Nine years. That’s how long it’s taken Fullerton Hotel’s Jade Restaurant to become one of the leading authorities of Cantonese cuisine in Singapore. But despite its propensity for dishing out high quality food, the restaurant was let down by a gaudy décor that was all too traditional and frankly, not cool.
No more. For better or worse, that’s all a thing of the past, with a major revamp completed earlier this April completely transforming the restaurant from garish to slick.
Today’s Jade is all about bright white walls and delicately painted artwork. Design-wise, the contemporary décor is inspired by a classical poem from the Tang Dynasty, with a high ceiling and giant lanterns lending the space an added sense of grandeur.
At the end of the day though, it’s all about the food, and we’ve got to say, after trying out a variety of signature dishes from Executive Chef Leong Chee Yeng, we were mightily impressed with what the restaurant had to offer. For example, the Roasted Pork Belly ($14/pax) starter was immaculate. Its skin was so crispy that it was impossible not to produce a loud crackling sound when eating it.
Another outstanding dish was the Sautéed Beef Tenderloin with Crispy Garlic in Black Pepper Sauce ($23/pax). Incredibly tender, the beef was the literal definition of melt-in-your-mouth. It was that good. The accompaniments of eggplant and crispy garlic balanced out the beef’s meaty flavours well too.
Our favourite dish however was the Lamb Rib Loin ($23/pax), which was gorgeously slathered with a rich homemade char siew sauce assembled from fermented beans, rose wine, and sugar. The added sauce gave the lamb a delightfully sweet flavour, which of course accentuated the meat’s slightly gamey taste profile and subtly charred edges.
If you’ve got the cash to splash, do try out the Egg Noodle with Boston Lobster and XO Chilli Sauce ($39/pax). The lobster in this Hokkien-inspired dish was extremely fresh and went superbly with the piquant XO sauce, which ironically, doesn’t contain any XO liquor. As for the noodles, they were surprisingly al dente, making them a joy to slurp on.
Not everything was plain sailing though. The Lotus Root soup ($13/pax) while comforting for the stomach came off as slightly bland, despite being prepared from 6am in the morning.
Still, that slight mishap couldn’t take away the sheen of Jade Restaurant’s shine. In fact, the place also serves up a great dim sum buffet deal on the weekends, with over 50 varieties of dim sum available for the price of $39/pax. A major steal really; considering that the restaurant is at Fullerton.
But no matter what you try at Jade, Executive Chef Leong Chee Yeng’s genius is there for all to see. The man, describing himself as an artist, is more than just a culinary genius. If you look carefully around the restaurant, you’ll ceramic pots moulded by the man himself, a creative feat pretty rare for a chef.
Whatever the case may be; a meal at Jade Restaurant won’t be a disappointing one, even if your wallet may take a few (expensive) hits. The family-friendly space is hip enough for young folk to hang out at, while Grandma will appreciate the traditional dishes on offer. And that’s not something we can say for a lot of restaurants in Singapore.
Overall rating: 4/5
Expected Damage: 4/5
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