English: 2008.06.22 visit:

Not the best experience this time.

The KL Hokkien Mee was good, with lots of crunchy "juicy" nuggets of deep fried pork lard. The Taro Basket was also good, but not spectacular.

Crispy Flounder with Thai Sauce was a little too crispy, so much so that you couldn't really taste the fish any more. The sauce was stone cold in places with made it worse. Perhaps it was meant to be cold, but the combination was a lukewarm mess.

The 客家芋头扣肉 Hakka-style Pork with Taro seemed to be confused with another similar Hakka dish that pairs pork belly with with 梅菜 Mei Cai, preserved bokchoy cabbage, 客家梅菜扣肉. It was still good, but wasn't authentic.

Finally, the house-made soft tofu was fantastic, by itself. By deep-frying it and dousing it in a heavy sauce of minced meat, mushrooms and 菜捕 preserved radish, it was a wasted of a good tofu.

To be fair, the style of cooking did remind me of the dishes in KL or the 1980s and 1990s, but it seems stuck in a bit of a time-warp for my palate of today.

Jade Kingdom Chinese & Malaysian Restaurant 233 Waiora Rd Heidelberg Heights 3081 (03) 9458 3188

Reviews: - Kway Teow Adventures - Jade Kingdom - Adventures of Katsudon Saturday, January 20th, 2007

Photos: - KL Hokkien Mee - Crispy Flounder with Thai Sauce - Sambal Belacan - Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts with garlic - Taro Basket - 客家芋头扣肉 Hakka Taro Pork

- House-made Soft Tofu with a savoury sauce