“Where can you find the cheapest crabs in Singapore?”

Irvin’s Seafood Cze Char at River Valley road is probably the place to go. Most of the crabs on the menu – like black pepper crab, chilli crab, butter crab – are available for just $19.9. There’s a catch of course. The crabs are much smaller, around 500g each.

Personally, I thought that it was a good tactic to attract customers. But taste-wise, the crabs that we had were nothing special. Irvin’s Seafood is only worth a try if you a) are on a budget b) want to try a variety of crabs.

The sauce of the Chilli Crab ($19.9 for 500g/$29.9 for 800g/$39.9 for 1kg) was a little too starchy and there was a rather strong vinegar taste to it.

The Salted Egg Yolk Crab ($23.9 for 500g/$33.9 for 800g/$42 for 1kg) was supposed to be Irvin’s seafood signature crab. But again, we didn’t really enjoy it as we felt that the sauce was too buttery and lacked the fragrance of the salted egg yolk.

The Shrimp Paste Chicken ($12.8 for small) was just fine – I mean, deep-fried food always taste good. It’s slightly pricier than normal cze char places, though.

Hot plate black pepper deer meat ($18.8)

Perhaps Irvin’s was having a slightly bad day. Perhaps the crabs were cooked exactly as they were supposed to, and it was because we didn’t know how to appreciate them.

Would I go back to Irvin’s Seafood restaurant again? I don’t think so. While the prices of the crabs are fairly attractive, we didn’t really like them. If I were in the River Valley area, I’d probably head to Spize, Five Star Chicken Rice or Boon Tong Kee for supper.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Irvin’s Seafood Restaurant
397 River Valley Road
Tel: +65 6836 5020
Daily: 11am – 1am

The new Sentosa Boardwalk is a great way to travel to Sentosa on foot. Featuring tropical landscapes, the garden-themed boardwalk has a stunning view of the bay as you take a leisure stroll from VivoCity Shopping Mall’s waterfront promenade, made easy by two-way canopy-covered travellators.

From 9th to 26th Jun 2011, Sentosa Boardwalk has a Crab and Durian Buffet for $38++/pax. I think that this is a value-for-money buffet, especially so if you like crabs and durian.

The Ultimate Crab and Durian Buffet at Sentosa Boardwalk has more than 40 items available, and the crab dishes highlights include: Salted Egg Yolk Crab, Nonya Curry Crab, Wok-Fried Chili Sri Lanka Crab, Black Pepper Sri Lankan Crab, Masala Mud Crab, and Ginger Scallion Flower Crab.

The durian highlights are Durian Pengat, Durian Cheesecake, Durian Mousse, and ‘Live’ Durians. Besides crabs and durians, there are also other dishes such as Fresh Oysters, Sashimi and Sushi, Poached Tiger Prawns, Slippery Lobsters, Shrimp Paste Chicken, Roast Beef Rump, Whole Bake Salmon and more.

At a media tasting last week, they served us some of the dishes (actual plating will be buffet style): chilli crab, pepper crab, salted egg yolk crab, roast beef rump and durian desserts.

Whilst the salted egg yolk crab was not exactly warm, I thought that the taste was competent. The others preferred the (extremely) spicy wok-fried chilli crab and black pepper crab. Given that the crab buffet is only $38++/pax, I’d think that it is worth trying even though the crabs chosen were slightly smaller.

This is an all-you-can-eat-buffet. You know what this means? You can feast all you want, and blame it on me for introducing you this Sentosa for arranging the crab & durian buffet.

For reservations, please call 6279 1767 or email to carla_cardona@sentosa.com.sg.

// Latest update: The Ultimate Crab & Durian Buffet is fully booked, you can still try your luck by calling and see if there are any last minute cancellations.

Sentosa Boardwalk Crab and Durian Buffet
Date: 9 – 26 Jun 2011
Time: 6pm – 11pm
Venue: The Promontory, Sentosa Boardwalk
Prices: $38++ per adult; $21++ per child (5 – 11 years old)
(price excludes drinks)
Note: This was a media tasting.

Keng Eng Kee Seafood restaurant at Alexandra Village used to be my family’s favourite Cze Char place. It has been a while since our last visit here so we decided to drop by for dinner last week.

Besides the good food, some of the regulars probably go to Keng Eng Kee Seafood because the Zi Char Stall has an air-conditioned dining area just opposite the coffee shop.

It was a tough call between the Chilli Crab and Salted Egg Yolk Crab, but eventually we went for the latter as it was apparently a signature dish of Keng Eng Kee restaurant.

The sauce of the Salted Egg Yolk Crab ($39/kg) was very thick, and had a subtle spicy taste. I probably had better salted egg yolk crabs elsewhere before, but this was pretty decent.

We wanted to have Hot Plate Beancurd but it was not available on Keng Eng Kee’s menu. But it was not so bad since the Claypot Beancurd was a good replacement.

The Sambal Kangkong was well done. It was spicy but not to the extent of being tongue-numbing. The small portion comes at $6.

I was quite disappointed that Sweet and Sour Pork is also not available under the Pork section. But there are interesting options like Golden Pork Ribs, Coffee Pork Ribs and Claypot Pork Liver to choose from. We were intriguied by the Claypot Pork Liver as not many cze char restaurants serve it.

Just look at all the oil used to cook the liver! The Claypot Pork Liver ($8) is definitely not for the faint-hearted. But it sure was tasty.

Prawn Paste Chicken is a very popular zi char dish and there are different variations for it. I’ve had very good Har Cheong Kai before, so I was actually looking forward to the ones at Keng Eng Kee. Unfortunately, the Har Cheong Kai ($8) here was quite disappointing: the chicken was very small, and I felt that the shrimp paste marination was rather weak. I’d probably go for the Crispy Roasted Chicken or the Marmite Chicken next time.

I was quite impressed with the waiting time at Keng Eng Kee Seafood. The Cze Char restaurant was almost packed when we were there for dinner, yet they managed to serve most of the dishes within 10 minutes.

