Jumbo Joys
Jumbo seafood restaurant on Singapore's East coast is a good place for group meals, big and bustling. The premises are huge but it is also hugely popular. So, you must book a table.
Food
I am allergic to shellfish, so to save wasting my time and the waiters' time, and risking making a mistake, I read the menu online in advance.
What about the food! And the prices? When I had sussed out the menu online and saw that you paid extra for Chinese tea, which I don't drink, and peanuts, which ruin my diet. So the other diners had the tea but I refused offers of both tea and peanuts.
I am allergic to shellfish but my chicken dish came up first. It was very good, just right.
Crab at Jumbo seafood restaurant, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
The others liked their crab. "A bit dry and tough, but it is a living animal and that is how that one was. The flavour was fine and we would go there again."
We also had fish, garoupa, Hong Kong style, with soy sauce.
The cheeks are supposed to be the best part. I tried it, just a bite of fish flesh in round shape, but it did not strike me as significantly different to the rest of the fish. So I shall happily let the others take this so-called delicacy next time.
Our vegetable was Kan Kong, water spinach in English. (The other well-known vegetable dish in Singapore and different to England's food is Kai lang.)
Prosecco, sparkling white wine from Treviso, Italy. Photo by Angela Lansbury
Drink
Our guest ordered a bottle of Prosecco for us to share. Tall glasses to enclose the bubbles. An ice bucket to keep it at the right temperature. Just right.
Service Slips
We had made a booking so we eventually got past the queue of people without reservations. At the front on the unwelcome desk I spotted the restaurant address cards and toothpicks. The staff are too busy to chat or smile. That's good. We want our table.
Joy of joys, by chance we are beside the fish tanks.
Lots of servers rushed to and fro. Seems like their first language is Mandarin and our Mandarin is even less than their English. This lead to a few misunderstandings, but they quickly brought up whatever needed.
Service Scores Well
The restaurant provided bibs. They packed up our leftovers. On two occasiona I heard recordings of Happy Birthday to you sung for birthday groups.
Best Bargain
Most of the dishes come in three sizes, small, medium and large. The prices are proportional with no savings on large sizes, so you could order a small and order a second platter of your favourite dish if it is not large enough and you don't mind waiting.
You will double the size of your bill if you keep ordering large sizes and adding more dishes.
The best bargain was the dessert. Five dollars for yam. One branch online offered durian. I did not see that at Jumbo in November.
The others were in a hurry to leave, with one of our group catching a cruise ship to Australia the next day. So I had the yam wrapped up to take away. No problem.
Verdict
When we left, nobody said goodbye and thank you and please come again. You need a small family-owned Indian restaurant for that, in Little India. But if you want authentic local Singaporean Chinese food, on the seaside, with the bonus of watching live fish, Jumbo is the place.
"Would you go back to Jumbo?" I asked my host.
He replied, "I've been back many times!"
Useful Websites
Jumbo Seafood Restaurants Around The World
https://www.jumboseafood.com.sg/en/home
https://jumboeshop.com.sg/eshop/
Singapore flag.
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com
About the author, Angela Lansbury.
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share links with your friends and family
For text and pictures on the ambience including my favourite photo of the anxious fish, see previous post headed Jumbo Seasfood Restaurant - Ambience and Aquarium.
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