Address: 168 Robinson Road, 52/F Capital Tower, Singapore 068912
Tel: +65 6820 2388
Built atop the 52nd floor of Singapore’s commercial building, Capital Tower, The China Club is an elegant, members-only, Chinese restaurant serving an amazing array of Chinese delicacies from morning congee to afternoon yum cha and dinner.
Old Shanghai style furnishing adorns the place which charmingly reminds you of the bygone era of cheong-sam (traditional Chinese dresses) and Shanghai nights. The ceiling tall glasses that surround the club offer an excellent view of Singapore, overlooking Chinatown and beyond (though not as spectacular as Equinox or New Asia Bar at the SwissHotel).
Service was impeccable. All the waitresses were well trained yet friendly and were extremely attentive. My colleague made a few requests and modifications regarding the tea and food, and they were all meticulously adhered to without any fuss or error.
The food was simply excellent. We ordered a few yum cha dishes as well as a seafood e-fu noodles. The steamed XO sauce crystal ball dumplings had a soft yet chewy transparent skin with minced pork, Chinese parsley and some other greens. The XO sauce flavour was rather faint, which is a pity, otherwise it was a very well steamed dish. My personal favourite was the eel fish heed soup with traditional Chinese herbs. The soup was pungent and double boiled, the eel was tender and neatly de-boned. We also ordered the steamed version of carrot cake which was served delicately in rectangular blocks. The dish was delicious, however I would prefer if they used more white raddish in the cooking.
The variety of dessert was somewhat limited and nothing really stood out so we picked the guei-lin-gao (bitter grass jelly). The guei-lin-gao soup was a very interesting twist to the original version which is eaten with honey and sugar syrup poured over the top. Instead, this jelly was served in a bowl of rock sugar dessert soup.
Verdict: Impeccable service matched with meticulously prepared food in a nostalgic old Shanghai setting and a beautiful view of Singapore’s skyline. Yum cha menu is somewhat limited.
Bill: Yum Cha dishes range from SGD$10 – SGD$20 per plate.
Showing posts with label Cantonese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cantonese. Show all posts
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Crystal Jade Palace
Address: 4th Floor, Ngee Ann City, Orchard Road, Singapore
Tel: (+65) 6735 2388
Crystal Jade Palace, not to be confused with Crystal Jade Kitchen in the basement (which serves up no-frill Hong Kong style cuisine) or Crystal Jade Golden Palace in Paragon (which does Teochew delicacies), is one of the busiest restaurants in the Ngee Ann City complex; and if neighboring high-end restaurants and boutiques were to judge by, one would have thought that it does pricey Cantonese cuisine. However, as modern and sophisticated as the crystal decor may look, the menu is priced very reasonably.
The seven of us opted for the a la carte menu for our Mid-Autumn Festival dinner. I should point out that I was dining with a bunch of overseas born/bred Chinese/Chinese descendants and two Singaporeans who have absolutely no idea what this festival is all about. So immediately, I am sure for those Chinese-at-heart, it would take little for you to imagine what dishes we ordered.
That aside, the dishes were fresh and delicious. The deep fried salt and pepper squid with minced batter was crisp, the squid is chewy yet soft, and the minced batter added an interesting twist to the original S&P squid. Another memorable dish was the prawn sautéed with ginger and onion sauce. The prawns were peeled, fresh, fried briefly in oil before leaving it to simmer with other ingredients. Boys being boys (meat eaters), the only vegetable dish we ordered was broccoli with bamboo fungus and mushroom. It was nice, albeit a very standard dish that you can’t go wrong with unless if they failed to use the freshest greens available. It is yet another dish where we see how oyster sauce can work magic.
The manager has recommended the sautéed snapper slices which was nice but me being as biased as I maybe, I felt that nothing taste better than steamed whole fish which is the only way of cooking fish that is capable of sealing the fresh fishy essence. However, I suppose the sliced fish was a good choice given the demographics (and thus culinary preference) of my companions. For a start, I don’t want to have people complaining about bones in fish. The Peking duck, roasted in whole, looked extremely palatable but unfortunately it was ordered by our neighboring table. There was a point where I wished I was at the other table (for the food). I comforted myself by munching on the roast bbq duck that we ordered but unfortunately it was not as piping hot as the Peking duck, and the skin was not crisp.
It was a pleasant experience overall, though I started to reminisce about my first visit to Crystal Jade. I came along with companions who were more culinary advanced on the Chinese side, and we ordered a meal of scrumptious classic Cantonese dishes. Nothing fancy (as in fusion), but simply good food with presentations appealing to the eyes.
Verdict: Delicious Cantonese food in a restaurant with elegant crystal décor. Crowd is noisy as usual. Service is smooth, but can be choppy at times.
Bill: SGD$246 (includes 10% service charge & 7% GST plus tea) for six dishes. Most mains are around SGD$20-40. Exquisite dishes and seafood are >$40+ or market price.
Tel: (+65) 6735 2388
Crystal Jade Palace, not to be confused with Crystal Jade Kitchen in the basement (which serves up no-frill Hong Kong style cuisine) or Crystal Jade Golden Palace in Paragon (which does Teochew delicacies), is one of the busiest restaurants in the Ngee Ann City complex; and if neighboring high-end restaurants and boutiques were to judge by, one would have thought that it does pricey Cantonese cuisine. However, as modern and sophisticated as the crystal decor may look, the menu is priced very reasonably.
