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50 East Coast Road
Level 2, Roxy Square, Grand Mecure Roxy HotelSingapore
Postal code: Show postal code
Telephone: (65) 6340-5678
Category:
Restaurants » Chinese
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Overall Rating:
506
Had the opportunity to partake in a food tasting session at Jia Wei (家 味), which literally means taste of home, courtesy of the folks from Grand Mercure's marketing department. Opened in December 2007 and occupying the premises of the former Thai inspired Beads Restaurant, Jia Wei is helmed by Chef Lee Tuck Seng, who has over fourty years of culinary experience with several culinary awards under his belt.
There is the option of taking the escalator or lift up to the second floor, where Jia Wei is situated. The restaurant's interior is reminiscent of a classical, not too elaborate Chinese restaurant with its round tables, parquet flooring, low ceilings and Chinese ornamental displays.
Dim Sum Appetiser - This dish wasn't on the Christmas menu that we were supposed to sample but no complaints about the extra food though.
Personally I thought that the Siew Mai had too much fat meat in it which resulted in a rather strong pork taste that fell wayside of the fine and exquisite ones I've had at Royal China and the likes. On the other hand, I appreciated the prawn and scallop dumpling which saw fresh and crunchy prawns enveloped in a translucent green skin and topped with a slice of savoury scallop. In the middle of the scale was the prawn and mango roll which carried a faint (too faint in fact) sourish tinge from the mango coupled with the fresh prawns. Its relatively thick skin discounted the experience quite a bit for me. As for the deep fried prawn wanton, it was comfort food. Fresh prawns wrapped in crackling wanton skin. Overall, a rather oily dish to kick start the dinner.
Turkey and Ham Fresh Fruit Salad - No Christmas meal would be complete without turkey so the menu started off with a turkey appetiser, which is quite a surprise really, especially when you seldom see turkey in a Chinese restaurant's menu. Honestly, I found this dish rather lacklustre as compared to the one I had just a week ago at Braise. I know the preparation methods are different but comparisons are naturally inevitable. Jia Wei's offering was a little too dry and a tad too salty for my liking. However, I must complement the idea of pairing the turkey up with wasabi sauce and fruits, creating a myriad of flavours - saltiness from the turkey, sweetness from the fruits and a touch of 呛.
Jia Wei Superior Shark's Fin Soup in Hot Stone Pot - This is the second restaurant that I'm having shark's fin served in a hot stone pot, with the first being Taste Paradise. The purpose of serving soup in a stone pot is to keep the soup hot/warm for a much longer period of time, so as to maximize drinking pleasure. This soup was a tad starchy, almost creamy smooth in texture yet light on the flavours. The fins were of quite a size and came bundled with crab meat, beansprouts and the likes.
Pan Fried Fillet of Pork Spare Rib with Special Sauce & Grilled Special Rack of Lamb with Chinese Wine - The lamb was on the original menu but most of us opted to swap it with the spare rib. Fortunately for me, I had the luxury of trying both (with some friendly persuasion of course). My piece of pork rib was 50% meat, 50% fats, which was a turn off really. I spent more time trying to slice away the fats then enjoying my piece of meat. However my dining companions seemed to have gotten much leaner cuts so I was probably just unlucky. And the special sauce didn't exactly wow me. It was just sweet, probably from some infusion of honey. Surprisingly, the lamb was quite good - tender sans the overwhelming lamb taste that I personally have a disdain for. If only we knew.
Braised Bai Ling Mushroom with Broccoli - If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that the main focal point for this dish was the broccoli because of the small serving of bai ling mushroom. That aside, this was a very simple dish which offered no surprises. I liked the copious amounts of dried scallops though - salty and adding flavour to a rather ordinary dish.
Homemade Noodles with Prawn and Conpoy - Honestly, this dish just didn't do it for me. The noodles tasted like a thicker version of kway teow and carried some bite but it failed to absorb the essense of the gravy, which by the way, was rather bland. I would have prefered a more robust sauce especially when the prawn, though crunchy and meaty, failed to carry much sweetness in its flesh. Overall a rather average rendition in my humble opinion.
Chilled Lemon Jelly - I have a low tolerance for extremely sour stuff hence the dessert wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Not that the jelly was sour. On the contrary, it was pleasingly sweet and wobbly of course. It was the lime sorbet that had me cringing with every mouth. What was interesting was the addition of diced apricots and raisins - the first I've seen in such a dessert. Still, a no go for me.
The above Christmas set dinner cost each pax to the tune of $98 , inclusive of a glass of red or white wine. There is a 30% discount if you opt for the set from Monday to Thursday. I would like take this opportunity to thank Grand Mercure, especially Keane, for this invitation.
See all my pictures here.
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21 Dec 2008 at 11:54 pm
144
Tucked behind the bustling bus stop opposite Parkway Parade lays Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel – and located at level two of what used to be a Thai restaurant is now Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant, opened in December 2007.
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).
You can view all the photos here.
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