Ju Feng Garden Kitchen – Dinner With Macro Kakis
Friday nights are usually dedicated to macro photography but there was none the past couple of weeks as Peter went away on a star trail shoot in Indonesia. Since we had the night free, a dinner with some macro kakis was organised. They love to eat crabs and so we went for the best crustacean deal in town – Ju Feng Garden Kitchen’s Crab Promo!
I was running late so I asked Jeline to consult the others and order the dishes they fancied.
I’ll eat anything. Well, almost 😉
From left: Joe, Jel, Dan, myself and Lynn.
It was Joe, Dan and Lynn’s first time eating Ju Feng Kitchen.
Adrian and I holding 2 out of the 3 Crab dishes we’d ordered.
Jeline, on far right, came with me the last time I ate here with Desmond and Gean.
There were 3 new dishes to me tonight.
The Stout Pork Ribs, the Stewed Cabbage and the Braised Crab Beehoon.
Guinness Stout Pork Ribs.
To be honest, I didn’t know that this was Stout Pork Ribs until I saw the name on receipt.
The malty flavour did not hit me like the one I had recently at Hualong Fishhead Steamboat.
If Ju Feng can incorporate more Guinness flavour into this dish, I would give it full marks as this was not too sweet like Hualong’s. However, if it had been sold as a standard Pai Kuat Wong dish, I would have found the flavours to be more balanced and well executed with good wok hei. The crisp outside and moist inside the meaty ribs were very flavoursome!
Stewed Heng Chye (Spinach) with Silver Baits and Eggs.
This was one dish everyone agreed to be delicious.
Steamed Baby Squid with Wolfberries.
Tonight’s baby sotong were really babies.
I would prefer them slightly bigger like the last time but this is a dish subject to availability and having the ideal size is not a choice.
Stuffed slow braised Cabbage.
Jeline found it overly mushy and it did melt in the mouth but I do not mind that texture.
I did not particularly like the stuffing and couldn’t identify most of the ingredients, too.
Chilli Crabs.
Conflicting views in terms of spiciness and the viscosity of the gravy.
Salted Egg Yolk Crabs.
Best loved dish on our table.
Braised Crab Beehoon.
The unique aromatic yet slightly acrid, bitter, sweet earthy taste came from the Chinese herb 当归 (dang gui) – a dried root of Angelica sinensis, commonly known as Chinese angelica.
Angelica sinensis, a.k.a. “female ginseng” is a herb from the family Apiaceae which is indigenous to China.
TCM believes this herb to tonify and invigorate the blood, regulates menses – pallid, warming the body, ashen complexion, tinnitus, blurred vision, palpitations, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, reduce swelling, disperse cold, expel pus, moistens dry intestines due to blood deficiency, etc…etc…
This is not a dish everyone can accept as I believed Dang gui to be an acquired taste. I do like it for the TC Medicinal properties.
Adrian gave us S$6.50 discount so we paid S$20 per pax not inclusive of drinks.
Date visited: 6th June 2014
This is the 3rd time I have eaten at Ju Feng since they shifted to Tanjong Pagar. I was concerned my taste may become bias so I asked my friends to review the foods I have eaten before. As for the new dishes, my comments are in the photo captions.
Please be reminded that I am not a big fan of whole crabs except for crab cakes (Maryland style) so I shall leave these crab experts to decide which crab flavour they liked best.
Verdict:
All of us agreed that the Stewed Spinach was delicious. The silver baits enhanced the natural sweetness in the broth.
Everyone at the table gave the Salted Egg Yolk their thumbs up!
Daniel: “Food appeared simple, but the flavours have remarkable depth”. He liked the Salted Egg Yolk Crabs best.
Lynn said generally pork is not her favourite meat but was surprised that the Stout Ribs took the cake. She also mentioned the Chilli Crabs to be too starchy.
Jeline complained gave feedback that the Cabbage was too soft and leaned towards soggy. Chilli Crabs was too watery but she liked the Salted Egg Yolk Crabs and the Spinach.
Joe: “I liked all the food except the Sotong & Cabbage. The Chilli Crab was good and the rest were excellent!”
There were conflicting views on the Chilli Crabs but like I said, I’m not a crabby expert.
Ju Feng Garden Kitchen 聚丰园小厨
Address: Block 7, #01-105,
Tanjong Pagar Plaza.
Singapore 081007.
Tel: (+65) 9325 7816
Operating hours: 11am – 11pm
Economic Rice starts from lunch till early evening.
Cze Char is only available for dinner (5.30pm – 11pm)
Update of address as of 2016:
Address: Blk 318 Jurong East Street 31 #01-40 Singapore Singapore (7 minutes walk from Chinese Garden MRT station)
GPS: 1.347477, 103.730766 / 1°20’50.9″N 103°43’50.8″E
Hours: 11:00am – 2:30pm, 5:00pm – 11:00pm
Tel: 9325 7816
Happy eating 🙂
See other Ju Feng dishes here:
JU FENG GARDEN KITCHEN 聚丰园小厨 – CRAB PROMOTION
JU FENG GARDEN KITCHEN 聚丰园小厨 @ 7 TANJONG PAGAR PLAZA
HERE WE GO AGAIN! @ JU FENG GARDEN KITCHEN
So these are your apprentice food critics? You’re training them well I hope. 🙂
All the dishes look pretty good to me.
Hahaha, hopefully we eat more often. Good to have views from co-diners, more objective 🙂
I no complain leh… sobs sobs… is feedback feedback…
Lol… ok ok, not complain. Feedback. Happy? :p
Thank you! :p
Its not expensive, imo. Affordable and looks yummy too!!
The thing I like about this place is that Mdm Zhao (the owner) is always open to feedback and looking for ways to improve on food and service.
Btw, Wood Shed looks great! I should pay it a visit.
Thanks for visiting 🙂