Lao Jiang Superior Soup (老江一品汤) @ Punggol Oasis Terraces [Singapore]

What happen when you visit a neighbourhood mall for the first time without any inkling on what to have for lunch? For me, I relied on my mom who usually prefers soupy stuff and it's a no brainer that Lao Jiang Superior Soup (老江一品汤) managed to tug her heartstrings! 

Options were pretty comprehensive for such a small outlet, with about 11 different kind of soups. As expected, there's a higher chance for us to order those dishes with the "chef recommended" logo. Let's cut to the chase and review what we had.

Fried Spice Pork Belly - for some people, the taste of nan ru (fermented beancurd) can be repulsive and while I am not that extreme; it's not a dish I would order if I am ever dining out on my own as a strong flavour can turn me off.

Thankfully, the nan ru pork belly from Lao Jiang Superior Soup had a good flavour that didn't taste heavy of fermented beancurd. In addition, it was juicy (given the high fat content from pork belly) and had a crispy, thin-crust bite! 

Lao Jiang Soup - thinking this would be a signature soup despite the lack of a chef recommended logo, we went ahead with our order. In a nutshell, it was similar to a simple, light and unfanciful bowl of kway teow soup you can get from other noodle stalls. 

Signature Superior Soup - as the first item on the menu when you flip to the second page, with key information that the broth was boiled for over four hours, it's hard not to give this a try. And my family did by requesting for two servings; one with rice and the other with dry mee pok. 

The broth was extremely flavourful although I can't help but notice the resemblance with Yu Pan Dry Noodle (御品幹撈面) which had a number of stalls spread across Singapore. Even though Lao Jiang's version included two prawns and two relatively large pieces of fish maw, it's quite hard to stomach the significantly higher price of S$9.50 a bowl; it didn't help that I am not that big of a fish maw fan.

I love mee pok and would make a point to request for it so long it's available and I am not packing it for takeaway as the texture would change. Strange that in spite of having the noodle in the store, its texture felt as though I had requested for takeaway with a thicker, heavier feel that's unpalatable. Pity though as the pieces of crispy pork lard were amazing! 

Double Boiled Chicken Essence Soup - with the abilities to "combat fatigue, strengthen immune system and boost muscle growth",  it's the kind of soup that would appeal to my elderly mother! To show that the operator was true to its words on the use of chicken essence, a pack would be torn with its contents poured into your soup right in front of you! 

This kind of reminded me of XO bee hoon and I often joked with my friends that I would bring a bottle of XO myself whenever we feel that the taste of XO was too weak! Maybe we can do the same with chicken soup; just prepared one or two bottles of Brand's essence chicken.

Taste wise, it had that intense, nutritional flavour (guess it's the result of the chicken essence) with a noticeable ginger taste and I can imagine how shiok it would be to have this on a cold, rainy day! Red dates were soft yet retained a sweetness that complemented perfectly with the soup. Chicken was juicy but it's likely cooked separately; we knew because this was actually our second bowl as the chicken in the first bowl was cold, as if it was just taken out from the fridge. 

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Address

681 Punggol Dr, #01-42/43, 

Oasis Terraces, Singapore 821669

Map

As above. 

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/laojiangsuperiorsoup

Pricing

Fried Spice Pork Belly - S$8.00

Lao Jiang Soup - S$6.00

Signature Superior Soup - S$9.50

Double Boiled Chicken Essence Soup - S$14.00

(Inclusive of GST)