The food at Keng Eng Kee Seafood was pretty good and it was a bonus that everything came quickly. Prices are what you’d expect from a typical zhi char place, but the portions served were slightly smaller.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Keng Eng Kee Seafood
Blk 124 Bukit Merah Lane 1
#01-136 Alexandra Village Singapore
Tel: +65 6272 1038

Operating Hours:
Daily: 11.30am – 2pm, 5pm – 11pm

Reading Food Blogs and watching food shows are among my favorite pastimes. Food blogs with delicious photos and intriguing words have the ability to suck me in for hours, while food shows are somewhat more direct – they make me hungry instantly. I’m sure many of you are currently hooked to Sizzling Woks, the popular food show on the best zhi char eating places in Singapore.

I’m not surprised because I get many requests to blog more about cheap and good Zhi Char in Singapore all the time. Today, I will like to share about one of the Zhi Char restaurants in Singapore that my family always go to: B.K Fortune Seafood Steamboat restaurant. They are located just a few steps away from Bar Bar Black Sheep along Bukit Timah road (towards King Albert Park direction after Sixth Avenue).

Unlike some Zi Char Stalls in neighbourhood coffee shops that charged $40/kg for crabs (prices that are comparable to Seafood restaurants), the ones at B.K Fortune Seafood restaurant are only $30/kg and we paid $56 for two huge Salted Egg Yolk Crabs.

Crabs do not really appeal to lazy people like me. It’s a dish that requires a lot of effort, but offers very little return (in terms of meat) – so you can understand why I don’t really like crabs. But when we eat out at Seafood restaurants in Singapore, I will always go for either the famous Singapore Chilli crab, or the Salted Egg Yolk Crab. And if there’s one thing you should know, Fortune Seafood Restaurant’s Salted Egg yolk Crabs are gorgeous! I’m not going into details about how they taste like, but believe me – they are fingers-licking good!

This isn’t a very pretty photo, but Fortune Seafood’s signature Assam Curry Fish Head ($15) is a must-order dish. The flavours hit you in different waves, first the spicy-and-sourish assam gravy, second the smooth and fresh taste of the fish head – I love it! The assam gravy was so good that I filled my bowl of rice with it.

Amongst the other dishes that we had at Fortune Seafood Steamboat Restaurant, the Sweet & Sour Pork ($10) was exceptionally ordinary – there was too much fatty meat and it didn’t have the right bite.

When eating at Zi Char restaurants, we would usually order the crowd-favorite Hot Plate tofu. But this time round, we decided to throw caution out of the window and went for their Mango Sauce Fried Tofu ($8). It was a disaster. The sauce accompanying the tofu was done the Thai-mango-salad way, but the whole dish was just deep fried tofu (bland and slightly dry) with the dressing. Give me hot plate tofu any day please.

If you have difficulty finding the place, they are located directly opposite the old turf city. Otherwise, look out for the former premises of Brewerkz. Now, it’s your turn to share with me a good zhi char stall in Singapore.

// The name of the restaurant is Forture Seafood Restaurant with a ‘R’, but it seems that there is a common spelling mistake online where everyone calls it Fortune Seafood.

Singapore Food Restaurant Review
B.K Fortune Seafood Restaurant
887 Bukit Timah Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6469 5957
Opening hours: 11am – 2.30pm
Dinner: 5pm – 11.30pm Daily

Hurray! May is finally here! I don’t care what others say, but May is my favorite month! It always kicks off with a bang (with a public holiday no less), and ends off with a big celebration. And incidentally, May also happens to be my mom’s name. April has come and gone in a flash, but I have always known her as the month of Chili Crab.

Every year this time, my family will be on the hunt for the best chili crab in Singapore, and we have the perfect excuse for it. My mom’s birthday falls in April, and her favorite dish is Singapore’s famous chili crab. Naturally, we are always on the lookout for places that serve good chili crabs.

Although the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind when you mention Chinese Seafood restaurants are at East Coast Park, we ended up at Red House Seafood at Robertson Quay instead because of its proximity to where we were. The Chinese seafood restaurant located further down from the Alkaff Bridge at Robertson Quay, away from the main stretch of restaurants, just beside Boomarang Bistro.

If there is a must eat dish in Singapore, it will definitely be Chili crab. For those who are not particularly keen on the sweet-spicy rendition, we have other fabulous creations like black pepper, white pepper, curry sauce, doubled baked cheese on the menus of the various Seafood restaurants in Singapore.

Besides my favorite Chili crab, I’ve been a fan of Salted Egg Crab for a while now. Unfortunately, Red House Seafood does not have that on the menu, so we opted for the Wok-fried with fresh herbs & fragrant Butter Crab ($4 per 100g) instead.

Even though I was quick in taking photos, the Sambal Kangkong ($10) wasn’t hot and lacked the wok-hei taste. On the other hand, the Fried Baby Squid was crunchy, and juicy, and addictive – it’s seriously better than potato chips.

The saving grace was the famous Red House’s Chili Crab ($4 per 100g).

With the thick, and sweet chili gravy around, nothing else seems to matter. I dipped the deep-fried mantou, fried baby squid, crispy roasted chicken, and even the butter crab into the chili gravy. Sense of accomplishment is when I had two big crab pincers and three bowls of chili gravy to myself.

Let me drown in the goodness of the chili gravy!

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I can’t help but feel that Red House Seafood at the Quayside caters more for the tourist crowd. Service was lack-luster, and the waitstaff seemed to be more attentive towards our foreign friends. And they charged for ice water too!

To be fair, the chili crab was very good and they are located in a central location. But if you ask me, I’d probably check out the Red House at East Coast Park or other Chinese Seafood restaurants when I’m craving for chili crabs next time.

For the Red House Seafood supporters out there, are there any differences in the quality of food and service between the East Coast main outlet and the Robertson Quay one? Which dishes do you usually order? And for the rest of you, tell me which is your favorite Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Singapore.

Restaurant Review
Red House Seafood Restaurant (Quay Side)
60 Robertson Quay
#01-13 The Quayside
Tel: +65 6735 7666

* The Palm Beach Seafood Giveaway is now closed. The winners are Daniel (29), Chloe (18), HahazZ (57), Vivian (37). Thank you for participating, better luck next time! *

“My all time favorite is chili crab with deep-fried mantou, what’s yours?” I asked on twitter.

