I HAD a great Chinese lunch over at the newly opened Crystal Jade Dining IN Cantonese specialty restaurant at Bonifacio High Street Central in Taguig about two weeks ago. It’s a Singaporean concept restaurant, a fine dining concept restaurant under the umbrella company Crystal Jade Culinary Holdings, and yes, it belongs to the same restaurant group as the Crystal Jade in Greenhills that diners frequent especially for its delicious Xiao Long Bao (mini siopao-type dumplings which, when you bite into, lets out a burst of soup along with its flavorful filling), but don’t go looking for Xiao Long Bao in the Bonifacio High Street Central restaurant because there’s none.
The newly opened Crystal Jade Dining IN at Bonifacio High Street Central is a fine dining restaurant, with the tables in the high-ceiling main dining room dressed up in Western style. There are square tables in the middle, several round lauriat tables with lazy Susans garbed in golden, not red, tablecloths, and booth seating near the tall glass windows. Round lauriat tables with curtain doors in the inner chambers of the main dining room can serve as small function rooms, while the mezzanine houses several private function rooms that also serve as dining area for spillover crowds when the restaurant is full. Which it often is.
What diners come to Crystal Jade Dining IN to enjoy are authentic Cantonese dishes with a refreshing modern twist. The food stays faithful to Cantonese traditions, but, promises Crystal Jade operations vice president in the Philippines Cherry Chu-Lo, “we assure you that every dining experience with Crystal Jade is distinct.”
Cherry was our host during that memorable Chinese lunch, and she started it off with a bevy of unique dim sum specials from the Crystal Jade menu: Baked Bo Lo BBQ Pork Buns (Oriental style BBQ pork filling in Western-type buns topped with Hong Kong style bo lo crust), Steamed Shrimp & Spinach Dumplings (minced shrimps and chopped spinach in transparent dim sum wrapper), Steamed Cream Custard Bun with Salted Egg Yolk (fluffy sweetish buns steamed in paper cups with custard and salted egg yolk filling), Steamed Radish Cake with Egg White & Chinese Wine (shredded radish mixed with flour, egg white and Chinese wine and steamed in ceramic bowls), Deep-fried Beancurd Skin Rolled with Shrimp & Chive (crisp and crusty beancurd skin rolls), Pan-fried Chive Cakes (wrapped in transparent dough that’s similar to the Steamed Shrimp & Spinach Dumplings), and Baked Mini Egg Tarts.
Personally, I enjoyed the Steamed Shrimp & Spinach Dumplings and Deep-fried Beancurd Skin Rolled with Shrimp & Chive the most. But I tried a little of almost everything, particularly the Steamed Radish Cake with Egg White & Chinese Wine because I’m more familiar with the fried version, Fried Radish Cake, and so the steamed version got me curious. It’s quite good, too, actually, also the Baked Mini Egg Tarts. My husband Raff liked the Steamed Cream Custard Bun with Salted Egg Yolk aside from the dumplings.
As you can see, Crystal Jade’s dim sum selections are not your typical Chinese dim sums. Of course it also has Ha Kau (steamed shrimp dumplings), Siew Mai (steamed pork and shrimp dumplings with crab roe) and Steamed Chicken Feet with Special Sauce on its menu for those who would look for them, but most of its dim sum selections are unique.
By the time we were done with our dim sum starters, we were already full. But no one was too full for the Double-boiled Crab Claw Soup with Superior Mushroom in Fresh Coconut. It was marvelous. A huge crab claw, already cracked and shelled and ready to be bitten into, with mushrooms and Chinese cabbage are cooked with superior soup in a whole coconut following a double-boiling process. Each spoonful of the soup is heavenly, extremely flavorful due to long hours of slow cooking. Each soup is an individual serving because it is cooked and served in a whole coconut. It’s worth its Php480 price for the long, arduous process that it goes through. For large groups of diners who want to order this, though, they would have to call in their order in advance because it would involve quite a lot of coconuts.
Another dish that I truly enjoyed was the Sautéed Prawns with Chicken & Assorted Mushroom Served in Pumpkin, which also has a scallop version instead of prawns. What we had were huge prawns and chicken fillet sautéed with mushrooms and capsicum until golden in color, and the dish was attractively served in a pumpkin bowl.
I savored the prawns and mushrooms with Fried Assorted Grain Rice in Hot Stone Bowl, which I totally enjoyed. It’s white rice and brown grain rice stir-fried together with sweet corn, diced mushrooms and vegetables, egg and pine nuts, Oriental style, and it was served in a hot stone bowl which made it possible for some parts of the rice to turn a bit crusty. I like crusty rice. That’s why I cook our rice in a nonstick saucepot instead of a rice cooker at home for it to develop a tutong (crust at the bottom) and a slightly smoky taste. This fried rice selection on the Crystal Jade menu was exquisite indeed, so different from the usual Yang Chow Fried Rice and the Salted Fish Fried Rice often found in other Chinese restaurants, and the hot stone bowl kept it warm for a long time.
Other specialty dishes served during that exquisite lunch were Crispy Duck Sandwich (crispy duck skin layered with cucumber, tomato and beancurd skin to make mini crispy sandwiches) served in a platter with Shredded Duck Fruit Salad (minced duck meat mixed with fruit cut-ups and mayonnaise on lettuce), as well as Sautéed beef Rib with Basil leaf & Spicy Sauce Served on Hotplate (medium cooked beef ribs sautéed with basil leaves, onion and cut-up chili for a rich and mild spicy flavor). Since I was full and am not a meat and duck eater, I passed up on these and left room in my tummy for dessert. But I would imagine how good these two dishes were, since the platters served at our table were emptied in no time at all.
Finally, my favorite part of the meal – dessert – came. Two desserts were served. One was Chilled Avocado Pudding & Pomelo (avocado pudding topped with fresh mango cream and pomelo), and the other one was Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Taro (chewy and sticky glutinous rice dumpling with taro filling). I took one taro ball, which was similar to mochi, and downed my full serving of Chilled Avocado Pudding & Pomelo. The latter was awesome. It was my instant favorite. It was rich avocado pudding at the bottom with a layer of fresh mango cream sprinkled with pomelo pulp. Three of my favorite fruits in one dessert! What else can you ask for?
Incidentally, Crystal Jade Dining IN also serves roasted and marinated selections such as Roasted Peking Duck and BBQ Combination with Suckling Pig, bird’s nest, abalone, lobster, crab, Sichuan Shanghai style dishes, live seafood and noodles.
(Crystal Jade Dining IN is located at the G/F, Bonifacio High Street Central, 7th Ave. cor. 30th St., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. For reservations or inquiries, call 519-8191.)
