Crystal Jade Dining IN @ VivoCity (25th Jan 2009)

Reunion dinners are all about coming together as a family, frist to have good food, second to gather to spread and share all the news among relatives who rarely get together often. On this day, our choice was Crystal Jade Dining in VivoCity. I admit that this is my frist time going there. Might be the fact that I am not really into Chinese food, which I been having for the most part of my life. People had been raving about this place to me, that's for sure.


Reaching there on time, and having my table and cup of tea ready was already a postive point.

My Cup of tea....

"Fatt Choy" Salmon Raw fish yu sheng (鸿运发财三文鱼生)

I am not a big fan of yu sheng. I do not like raw vegetable too much.... unless it's drenched in thousand island sauce, which i had not been doing too often. I, would too often, pick out the raw salmon or any raw sashimi anything to eat, leaving the veggies for the people who enjoy them.
What I really enjoy about this dish is...

tossing the yusheng, shouting out the good blessings and enjoying a mini food fight!!! :p

Suckling pig combinaion platter (乳猪烧味拼盘)

I only noticed that BBQ roasted pork has fat in them!!! *yummy* I don't like lean pork, duck or chicken. So, to me, I like it cause there is fat in the bbq pork.

Braised shark's fin with conpoy and crab meat (发财蟹肉干贝生翅)

*sigh* I might had been influenced by people who are against shark fin eating... this shark fin soup was not that great. I didn't detect any fins, conpoy or crab meat. But I did think that the chef was quite generous with flour. This soup was too starchy for my liking, so I added at least 2 tablespoons of vinegar into it, before I finished half a bowl of it.

Braised baby abalone with dried oyster and black moss (发财好市鲍鱼仔)

I like! I like abalone, I LIKE dried oyster and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE black moss!!! I LOVE this dish... other than that cabbage at the bottom. Hahaha As I am seated in a table with people (young kids) who doesn't really think that dried oysters or abalone were treasures, I actually finished more than half of the dish myself... of course, I had to put up with the "eeee" and "yucks, you are eating hair" remarks left, right and front! BUT for one of my loves in life, I would willingly put up with those remarks. :D

The abalones were nice and chewy, the oysters were not fishy and well cooked *yummy* I am already drooling, just thinking about them. Mixed with a bit of moss... GIVE ME MORE ALREADY!!!

Crispy Salted Chicken (脆皮盐香鸡)

The skin of this chicken was good. As most of the people sharing the table were quite filled up, I was able to tear off the skins of most of the pieces and have them as it is. *glee* This chicken was cooked well, but as it was (to me) too hastily chopped up and arranged. It had lost alot of points due to its untidy presentation.

Sea Perch serve in Two ways (鲈鱼二味)

Sauted sliced sea Perch & Deep fried fish belly with pepper and salt

I like this dish. The salty taste of the sea perch was good. I think the sprinkle of the seaweed, fried onions and pine nuts were good additions to this dish. I prefer the deep fried fish belly with pepper and salt more than the sauteed slices.


Fried rice with Seafood and diced chicken served in Lotus leaf (团圆荷叶饭)

I think the rice were pretty hard... I picked out the seafood and corn to eat. Was there diced chicken? I didn't notice lor. I don't think there is any chicken in it.

Therefore I assumed my chicken went out playing and forgot to clock in for its execution slot, hence the lack of chicken in my fried rice.

Chilled Mango Cream with Sago and Pomelo (杨枝甘露)

I always prefer to have a sweet ending to my meal. This is slightly sour, but it's the right taste. Lack of sago and mango bits did not take much away from this dessert.

I absolutely dreaded going for reunion dinner.... I do not like going for rush meals... Rushing thru meals made me moody! and easier to be unhappy about the situation and oso even more picky about food. We were told we had only one hour to eat this meal, so basically rushed thru the meal. When we were told that we were able to stay beyond the time slot, I slowed down my eating and was able to enjoy the food slowly.

I think in situation like these, whereby one had to rush thru meals and try to stay as happy as one can be, especially in front of elders, service staffs are very important. I am very happy that there is a lady staff by the name of Xiao Yan (from Shang Dong, China), and her manager Grace, had made my meal very pleasant, comfortable and entertaining.

Great job, Grace and Xiao Yan.