Crab-crazy

Time traveling back to a week ago on Saturday. I arrived on the day before (Friday). Our friends Rai and Halena invited us to dinner at No Signboard at the Esplanade. It was lovely to see their boys Donovan and Kieran, all grown up and so big lah! (oh no - i used the cliche observation made by elderly folks when they see other people's kids). Our friend Sunny from Hong Kong also joined us (taking the photo) - he was on holiday in Singapore.

No Signboard is one of my favourite places to eat because of the white pepper crabs dish - the white pepper combination with spring onions and meaty sri lanka crabs is quite scrumptious. Rai ordered the frog legs in herbal broth which was surprisingly good (albeit the broth was a bit too salty) and it is a nice contrast to the pepper crabs. The chili crab is quite different from Jumbo or Red House - it has more curry powder and not much egg white (if at all). The man tou is bite-sized and has a thin crispy skin but soft on the inside - combines well with the chili/curry taste of the sauce.

Despite the hot and humid evening (or perhaps it was me, having just arrived from London), the evening was really enjoyable and there was an acapella group performing on the edge of the waterfront of the Esplanade. Kieran loved the performance. I didn't put him off when i sang along to the acapella rendition of a Janet Jackson song (forget the name of the song - old age...!)

If you like the crab roe, then the white pepper and spring onion is a perfect recipe to enhance the flavor of crab roe. Choose a fairly large crab (1.5kg at least) with lots of roe and ask them not to overcook it.

At the branch in Geylang, you are able to choose your own crab. We went to the Geylang branch with my mum and dad on the weds after. The crabs were huge! We ordered a male crab for the chili style (2kg) and a female crab with lots of roe for the white pepper style. The chili sauce was spicy, tangy and had lots of curry flavor. My mum and dad loved it. We had our friends William and Paul join us for dinner. Unfortunately, i didn't take photos of the dishes we had so you will have to try yourself! Oddly enough, the restaurant was fairly empty even though we arrived at 6.30pm. By the time we finished at 9pm, the place was still not full. Sign of the current credit crunch condition or just a slow Weds night? I would like to think the latter. From what I can see in Singapore, the food places are still doing a reasonable trade despite the credit crisis.

I must eat more crabs while I am in Singapore. Must have. Simply forget about crabs in London, Europe or USA. For me, the pepper crab sauce at Eng Seng in Joo Chiat is simply the best. The sauce is the right consistency and texture to coat the crabs and get into the crevices. The peppery taste is distinct and the sauce has the right combination of sweetness, heat and not too much corn starch. By contrast, the pepper sauces used at Jumbo and Red House is overdone with corn starch. But I don't want to queue or sit in the coffee shop, sweating and eating. I will have to find someone who lives locally near Joo Chiat and persuade them to host dinner and takeaway from Eng Seng.... Will I be able to do it? watch this space