I was pleasantly surprise to receive an email from Dann Sim on 30 Nov morning confirming Jade Restaurant as today's BML venue. My heart was beating fast as I thought Dann Sim, the paymaster, would be mounting a serious challenge for the Presidential Title as he wouldn't want his precious and immovable E250 to be the official President's car when the election campaign wrap up by year-end (if there is no over-run due to unforeseeable circumstances). To me, Dann could be a worthy opponent (for the love of his car) and after all, he had treated us to Shang Palace some years ago and his total spent was a record then.
Jade is considered one of the famous Chinese cuisine restaurants in Singapore. Most food lovers would know this restaurant for their dim sum but many of my colleagues who entertained customers there often shared their finest dining experiences in the luxurious Fullerton Hotel. I was also told by a friend that award-winning Chef De Cuisine Leong Chee Yeng, with over 20 years' experience, helms the culinary team with their signatures dishes and Cantonese classics (e.g. braised shark's fin, hot & sour Sichuan soup, Peking duck etc). Instantly, I got a flashed back of an award-winning restaurant statement once made by Dann in Trader's Hotel. This time round, I decided to brush the memory aside as Jade is one restaurant strongly recommended by food critic Jason Lau aka businessman as a DDMT (die-die must-try).
The restaurant is contemporary-decorated with full glass windows lighting up the place looking bright and warm and the room was full with patrons reinforced my belief. As usual, we arrived there at 12:15pm sharp as latecomers would be severally punished with little or no leftover as the unwritten club rule states "Thy shall not wait" and you can ask Veg Choi for the great meal he missed at the renowned Otto Ristorante in exchange for his coaching trip to Sungei Kadut with Donavan on that fateful day. Once seated, we were given strict instruction not to place any other order or recommend any dishes as the paymaster made his stand crystal clear that he was not running for Pressi. That statement also deprived us the humanitarian's right of having basic Chinese tea as it would cost our paymaster additional few dollars.
Our 7-course luncheon started off with a small fancy appetizer aka "cold triangle tofu thing." In any case, it meant nothing to us when we gobbled down and moved on with our conversations as it is kind of tasteless to begin with.
What excited us were the 18 cubes of golden crispy pork as starters. Each cubes, squarely cut and lined across two rows on a plate, the meat was freshly white and succulent with a thin layer of fat separating the crunchy skin. This dish was cleaned out under 30-seconds and our request for repeat serving was swiftly denied by paymaster. Michael Cheung, aka MG or Mai-gai, who was late for this BML due to his failure again to properly diarize his prior engagement, was lucky enough to have one cube as his entitlement being our Vice President Elect.
Our second dish was double boiled soup of the day. I must admit this dish sounded ordinary to many but we all were taken back by this winter melon pork rib soup. Each of us was served with a small light green ceramic jar and the belief that the double boil jar would slowly release the nutrients into the soup. The soup was clear, tasty and doubled boiled to perfection with limited ingredients.
Next up was their signature dish - The Peking Duck. This dish is prized for the thin crisp skin. We all agreed that Jade's Peking duck was a let-down as the duck skin was not so crispy and moist. The sweet bean sauce was too thick and sweet in the wrapper with no cucumber sticks. So far we all agreed that the best Peking duck we ever tasted was the farewell lunch organized by our former President at Paradise Pavilion Restaurant in MBFC.
Roasted crispy chicken and duck, pea shoot oyster vegetable, stewed "Ma Po" tofu with minced pork and fried rice were bland and ordinary, just like any other food available in hawker centers. The dish presentations were also poor for such esteemed establishment.
What's fascinating was their stew lamb rack in spiced flavor served in wok. The strong lamb flavor and rich stew of tender lamb pieces actually melt in your mouth. Personally, I would recommend this dish to all lamb-lovers.
Total damage to Dann was approx $310 or S$50 per head. I was expecting a certain level of standard with regards to their food quality but it was overall unexciting and below my expectation. To satisfy our dismay, the paymaster decided to forgo having deserts at Jade (knowingly that it would not fill our stomachs) and adjourned to Wang Café in Caltex Building for our tower kaya roti, half boiled eggs and coffee to fulfill one's responsibility under our club charter - all members must feel full after BML. Dann tried to do a Yvonne Kwok act on Veg Choi at Wang Café but the equally smart Veg reminded Dann that all banks' ATM are available in Raffles Place.
I was given the privilege and honor to write this week's commentary after the pushing and shoving amongst members as Veg Choi painted the daunting task of being a BMC writer as compared to cameraman, driver, chief entertainment officer and club president. To MG and me, writing is such an effortless affair. I would love to write and share more of such blog write-up but a bigger and important role await me next year.
Signed off
Your President Elect - TKY
