Jade Palace Restaurant @ Forum The Shopping Mall. Hong Kong Cuisine in the Heart of Singapore

You know, when we want to find a nice restaurant nowadays, we instinctively reach for our phones (how did relying on a digital sidekick become a human instinct so quickly?🤔). I've often heard it said that in this day and age, if something is not on the worldwide web, it doesn't exist.

Well, today I am reminded again that we haven't quite reached that stage yet - but heading there. There still exist nice restaurants and places that people in the know, know...., but have a low social media or internet presence. Jade Palace @ Forum is one such fine restaurant.

Jade Palace @ Forum is not a big restaurant. Pretty compact, simply laid out and furnished, it reminds me of the quintessential Hong Kong cha lao 茶楼 or tea house where family and friends gather habitually over tea and dim sum.

And the thing about Cantonese tea houses is, people are very picky about their preferred cha lao - good food, tea, ambiance, service quality, pricing etc., must be right. But, once they made their pick, cha lao customers are fiercely loyal and will come back for generations.

Aaron's family have been eating at Jade Palace for over twenty years. Aaron has been eating here since he was a teenager. Today, he brought his mum, wife and 6 month old princess to continue the family tradition. We were privileged to tag along 😄 (Photo courtesy of Jenny.)

First dish, Roast Pork came like a stash of mahjong tiles. The golden skin was biscuit crackly crisp, the thin layer of fat was soft and the lean meat was tender. Just mildly savoury salty with subtle natural porcine sweetness. I like Jade Palace's siew yuk.

Reminds of me Wong Mei Kee of Kuala Lumpur but Jade Palace's rendition is less salty, less juicy and has firmer texture.

BBQ French Pigeon. For a pigeon, it's quite a big bird, nearly the size of a small spring chicken but the meat is leaner, darker and denser. Marinated in nam yue (fermented bean curd) and grilled. The meat and skin were tender and moist. Savoury salty flavour with discernible gaminess. I like the gamey taste and so, I like this dish.

Fried Ling Fish Fishballs 鯪魚球. This is a must order.

The fishballs are made with minced dace fish (mud carp 鯪魚). Fresh dace fish has a sweetish taste with slight underlying earthiness.

The handmade fried fishball is big and the tender slightly springy meat has a distinctive savoury sweet subtle earthly taste.

It is eaten with this special dip which has meat from briny small clams, julienned ginger and chili in a savoury sauce with a rather sharp sting that reminds me of mustard. When eaten with this dip, any earthiness is fully suppressed.

Steamed Squid with Shrimp Sauce. Tender chewy squid in a savoury sauce.

Come to a cha lao (Cantonese tea house) must of course have chee cheong fun. This was Scallop Rice Roll. The cut pieces of scallop inside the roll were soft and sweet. The fresh rice roll, freshly made to just the right thickness, was soft and smooth. They picked up the watery savoury sweet sauce well. Delicious and comforting.

Youtiao Rice Roll. The you cha kway wrapped in the rice roll was fat and thick (I like) but had lost some of its crispness due to its steamy coat (of course lah). The same soft, smooth handmade rice roll. Nice.

Cantonese style Steamed Grouper done perfectly i.e. over 90% cooked when served at the table.

It's a live grouper. The flesh was tender, juicy and sweet. The seemingly simple savoury sweet aromatic watery sauce complemented the fish perfectly.

We also had a Steamed Patin. Same nice savoury sweet sauce complementing the soft sweet flesh of the live Patin fish. There was not a trace of earthiness at all - only sweetness from the river fish.

Century Egg & Pork Congee. Familiar comforting savoury sweet Cantonese style porridge with deep infusion of century egg and pork flavours throughout the thick paste-like gruel. Feels homemade i.e. nice.

Glutinous Rice Lotus Leaf. Nice aroma of lotus leaf when we opened the steamy bundle and its flavour was also infused into the savoury sweet sticky rice. Buddies couldn't agree whether it was on the overly salty side or just nice. It tasted just nice to me.

Malay Cake. Everybody loves Hong Kong style Malay cake. It was airy light, spongy and fluffy, and tasted gently sweet. So pillowy soft, it felt like it was melting in the mouth. Personally, I like my Malay cake slightly firmer and a bit sweeter (perhaps I am biased by childhood memories of Malay cake).

Durian Glutinous Rice Ball. Durian filled mochi ball slightly bigger than my thumb. Smooth glutinous rice and sweet durian just right for mochi. The durian tasted good but I am not sure what durian it was except that it was not Mao Shan Wang (which would be sweeter and have a more pungent and lingering smell). By the way, MSW is not really my favourite durian - too mainstream liao... 😜

Good food. Simple ambiance. Old school type, warm attentive service from friendly, long serving staff who know their regulars personally.

The bill for the Steamed Grouper is on a separate receipt. That was $96.20.

Jade Palace stocks a small range of wines and spirits. Ask them about their BYO free corkage deals.

Restaurant name: Jade Palace 金湖海鮮酒家 (not to be confused with Crystal Jade Palace of the Crystal Jade chain)

Address: 583 Orchard Road, #B1-13 Singapore 238884 (Forum The Shopping Mall basement level)

Tel: +65 6732 6628

Hours: Lunch 11:00am - 3:00 pm | Dinner 6:00pm - 11:00pm

Date visited: 1 Oct 2020