Everyone replied enthusiastically, the popular choices are pepper crab, chili crab, crab bee hoon, salted egg yoke crab and butter crab. Even though I just had chili crab and double baked cheese crab at Palm Beach Seafood recently, I find myself craving for  the thick, sweet-and-spicy gravy of the chili crab, with deep fried mantou of course.

While we are at the topic of crab, I realize people like to debate on which restaurant has the best crab in Singapore. Like what I always say: whichever place you like – has the best crab!

HOW TO ENTER THE PALM BEACH SEAFOOD CRAB GIVEAWAY

I totally understand how it feels to be on your end, looking at all the photos and yet cannot get to taste the food; so I’m happy to announce that Palm Beach Seafood has kindly agreed to giveaway $50 vouchers (no minimum spending required) to 4 lucky readers. If you want a chance to win, here is what to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post

Tell us what’s your favorite crab and why. I’m asking for your favorite style of cooking for the crab, it does not have to be from a particular restaurant. Just tell me what style do you like, and if you happen to like an exotic way of cooking crabs which can be anything for example, Double Baked Cheese Crab, let us know! (***updated***)

And ONE entry per person, you are encouraged to get your friends to join the contest but please play fair and do not post multiple comments under different names.

2. Use a valid & contactable email

Please use a valid & contactable email when you post the comment. I will email the winners shortly after the contest ended, remember to check your email on Monday.

3. And the Four lucky Winners . . .

The four lucky winners will be decided by a highly sophisticated method, and I reserve the right to re-pick if there’s any discrepancy or foul-play involved. I know there are folks from the States, Malaysia, Australia, and other countries reading my blog, but unfortunately this contest is only open to those currently residing in Singapore. But all of you are welcome to share your thoughts too!

The closing date for this giveaway is Sunday 28th of Feb 2359 hrs, and so you have exactly forty eight hours before it ends.

I hope you enjoy the little gift I have for everyone!

Remember my suggestion to have Seafood for your Chinese New Year dinner?

Since there’s still a few more days before Chinese New Year ends, if you are still looking for a restaurant to toss Yu Sheng, Palm Beach Seafood restaurant at One Fullerton might just be the place. Instead of the typical salmon yusheng, we had the Alaskan King Crab Yu Sheng (S$58 or S$88).

My weekdays, by and large, are similar to the weekends of most people. I had a fabulous dinner on Monday night, attended my friend’s big night on Tuesday, and now we have a seafood feast on Wednesday. It’s probably going to be Japanese cuisine tomorrow, and Russian food on Friday. Okay, I am muttering to myself.

Anyway, a seafood feast sounds pretty good right? Chili crabs, sashimi, lobster, seafood platter. Have I got your attention? Good. Make yourself comfortable.

Lets try again: air-flown Hokkaido scallop, huge gleaming oysters, live poached prawns, fresh salmon sashimi, and the gigantic bamboo clam. That’s better. I could vaguely recall the oysters that I had, unprocessed and fresh. A wedge of lemon is all you need for the perfect oyster.

I don’t know about you, but I’d definitely order the Seafood Deluxe Combination ($23.00 per person) with a selection of five seafood items.

I don’t know if there’s anything special about Palm Beach’s signature Chili Crab ($4.50 per 100g), but I absolutely love it! My feelings for the Singapore famous dish very much depends on two things: a) thick and spicy-sweet chili gravy, and b) deep fried mantou.

The pincers were long gone by the time I was done with the deep fried buns. It’s easy to choose between crabs and mantou (with gravy) – I’d go for the latter anytime.

The award winning Double Baked Cheese Crab ($4.50 per 100g) reminded me of the baked cheese lobster that I’ve before, with its strong cheesy taste. Baked parmesan cheese and crab? Sounds like a winner! If you do not want to get your hands dirty, ask for help from the staff. Catherine got her crab de-shell the easy way.

I first had lobsters when I was a very young boy. Back then, I had no idea how much a lobster was worth. To me, it looked like a GIANT prawn. But what mattered then, was that it tasted good. As I grew up, I realized that lobsters are very expensive seafood, and they can be prepared in many different ways; baked, steamed, fried, sashimi, salad – whichever ways it pleases your palates.

The one that we had was very different from the ones I’ve before. Usually I’d go for either baked or salad lobsters, but we couldn’t miss out on Palm Beach’s awarding winning Coco Lobo – Australian Lobster with Vermicelli in Superior Stock ($16.80 per 100g). It came piping hot in individual claypot, with the lobster meat and vermicelli absorbing the essence of the flavorful stock.

Sweet and tangy, intense yet refreshing. It’s also not too spicy. The Honey Tangy Marble Goby ($7.50 per 100g) is fried till golden-brown: crispy and soft and appetizing, drizzled with just enough of the terrific sauce. Ju had the blissful look after she finished the dish – it was awesome!

* * *

This is the third part of a series that I’m doing on the waterfront restaurants in One Fullerton. I’ll like to thank Fullerton Heritage, Karin of Palm Beach Seafood and Gail for arranging and hosting this dinner.

From what we observed, most Singaporeans seem to dine in the comfort of the air-condition, while the tourists prefer the al fresco area with the waterfront view. Will you dine indoors or outside at the al fresco area?

Restaurant Review
Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant
1 Fullerton Road
#01-09 One Fullerton
Tel: +65 6227 2332

The most amazing thing about having a food blog, is knowing the other food bloggers. Besides the food blogs in Singapore, I got to meet up with the KL food bloggers during my trip up north last year, and when I went for a holiday in Australia during December, the good Sydney food bloggers hosted and brought me around for the best food in Sydney.

When Howard & Linda (eatshow&tell) told me that they were stopping-over in Singapore for a few hours before flying to Hong Kong, I knew that I had to bring them to have our famous Chili Crab.

It’s a tough decision trying to choose a place, since there’s so many restaurants claiming to serve the best chili crab in Singapore. I finally decided on No SignBoard restaurant because it has always been one of my family’s favorite place for crabs. As there were 6 of us, the staff advised that we probably need two crabs, so our second choice was the Salted Egg Yolk crab ($40 per kg). It was an irony since No SignBoard is famous for their white pepper crabs in Singapore, but I’m not a fan of pepper. Besides, I know I want the salted egg yolk, and I wanted it immediately. You know, like now!

