Here it is! - an over-dued entry regarding my birthday lunch treat from my Uncle and aunt at Clarke Quay, Peony-Jade. =)
Peony-Jade is a chinese restaurant that specialises in all things cantonese. It is located at the far end of the clarke quay river, situated a few metres away from The Attica and IndoChine, directly opposite Central.
Peony-Jade is also a well-acclaimed restaurant that has been awarded with many food certificates for their fine culinary skills. Which of course, they never fail to boast.
The dining area of this chic chinese restaurant is located on the 2nd level.
The carpeted stairway leading up is nicely decorated with traditional chinese lanterns which emitted a soft glow to the surroundings. Ribbons were twired around the railings too. The stairway already provided a pleasant surprise, what more can i say about the food? =P
Peony Jade offers both ala-cart lunch and dinner buffet from 11am till 2pm and 6.30pm till 10pm respectively. Pricing wise, it cost $28/head for lunch and $38/head for dinner. For a moment, i thought my eyes were playing tricks on me as ++++ signs, typical in most buffet restaurants, couldnt be found! Its certainly value for money as you are paying not only for superb food (Their ala-cart buffet menu offers a wide variety of 40 items, ranging from sharks' fins to steamed fish to prawns to many many more!), you are also paying for excellent service (one of the best i've encountered so far) and not forgetting, a nice ambience.
The interior…
Alritey, i guess its time to move on to the main focus of this entry - shiokadoodalicious food. =Pp
First up, we ordered Braised Sharks Fin With Crab Meat Soup.
They served us individual bowls as there were only 3 of us. But the serving portion of each bowl is significantly greater than what you normally get at wedding banquets. There was still alot left despite sipping many spoonfuls. It was never-ending! haha The soup was thick, warm, tasty and contained lots of crabmeat and sharks' fins! Definitely an above avergae dish.
Second up, we had stir fried prawns with spicy sauce.
OOO this is lovely. The spicy suace contains a hint of wasabi which certainly helped transform the otherwise ordinary prawns to extraordinary tantalizing out-of-the-world prawns! The almond flakes went well with them as well. Yum~
Thirdly, we had Deep Fried Pork Ribs with Almond Mocha Sauce.
This is one hell of an interesting dish with a unique taste to the palatte. You can smell the mocha and you can taste the bitterness of the mocha as well! The down side was the meat wasnt as tender as i hoped it would be. World war 3 between Me and Mr Pork Ribs? Ya, you can say that. haha. This dish was certainly more enjoyable after Mr Knife and Ms Fork came to the rescue.
Fourthly, we had peking duck!
Im really excited about this because ive heard so so so many great reveiws on Peking Duck but sadly, ive yet to eat one! When i saw Peking Duck on the menu, i knew instantly it was a die-die must have. Well, at least for me. haha. HOWEVER, at this restaurant, the rule is that you can only order Peking Duck if you have 4 or more diners. But there were only the 3 of us and so, i was disappointed as i had to say bye-bye to Peking Duck. But knowing how much i wanted to try it, my aunt acty lied to the waiter about today (saturday) being my birthday and so would very much appreciate it if he could get the chef to close one eye and do it specially for me, the birthday princess. haha. And yes, they did it without hesitation. I was indeed a happy princess~ heeheehee
I seriously do not know how to describe peking duck as this is my FIRST time eating this dish. All i can say is its superb! The special sweet dark sauce inside goes really well with the tender duck meat slices and chopped cucumber, all wrapped up in a thin pancake-like skin. Mamamia.
For our 5th dish, we had a Steamed Sea Bass with Soya Bean Crumbs.
This is a common dish at most wedding banquets or CNY reunion dinners. I always look forward to this kinda steamed fish (usually call it the wedding dinner fish, haha) as the fish meat is really soft! Almost melt-in-your-mouth! The second thing i loveee about this dish is the gravy. Dip the fish in the gravy and its bound to give u a mind blowing fish experience. Awesome. The soya bean crumbs were crunchy and provided much bite. If you bite long enough, you can acty make out the soya bean taste. Interesting i say.
