Crystal Jade Golden Palace is the Teochew/Chiuchow cuisine flagship restaurant of the massive Crystal Jade restaurant chain in Singapore.
The original Crystal Jade was the brainwave of three HK-born brothers: Alfred, Jimmy and Vincent Leung, who were long-time management staff at the now-defunct Tsui Hang Village restaurant in Asia Hotel, Scotts Road, back in the 1980s-90s.
They left Tsui Hang Village to start their own restaurant, Crystal Jade, at the now-demolished Cairnhill Hotel in 1991. Despite offering perhaps the most authentic HK-style cooking at the time, the three brothers had trouble keeping their business financially viable. Their brother-in-law, Ip Yiu Tung, then stepped in to provide a much-needed cash injection. He also moved the restaurant to the then-newly-opened Ngee Ann City towards the end of 1993.
Crystal Jade Golden Palace was part of the ambitious plan by Ip Yiu Tung to expand Crystal Jade beyond its initial HK/Cantonese-oriented concept, and offer various regional Chinese cuisines and concepts. It started operating at the upmarket Paragon mall on Orchard Road in 2002. It had 1-Michelin-star from 2016-2018, but had since lost its star.
Our dinner spread:
Double-boiled whole yellow melon with seafood - this was a Crystal Jade classic: a clear prawn-crab-dried scallop consomme , double-boiled inside a whole yellow squash. Absolutely priceless.
Stir-fried fish maw with conpoy and egg-white - this dish was dry-ish and not at all what we expected. Instead of egg-white, I think whole eggs were used as the dish was yellowish-orange and tasted distinctly of yolks. Very disappointed.
Baked pork soft-bone with hawthorne sauce - lovely texture, but the sauce was a tad too sweet.
Stewed homemade corn beancurd with Mandarin Peking duck sauce - this dish looked nothing like the picture on the menu. Tasted okay, but no fireworks.
Dessert
Orh nee - taro paste with gingko. This is the classic Teochew dessert which I’ll never fail to order wherever I see it. Basically a simple preparation involving pureed boiled taro, sweetened with sugar, and enriched with pork lard to give it a smooth, shiny finish.
Candied gingko nuts are usually added for the textural contrast, but I’d had more elaborate version involving whole candied mandarin orange mashed into a 10-pax portion tableside, and another where the pureed taro was paired with glutinous rice tinted pink.
Overall, an “okay” meal - certainly nothing like what I remembered the old Crystal Jade’s cuisine to be - always good and exceeding one’s expectations.
Ever since the COVID lockdown (2020-2022), I’d always wanted to come back here. Now, I don’t feel like returning any more.
Address
Crystal Jade Golden Palace
#05-22 The Paragon, 290 Orchard Road, Singapore 238859
Tel: +65 91772091
Opening hours: Mon to Fri 11am-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Sat, Sun & Public holidays 10.30am-3.30pm, 6pm-10pm