Drop-dead gorgeous.

Look at that, the golden cluster of the salted egg yolk! I licked off the salted egg yolk coat on the crab pincers, and it simply disintegrated. The sauce reminded me of the salted egg yolk in custard buns, both equally as good but this one was slightly saltier, and very fragrant.

Hand over your passports, nobody leaves Singapore without trying Chili crab.

Photogenic it is not, but in the mouth, one struggles for words, and everything is forgiven. There’s different renditions of Chili crabs, with each claiming to be better than the other; so how do you actually define what’s a good Chili Crab? I like it slightly sweet, and spicy. I like to dip my beloved deep-fried mantou into the thick and awesome gravy, pour a whole bowl of it onto the white rice and finish everything.

Six deep-fried Mantou please, no wait, make it twelve. Okay, give us another six more. Oh those incredibly delicious, tiny devils.

Coming from a poor chili eater, I find the Sambal Kangkong extremely spicy. Herein lies the question: do we like sambal kangkong because it is hot, or do we like it hot so we like sambal kangkong?

Anyway, I like my sambal kangkong to be hot even though I can’t take chili very well. And the one here, is damn hot.

I’m not sure about you, but it seems to me that people always order Cereal prawns not so much because of the prawns, but rather they like the crispy cereals. I’m not going to talk about the niffy gritty part on how to peel a prawn, forget every single thing that I’ve said – just swallow the whole prawn.

Without a doubt, Chili Crab is the face and ambassador of the Singapore food scene, and No Signboard has the best chili crab in Singapore – because I like them. And no, we are not going to start the controversial debate on ‘where is the best chili crab in Singapore’. Whichever crab you like, is the best crab.

If you have hang around for long enough, you’d know that I’m not a big fan of steamboat, so it’s always an once-a-year thing for Chinese New Year reunion dinner. Most reputable fine-dining Chinese restaurants are probably fully booked by now; so instead of having steamboat, how about Seafood for Chinese New Year? Sounds like a plan to me.

Restaurant Review
No Signboard Seafood
414 Geylang Road
Tel: +65 6842 3415
Daily 12pm – 1am

I’m a very lazy person. And crabs are usually the last thing on my agenda when we have seafood. I prefer to have stuff like lobsters, fish, that do not require any shelling.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t any lobsters available at this air-condition zichar place; they are famous for their crabs, you see, every table around us were eating crabs, done in different style. It almost felt like a crab buffet. Usually I’ll definitely go for chilli crabs so that I could dip the mantou in the chilli gravy, but this time we’ve the pepper and salted egg yoke version instead.

Spending time to break the shells, and slowly suck out all the meat from the legs, that’s definitely not me. I’ll attacked the big pincers which got lots of meat.

Excellent! Another dish which does not requires me to use my hands.

I’m a Babitarian!

I love, love pork. Especially the fatty ones. They tasted oh so good! And I sandwiched the meat with my fried mantou to make it like a kong-ba bao. My brain was telling me:

Stop! Look at all those fats, you’ll need to run for hours to burn them off.

The melt-in-the-mouth sensation was simply irresistible. And with approval from my heart:

Go on, have one. Just one bite..

And I finished the whole plate!

Thick and tangy, with strands of crab-meat and tofu. It’s always a comfort to drink soups.

* * *

It’s no wonder that everybody is ordering their crabs in so many style, it’s only RM40 per kg! No offense to our neighbours in Malaysia, but with the current favourable exchange rate (to us), everything was so cheap. My last post on the KL feast will be the most memorable place for this trip, do drop by tomorrow!

Restoran Tak Fok
23 Jalan Puteri 2/5, Bandar Puteri
Puchong 47100 Selangor
Tel: 03-8060 6994

This is the third part of the four series for my KL feast
Read the first part: I ate, and ate and ate some more here.
& the second part: Taste that stays here.

Somehow the name langkawi remains me of kawaii, not that they have anything in common. It is with the same cheerful tone that we stepped ashore at the beautiful island; you can’t be too upset when the scenery around is so magnificent.

There ought to be a bug inside my stomach. If not how do we explain the fact that it is constantly growling? The never-ending-of-food going down to it.

Among the seven sins of Mankind, gluttony must surely be my greatest peccadillo. Dear whoever-it-may-concern (since I don’t believe in God), I have sinned. I’m a glutton, I eat too much and I’m constantly harbouring secret thoughts of eating even more. I think of lunch when I just started breakfast, and lust after dinner when I’m with lunch. I also missed supper when I goes out with dinner.

I envisage a life living in the kelong, just the two of us, away from this world. Waking up beside you every morning, to see the beautiful sun-rise, you look fabulous like the morning dew. We sat there locking into each others eyes, wishing this moment would hold still.

We would walk down the pristine white beach against the backdrop of Tiffany blue, hands in hands, with the tiny sands slipping through our toes. The ocean breeze blows your long silky tresses afloat. We watched the amazing sunset on this exact spot, and we repeat it, everyday, until the end of the end.

And how can we come to Langkawi without having seafood? It’s like going to Beijing without climbing the Great World of China. And we feasted. The seafood was so good, and unbelievably dirt-cheap!

My initial plan was to get salted-egg prawns since I had good memories of anything-cook-in-salted-egg. But it was foiled as the restaurant mysteriously did not have that dish even though it was stated perfectly clear on the menu. Nonetheless, the sambal prawn (RM16 for 200g) was a worthy substitute, and for once I actually thought that it wasn’t spicy enough!

I know it must be boring to see my cze-char posts since we always had the same dishes. But we love sambal kangkong (RM8), and here it is!

I love, love chilli crab (RM45 for 1kg). And my affection isn’t for the crustacean creatures; the chilli gravy was the one I’m after. Thick, spicy with a hint of sweetness, eggy chilli gravy, it was so, so good. I dipped the mantou in it, I poured it over the white rice, I had it with all the food that’s on the table.

Sweet and sour pork was supposed to be in this frame, but since I was the only one who was interested in that, the Thai-sauce chicken (RM10) made the appearance instead. And it was good! The fried chicken was drenched in sweet and slightly spicy; the Thai-influence sauce was very refreshing!