6th, Steamed Scallops with Garlic.
For a moment, i thought the white base used to contain the scallop were paper egg tart holders. Until i touched it did i realise it was acty a SHELL. haha.
This is also another excellent dish. The scallops were surprisingly fresh and the garlic and gravy went extremely well with it. You have to trust me on this as im not, unlike my dar dar, a garlicky person. Slurping up the gravy from the shell, not paper tart holder, sure reminded me of those times when i was carefully sucking out the juice out of the Xiao Long Baos. haha
7th, Pan-Fried Prawns with Sze Chuan Chili sauce.
Not too bad, the prawns were fresh but it would have been better if the sauce lied more to the spicy rather than sweet side, which is what its supposed to be. Why else izit Sze Chuan then? haha.
8th, You Tiao Stuffed with CuttleFish.
A normal dish which doesnt have much to get me raving. It was slightly above average, the quality was somewhat better compared to those served in cze char restaurants. The outside crispy, the inside chewy. The good thing was it wasnt too oily. Just the way i like it. Talking about You Tiao, there's this bak kut teh stall in JB that serves fantastic you-tiao! Its so good my aunt and i acty ordered 2 extra bowls of it and finished it up! And it was only breakfast!
9th, Deep Fried Soon Hock in Nonya Sauce.
This is another fishy dish except that its FRIED. The sauce that came along with it had a tantalizing spicyness to it. It got a little too spicy for me at the beginning but it'l start to taste sweeter and less spicy after a while. Guess it takes time to acquire its taste. The fish was nicely fried as well. I love to hear the crunching sound whenever i bite on sth crispy. Im sure all of you do too! Who wants to eat soggy chips!
10th, Stir Fried Seasonal Vegetables with Silver Fish.
The name sounds plain boring, like any veg your grandma can whip up easily for dinner, but boy was i wrong for this plate of greenies is an excellent kick ass vegetable dish! The soup which came along was robustful and bursting of natural sweetness. Hardly a hint of MSG. haha. The tiny red dates and ikan bilis were a perfect match for the soft green leafy veggies. Its so soft and smooth it practically slides down your throat! Just like that! haha
11th, Fried Golden Mushrooms.
I believe this is one of Peony Jade's signature dishes as it was highly recommended by one of the waitresses. Its also a very popular dish among the frequent peony-jade diners too. Initially, i dint have any intentions of ordering this as i had the impression that all chinese restaurants have the tendency to serve you those big black chinese mushrooms which are so so hard to bite and cut. After the waitress described the dish to me, i started to picture crispy breaded mushrooms like those served in Father Flanagen. But when the dish arrived, i got a shock for it didnt look anything near mushrooms. It looked more like fried pork floss. haha. Take a look at the pic and you'l get what i mean.
Well, after the first bite, i was enlightened and understood how this bizarre looking dish acty made it way to the highly recommended list. Its was uber delicious! It was crispy like koropok with just the right levels of saltyness. There was a sweet peppery taste to it as well. Perhaps its some high grade pepper? haha. I love it! Its definitely a substitute to popcorn and ka chang pu teh! Maybe i shall try frying golden mushrooms next time. hahaha
12th, Roasted Crispy Duck.
We were abit undecisive when it came to ordering this dish as we dint wana order too many meaty items. Get full very fast ma. haha. But wtheck, even if our jeans cant buckle, this is a die-die must have as its a cantonese dish and what else does Peony-Jade specialize in? All things cantonese of course! And YES was the respond to the waiter. =)
This roasted duck meat certainly met or shall i say, tasted far better than what i expected it to be. The duck skin was crispy and best of all, contained minimum fat. The duck meat was tender and i dint encounter problems with duck meat stuck in between my teeth. Oh the discomfort and uneasiness of having to use your tongue to dig out the stuck duck meat. The sauce went fantastically well with the roasted duck as well. Ooo lala im salivating oredi.
