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Honed by Master Chef Lee Tuck Seng, that brings with him wealth of culinary experience, including Gold Award in the FHA International Salon Culinaire, Jia Wei offers a modern and exquisite dining experience with a touché of traditional home-cooked fare.
They are currently serving Special Asian-themed Christmas specials that consists of their $78 per pax Christmas Glow Menu and the $98 per pax Festive Cheers Menu.
The complimentary Roasted Walnut with Sesame was pretty enjoyable – perhaps all of us were hungry due to the late lunch but it was finished up within minutes.
What’s a Christmas meal without Turkey – and thus lunch commenced with the Festive Turkey, Ham and Fresh Fruits Salad for both sets. HFB is not a big fan of turkey having bad experienced with them and Jia Wei’s version is not going to change my opinion any sooner. Now don’t get me wrong here – the turkey was juicier than most I have tried before, but it was the Wasa-mayo that did it this time round. The pairing just didn’t taste right – with the Wasabi too overbearing, but thankfully the fruit salad offered a much-welcomed reprieve.
If turkey is a must during Christmas, then equivalently, Shark’s Fin is a must during all festive Chinese celebration meals. The Christmas Glow menu offers the Superior Shark’s Fin Soup with Conpoy. A generous slab of Shark’s Fin was offered but HFB found the broth to be a little lacklustre from usual – even a dose of vinegar and dash of pepper didn’t help.
However, the Jia Wei Superior Shark’s Fin Soup in Hot Stone Pot was definitely the highlight of the day. Unlike the former, this version came piping hot when served and the broth was inspiring and robust with flavours. The superior fins also aided to the consequence – and this dish alone is worth half the menu’s price.
While the Pan-fried Fillet of Pork Spare-rib with Special Sauce from the Christmas Glow menu came nicely plated, it tasted just like normal sweet and sour pork. It wasn’t bad – it just didn’t impressed me much.
However, none of that can be said for the Grilled Special Rack of Lamb with Chinese Wine (Festive Cheer Menu). This is the other dish that is worth the other half of the menu price. The essence of the Chinese wine is captured and fused nicely with the lamb, which essentially ridded the meat of the gaminess, piquant smell – that most people gets turn off with. Not forgetting the thick jello of fats that streaked right above the meat – simply OMG divine!!! In fact it was so damn bloody good that when it gets to the bone, HFB, without hesitation, threw all his dinning etiquette aside and started using his fingers to tear the meat off its rib *shy*.
When it came to the vegetables, HFB was slightly mixed when the Braised Dry Scallop With Sea Cucumber And Bamboo Piths (Christmas Glow Menu) was served. On one hand, one should be glad with the generous serving of scallops scattered all over it, on the other, noticed the word “scattered” was used – the presentation was less than ideal – not only the scallop, but the vegetables were disarrayed and no bamboo piths were to be seen. Although it didn’t look appetising, it did taste pretty good – the vegetables were really fresh, even as the starchiness of the gravy began to set in.
The Braised Bai Ling Mushroon With Broccoli from the Festive Cheers Menu had similar gravy, amidst serving portion differs. The Bai Ling mushroom, a rare species of edible mushroom that originates from the desert of China, had a very nice chewy texture with just a hint of woody taste. Once again, due to the cooking method, the flavours were trapped nicely within the mushroom. This is definitely a dish that all mushroom lovers would like!
Both sets happened to share the same noodle dish – Homemade Noodles with Prawn And Conpoy. The trick to really enjoy homemade noodles is plainly to slurp it finish as quickly as possible, like a Japanese to ramen, so that one can fully appreciates the texture of the noodles – any delay and chances are the noodles will turn soggy. The prawns were excellently executed – deep fried over hot boiling oil before having the gravy poured over – it was succulent! Although one might find the gravy blander, HFB thought having a third dish with starchy gravy was a little excessive.
Thankfully, the deserts were good – the Chilled Mango Pudding (Christmas Glow menu) was everyone’s favourite – it tasted good and was captivatingly decorated with dried fruits of many colours traditionally of Christmas.
Although HFB is not one to take to sourish lemon sorbet, he has to commend the Chilled Lemon Jelly from the Festive Cheers Menu. The mild sweetness of the jelly complements really well with the intense sorbet and within spoonfuls, one’s palate is instantaneously cleansed.
Both menus are available from now till 4 Jan 2008 and come with a complimentary glass of red/white wine. And as if that is not good enough, the restaurant is also giving a 30% discount, valid from Monday to Thursday (except eve of PH and PH).
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Since it’s opening in 1997, Black Angus has been in the business of satisfying the local market’s craving for a good beefy US steak – with the meat and other ingredients imported directly from the US. Styled like a US steak diner, there are even some tables fashioned after cubicle boxes, giving added solitude and comfort to diners. Dining al fresco is another dining alternative.