And since everything was so bloody cheap here, we had a snapper (RM45). Steamed Teochew style, the fish was very fresh and sweet, but it was a little too bland; I dipped it into the chilli gravy and finished every bit of it!

I bided you farewell here, send me no further, for I will not be able to let go. I know we will meet each other, one day.

* * *

Read the other stories of The City Kid here.

Black pepper Sri lanka crab

Ginger Scallion flower crab

Fragrant Thai sauce crab

Nonya curry crab

Stir-fried slipper lobster in black bean sauce

Chili crab with deep-fried mantou

Oh man, She’s grabbing all the good stuff; the big pincers, the meatier crab legs, all gone! Everybody behind the woman, stared at her as she made away with the “goods”.

With the crab tong in hand, it was used to hammer the shell. The fellow diners on the same table immediately dispersed, “watch it! The crab gravy is flying everywhere!”

The lady eyed the seafood section, carefully choosing the biggest white fresh oysters on the bed of ice. She proceeded on to squeeze lemon wedges onto each of them, not wasting a single drop. Taking a fork, she slurped down five oysters, in one shot.

Wash your hands clean and crab-free in the lemon water, we are going for the second round!

The team of eight sat down at the table to discuss their plans, like true elite commando fashion; they attacked the crabs in the precise and deadly manner that they were known for.

“Mommy, I want that slice of very delicious-looking, oreo cheesecake!” The small girl told her mother, even though their stomachs are bursting from all the crabs.

* * *

(1) The commentaries were some of the conversation that I’ve overheard, and observed during the buffet, and I thought it would be interesting to write about this.

(2) I don’t like to eat crabs; I’m too lazy to dirty my hands shelling the crustaceans. And if I do, the chili crab will be my favourite; I love the thick, spicy chili gravy. And there’s the best company in the form of the deep fried mantou; I always poked a hole in the middle of the fried bun and poured lots of gravy inside. Then the soaking of the whole bun within the goodness of the gravy, they are oh, so-good! And I kept a bowl of chili gravy filled throughout the buffet, dipping everything in it.

(3) The crab buffet at Ellenborough market cafe is only available for dinner at $46++ per head, and will last for two weeks, starting from the 25th June. Singaporeans, love (read: love), their crabs, I went during the first day of the promotion and it was full house, on a weekday dinner! So if you are heading down, please remember to make reservations in advance. And my appreciation to Sok Hoon, the marketing communication manger for the invitation to the food tasting session.

(4) Just some more information about the buffet: There’s chefs-on-the-spot cooking crab risotto, frying mee goreng, and wrapping crab popiahs, the seafood area which has sashimi, prawns and seafood, the usual western/Asian cuisine selections, the omnipresent chocolate fondue, with a pretty decent choices of desserts ranging from cheesecake, to shooters, and their famous Durian Pengat. And I love having some Chinese desserts like tou suan with you tiao too!

Read my fellow floggers post on the crab extravaganza:
Camemberu here
& Aromacookery here

Ellenborough market cafe
20 Merchant road
GF Swissotel Merchant court
Tel: 6239 1847

The official term is potluck, some called it an outing. You can also see it as a pre-xmas celebration. Whatever, it is just a bloody excuse for the dessert enthusiast to get together, have fun and eat! Everybody brought something along, for those experts in baking, a chance to showcase their amazing skills, while the rest of us brought it from elsewhere.

Macarons, the speciality of Evan. She made hazelnut praline, rose, and pistachio flavours this time round. You might be think that i’m biased, but her macarons are one the best i tried so far. And we got some of the strictest dessert authorities who tasted them. Her macarons are available for sale on her site, do order some and give it a try!

Well, i tried rose flavour macarons from Canéle before, and i must say i wasn’t too impress with the rather artificial rose flavouring. While Canéle’s one was subtle in flavour, Evan’s rendition was fulsome in rose flavour. The shell was crispy, not the brittle type. The innard cream fillings were moist and light, and the aroma of the rose spread through, and was contagious like happiness.

Bright green in colour, the pistachio macaron was easy to spot among the desserts. I ain’t a big fan of pistachio, but this one was good enough, with the use of pistachio and almond. Personally, I felt that the almond taste was a tad strong though, and sort of covered the pistachio nut.

The hazelnut praline macaron, was clearly the best among the three. Everybody love hazelnut, who doesn’t like nutella? The strong hazelnut flavour was very nice, with the shells chewy and the whole taste simply blew me away. Everybody had one, while i couldn’t help myself and secretly took two! And do you believe this is actually Evan’s first time trying out with hazelnut for her macaron?

Next up, Vicki’s Swedish cinnamon rolls. Warmed up in the oven, sprinkled with icing sugar, the pretty cinnamon roll wasn’t as soft as i thought, but i enjoyed eating them round and round. Only the mountain of desserts behind stopped me from taking second helpings.

If we were to give out the best actress award for the event, it’ll definitely be the marshmallows. Her sweet looks deceived us completely, as she didn’t turn out to be as sweet as we thought it would. And that’s a good thing, most marshmallows are usually too sweet, but this one was just nice, and there was the hint of peppermint within. Another of Vicki’s creation. Her first time.

The Macha sponge cake ($20) was brought from Minamoto Kitchoan in the basement of Takashimaya. Some felt that the macha flavour wasn’t strong enough, and the sponge cake tasted more like our Chinese Fa kueh. Quite a disappointment actually.

There was rum, and there was nutmeg. The eggnog cheesecake was all about the liquor, and a hint of cinnamon. With the decoration of the pretty strawberries, the cheesecake was simple, and pretty enough. But i ain’t a big fan of liquor desserts, so this one didn’t make it for me. While others thought the liquor level was still acceptable and enjoyed it. Brought to you by caicancook.

Being the novice baker i am, it’ll be very embarrassing to bring my amateur bakes along for potluck. Therefore, i shared the Goodwood Park Hotel traditional Christmas chocolate log cake ($53 before 15% discount) with Fen.

