ve been working hard, the Braised Shark’s Fin with Crabmeat & Dried Scallop in Pumpkin Soup ($18 per person, or $45 – $90 for communal style portions) is a treat. The sharks fins were generous, the soup of sweet and rich, and the pumpkin gave it a contemporary twist while making it thick and creamy. Yums!
What was unusual was the Braised Sliced Abalone, Dried Scallop & Vegetables in Tan Jia Sauce ($18 per person) which was also nice and umami, and the crab claw with somen ($12 per person) was a delight. The crab claw was enormous, firm and juicily sweet, and the noodles light and lovely. Enough for a light lunch if you prefer. I enjoyed the Cod Fish Baked with Miso and Sauteed Edamame ($14 per person) as well – a unique pairing with the fresh green flavour of edamame lifting the creamy cod. Nice.
To end, the Combination Dessert Platter ($12) is lovely for indecisive people with a sweet tooth, but the piece de resistance without a doubt is the massive Deep Fried Durian Ice Cream ($10) which is the size of a large fist. Crunchy yet light deep fried batter wrapping a densely frozen, wicked wack of rich durian ice cream in the middle, served with an unusually long teaspoon. It’s just too good! Too toe-curlingly good!
