Hot pot, or also known as 'steamboat' in South East Asia region, is a type of shared meal, where at the center of the table there's a pot of stew, with broth and assorted types of meat and vegetables are cooked together. Pretty much like the Japanese Shabu Shabu, but the food cooked are more varied than just thinly sliced beef and the types of broth can be anything from a simple meat stock, spicy tom yum, to congee broth. Yes you read me correctly, even congee broth can be used as the liquid to cook in steamboat, which was exactly what I had at Crystal Jade Restaurant & Steamboat.
Crystal Jade is a household name behind the many chain of Chinese restaurants in South East Asia, with outlets as far reaching as Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea and in The States! After being around for more than 2 decades with presence in more 21 cities and 11 countries, I'd have to admit that this company, founded in Singapore, is indeed, a successful venture. Crystal Jade has many 'concepts' up its portfolio, and this Steamboat restaurant that I visited was just one of them.
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| Cooking steamboat with chicken congee soup |
The Steamboat concept is located at Street Gallery of Pondok Indah Mall, which is supposedly a family mall, since it's located among the residential area of the affluent residents on Pondok Indah.
I was most impressed by the tables used here, which are specially designed table / induction stove. The stove are those grey circles you see on your glass covered table, which are seamlessly embedded with the rest of the table. So you might want to watch where you rest your arms!
At Crystal Jade Steamboat, there is a wide range of Cantonese food in Chinese steamboat style. The several types of steamboat sets to choose from are for example: Sichuan Style Lamb Set, Vegetarian Set, Seafood Set, Assorted Set, all priced reasonably between IDR 145,000 - 179,000/person. Mind you, each of the sets are meant for 1 person and they have a lot of elements in it, that I actually think it's probably enough for sharing (but the management won't let it, I suppose haha!)
So since my Mum only eats seafood, we chose the Seafood Set, which looks like this:
So since my Mum only eats seafood, we chose the Seafood Set, which looks like this:
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| Seafood Steamboat Set IDR 179,000 / person |
In the Seafood Set, there are fresh live prawns (they're really fresh, still moving and all - I felt kinda sorry for them, but it's my Mum's choice, couldn't help it...), cuttlefish, garoupa fillet, homemade cuttlefish balls, vegetables & mushrooms, corn, tofu, vermicelli rice and egg.
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| Steamboat cooking with congee soup, that's a first! |
Other than the steamboat set, you could also choose a la carte, mix and match your own choice of vegetables, seafood (fish, prawn & crab), noodles, tofu & beancurd, mushrooms and even the soup base. The soup base selection itself are quite interesting, there are Chicken Congee Soup, Spicy & Sour Vietnamese soup, Sichuan Spicy Soup with wild mushrooms, Herbal Tonic Chicken, etc. I picked the congee soup, because it's very unique and I actually enjoyed the slightly creamy feel to the soup, should I even mention it goes perfectly over rice? =)
When eating steamboat at Crystal Jade, one of the highlights are the sauces. With a sauce 'bar', you could make your own sauce, or simply ask the staff to mix a yummy sauce to go with your steamboat. My favourite is the garlic, slightly sweet and spicy sauce mix.
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| The steamboat sauces 'bar' |
The menu actually offers more than steamboat, there are other classic Chinese dishes, which even my picky Mum couldn't say no to. So, if you don't feel like anything soup-y, you could still order the classic Chinese dishes to go with your rice.
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| Fried Prawn with Crispy Garlic & Dried Chili IDR 118,000 |
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| Fried Rice with Crispy Garlic in Spicy Sauce IDR 70,000 |
There's even a dim sum section on the menu! Really, there's no excuse that this place has everything for everyone's palate...
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| Left: Steamed Scallop Dumpling IDR 23,800 (3 pcs) Right: Crystal Jade Steamed Har Gao IDr 20,800 (3 pcs) |
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| Chilled Almond Beancurd & Longan IDR 26,000 |
The brand Crystal Jade itself is a hallmark for quality and I tend to associate it as a family restaurant serving familiar & comfort food that suits even our parents' picky taste buds. My Mum especially enjoyed the steamboat with live prawns, so I guess there will be many more next times after this hehe ;)
Open hours: 11 am - 10 pm (same as mall opening hours)
*) Prices are subject to 5% Service Charge & 10% Government Tax
Crystal Jade Restaurant & Steamboat
Street Gallery - Pondok Indah Mall
2nd Floor, #205
JI. Metro Pondok Indah Blok III B
Pondk Indah - South Jakarta 12310
Ph: +6221 2952976
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