Many have told me about the Xiao Long Bao (小笼包) buffet at Crystal Jade in Holland Village. When I finally got a date, a time and people to go with, I was beyond excited.
I went there expecting just xiao long bao and ala carte dishes, but it turned out to be a hotpot buffet as well. Although Crystal Jade has many branches, only the one in Holland Village offers the xiao long bao buffet.
Crystal Jade at Holland Village – the restaurant is right alongside the lane leading into Holland Village.
Pork soup base. At this stage of the buffet, the soup is bland and tasteless, which is good because it acts as a great base for the rest of the ingredients.
Big grey prawns – firm and freshly skewered. Each person is entitled to three prawns.
The plate of pork meat – pink though not in health.
Lamb meat – just as red and delicious looking
The other raw dishes – we put on a stand beside the table because the table was too full.
Fried Buns! These buns are perfect for soaking in the by-now fragrant and delectable soup. A crunchy crust with a juicy interior.
Xiao long baos are basically baos with soup inside. The soup comes about from the ingredients put into the dumpling. Besides the normal filling, a kind of gelatin made from the meat is also included and this gelatin melts to form the soup in the dumpling.
This is how I sample xiao long baos. I hold it at the part nearer to the top where the skin is thicker and then take a small bite to savour the soup from the bao, before popping the entire thing into my mouth. The xiao long bao has a great tasting soup base and very succulent filling. Here’s a little xiao long bao tip; don’t allow the dumpling to stay too long in the open, because the skin may get a little dry.
On the whole – well, my group of four friends ordered eight servings of this. This is by far the best xiao long bao I have tasted, ever. Also, Crystal Jade at Holland Village has fantastic and efficient service. Our soup is almost always filled, along with our drinks. The waiters are friendly and greet you with a smile.
This rounds up my whole Xiao Long Bao buffet experience to an A star.
Crystal Jade has three time slots for their xiao long bao buffet – 5.30pm – 7.30pm, 8pm – 10pm and 10.30pm – 12.30am. The price for 5.30pm – 7.30pm which I went for was $22++, amounting to approximately $28 after GST.
Address:
241 Holland Avenue
Holland Village
S(278976)
Tel: 64630968
Opening hours:
Mon – Fri 11am – 11pm
Sat – Sun 10.30am – 11.30pm
Thanks for th info !