How can Christmas be without the iconic log cakes? Goodwood Park’s one was very chocolatey, with rich layers of chocolate mousse, in between the home-made chocolate sponge. I haven’t had a proper log cakes for years, and to share it with friends who appreciate desserts, it was even more significant.

I wasn’t sure what the cake was initially. With some explanation from Sinny, who made the dessert. I googled the term, and here’s what i got. The bundt cake identity attributed from its ringed shape, it is pronounced “bunt” with the ‘d’ being silent. And guess what again? This was Sinny’s first time making this cake. The bakers were all like, “oh this was my first time making this and that“, when all of us were enjoying their desserts thoroughly!

We ended off our meal with some awesome pepper crabs by Claire’s father. There was also chicken wings, prawn rolls too! What are you thinking? We didn’t just ate desserts for the whole day!

Claire’s dog come out to play

Our first-ever potluck outing was a blast, and i believed everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We spent like two hours taking photos of the food, and there was laughter the whole day. Thanks claire for hosting us at her house, and there’s definitely gonna be more potluck outings in the future!

Check out the rest of the dessert enthusiast entries:
Fen @ sgcake.com
Evan @ bossacafez
Sinny @ Fundamentally-flawed
Vicki @ herlittleblackdress

Until our next dessert enthusiast outing then! Happy Christmas everybody!

What determine whether a dish is good? There are several factors, the freshness of the ingredients itself, the skill of the chef, and of course the sauces that are used in cooking the food. Sauces are vital to the overall taste of the dish, in simple terms, they helped to “colour up” and enhanced the food.

What will you say if chili crabs are served without the thick and spicy gravy sauce, or how about your burger without any mayo sauce? These are some simple examples, but i’m sure you got the idea. Village Wok Restaurant is a showroom for The Village Wok sauce room. Their core business is actually being a sauce distributor, and the restaurant itself is the place for their customers to sample the sauces.

Village Wok restaurant is located at Far East Square, Telok Ayer Street. I had the chance for a food tasting session there organised by Yebber, courtesy of Village Wok’s owner Miss Dawn. A table of 10, consisting of long-time yebbers and some new faces join us for this meal. The Central Business District (CBD) is virtually a ghost town on weekends, and when we went for lunch during a Sunday, there wasn’t anybody around, and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

Although the restaurant isn’t their main business, that doesn’t mean that the food there isn’t good, in fact it has to be good so that their customers get to taste their excellent sauce with the good food. The food at Village Wok has a large part to do with their sauces, so i thought it will be appropriate to introduce some of the sauces that we had.

I sweared by their sweet and spicy chili dip (top picture), like the name implies, the sauce is spicy with a hint of semi-sweet, excellent to go along with finger food like chicken wings and fries. There’s also the chili dip (right) which can be use for all kinds of dishes, but go especially well with chicken rice.

Popiah DIY $20++/set

We started off our meal having some hands-on experience with the popiah DIY set. Now there isn’t much places which actually allow their customers to do-it-yourself (DIY) with popiah, and i have to admit the process’s very much fun and all of us enjoyed “playing” with the popiah. From what i understand, each popiah set can serve 6 people, personally i felt that the price was rather steep but for the experience of doing our own popiah, its rather worth it.

The restaurant prepared the ingredients like shrimp, lettuces, cucumbers, and the turnips (bangkuang), the popiah skin, and the sauces needed for the popiah.

Everything was done in an orderly manner, you’ll just need to put all the sauces, and ingredients onto the popiah skin.

Our fellow Yebber busy wrapping her popiah.

And there we have it, our very own DIY popiah. Please don’t be deceived by the ugly appearance of the popiah, i guess our popiah-making skills aren’t up to the mark yet, some of us managed to do the popiah quite decently, while some were out of shape and doesn’t resemble  a popiah at all. Nevertheless, the popiah fillings were fresh, and the sauces used greatly enhanced the flavor of the popiah, not to mention that it’s made from our very own hands.

Chilled crab with special vinegrette sauce ($30++ per crab)

The chilled crab on its own was fresh, but eaten with Village Wok’s special vinegrette sauce it did really compliment the meat very well. Their vinegrette sauce was made from top grade vinegrette with their special recipe of course, and it taste slightly sweeter than your normal sourish vinegrette. Having said that, i’m neither a fan of crab nor vinegrette.

Fried Brinjal with crispy squid in BXO sauce ($15)

Unfortunately, the next dish wasn’t my favorite neither, i also didn’t like bringal. But for food tasting sake, i gave the fried bringal a try and to my surprise it doesn’t taste as bad as i had expected bringal to be. The purple vegetable was fried with crispy squid using their special BXO sauce, and it wasn’t as brinjal-ish as i thought. The crispy squid added some extra crunch to the dish, but overall it wasn’t to my personal liking.

The Phoenix soars ($21++)

Very nice name indeed, the phoenix soar is quintessentially roast and white boneless chicken. Both chicken tasted as nice, so we were having a debate as to which one was nicer. Some preferred the roasted chicken, while some found the white chicken tastier.

The yin-yang chicken came with lettuces wrap, together with some cucumbers, tomatoes provided it with some healthy touch. And of course chilli and garlic sauce, this made an excellent dish which we couldn’t get enough of, the chicken was gone in a flash.

Black pepper ham leg ($23++)

The black pepper ham leg or pig trotters was really one dish that lingered in my mind even after the meal. Usually I didn’t really fancy eating pig trotters because of the thick layer of fatty meat, but this one was exceptionally good. Under the skin was a layer of fats, the meat below was lean to eat. And it came with Village Wok’s black pepper sauce.

For those health conscious eaters, simply remove the layer of fats below the skin. We lamented the fact that we took too long taking photos of this, which resulted in the crispy skin being a tad soft when we started eating.

Village Wok Celebration Parade ($22++)

A combination of Village Wok mustard roast pork and BBQ pork char siew. Again we couldn’t agree on whether the roast pork or the char siew was better. The char siew was tender, juicy and fulsome with the BBQ sauce. Another thing to note, Village Wok didn’t use any colouring, so the char siew here wasn’t red in colour which was evident in the usual ones.

But I always favoured roast pork over the char siew counterpart, the mustard roast pork did not disappoint, crispy layer with really tender meat. The portion of fats to meat was well balanced, not too fatty and not too lean.The roast pork, or sio bak, was really one to die for.