13th, Soft Shell Crab.
Another dish recommended by the waiter. It taste a 100 times better than what you see in the picture. Its certainly one of my fave dishes too! Other than pork floss, the chef also sprinkled lots of crispy bread crumbs (those you get when eating oatmeal prawns) all over the soft shell crabs. It provided a uniqueness to this dish, one that ive nv tasted before. Thumbs Up! No doubt, its one of the best soft shell crabs ive ever eaten, unlike in other places where the soft shell crab, sadly, contains more oil than crab meat.
14th, Boiled Prawns with Chinese wine aka Drunken Prawns.
It took quite a while b4 this dish arrived. Guess they needed time back in the kitchen to get the prawns drunk. =P
The prawns were uber fresh and HUGE! The smell of fragrant wine immdiately wafted up our noses upon the arrival of this dish. One smell, one look, and we knew it was time to attack! The soup was boiled with herbs too. It wasnt overly bitter and left behind a pleasant after-taste. A special dark sauce, which served as a dip for the prawns, was given as well. Yes, Im so in love with prawns. Drunken prawns especially. haha
Lastly, we ordered desserts to end it all. I had chilled herbal jelly while my uncle had almond beancurd with longan.
The almond beancurd with longan was nothing exceptional. Just your normal almond jelly and longans from the can but what better way than to end a satisfying meal with a bowl of refreshing dessert? My herbal jelly tasted much better. =) OOo, did i mention that i like the bowl very much? Think Leon (Supervisor) almost wanted to give it to me as a b-day pressie. haha JK. We also shared a fruit platter to help aid digestion. haha.
As ive mentioned earlier, service here is EXCELLENT. The waiters and waitresses know when and when not to recommend you dishes and they give you a new plate for every new dish! Attentive is the main word to descibe them. They sure are one friendly bunch of waiters/waitresses who nv fail to make you feel at home. One of them is the Supervisor himself, Leon Teh, who went the extra mile to make sure i got to eat my peking duck that very afternoon. He was full of smiles and talk and always had sth to conversize with us. This is what i call going beyond the extra call of duty. In fact, he got really excited when my aunt told him i was gonna do a blog write up and made no hesitation to introduce himself to me. haha funny. Yes, here you go Leon Teh, presenting to you the excellent service award!
Best of all, you will never overeat as the chef will whip up dishes according to the number of diners. This not only minimizes wastage but it also enables diners to sample as many dishes as possible. So far, we have tried about 14-15 dishes. Its like a 15 course lunch meal, which is quite alot, for 3 ppl, but hey, its still a fail as they offer 40 dishes and you need 20 to pass! muahahaha.
FYI, the more exquisite/expensive items like sharks' fin, steamed fish and peking duck are limited to one order per meal. Its also a hint that these are must have items. haha
The condiments served here are pretty good too. Very addictive i say.
It taste very familiar, something i have eaten before but i seriously cant remember wat it is. But it doesnt bother me for as long as the food and service is good, all else is secondary.
A fantastic dining experience at Peony Jade i must say. We might be bringing Grandma there again on Vesak Day. Hi again to Leon Teh of course. =P
Dark Chocolate Decadence from Godiva at Vivo City. You can even chew on the tiny bits of fine quality Godiva Chocolates. No wonder the hefty price of $8. The ladyboss here was a little unfriendly as well. She dint allow me to take pics for I dono what reason but too late, I oredi snapped 3 with my quick fingers. Hehehe
Sweet Kiss for dar dar~
Do await my next entry. Another over-dued entry. haha. Featuring Marche and Bao-today! and not forgetting lotsa me and dar dar pics! heehee If ur wondering whether its gonna be THIS long, dont worry coz it wont be. haha
