Only a year into the food scene, Crystal Jade Dining In in Bonifacio Global City has earned a loyal clientele (predominantly Filipinos, Singaporeans, Koreans and Chinese from mainland China) who just can’t get enough of its Crispy Duck Sandwich (slivers of tender and juicy duck meat and cucumber in between slices of fried wrapper and crispy duck skin drizzled with hoisin sauce); and Double-Boiled Crab Claw Soup (a lone crab claw swimming in clear tasty broth along with shiitake and enoki mushrooms served on fresh coconut).

Crystal Jade, known for melding classic and contemporary Cantonese fare, also counts as bestsellers the Suckling Pig (imported from Vietnam), Baked Fresh Prawns with Crispy Cereals, and Baked Assorted Mushroom with Black Truffle.

Impeccable quality

Five master chefs from Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and South Korea man the Crystal Jade kitchen. This explains the impeccable quality of the food offerings in the menu.

The classic “Ha Kau” dim sum is steamed to perfection and the shrimp filling is plump fresh. The Baked Bo Lo BBQ Pork Bun has sweetish pork filling and is topped with a salty pie crust. There is no Xiao Long Bao at this fine-dining restaurant because the dim sum is not your typical Cantonese fare. However, it’s available at its sister restaurant, Crystal Jade Shanghai Delight—a more casual dining establishment in Greenhills, San Juan City.

The Hot and Sour Soup has just the right amount of spice and sour tang while leaving room for your tongue to taste the bean curd, mushrooms and vegetables.

Don’t expect huge portions at Crystal Jade Dining In. The emphasis is on quality, not quantity. Ingredients are always fresh, the cooking perfectly executed, and the food presentation plated impressively so you will look forward to your next meal.

“Crystal Jade is not your typical Chinese restaurant,” says Cherry Lo, operations vice president. “Our food is nowhere near typical. It makes for a memorable dining experience with family, friends and even business associates.”

New menu

Part of that effort to keep things atypical for customers is an ever-changing menu. Crystal Jade is coming out with a new menu this month. The selection, prepared by its foreign chefs and approved by Crystal Jade headquarters in Singapore, includes such must-tries as Fried Chicken with Sliced Mango and Foie Gras (melt-in-your-mouth goose liver and mango served on a bed of fresh lettuce); and Sautéed Scallops with XO Sauce, which has a nice blend of spices that livens up the flavor and works well with the broccoli flowers, while the XO sauce faithfully releases the sweet taste and smooth texture of the scallops.

Also worth trying are the Rock Lobster Baked with Superior Broth and E-fu Noodles, the Braised Fish Maw with Goose Web, Grilled Sea Bass with Pumpkin, and Braised Sliced Abalone with Fish Maw.

For dessert, if you want something light and refreshing, there’s Chilled Avocado Pudding and Pomelo (with bits of mango, tapioca and suha), or Yam and Coconut with Sago and Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Taro.

“In the new menu, we will retain the popular ones while adding about 20 percent new dishes for our diners to discover something interesting to them,” says Mylene Lim, chief operating officer.

“All the dishes, both new and classic, will of course carry the trademark stamp of Crystal Jade quality, guaranteeing the best ingredients prepared in the most creative presentation,” adds Lim.

Crystal Jade is part of an international franchise represented in nine counties with 112 outlets. In the Philippines, the franchise is run by Red Dragon Culinary Concepts, Inc.

Crystal Jade Dining In is in Bonifacio High Street Central, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig; tel. 8085233. Operating hours are Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

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PHOTOS BY ARNOLD ALMACEN