It was Day 25 of the not-lockdown and I wanted to bust out our bottle of Amarone from the vegetable compartment. And since Jerry’s BBQ now does deliveries, we decided to order some meat to go along with it.
It’s been quite some time since we’ve dined at Jerry’s and one reason why we haven’t been there more often is the location. Jalan Kayu is not that accessible if you don’t drive (we don’t); and even if you did, parking is challenging.
Jerry’s has been around for a long time and we’ve always found their ribs and buffalo wings to be one of the best in Singapore. It’s very tough running a restaurant during these times, and we wanted to do our part to support local F&B even when we’re stuck at home.
Their takeout/delivery menu is prominently displayed on their website and they provide free delivery if you live within three kilometres of either their Jalan Kayu or Club Street locations. We were 10 km and a 15 minute drive away, so we were fine with paying a reasonable delivery fee.
While the ordering and payment process was not as streamlined compared to using a food delivery app, it was still relatively quick and easy and had the benefit of saving the restaurant the 30%+ fee that the food delivery platforms would have charged them.
I called their Jalan Kayu number 6484 0151, gave our address, made our order and asked about the delivery charge. They then sent me back an SMS with a photo of the receipt and requested for payment via PayNow before order confirmation.
They also waived the delivery fee, but since they included the 10% service charge that usually only applies for dine-in customers, I took it as the de-facto delivery fee, which was still reasonable.
The online payment went through at around 5pm and the food arrived at around 5.30pm, and while that was super quick, it did concern me a bit because it seemed a bit too fast given the delivery distance.
And my concern turned out to be not unfounded because the food did not meet their usual standards, even after accounting for quality deterioration due to the 30 min delivery.
The flavours of the barbeque and buffalo sauces were still as good as we remembered, but the meats were dry and not as well seasoned. Overall, the ribs and wings were still nice and I’d say slightly above average, but definitely not amazing as before.
But the beef brisket was downright disappointing.
It came in a plastic container with a lot of condensation inside, almost as if it was heated up in a microwave just before it was sent out for delivery. The portion size was also small for the price, especially when compared to the other two dishes. Hard pass on the brisket.
We had opened the Amarone earlier to let it breathe for a while, and the scent was very nice. It smelled rich, lush and flavourful and we had high hopes as we took our first sips.
But today was not our day, because it tasted only… meh. Not a bad glass of red wine by any measure, but nothing fantastic either. It did go quite well with all the meat though, so that was its saving grace.
We don’t usually drink Amarones but had an amazing bottle many many years ago that a friend snuck out from his father-in-law’s wine fridge. So, when we bought this bottle (not the same vineyard) we had high hopes that it would at least come close.
Unfortunately, it didn’t. But it won’t stop me from trying another Amarone in the future though.
All-in-all, we had a nice dinner with a decent bottle of wine. Definitely not the same experience as a restaurant night out with friends, but we were grateful to still be able to enjoy small luxuries during these difficult times.
