Friends have been raving about this yet another fairly-new Crystal Jade restaurant at Paragon, with the rather grandiose name of Crystal Jade Golden Palace. A long way from the string of humble Crystal Jade Kitchens. Which was just too bad we've been thwarted from eating at this brilliant new place time and again. This place is so hot reservations are almost impossible to get especially at weekends, or if we got any we would be given one hour to finish our meal. But we still keep hearing good things, so we finally went for lunch to find out what the fuss is all about.
The dining space is set quite deeply inside, so we had to negotiate a walkway and go past the bar area to find the tables. This place is actually very small, it does not qualify as palace in terms of size that's for sure. There are only about 20-25 tables. Ah, but the decor is really very palatial. Renovations must have cost plenty of gold and jade. Every ceiling is panelled in wood, and columns are clad in beautiful grey unpolished granite, and the lighting is unique and importantly, terribly flattering. What it lacks for in width and breadth, is compensated by high ceilings, and the effect is further accentuated by wide bodied chairs with low backs. But this is not the first time I am seeing this type of look; Hu Cui, another CJ jewel set in Ngee Ann City ( or Taka as we know it) is similarly styled.
Onward to the business of the day, the food. There is a very small piece of paper printed with the usual dim-sum selections. This menu is miniscule compared with the selection from Hongkong houses like Lei Garden and East Ocean. What caught out eyes is the presentation of two different menus, both bound in more serious faux-leather. One menu for Cantonese cuisine, one for Teochew cuisine. Not knowing what to order, we decided to try stuff from all three menus.
Since it was Sunday, we had to have dimsum. I must agree with my friends that the dimsum here is rather yummy, but it taste exactly like the dim sum at all CJ outlets. The sharks fin dumpling passed the test, as did most of the items we tried, like wu-kok (yam puff), ham-sui kok (puffy pockets of minced meat), prawn cheung fun (rice paper rolls) and char-siew buns. Husband did gripe that the char-siew bun had too much meat in proportion to skin, and the filling was a little too sweet. I temember the sweet filling from my Bolo bun a few days ago. Husband was pleased with the cheong fun but I thought the skin could be even finer. Sweet dim sum of egg tart was excellent, with crumbly pastry and a delicate egg custard. The chin-chang kou (thousand layer cake) was a miserable failure for the artificial taste of the egg yolk cream. Dim sum items are reasonably priced at this very fancy place, about $3-$4 per portion. Come to think of it, all the food is reasonably priced for a place like this, some may even consider it a steal.
We also drank the soup of the day ($6), which was Pig Lung and Chicken-Bone Grass soup, a murky concoction that tasted like it would do one a lot of good, but not exactly delicious. What was really very delicious was their Gold Medal Lo-sui Braised Goose ($14 for small). Lo-sui is a type of sauce that is used to braise meats, and the Teochews love braised goose. The version here is just beautiful, with the goose tender, not-at-all gamey, in fact it is almost delicate, and well-infused with the delicate fragrance of the braising liquid. The tofu slabs at the bottom of the plate were even better, being ultra-silky smooth and gliding easily down the throat. Full marks for this dish. Heck, it deserves the gold medal.
Dessert was a shared bowl of Orh Nee ($4), the Teochew specialty of mashed taro with golden pumpkin. Again, this dish reinforced our impression that the Teochew food is more superior than its Cantonese food. This was confirmed by one of the captains, Ms April Ng, whom we recognise from her days at Lei Garden. She told us that we should return for more Teochew specilaties like pig-stomach soup, oyster cake and steamed fish. Tell you what, we probably would.
Crystal Jade Golden Palace
290 Orchard Road, #05-22/24
Paragon Singapore
Tel: 6734 6866
Fax: 6736 0020
