There has been quite a number of dining establishments opening of the late that has been emulating the dining experience that Yuen Kee Dumplings had brought to our F&B scene especially considering the success that Yuen Kee Dumplings had been enjoying with the swift expansion of its business all across the island. Jiang Kee has been an early contender to this trend — the brand has already made its presence in the local F&B scene here very early on having run kiosks within Scarlett Supermarket; their first known location being within the outlet at Paya Lebar Square. With that being said, Jiang Kee had recently opened its very first standalone eatery in Singapore; they are situated within the Food Alley at Toa Payoh Central where one can find other notable F&B tenants such as that of Sing Hi Noodle and the outlet of Hiang Ji Roasted Meat & Noodle House there. The menu at Jiang Kee is split into categories such as Dumplings, Wonton, Pan-Fried Items, Steamed Bun and Noodle & Rice Noodles.

As with our typical orders at such establishments, we found ourselves going for the ala-carte dumplings; namely the Pork & Prawn Dumplings with Crab Roe. Jiang Kee also allows its patrons to opt between different sauces and soups to go with their order of the dumplings — we went with the Mala Dry Mix which is also mentioned to come with Sesame Paste for our order of the Pork & Prawn Dumplings with Crab Roe. One thing that caught our attention very early on when we were collecting our order from the counter was the consistency of the Mala Dry Mix; despite the addition of sesame paste here, the end product is a pretty thick sauce that seems to suggest that the sesame paste had been mixed into the Mala paste rather than just being two different sauces drenched onto the dumplings. Going for the sauce itself, the sauce has a pretty gloopy consistency — the sauce has a sandier consistency with quite an emphasis on the fragrance of Sichuan peppers; all that whilst the addition of sesame paste trying to add an earthier note in its finish to end everything off. Whilst being immensely flavourful, we do think that the sauce would like get fairly overwhelming quickly for a single pax having all 8 to 10 pieces of the dumplings to themselves. The Pork & Prawn Dumplings with Crab Roe were pretty decent with smooth and thin wrapper enclosing the fillings within; the pork filling does give the dumplings a firm bite, with the prawn being fresh and adds a crustacean sweetness that gives it a complimenting contrast of flavours as well.