The seven of us opted for the a la carte menu for our Mid-Autumn Festival dinner. I should point out that I was dining with a bunch of overseas born/bred Chinese/Chinese descendants and two Singaporeans who have absolutely no idea what this festival is all about. So immediately, I am sure for those Chinese-at-heart, it would take little for you to imagine what dishes we ordered.
That aside, the dishes were fresh and delicious. The deep fried salt and pepper squid with minced batter was crisp, the squid is chewy yet soft, and the minced batter added an interesting twist to the original S&P squid. Another memorable dish was the prawn sautéed with ginger and onion sauce. The prawns were peeled, fresh, fried briefly in oil before leaving it to simmer with other ingredients. Boys being boys (meat eaters), the only vegetable dish we ordered was broccoli with bamboo fungus and mushroom. It was nice, albeit a very standard dish that you can’t go wrong with unless if they failed to use the freshest greens available. It is yet another dish where we see how oyster sauce can work magic.
The manager has recommended the sautéed snapper slices which was nice but me being as biased as I maybe, I felt that nothing taste better than steamed whole fish which is the only way of cooking fish that is capable of sealing the fresh fishy essence. However, I suppose the sliced fish was a good choice given the demographics (and thus culinary preference) of my companions. For a start, I don’t want to have people complaining about bones in fish. The Peking duck, roasted in whole, looked extremely palatable but unfortunately it was ordered by our neighboring table. There was a point where I wished I was at the other table (for the food). I comforted myself by munching on the roast bbq duck that we ordered but unfortunately it was not as piping hot as the Peking duck, and the skin was not crisp.
It was a pleasant experience overall, though I started to reminisce about my first visit to Crystal Jade. I came along with companions who were more culinary advanced on the Chinese side, and we ordered a meal of scrumptious classic Cantonese dishes. Nothing fancy (as in fusion), but simply good food with presentations appealing to the eyes.
Verdict: Delicious Cantonese food in a restaurant with elegant crystal décor. Crowd is noisy as usual. Service is smooth, but can be choppy at times.
Bill: SGD$246 (includes 10% service charge & 7% GST plus tea) for six dishes. Most mains are around SGD$20-40. Exquisite dishes and seafood are >$40+ or market price.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Lei Garden
Address: #03-00 Orchard Shopping Centre, 321 Orchard Road, Singapore 238866
Tel: (65) 6734 3988
This is the place I visit when I crave for some proper Cantonese cuisine at a reasonable price. It’s one of the few offshore offspring of the Lei Garden Restaurant Group in Hong Kong.
We rocked up at 9.30pm to cure our post-movie hunger syndrome, and to our surprise the kitchen was still open. The waitresses were very efficient and polite, albeit the inability to speak Cantonese and even struggled to communicate proficiently in plain English. At that very second, I was thanking my parents for sending me to Saturday Chinese school (that I once dreaded of going).
The Orchard restaurant is less glamorous than its Chijimes counterpart, but I like the no-pretence vibe of the place. The interior is clean and modern, and very much resembles most Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong nowadays.
The herbal fish head soup was pungent and with its Chinese medicine and herbal ingredients, it proved to be perfect cure for a late night out. I must reiterate that the soup was boiled very thoroughly and is definitely a must-try. Our mains were chicken cubes slow cooked in a claypot with mini onions, red and green capsicums and garlic, and stir-fried beef and with gai lan. Both were equally delicious and the ingredients were fresh.
Verdict: No-fuss authentic Cantonese cuisine in a modern setting with a reasonable price tag. Great for calming down your Cantonese food cravings.
Bill: Approximately SGD$99 for two (Soup, 2 mains, tea & misc charges)
Tel: (65) 6734 3988
This is the place I visit when I crave for some proper Cantonese cuisine at a reasonable price. It’s one of the few offshore offspring of the Lei Garden Restaurant Group in Hong Kong.We rocked up at 9.30pm to cure our post-movie hunger syndrome, and to our surprise the kitchen was still open. The waitresses were very efficient and polite, albeit the inability to speak Cantonese and even struggled to communicate proficiently in plain English. At that very second, I was thanking my parents for sending me to Saturday Chinese school (that I once dreaded of going).
The Orchard restaurant is less glamorous than its Chijimes counterpart, but I like the no-pretence vibe of the place. The interior is clean and modern, and very much resembles most Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong nowadays.
The herbal fish head soup was pungent and with its Chinese medicine and herbal ingredients, it proved to be perfect cure for a late night out. I must reiterate that the soup was boiled very thoroughly and is definitely a must-try. Our mains were chicken cubes slow cooked in a claypot with mini onions, red and green capsicums and garlic, and stir-fried beef and with gai lan. Both were equally delicious and the ingredients were fresh.
Verdict: No-fuss authentic Cantonese cuisine in a modern setting with a reasonable price tag. Great for calming down your Cantonese food cravings.Bill: Approximately SGD$99 for two (Soup, 2 mains, tea & misc charges)
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