In line with Singapore’s 57th National Day, Jack’s Place is introducing a special “loco-licious” menu this August. 

A mainstay in Singapore for all the nation’s modern history, Jack’s Place prides itself on its sizzling beef steaks, hearty foods, desserts and cakes since 1966.

Using the best cuts of Tenderloin, Ribeye, Striploin and T-Bone, Jack’s Place steaks have been their classic bestsellers for decades. 

Most of the steaks at Jack’s Place are served on sizzling hotplates topped with a variety of sauces and accompanied with baked potato and condiments such as sour dressing, turkey bacon and cheese.

New range of local delights

Now the restaurant chain is introducing a new range of local delights to complement its perennial menu.

These new items are a combination of western bestsellers, together with highly flavoursome local sauces, to create memorable meal experiences.

Ahead of National Day, media and influencers were invited to try the new offerings at the brand’s Clementi outlet. These were as follows.

Appetisers 

Chicken Satay Kueh Pie Tee ($9.50)

Crunchy Kueh Pie tee cups filled with grilled chicken, and topped with satay sauce, diced cucumber and cilantro. 

The chicken meat was juicy and had a light but distinctive peanut flavour, but it lacked the “charred” notes in satay.

Fruity white rojak ($8.50)

A medley of bite sized cucumber, dragon fruit, mango and pineapples mixed with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and crispy tau pok. 

The flavours in this dish were light and easy on the taste buds and the textures accompanied each other nicely. 

This is a simple appetiser that works well, being rather pleasant and palatable to eat without stuffing you up.

For both appetisers, Jack’s Place is currently running a 20% OFF promotion, where you get 20% OFF appetisers with any order of a promo main course.

Main Courses

Chill Crab Pasta ($17.50)

Spaghetti tossed in chilli crab sauce, topped with prawns, squids and fish fillet. 

This dish had both sweet and spicy notes, the combination of which overpowered other flavours.

When I put the first forkful of pasta into my mouth, the spicy notes hit me immediately before the sweetness took over momentarily. 

After swallowing, the spicy notes in the dish became pronounced again. The sauce completely drowned out the flavours of the seafood. 

It was not my favourite dish, but will suit those who simply love to douse their food with generous amounts of chilli.

Chic Kut Teh Chicken ($17.50)

Grilled chicken chop topped with crispy enoki and chic kut teh sauce. Served with signature baked potato and seasonal vegetables.

This dish was pleasant, easy to eat and quite light. The sauce had mild peppery notes which were distinctive, but did not overpower the chicken. The meat was moist and juicy and out of the meat dishes, this was one of the better ones, in my opinion.

Laksa Barramundi ($21.50)

Grilled barramundi fillet with creamy laksa sauce, mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

The gravy had a distinctive and dominant prawn note, as well as a mild coconut tang. It was mildly spicy. I’m not too sure whether the prawn flavours went well together with the barramundi, but it was intriguing, nonetheless.

The fish meat itself was a tad on the dry side, perhaps slightly overcooked.

Orh-Luak on Ribeye ($27.50)

Juicy N.Z. Ribeye steak with oyster omelette, served with signature baked potato and seasonal vegetables.

This is basically a steak dish with a piece of oyster-infused omelette placed on top of it.

In terms of the quality of the steak, it was moist and juicy and the seasoning is mild, allowing the natural flavours of the meat to shine through.

For the oyster omelette, it had been neatly shaped and made to look nicely presentable like a Western-style omelette.

However, my companion admitted he thought it was a piece of seafood and that he failed to identify the distinctive flavour of the oyster.

Nasi Lemak Lobster ($48.00)

Grilled garlic butter lobster (500g), fragrant coconut rice, ikan bilis, peanuts, fried egg, cucumber, seasonal vegetables and home-made sambal.

Out of all the hawker re-imaginings, I thought that this one was the nicest. 

The lobster had a deliciously mild charred note which went very well together with the other ingredients. 

The sambal sauce was mild and I felt it complemented the lobster rather than overpowering it.

I must also add that the coconut rice itself was interesting, as glutinous rice appeared to be used rather than the usual rice. But in my opinion, the choice of rice complemented the dish nicely.

Dessert

Mao Shan Wang Durian Pudding 

Luscious pudding filled with rich, creamy Mao Shan Wang Durian puree – between moist vanilla sponge and topped with biscuit crumbs.

There were very distinctive durian notes in the pudding right from the beginning. In fact as soon as I opened the lid, my nose picked up the whiff of durian.

Both the layers of durian puree and vanilla sponge cake were very smooth and fine, with the textures combining together very well, easily blending into each other as I put spoonful after spoonful into my mouth.

It is a very pleasant dessert to dig into and very easy to eat the whole thing all by yourself – even if you’re not feeling particularly hungry.

My only gripe was that the biscuit crumbs had gone soft by the time I opened mine.

Beverage

To drink, we were given a Tropical Sling, which is August’s beverage of the month.

In line with National Day promotions, this is $4 for the first glass and 57 cents for the second glass.

Comprising of a mix of mango, orange and pineapple, with a shot of grenadine syrup and topped with lychees, this is very refreshing and pleasant to drink. In fact, I even ended up ordering a second glass for myself.

Conclusion 

To try the new offerings, you may check them out any of the Jack’s Place outlets across Singapore. Visit www.jacksplace.com.sg for more information.

As a brand that has grown with Singapore through the challenges of forging a nation after independence, Jack’s Place strives to continue being a stalwart in Singapore’s fickle restaurant scene, continuing its legacy as one of Singapore’s first steakhouses and serving Singaporeans their favourite Western meals at affordable prices.