JUMBOOOO
Happy 2025!
It’s been a while, a long time, in fact. I’ve been MIA for a while as I lost a bit of motivation for a variety of reasons, but I’m back! I hope to try and post and promote this blog more.
The first review of the year comes from Singapore’s famous Jumbo Seafood branch at ION Orchard. As a disclaimer, I’ve never been to Jumbo Seafood until recently, as I've never found a reason to visit. Normally, I associate visiting restaurants like Jumbo Seafood to special occasions, such as birthdays, family gatherings, friends visiting from abroad, etc., But on this fateful date in late November, I finally visited with my partner.
Jumbo Seafood was founded in 1987 at the East Coast Food Center, serving fresh seafood to the public. Their reputation grew from there and soon attracted people islandwide to their single outlet. Soon after, the brand opened restaurants overseas, including mainland China, Japan, and South Korea. They have since won multiple accolades for their culinary and service excellence, such as Singapore Tatler’s Best of Singapore 2018, Excellent Service Award 2017, TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2017 and the Ctrip Food Award 2016 ([Singapore Choice: JUMBO Seafood [(Dempsey Hill]))], just to name a few. (Jumbo Seafood, 2025).
As I mentioned earlier, we visited the ION Orchard outlet at the end of November for dinner service. We made a reservation the night before to ensure a table, as the restaurant is immensely popular with both tourists and locals in the heart of Orchard Road. We arrived early for our reservation and noticed there was a small crowd right outside the restaurant. Our table wasn’t ready yet so we waited around the outside until our number was called. About 15 minutes later, our number was called and we were shown to our table. We were seated right by the windows overlooking one of the entrances to ION Orchard. As a very curious and eager foodie, I started looking around at other tables to see what dishes were being ordered. As expected, many tables had the famous chilli crab being devoured by both tourists and locals alike. We noticed that every seat had a wet tissue packet along with a bib arranged by the plate, and a small dish with crab opening tools and some unknown square packets that turned out to be disposable gloves. The bibs were meant to be worn over your clothes when eating the crabs, as the juices may squirt out when using the crab opening tools. It wasn’t until half way through our meal that we realized the square packets were actually gloves for crab eating. However, by that time, we had already been eating with our hands. Food tastes better with your hands anyway!
As we scanned the menu, it seemed like we could eat everything. We narrowed it down to a few items, namely the famous Jumbo Seafood Chilli Crab, Freshly Shelled Prawns with Golden Salted Egg, Homemade Vegetable Bean Curd Braised with Fresh Mushrooms, and Broccoli Stir Fried with Minced Garlic.
For a midweek dinner past 8PM, it was pretty busy in the restaurant. That didn’t seem to affect the kitchen as all our dishes were served within 10–15 minutes after being ordered. The chilli crab arrived first, followed swiftly by the prawns, broccoli stir fry and finally the bean curd.
Before we get to the main dish (the crab), let’s review the rest first. The deshelled prawns provided some ease of eating, there was no need for us to de-shell each individual prawn and waste the salted eggs that would’ve been on the shell. Instead, each prawn was beautifully covered with the salted eggs. The initial burst of flavor from the eggs is quickly triumphed by the juiciness of the prawns. When I normally have salted egg prawns, the greasiness overpowering at first, stopping me from eating more. While there is some of that here, I felt that it was manageable if you ate it with some rice. It helped that there was little to no oil at the bottom of the plate. Afterall, you do eat with your eyes.
The bean curd was topped with a homemade vegetable paste and then deep fried to a golden hue, then served with a delectable egg white and mushroom stock. I personally thought the portion size was a bit small, but the bean curd had a sweet but savory taste and soaked up the stock’s flavor. The vegetable paste on top however, left something to be desired as I could barely taste it. It felt more like an afterthought when tasting it, and I wished it would be more prominent. The stir fry broccoli was admittedly a dish that I personally wanted, because I love broccoli. Unfortunately, I did not have any pictures of this dish, as I’d completely forgotten about it. I did feel a bit of disappointment when the broccoli was a bit crunchier than I’d like. Despite that, the garlic had infused with the broccoli and I still found myself reaching for another floret throughout the meal as a palate cleanser.
Now onto the main dish: the chilli crab. For those with a sensitivity to spiciness, this dish isn’t as spicy as the name suggests. Although the sauce is tomato and chilli based, I found that Jumbo Seafood’s rendition of the dish has more tomato flavor than chilli. There is still a slight kick to it, but I found that it was mainly a strong peppery after-taste rather than a burn-in-your-mouth sensation. The gravy itself was divine, especially when paired with white rice or with the deep fried buns that are served alongside it. The meat of the crab was so succulent and tender, you could literally pinch the meat and it would fall off. Here’s a tip for eating crabs that I learned in Korea a few years ago. Take the shell of the crab, scoop up some of the delicious gravy and put it into the shell itself, take a spoonful of rice and mix it with the gravy in the shell, and start digging in. It may seem a bit basic, but doing this lets you get all the remaining meat and crab roe (if there are any). It also gives you a vessel in case you somehow lose your plate. Although the claws and legs were already somewhat broken down enough for us to eat, the crab opening tools came in handy as we used it to break apart the more stubborn shells. Every piece of the crab was smothered with the gravy. While there were gloves provided by Jumbo Seafood, I think that part of the experience of eating chilli crab is eating it with your bare hands. That way, you get to taste the gravy and it’s finger lickin’ go— wait sorry, wrong brand. Admittedly, cracking the shells can be a struggle and sometimes a bit slippery, it’s an experience that everyone should try. We found ourselves digging for every small piece of meat and enjoying ourselves. It came to a point where I asked myself “should we have gotten two crab dishes instead?”
Ultimately, the decision to get only one main crab dish with a few “supporting” dishes like the broccoli, prawns and bean curd was the right decision as we felt satisfied and full by the end of the meal. I’ll admit that I do not remember the total bill, but I’d estimate it was around S$140–160. So was it worth it, would I go again?
I think it’s sufficient to say that eating at Jumbo Seafood was a positive experience and one that I would happily replicate in the future. However, I did mention earlier that I do associate going to Jumbo Seafood with special occasions and my opinion hasn’t changed after this visit. The priciness of the meal is something that turns me off from returning regularly, and I think most locals will agree with me. You could get the same meal from a local tze char stall (family run eateries) for a significantly lower price. If I had a special occasion to celebrate or friends from overseas visiting, I would definitely bring them to Jumbo Seafood. If it was for a family meal on the weekends, I think I’ll stick to my local hawker center’s tze char stall.
Overall, I’d rate this a solid 8/10. The food was delicious and enjoyable. Everything was provided to ensure your crab eating experience was a pleasant one, including bibs to protect your clothes and gloves should you feel the need to keep your hands clean. However, if you’re on a budget, I would suggest going to a local hawker center instead. You get a more authentic experience in a hawker center and possibly a cheaper bill that your wallet may thank you for.
