Sunday, January 8, 2012

Jing, One Fullerton

 Would I pay $88 for brunch buffet at Ku De Ta? Hell no! And I find it to be absolutely definitively bollocks that anyone will. Anyway, as a result my sis decided to change our birthday brunch to Jing instead!

 Visited Jing before with family for a New Year's eve dinner when I first came to SG, back just before the clock struck 2010. Dug up an old photo - this even shows the MBS still in construction! The barricades are there so people don't trample all over One Fullerton for the firework display (which we missed despite having excellent seats! sigh.. but that's another story).


 Present-day (-time) Jing. 


 Located at One Fullerton, outdoor dining here would be great in pleasant weather! Unfortunately for us it was raining (and actually if it wasn't, aircon would be still be welcomed in the heat) so we were seated indoors. The place was half empty on a Sunday afternoon even as the buffet crowd arrived a little late. We were kiasu so we arrived on the dot at 12pm.


 The weekend brunch buffet at Jing covers quite a selection of dim sums, some cooked foods, and some one-per-table orders. As we waited for our ordered food to arrive, we decided to check out the small table by the door which had some dishes to start with.

{ Braised Pig Trotters and Quail Eggs with Vinegar }
 The braised pig trotters with vinegar is one of my personal favourite Cantonese classics - the one is done well I guess! Take some quail eggs for some added decadence. There was curry fishballs as well (next to it) which I didn't try - not a fan!

{ Peking Duck Eggwraps and strange Kueh Pie Tee }

 You'll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't enjoy roast duck skin in eggwrap! While nothing too great about these (duck skin not crispy enough, as you would expect after sitting here for so long ...) the sweet savoury mini crepe is a good appetizer to munch while waiting for the dishes to arrive.

Sadly the cucumber / salmon roe kueh pie tee next to it was really strange. I just want my normal ones!

 The wrapped duck was tasty and pretty moreish. You can't just have only one piece! It'd be fun if we could assemble it ourselves, although I suspect the Peking duck would be wiped out before not too long!
{ Signature Wasabi Prawns }
 Jing is known for their signature Wasabi Prawns, which are included in the buffet so you can order as many times as you want! Really nice - prawns fresh and wasabi mayo just enough for a little sweet tingling sensation.

 Mmm I kind of remembered this from my last time here. Still as yum, highly recommended! The prawns are crunchy and the wasabi gives a nice oomph without being too overpowering.






{ XO Sauce Carrot Cake }
 What looks like a messy plate of char kway teow is actually their XO sauce carrot cake! Have to say, wasnt a huge fan of this - tasting more like omelette with beansprouts, we couldn't quite get much carrot cake or XO sauce.

 I enjoyed this - thought the carrot cake was quite fragrant. 


{ Double Boiled Shrimp Dumpling with Bamboo Pith and Shimeiji Mushroom }
As part of the brunch buffet you could pick two choices of soup per table (just a 1-time small bowl of each!). We opted for the double boiled soup with shrimp dumpling - well it was really good soup no doubt. The shrimp dumpling was succulent and soup deep in flavour (as you would expect from a double boiled) but each bowl was barely enough for one portion.

 While this was a nice light clear soup to help sort of help balance the palate (?), I actually preferred the more robust hot and sour Szechuan-styled soup (not pictured).
 


{ Steamed Crystal Abalone Dumpling }
 One of their best dim sums IMO, while I can't quite taste the abalone, the crystal skin on this was not too thick and the mushrooms / prawns inside succulent and juicy.

 Unfortunately I had this when it was getting a tad cold (there was so much other food to try!!1), so it was a tiny bit starchy for me. But agreed, the skin is not too thick and so I still enjoyed this :)



{ Deep Fried Scallop in Filose } 
 Another of my favourites, while the scallop was ok, the filose was simply awesome! So light, so thin, crispy and sweet, my only gripe was that it (obviously) traps a lot of oil, though I don't think it's possible to prepare otherwise!


 Ooh, the filose exterior (which looks like deep fried vermicelli) is really crunchy! The crunch gives way to soft scallop within. One of my favourite dishes of the day.


{ Deep Fried Soon Hock in Superior Soya Sauce }
 The brunch buffet includes a single order of Deep Fried Soon Hock and (apparently very popular) Chilli Crab - part of the reason we decided to be kiasu and come on time. The fish I have to say was prepared well and the sauce is great - sweet and salty but not overpoweringly so - and as with all fried fish, attack this once it arrives before it gets cold!


 Hmm fried fish for me was, well, fried fish. I mean after a week of fried fish day and night in Thailand I have somewhat developed an immunity towards it lol. I mean it was nice, it was cooked well - crispy on the outside and soft inside and the gravy was nice. But it was just fried fish. (Gosh how many times did I type 'friend fish'!)


{ Chilli Crab }
 The chilli crab is another crowd favourite so do order this first as it takes them a while to prepare. And while the one-serving soups came in tiny portions, both the fish and crab came in full for-human portions so we were pleased :) For me I found the crab too tomato-ey / peanut-ty (damnnnnnn lot of peanuts) as I prefer it less sweet and more piquant. Still really good in its own right and dip your free flow fried buns away!


 Had to try this signature dish. The gravy was tasty for me, although I may have had better elsewhere (on those other occasions I had to literally force myself to stop drinking the gravy by the spoonfuls). 


{ Sweet and Sour Pork }
 As we lapped up the crab and the fish and cleaned up various other dim sums we ordered, we decided to try some dishes to end the meal. We heard good things about the 咕噜肉 and weren't disappointed! Meat firm to the bite though thin enough to ensure maximum surface area of sauce.

 By this time I was about to keel over from a food coma, but had to try the last few meat dishes. Sweet and sour pork was a nice balance of sweet, sour and salty with sizeable chunks of pork.



{ Stir Fried Pork Belly with Garlic in XO Sauce }
 This was great as well - fatty slices of pork and snow peas (?) in the strong XO sauce make for a great pairing albeit a little salty.

 Pork was soft and adequately salted, and the snow peas add a welcome change of texture.


{ Egg Tarts (?) }

 We had previously heard great things about the fluffy egg tarts which were unfortunately decommissioned in favour of these fruit egg tarts on the table next to the braised pig trotters. Didn't quite like this at all - gone are the fluffy flaky egg tarts and in come the generic hard custard tarts :(

On a side note, the pot of chilled avocado cream next to it was AWESOME and definitely save your stomache for a bowl or ten.

 Yes avocado cream is delish and very refreshing! Besides the fresh fruits lol, that was my favourite dessert. I didn't really like the generic-tasting fruit tarts.


 At $48++ for weekend brunch, the price tag is not exactly cheap but not exactly expensive either (up 33% since 2009!). I would only come if you love and crave the chilli crab (and get other dishes as auxiliary) else I simply don't think it's worth it.

Brunch menu here : http://jing.sg/downloads/JING_WeekendAlaCarteBrunchBuffet.pdf

Weekend Ala Carte Brunch Buffet
Only available on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday
From 12noon - 2.30pm
Last order at 2.00pm

Adult $48.00
Child $24.00 (4 years to 16 years)
Prices include free flow of Chinese tea

Exclusively for DBS & POSB Credit Cards
One dines free with every three paying adults

HGW Link (47% at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/jing/
Rating (out of 4) : 

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