Steamed Pating fish with preserved vegetables ($44++)

I always had the belief that fresh water reared fish won’t be as nice and fresh as seawater fish, but the pating fish here proved that there’s always an exception to everything. According to Miss Dawn, Village Wok actually had their own fish farm to rear the fishes, so freshness was definitely guaranteed.

They used preserved vegetables, or chye poh to steam the fish. It wasn’t came out to be as salty as i had expected because they had specially soaked the chye poh in water to reduce the saltiness of the preserved vegetables. Nevertheless, i preferred my fish to steam with either salted soy bean, salted vegetables, or light sauce.

Smiling fortune noodle ($8++)

The smiling fortune noodle was Village Wok’s rendition of prawn noodles. Tangy noodles harmonised with delectable fresh prawn essence, topped with big fresh prawns. The stock base was no doubt tasty, but too salty for our liking. There was a rush for water after finishing the noodle.

Home-made Nonya Kaya with bread

We had a plesant surprise when they served bread with nonya kaya for our first dessert. The Nonya kaya was home-made from Miss Dawn’s grandmother recipe.The kaya was made without any flour, and was very eggy in taste. I liked it, but i did find the kaya flavor a tad strong, nonetheless we generously spread our thin slice of bread with super thick layer of kaya!

Black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream ($4.50)

I did not find the glutinous rice with coconut ice cream that special since i didn’t really like black glutinous rice. But the rest unanimously agreed that this was the must-have dessert.

Lemongrass ice cream

The lemongrass ice cream was another mystery to me as i couldn’t figure out the flavor of the ice cream initially until somebody pointed out it was lemongrass. I guess its due to the fact that Thai cuisine isn’t really on my radar often, but like what the others mentioned, the lemongrass flavor was very evident, and if you like the scent of lemongrass, this will do it for you.

All in all, Village Wok Restaurant did a great job matching the food with their speciality sauce, there was a different sauce for every dish, and it complimented each other very well. Prices are generally slightly higher, but given the comparison with other Chinese restaurants, they are still considered within range.

I heard that they are very crowded during weekday lunch as the office working crowd like to frequent the place, so do make reservations in advance before going. Once again, i’ll like to thank Yebber, and Miss Dawn for the food tasting session.

Village Wok Restaurant
80 Telok Ayer Street
#01-01 Far East Square
Tel: 6743 9743
Disclaimer: This was an invited review

Seng Kee Black Herbal Chicken Soup is located just opposite Kembangan MRT station. I happened to chance upon this zi-char restaurant because my friends had cravings for their mee-sua.

So another venture into the east side of Singapore for LIC, as i stay in the west and the east is so far away. But there are simple too much good food in the area, so you will be seeing more food from the east in the future!

The zi-char store has all of its seat on the street, its rather cooling but when bad weather comes then it will be very difficult as i don’t think there are much shelter from rain.

The store has quite a few selections of fish available for customers to choose, and with the method of cooking the fish. But we didn’t have any fish because we ordered crab already.

Mee Sua ($3.50)

The rendition of Mee sua at Seng Kee comes in a stronger flavour than the normal ones, with ingredients like pig kidneys, mushroom in it. The mee sua is smooth and silky to the mouth.

We had 5 bowls for each of us, and i saw most tables ordering this dish and at $3.50 its definitely worth a try.

Egg Omelette ($8)

$8 for an egg omelette dish at a zi-char store might be a tad too expensive, if I’m not wrong egg dishes usually are about 6 bucks? Nevertheless, the egg omelette is quite good and we finish it very fast.

Crab Bee Hoon ($38)

The crab bee hoon is usually done in soup, but here at Seng Kee they do it “dry”. We were quite shocked at the size of the crab when it came because usually crabs at zi-char stores goes in the region of $30 for 1kg?

But the one that we had is $38, and the small crab that we had is definitely not 1kg. I felt ripped off as the price tag is certainly too expensive for the size of the crab.

The bee hoon is not bad though, as it absorbs all the essence of the crab and all the juicy wet part is at the bottom of the bee hoon.

Total bill including drinks for 5 person comes up to $76.80. At initial look, for a zi-char store and considering we had 5 person, its definitely not expensive. But, looking at the amount of food that we had, the crab bee hoon was definitely over-priced.

I’m not too sure about their other dishes as i have not tried them and it will not be fair to judge base on this experience. But their mee sua is worth a try, do give their crab bee hoon a miss.

Seng Kee Black Herbal Chicken Soup
467 Changi Road
Tel: 9001 4000

No Signboard Restaurant, chinese name is Wu Zhao Pai. I used to though it was Pepper-Brand (hu jiao pai) because my mom always pronouce it that way. Haha. Well well, when u think of No Signboard Restaurant (NSB), this is only one thing that straight away comes to your mind. Crabs! Naturally, their restaurant logo already told you that, the logo is a big crab.

Frequent No Signboard many times already, always go there for the crabs. My family prefer the white pepper crab over chilli, although sometimes we will have a combination, half pepper half chilli. What to say? Crabs are their speciality, not much place are their half in doing crabs. Although i am not a crab-lover, but their crab won me over.

Anyway, this is the first time to the Geylang branch, told the taxi driver and he did not know the place. Gosh, can you believe that? I mean its not like NSB is a normal restaurant, in fact its quite renown for their crabs in Singapore. So he took us one whole round before we found the place. Geylang branch is not air-con, by the roads of red-district (you-know-what), yet we went today on tue, its fully crowded. By 7pm every table is full, so prior reservations are recommended

The Must-have at NSB! White-pepper crab, their crabs are really one class above the rest, first bite into the meat of the crab, you can really tell the difference, the meat is firm and hard, not like those normal one u know? One Kg at NSB is $35, ours is abt 1.5kg coming at $50. Definitely better than Jumbo or any other place!

Lobster! I luuvve lobster! But then the lobster here is not so good, mayb its because its local breed lobster, not air-flown from Australia. Look, i am not a sucker for overseas stuff, but then the overseas lobster really do taste better than local one. Price of cos got difference, the local one is $7 per 100 gram. This lobster is abt 700g, costing abt $49. Hmm.. eat salad lobster two times a bit no feeling already, next time must try other type of lobster.

