Saturday, January 26, 2008

Jia Le Roasted Food

C says:

Another Makansutra Raw recommendation (who can forget the image of Seetoh crunching reverently into suckling pig crackling), this stall at Marina Food Loft unfortunately outshone the trolley noodles that we originally went there to try. The queue was quite intimidating though, but for once A wasn’t put off and we’re both grateful that he managed to hang in there. The food really was worth the wait.



The char siew rice that A ordered was very good. Well, it must have been, since he polished it all off and I only managed a measly mouthful… The char siew was generously sliced, and it was quite juicy and not too lean and dry. The rice was pretty good too (and no, not all rice is created equal. I’ve had badly cooked white rice before, and I don’t mean my own sushi rice) – quite fluffy, not too hard but definitely not soft and mushy.


Check out the suckling pig. Isn’t it a thing of beauty? That’s what I like about this place – most roasted meat stalls only sell siew yoke / shao rou, the roasted belly pork. Very few sell suckling pig unless you pre-order an entire pig, usually for weddings or special occasions. A small portion here is $10 – we ordered the medium for $15.

The suckling pig here is done the typical Chinese restaurant way, with the skin slightly bubbly and blistered, not the smooth crackling a la Fernando’s in Macau. Personally I still prefer the Fernando’s pig, because the skin is so light and crisp, and the meat is tender and juicy and practically falling off the bone. But beggars certainly can’t be choosers, and the suckling pig here is definitely way up there in my list of heavenly foods. Some parts of the meat were a bit on the tough side, but the crackling more than made up for it.

I’m definitely coming back for more of everything from this stall. They’ve got some gleaming soya chickens, rather impressive-looking roast ducks, and some tiny little birds that could be pigeons. They apparently have/had a branch at the Taman Serasi food court, but it doesn’t appear to be on their name card or website. Maybe they’ve closed down, sigh. Can anyone shed any light? This branch would be way convenient for us.

A says:

One of the few places where the food is really worth lining up for. I’m really psyched to try a char siu/shao rou fan next.

Jia Le Roasted Food
Marina Food Loft, Stall 6
#04-101/102 Marina Square
Sun to Thurs: 10.30 am - 8.30 pm
Fri and Sat: 10.30 am - 9.30 pm


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you are good. we watched the same episode of Makansutra Raw and said we HAVE to go and try and siew yoke but being the lazy bums we are, never got round to doing it.