Boon Lay Raja Restaurant @ Jurong East (Part III)

Located at Level 2 of Block 135 Jurong Gateway Road. From Jurong East MRT, walk across the street towards JCube direction and one will see the 24 hours NTUC Fairprice on the right. After the traffic light, just walk straight (ie no need to turn left to JCube, nor turn right to Fairprice) and one will end up at the back  of Fairprice. You'll see a lift as well as stairs. Either way, just go up to Level 2.

Didn't realize, it had been quite a while since the last meal there. Was there for dinner on a Saturday evening, and at the same time, the restaurant was also booked for a wedding banquet. They still have a few tables open to public though, so it was pretty weird as it felt abit like we're gate-crashing on someone's wedding.

restaurant seats

Left the ordering to my bro. He's a regular there as his colleagues like going there for business lunches. For mom, it has to be something healthy. For dad, he likes his stewed pork belly but that night we had 'gu lou yuk' instead. For us siblings, how about a chili crab?

mom's dish: wolfberry vegetable (枸杞菜) with straw mushrooms, wolfberries and fried garlic chunks

The leaves had slight bitter taste and usually we'd make this into soups (anchovies stock base) back home. The presentation here was slightly soupy as well and tasted very healthy (ie not very salty). The deep fried garlic was not crispy, just slightly bitter. Probably all thrown together for the health benefit.

Was rather skeptical on whether they'll forget our food because of the ongoing wedding. That skepticism was allayed as the service staff who was waiting on the wedding guests was also conscientiously checking on our table. Good job!

deep fried pork with sweet and sour sauce (咕嚕肉)

At first glance, the pork dish seemed tough and dry. But it was not. The meat was not fatty, yet it was not tough nor chewy to bite. The sweet and sourness was balanced. Likeable dish.

When eating out, especially ordering dishes to go with rice, we'd have a pre-requisite for at least a dish that has enough sauce to slather over our rice.  Hence, the claypot tofu dish fits that bill perfectly. The soup from the vegetable dish was too mild for this purpose.

claypot tofu with mushrooms and roast pork

Of course, the highlight of our meal, was the chili crab. Ordered just one crab, priced at $6 per 100gms. The restaurant didn't confirm the weight of the crab prior to cooking. If one is particular about how much they'd like to spend on their seafood, then it will be best to inform the staff that took the order about the preferred weight range.

The chili crab was nicely presented in a big leaf. The sauce was thick, eggy, with short spice punch and sweet. Best eaten while still warm. Slurpilicious, tasty finger licking good.

chili crab

deep fried buns (炸馒头) for the chili crab

The fried buns were perfect foil. Would willingly forgo rice and go straight for these small pillowy fun buns.

that's how you do it

The staff told us it was normal meat crab, less than a kilo in weight. It was relatively fresh and sweet, though some parts did stuck to its shell. The spicy punch doesn't linger in the stomach nor tongue. But evil enough to earn a short coughing fit if one is not careful.

Eating crabs required some patience to coax its meat out of the shell. Liked that the kitchen had broken the shell at strategic points, so it didn't require any further pincer work on our part.

all that's left...

Expect boisterous noise, neighbourly and unsophisticate feel in this restaurant. The food that we've tried so far, tasted good and reasonably priced.