Chinese New Year is the season for a succession of get togethers over good meals. Last night, we had a great time with foodie buddies and good food at Long Jiang Classic Noodle & Congee House 龍江经典粥麵家 in Clarke Quay, beside Singapore River.
Long Jiang Classic is mainly a noodle and congee place set in the pulsating Clarke Quay clubbing and dining hub. One of the attractions of Long Jiang is they welcome "private dining" type arrangements. Buddy Alvin made the arrangements with Chef Francis Chong 張偉忠 to celebrate Chinese New Year with special, off menu dishes ☎ 6266 3323.
Humble and unassuming, Chef Chong is highly regarded in the Singapore and regional culinary world, he being the 6th and 7th President of the Society of Chinese Cuisine Chefs (Singapore). Starting as a kitchen help at age 16, Chef Chong has come a long way, winning numerous prestigious international awards with his culinary prowess during his 30 year career.
Long Jiang's rendition of the customary 旺年丰收鱼生捞起 lou hei yee sang was excellent. Fresh ingredients nicely prepared, the julienned vegetables were crunchy and juicy (not wet and soggy). The 甜甜蜜蜜 sweet dressing had a subtle zing, tasty, and was not overly sweet. The crispy fried fish skin added mild savoury balance to the salad.
First mains was Cereal Lobster 金丝麥香开边龙虾.
The delicately crisp cereal coat infused with savoury sweetness from salted egg yolk, shielded the lobster tail from the hot oil, keeping its meat tender and juicy. The lobster meat's natural sweetness was complemented by the taste of salted egg yolk.
潮汕风味海红班 dubbed Power Grouper Fish Soup, the name said it all. It's all in the quite robust savoury sweet broth with a whole stack of interesting layers of flavours from the clams, grouper fish, vegetables, black fungus, dried wolf berries, herbs etc.
Pan Fried Soy Sauce River Prawn 古法豉油皇煎大头虾.
The savoury sweet flavour of the caramelised blend of soy sauce and sugar complemented the crustacean sweetness in the crunchy juicy prawn meat.
When I come back, I will order Long Jiang's Signature Smoked Duck again.
The pinkish meat was tenderly juicy with a tiny strip of soft fat and slightly crisp skin at the top. The smoked duck was crisped by a hot oil bath just before serving. The flavour and aroma reminded me of smoked ham but the texture and taste were more delicate and refined.
Braised (six head size) Abalone and Sea Cucumber with Meat Filling 鲍汁煎酿秃參伴6头鲍鱼.
Tender and juicy savoury sweet Braised Kurobuta Pork Rib with Honey Sauce 密汁东坡黑猪排骨.
X0黄油膏蚧水晶米粉煲 Yellow Roe Crab Bee Hoon.
The Sri Lankan crab roe really took the rich crustacean savoury sweetness to another level.
Chef Francis Chong is a master of soups, which we tasted two today. Next time, I want to try Chef Chong's crocodile soup which Long Jiang is famous for 😋
From mid way through our dinner onwards, we begun to groan about too much food. The groaning got louder with every new course 😅
Somehow, we turned curiously quiet when we started to eat the Bird's Nest with Almond Cream 冰鎮杏汁燕窝椰子盅. Groans were replaced with sighs of pleasure with every spoonful of the bird's nest from Sarawak and sweet rich almond cream. Conversation only resumed when we started to scrape the soft coconut meat with our teaspoons hoping to prolong the pleasure. Everyone was full of praise for this delightful dessert.
So, it is true that we all have a dessert stomach - or is it, a spare stomach that magically appears only for certain desserts 😜
👉 We all enjoyed ourselves this evening - the friendship, drinks and great food by Chef Chong. Liang Jiang Classic is a restaurant you may like to consider for your next gathering. Everyone have their favourites, my personal memorable dishes were both the soups (fish and crab), smoked duck, and the delightful bird's nest.
Chef Chong and his team were the folks behind Unique Pot (now closed), one of our favourite tze char places in Singapore. My earlier post on Unique Pot 👈 click
Restaurant name: Long Jiang Classic Noodle & Congee House 龍江经典粥麵家
Address: Block B 3 River Valley Road, #01-16, The Foundry, Clarke Quay, Singapore (next to taxi stand)
GPS: 1°17'28.0"N 103°50'44.4"E | 1.291098, 103.845676
Nearest MRT: Fort Canning (Downtown Line)
Waze: Long Jiang Classic Noodle & Congee House
Tel: 6266 3323
Hours: 11:00am - 2:30pm | 5:00pm - 4:00am
Non Halal
Date visited: 22 Feb 2018
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