Crystal Jade SG50 Xiao Long Baos - Delicious or Cheesy Commemorative Dish?

Seems like everyone is jumping on the SG50 bandwagon and coming up with different ways to commemorate/celebrate Singapore's 50th birthday. Some have been really cool and cute while others are rather cheesy.

Crystal Jade has come up with their version of the SG50 celebratory food item with their special Xiao Long Bao (dumplings) in 2 Singapore signature flavours - Chilli Crab and Chicken Rice. Yup...for S$7.80++ ($5++ for POSB/DBS card holders on weekdays), you'll get to sample our 2 famous local cuisines in a tiny dumpling.

The red ones are the Chilli Crab flavoured ones and I naturally gravitated to them when this came.  First bite and these were my thoughts: hmm...not a lot of 'juice', not much crab taste but this is good! The chilli crab sauce taste was spot on and even better than Jumbo's!

Now, onto the Chicken Rice flavoured XLB. I just found it quite hilarious that a traditionally pork dumpling was going to taste like a rice dish. I wondered whether they were going to put in some rice grains just to make you feel like you're really eating chicken rice but nope, there was no other carbs except for the flour wrapping. Taste-wise, the filling tasted more like glutinous rice chicken, which is delicious but it's just not Hainanese Chicken Rice. A tad disappointing.

Nonetheless, these dumplings are a hoot to try out as it is only available from now till August.

To find out your nearest Crystal Jade outlet, visit their website http://www.crystaljade.com/.