Jing at One Fullerton

There’s a small group of friends here in Singapore who have lived in Sydney and crave the all-favourite yum cha (dim sum here in Singapore).  I’ve tried a few here, from Crystal Jade at Paragon, to the two Lei Gardens (at CHIJMES and Orchard) and while the food is lovely, all seem to have a very upmarket feel to them, where dumplings are ordered by the piece from a menu.  For me, the experience of yum cha enhances the enjoyment of the food.  The hustle and bustle of people all trying to talk over each other as they tuck in to their bamboo steamers to grab the next siew mai or har gau, the trolleys trundling through the tables, where you get to see what’s on offer, allowing you to try food you haven’t tried before, it’s even the curt but ever-so-efficient staff, where turnover is their primary goal.

On a recommendation from Kelly, a small group of us decided to try Jing, at One Fullerton.  Jing is award winning chef Yong Bing Ngen’s second joint venture with hotelier Loh Lik Peng. Chef Yong is well known for serving up excellent modern Chinese food and made his name first at Pan Pacific Hotel’s Hai Tien Lo, and then at the Majestic Restaurant (where he won many many awards).

They have an a-la-carte menu, but on weekends, you can order off the menu, buffet-style.  A few items like desserts and the peking duck can be selected at a counter, where the skin is carved and served to-order.The restaurant itself is modern and warm, unlike the usual stark Chinese restaurants, and I think the whole making people get up and walking around in itself greatly relaxes the vibe of any place.  It’s a full house, and now we know why.

The variety of food available to you to order is dazzling.  Not all of them strictly yum cha, to be fair, for example you can get chilli crab.  I ordered the first round – usual staples of siew mai, har gau and pan-fried carrot cake and the like and all of them were well executed, especially in this buffet-style.  Sydney standards are pretty high, given that yum cha chefs in Sydney can earn up to $100K and are in high demand to serve the never ending queues of people waiting to be seated, and our table talk focused purely on how good the dim sum at Jing was.

Last orders are at 2.30, and by then, my friends and I were well and truly happy and full of dumplings and soft shelled crab.  A lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon, I see many more visits to Jing with my friends.

JING One Fullerton, #01-02/03 1 Fullerton Road Singapore 049213 Tel: 6224 0088
Opening Hours Lunch – 11.45am to 3pm Last order – 2.30pm

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