Sambal Kangkong ($6), one of the more popular vegetables commonly found in restaurants and zi-char place, the one here i find it a bit too dry, some place cook it too wet and some do it too dry.

Fried-chicken Wings ($6 for 4). Decent chicken wings, nothing to shout about.

Malay Mee Goreng ($7), Wanted to try this to compare with the one at Jumbo, but this one really lose to Jumbo two hands. Too dried, i prefer Mee Goreng wet wet one, nice! So pls try the one at Jumbo. Also, i wanted to order small $5 one, but i nv say anything and the waitress asume i want the medium one, end up having too much to finish. But still at $7 the serving is a lot bigger than the one at Jumbo although not as nice

After our meal, they provide everyone with dessert, free! haha. But its just have one logang. No Signboard restaurant definitely is one of the best restaurants in Singapore to have crab, you can’t compare it with those very high end restaurants, but with seafood restaurants and zi-char, i feel its one of the best around. Service wise, the staff at Geylang Branch is quite good, they are friendly, not impatient while waiting for us to make up our mind on ordering, and serves food really really fast. Total bill is $130.73 for 4 person

414 Geylang Road, 389392
Tel: 68423415

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Jumbo Jumbo, the famous Jumbo Restaurant, which i finally conquer tonight. Haha. Went there to celebrate my mom’s birthday. When we reach at 6.30pm, the place was not full, BUT they are all reserved! And the seats available are the outdoor dining area. Wait man, don’t start blaming me that i did not make a reservation. I tried. I called at 4 but no one answer the phone. O well, i think the seats are always against me. So we had to make do with the outdoor area, and o boy, it was raining cats and dogs. The waitress even had to carry an umbrella to bring the dishes over.

TaaDaaa!! LOBSTER!! OH MY GOD! I tell you, Lobsters are my fav food, no doubt about it at all. i can just eat lobster with white rice. There are many methods of cooking the lobster, my fav is salad lobster of couse, you can also steam it with soya souce, minced garlic, or stir-fried with ginger & spring onion, braised with superior broth, stired-fried with cheese & butter, and baked with cheese & bacon. Honestly i never had the luxury of trying all types of cooking methods, just had steamed one, deep-fried, and salad lobsters before. And i prefer salad lobster. BUt the baked with cheese & bacon do sounds interesting, mayb i will try that if i got the chance next time. I taken lots of picture of the lobster from diff angles, but space constraint so only can put up two. We had the Australian lobster which was $120 for 1KG

I swear to God, to Allah, Buddha, Monkey God, Zeus, and all the Gods out there, Salad lobster is simple Super-licious. Only one word can describe it, Heavenly. What Budda jump over the wall, Shark Fin, Abalone, give me a lobster anyday. The salad lobster had lots of fruits, the thick salad cream and mixed fruit plus the lobster meat, makes it irresistable man! The shell’s meat was all taken out to do with the salad cream, but hey, the lobster head still had lots of meat there, especially the two lobster horn? whatever u called that. Haha. Simple the best, don’t need to think. Full marks, woo hoo, i believe this is the first time ladyironchef has seen full marks in a restaurant dish (bakwa not included). 5 out of 5

Next up, of course we can’t miss the Singapore famous black pepper crab! Its Sri-Lanka king crab they called it. Btw, sorry for the poor photos, my photography skills are not up the mark yet. Anyway, back to the crab, we had two 1.2KG crab, at first i propose to have one in pepper and one in chili, but then my neighbour had it before and find that chili is not as nice as pepper crab. So both crabs in pepper. Hmm, i am actually not so much of a crab-eater, first thing is don’t really fancy the meat, and second is i lazy to slowly open the shell la. lol. Anyway, my family are lovers of the crab, so their comment is that the black pepper crab not bad la, but there are better one out there, that is No Signboard Restaurant! The crabs at Jumbo the meat are not ‘hard’ enough, and very small, eat already not shiok”. 3.5 out of 5 i guess

Next on the list, Mee Goreng! Jumbo is famous for their Mee Goreng i think, its very nice i assure you. Must try if go Jumbo, but at $8 for small serving, its a tad too expensive. Pity the price, if not it will be perfect score. 4.5 out of 5

Crispy Baby Squid. Crispy it is, and a little over burned. I am still feeling thirsty now that i reached home after eating it.  Not my cup of squid, at $8 its not really worth your while unless you are a fan of fried squids, i rather spend the $8 on another plate of Mee Goreng. 1.5 out of 5

Thats all folks, i will come to the price now because its a bit complicated. Our lobster which flown specially from Australia for us to savour cost $96, i estimate it to be around 800g, but because we got a special coupon, we got 50% off! Horray! It only cost us $48 for one Lobster, cheap yep? The crab is $33 per Kg, We had two, and it comes up to about $75.90. And the crispy baby squid and Mee Goreng like i say earlier is $8 per plate. So our total bill adds up to $192.10 before discount. We had the 50% for lobster, and another 10% off because we had the Jumbo rewards card, courtesy by lending from my neighbour. Mental note, always have the card when you go to Jumbo.

The service, eh is a case of over-enthusiastic against a group of slow diners who want to finish every scrap of food on the plate. I have totally nothing against their service, the waitress keep on changing plates for us, this is good because the crab have lots of shell. But when we haven really finish our lobster and mee goreng, they already want to clear the plates as well. Hello? we want value for money, every scrap of food is important to us. LOL. Besides that i don’t really have or can complaints because they do not have service charge. Except for the calling in of reservation.

All in all, Jumbo is not bad la, its a famous seafood restaurant in Singapore with so many branches. However, we still unanimously agree that No Sign Board Restaurant is a tad higher level than Jumbo for its crab, no complaints about the lobster. I heard the East Coast headquarter produce the best food among its outlets, but we had to go to indoor stadium because the 50% coupon for lobster is not able to use in East coast branch. You can’t get the best of both worlds i guess.

#01-05, Singapore Indoor Stadium
2 Stadium Walk, 397691
Tel: 64403435  Fax: 64400660

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