Original Chilli Crab Recipe: Happy 51st National Day!
What better way to celebrate our 51st National Day than to enjoy our de facto National Dish? But this is not just any other chilli crab recipe. This is a recipe I developed which is closer to the original chilli crab that Mdm Cher Yam Keng served back in the 1950's when she first introduced chilli crabs to the world. The modern version which has sambal and eggs was introduced later by Chef Hooi, one of the legendary "Four Heavenly Chefs".
We have a group of makan kakis who meet every week to eat. Our goal, (which really is the goal of every foodie) is to find the next taste sensation, the next restaurant of resonance, the next mesmerising makan, to add to our resume of epic eats. This task is not as easy as it seems.
Ponggol Seafood was founded by Mr Ting Chong Teng in 1969. At the time, he was working as a foreman at a sauce factory and driving taxi part time. One day he drove all the way to Ponggol point and saw a place for rent and decided to go into the restaurant business. With the knowledge gleaned from his experience working at the sauce factory, he managed to come up with different sauce recipes for his seafood dishes. In the beginning, it was quite difficult and one by one, his partners all exited the business. But Mr Ting persevered and the rest, as they say, is history!
Chef John is quite adventurous and is always game to try new things, so when you go there to have a Zi Char meal, you are bound to taste something that is just a little different from your usual Zi Char place, and I mean that in a good way!
Crab at Bay only started operations a few months ago but seafood lovers are already discovering the Crab Bee Hoon whose flavour is reminiscent of the Ming Kee of old! It is no wonder since the chefs from Ming Kee are now over at Crab at Bay who is owned by one of the ex-partners of Ming Kee.
Chef Kang’s Kitchen: The Return of the Canton Wokman!
Fans of Chef Kang of the defunct Canton Wok will be ecstatic to know that our favourite Cantonese Chef is back and this time he means business! After a short hiatus, Chef Kang has opened a little boutique restaurant which seats only 40 pax and doing what he does best — sparring with the wok! It […]
I have never been to Pulau Ubin for seafood as a kid, so I can’t really tell you how good the seafood there really was. But I was told that there was a person by the name of “Ah Guang” who was quite well known for his seafood. That Ah Guang came back to the […]
Good Chance Popiah: Another Next Gen Zi Char Chef!
Good chance popiah has got a few things going for it. Aside from the fact that it is opened by a 3rd gen Singaporean chef who is super passionate about food, they also have a few items which are unique to their restaurant which is difficult to find elsewhere. There are also very few restaurants […]
Update: 26 Jul 2016. The stall has moved to a new location There are two types of crab bee hoon. The soupy type with the thick bee hoon and the dry type with the thin bee hoon. I personally prefer the dry type because I really enjoy a good wok hei. The gold standard for […]
The Famous Kitchen: Unique Teochew/Cantonese Fusion Seafood!
Famous Kitchen is run by a brother and sister team. Jeffrey had spent a number of years and China and tries to infuse his dishes with tastes that he has picked up in his travels across China. One of the dishes that he had come up with is the salted vegetable fish which is based on the Sze Chuan steamed chilli fish but with the chillies taken out to make it more palatable for the local palate. This dish would go very well with a nice big bowl of plain Teochew porridge!
The draw card for 7th Mile Seafood is their Crab Bee Hoon which is cooked by a chef who used to work at Ming Kee Seafood. When I was on my Crab Bee Hoon hunt way back in 2007, Ming Kee was one of those places that was well known for their Crab Bee Hoon. At the time, the gold standard was still Sin Huat, but people are often put off by the infamy of Sin Huat whose seafood meals can cost the same as those from top end seafood restuarants. So, Ming Kee was a good alternative.
