aly's wonderland

30 things to eat before I’m 30: No. 2 – Singapore Chili Crabs

No Signboard Seafood Restaurant, 414 Geylang Road

I’d heard stories about Geylang being the red-light district of Singapore. Dangerous, dirty, grimy and unpleasant. Erm… Obviously whoever said that has never been to Pudu or Chow Kit. Geylang was like a nice, pleasant neighbourhood compared to some of the dodgy places here in KL, and we didn’t once feel uneasy. Obviously, you can also tell the type of clientele that frequents this restaurant from the cars and Valet service at the front.

I want one!

We ended up at No Signboard Seafood Restaurant.

Their slogan is, “The name U named.” Loving the intentional ‘Singlish’.

The restaurant started off in humble beginnings. A small stall in Mattar Road Hawker Centre in the late 1970’s. As the name suggests, this stall had no signboard, just good, hearty seafood and the good grace of its patrons word of mouth.

Our waitress told us that the crabs weighed 1.5 kgs. I looked at Lil’ Chef and said, “I want to try two styles. The White Pepper Crab and the Chilli Crab.”

He looked at me like I had gone mad. “Erm… you know the crabs that we normally have at home? They’re about 500gm. Are you sure you can finish 3 kg of crab?”

I scratched my head, agreeing with him, and we settle on 2 x 1 kg crabs, in the two different styles. We also ordered Chili Padi La la, and Baby Kailan with Garlic.

The White Pepper Crab arrived first and I must say, I loved the way the pepper tickled my nostrils.

Ok, not so much tickled as shot up there!

The crab was very fresh, very fleshy and it was a pleasure to sit there peeling one leg after another.

We struck gold with the Chili Padi La La.

Savoury and spicy, you will lick every juicy morsel of each shell.

Of course, the Baby Kai Lan was stir fried to perfection, crunchy, green and in a very tasty garlic sauce.

Halfway through the White Pepper Crab, the Chili Crab arrived.

It looked great. Piping hot, in a thick, eggy sauce.

Tastewise, it was a lot sweeter than I expected, and didn’t have much kick. Again, the crab it self was wonderfully fresh, and the sauce was great to mop up with the side of fluffyMan Tau buns. I’m glad I got to try it before I turn 30!

2 hours later, I started digging at the leftovers.

Lil’ Chef couldn’t believe his eyes…

There really wasn’t anything left, but I had to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Full and satisfied, we caught a cab to Clarke Quay and had a pleasant after dinner drink at Highlander.

The bars were full of young, hip Singaporeans showing us that Thursday really was the new Friday!

And there were some unusual places, like the one opposite with wheelchairs for seats and drips for drinks.

Erm… you would never catch me in one of those.

Tempting fate is what I think, and apparently most people do as well as it was practically empty. It is a beautiful area to go if you want to hang out with friends, or have a drink late into the night.

Clarke Quay, with all its lights and energetic buzz, was just what we needed to round off the evening.

Walking really works up an appetite. That appetite makes you eat, and when you eat like that, you sleep very well…

So I can cross Singapore Chili Crabs, item no. 2 of the list of ‘30 things to eat before I’m 30′.

Day One of Singapore Slingin’ was done. The next question is, what did Day Two have in store for us? Coming Soon…