Crystal Jade Kitchen, Jurong Point - May 1, 2008

The hole in my pocket just got a little bigger today...went for retail therapy. Sounds like a great way to begin the first day of May right? haha... Finally I'll be getting my first pair of transition lens in a week+...hopefully it helps to decelerate the formation of wrinkles around the eyes since it's supposed to block the harmful UV rays. After paying 50% deposit ($140) for the spec, I accompanied my mum to shop for her new shoes & dress for a coming wedding banquet. It was a 1.5 hr of fruitless search before we gave in to my dad's growling stomach & my mum's poor tired feet (mine as well). Well, I decided to give my hardworking parents & myself a nice treat at Crystal Jade Kitchen afterall it's labour day. Haa..

So we found ourselves settled comfortably in the restaurant around 630pm. Since my mum was having some coughs, we went for the lighter dishes...except for the first dish...hee...

Their Signature Roasted Pork ($11.20). I felt a bit guilty when I was ordering this (my mum's favourite) but as I put the first piece into my mouth, I knew it was a right choice. Haha. Lived up to their reputation as one of the signature dishes, the pork skin was so crispy that you can hear the crunchy sound in every bite! The meat however remained juicy & chewy, well balanced with fatty layers yet not oily...very well roasted indeed. The dish was served with mustard but I preferred the roasted pork on its own.

The next dish served was the Poached Vegetables with 2 types of Egg in Superior Stock. ($14.80) I thought they should call it 3 types of eggs instead...Spinach stired fried with century egg, yellow salted egg and normal chicken egg. Yep, very eggy indeed (pls forget the cholesterol level for a moment) but overall still tasted light with the veggie & stock. This is one of my favourite veggie dish...maybe because it has all the 3 type of eggs I love. hee..

The next healthier dish was the Steamed Live Prawn with Egg White & Soya Bean ($16.80). Egg white + Soya Bean milk taste like the usual 'dao huay', except that the sugar syrup was replaced by light soya sauce. I think I will prefer the dessert 'dao huay' to this dish; it was a bit bland for my taste.

Minutes later, the last dish came...Stewed Mixed Vege with vermicelli & Taro sauce in claypot ($10.80)



So piping hot in the claypot that the steam fogged the lens for a while...let's take a closer look...



Ok I know, it looked like a messy rojak of veggie which doesn't appeal much. haha But it goes really well with white rice. I thought taro sauce = yam sauce but the stew didn't have any yam flavor in it. It tasted more like 'Fu Ru' (fermented beancurd cubes), a side dish/appetizer that Teochews like to go with the white porridge. Being a Teochew, this dish with a good variety of nutritious vege (carrot, black & white fungus, beancurd stick, xiao bai cai etc) was much to my liking. My dad had another bowl of rice to go with it too hee..

My other recommendations (dishes which I had tried on previous occasions):

Live Prawn sauteed with salted egg yolk ($16.00) - die die must try! The fresh prawns are deep-fried till the shells become golden crispy, then toss with salted egg yolk. Simply addictive!

Diced Chicken with Cashew nut in salad dressing ($11.50) - a nice change from the common 'gong bao ji ding' (diced chicken with dried chilli)

Stuffed beancurd in Portuguese style ($11.50) - hakka style 'niang tou fu' (stuffed with minced meat) in a creamy interesting sauce...a bit hard to describe the sauce..just give it a try haha..

Final verdict:
Ambience - 7.5/10 (hongkong style chinese restaurant with classy ceiling lights)
Service - 7.5/10
Food - 8/10 (overall satisfying, too full for desserts. PS. their durian pudding is nice!)
Value for $ - 6.5/10 (a bit pricy...I paid close to $70 incl ++ for the 4 dishes above, tea, rice & towels)

Venue: Jurong Point #02-34 Tel: 63970060.
For other outlets, pls refer to http://www.crystaljade.com/crystal_jade_kitchen.htm