Royal J’s Seafood is a highly lauded coffeeshop for local (Singapore/Malaysia) style Chinese food with some standout dishes but also some odd items. For me, the outstanding items were the fried porridge, and the two chicken dishes – one fried and one steamed. Two of the other main house specialties, the crab with glass vermicelli and the prawns with cheese, disappointed us. And with the hot weather in Singapore recently, eating at Royal J’s, which is located in a food court with no air conditioning, is to say the least…steamy. But, the food is very reasonably priced and I think worth trying. But bring your own fan (and ice cubes).
Royal J’s is essentially a stall in a food court on Foch Road, off Lavender St. in central Singapore near the Jalan Besar stadium. We parked in an apartment building across the road which has some limited spots in case roadside parking is not available. Drinks are provided by the drinks stall next to Royal J’s which means that drinking glasses are not available if you are doing a BYOB. My friends came prepared with plastic glasses for our shared wines.
Depending on how busy they are, the food could take quite some time to appear. So, you could always opt to try one of the dishes from the stall next door which specialises in frog based items. Also, it’s best to make a reservation as although Royal J’s is in a food court, it’s better to make sure a table is available at a given time.
The house specialty fried porridge was definitely the best dish of the night for us. This is basically porridge that is cooked as per normal and then fried in a wok with dark soy. A good measure of spring onions, fried shallots and lard is what makes this good. The steamed “kampung” or village (basically implying that it’s free range) chicken, which is not on the list of the top 23 popular orders was very good as was the crispy garden chicken. Good quality chickens are used so the meat is tasty and firm.
Other decent dishes included the pork knuckle (not pictured) and fried pork, which was slightly caramelised and almost like a sweet and sour pork without all the sauce. The vegetables are okay although we ordered the green beans, okra and eggplant that was a touch oily partly because of the belachan based sauce that it’s sautéed in.
Unfortunately, the crab tung hoon (glass vermicelli) disappointed us as we felt the broth had an odd medicinal taste. It’s not a full herbal flavour so something seemed to be missing. Perhaps it was an off night because this is one of the most popular items at Royal J’s.
The other item, I wouldn’t recommend but I note that it is also popular is the cheesy prawns. The melted cheese is great on its own and the prawns are a good quality but the combination just doesn’t mesh with us. There’s a fair bit of mayonnaise mixed in with the cheese and ultimately, I think the taste of the cheese with mayo overwhelms the prawns.
My overall verdict on Royal J’s – it’s worth trying. The price is reasonable for the quality of the produce although outside of the porridge and the chicken, we didn’t think the other dishes stood out. However, we haven’t tried some of the other items on the menu and these may prove to be good as well. Do wear shorts and a t-shirt, though, and bring your own fan.
Royal J’s Seafood: 30 Foch Rd / Tel. no.: 93573993 (Facebook Page Link)