What one will love about Black Angus is that with every order of their steak, it is served with Crispy Haystack Onion String, Fresh Vegetable and your choice of Potato – accompanied by starter of choice like the Stuart’s Steak Soup, Baked Potato Soup, Garden Salad, or Coleslaw. Intense is the word best used for the steak soup – as chunks of beef cubes seeks to add to the already flavourful soup. Not forgetting the generous amount of meat within marks the start of a hearty dinner.
My dining partner, being a potato lover naturally indulged in the potato soup – completed with a dollop of cream, and some sprinkle of bacon bits, cheddar cheese and spring onions. HFB had a spoonful of it but didn’t exactly took to it – he found it too starchy to stomach.
10 oz Rib-eye Steak @ $39.90 was pretty affordable and value-for-money if you ask me. Serving of the steak was liberal and this is definitely the place to be if one is looking for a good cut of US prime steak.
It was thick, juicy and has a good beefy taste to it. Steak was well rested and came medium-rare but HFB would preferred a slightly more charred-grilled finishing to his steak.
Special mentioned goes to the onion string that is really well deep-fried and really delectable. HFB really enjoyed this side!
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HFB was spoilt for choice, and had problems selecting the meat as every piece was so tempting – it was as though all of them were calling out to him “Pick me, pick me” – especially the USA Kobe Beef Striploin – but sadly the wallet has other ideas.
A little background about their Kobe Beef – it is grown in USA by cross-breeding the Wagyu bulls from Kobe with premium American Black Angus to form a proprietary herd that has developed into one of the finest groups of Wagyu/Angus cross cattle in USA.
Eventually, HFB picked up what he thought was the next best choice – the USA Premium Black Angus Ribeye. At $7.00/100gm, HFB thought it was pretty value-for-money. Over at Fine Cuts, do not expect thick sauces to be drizzled over the meat, but only simple seasoning of Salt and Ground Pepper – however even then HFB thought the pepper was slightly generous.
However, if you are one that really hates a naked piece of steak – they do accompanied your piece of meat with Black Pepper Sauce, which was surprisingly not too bad at all.
The meat was pretty fabulous, it was nicely charred grilled, and succulent with juices. It had what HFB thought was a right balance of tenderness and “beefiness” at the same time. At $30.00 and $33.00, for my friend’s steak, i.e. both pieces of meat weighted slightly more than 300gms, HFB thought it was a pretty good deal.
What’s more to come was when we were told that they were having a promotion, and that for a purchase above $35.00, we were entitled to a free serving of USA Beef/Pork Sausages. We opted for the Pork Sausages, and although it was nicely grilled on the outside, we thought the sausages could be rested a little longer as the natural juices gushed out the moment we took a cut on it. It also wasn’t as meaty as HFB would have liked, but given that it was complimentary HFB couldn’t really complain much.
With no service charge implemented, HFB pretty liked this no frills, unpretentious approach of this joint. And if one liked what you have eaten, you could always pick the uncooked off the counter and bring them home for a feast yourself.
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HFB finally understood why the stall was rated so highly by the Makan Matas (it has a rating of “Die, die must try!” by Makansutra) – with a dash of salted vegetables, the soup was VERY intense and fully flavoured. No wonder HFB observed customers kept coming back for refills. What topped the cake was the fact that the beef brisket was devastatingly tender, that it disintegrated the moment one gave it a soft chew.
Although the Kway Teow itself was nothing to shout about, but in HFB’s opinion, Cheng Kee’s soup version was definitely superior to the much over-hyped Hock Lam.
So what about the dry version you might ask – surprisingly it wasn’t half as good as the soup adaptation. The gravy had a bitter tinge, which HFB suppose comes from herbs used – the aftertaste wasn’t pleasing and HFB would not recommend it especially if one do not take well to herbs.
HFB also tried going back for refills of the soup and was disappointed that it didn’t taste as good as the one that came with the Kway Teow – he noticed that it was scooped from a different pot. Overall, one will never go wrong with the soup version and the beef brisket.
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With choices of the usual Batang Fish ($3, $5 and $7) and the pricier Red Garoupa ($5, $7 and $10), what one gets is a bowl of piping hot “Cheng” fish porridge, with a minimum dash of fried shallots. HFB opted for the $5 batang option and it gotten him a good 10 or so slices of fish – even if he finds them too thinly sliced for his liking. Fish slices were smooth and fresh without the lingering fishy smell, but HFB did find it frustrating at the lacked of bite.
The soup though was a delight – it was sweet and light on the palate, and it has HFB’s favourite Tang O, or Garland Chrysanthemum added within – definitely a good choice these days for those feeling under the weather.
The grains were excellently cooked to bite – every grain was firm and not mushy – HFB resisted to call it al dente, but that’s what came closest to mind. And of course, a Teochew Fish Porridge experience cannot be completed without the Fermented Bean Sauce as dip.
Overall, it would have been a satisfying experience if not for the measly serving – would probably opt for 2 portions of $3 instead on my next visit.
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