Yi Jia South Village Seafood Restaurant (一家南村海鲜) - Epic Salted Egg Crab @ 550-552 Macpherson Road

On 29 December 2011, a fellow foodie proclaimed on facebook to have tasted the best salted egg crab in Singapore.

Given my latest affection with crabs cooked in this style, i knew it would be a matter of time before i stepped into Yi Jia South Village seafood restaurant!

Exactly a month after his posting, on the 7th day of Chinese New Year, my family gathered in Yi Jia's Macpherson branch to celebrate 人日; the day when humans are supposedly created and typically viewed by Chinese as the birthday for everyone.

Its main branch in Toa Payoh Lorong 7 was featured in the popular TV show on Channel 8: Sizzling Woks (煮炒来了) and the three featured dishes garnered a really good review - with one scoring full marks!

These three dishes were therefore a must-order.

But before that, let's begin with lo hei to usher in a prosperous, fortunate Dragon Year! This salad dish (发财鱼生) has become so synonymous with Chinese New Year that many of us could have had this more than five times over the fifteen days of festive celebration.

Jovyn was curious - it's her very first encounter with such an action-filled, noisy way of eating.

Strawberry Chicken

草莓酥鸡

In normal circumstances, you would never find me ordering any weird combination when it comes to food. However, there are always exceptions to this rule; for example, it was featured on national television!

Remember yam yam; the elongated crunchy biscuits with a side section filled with cream for you to dip in? The delish strawberry cream of Yam Yam came to mind when i took a bite!

Personally, i can accept this innovative twist and was in fact surprised that such a combi can turn out to be pretty good.

Garlic Pork Ribs

蒜子排骨

Another TV-featured dish - this was less palatable than the guinness stout pork ribs, honey pork ribs etc that i totally enjoyed. Indeed there was a gentle garlic sensation but i don't see why this would stand out from the others.

Beancurd with Chai Po

家乡自制豆腐

Most things taste great with preserved radish (known as chai po in Hokkien) - you can give me a bowl of porridge with a plate of freshly fried chai po and i am guaranteed to be satisfied.

The same goes for this homemade beancurd topped with a generous amount of oily preserved radish. There's nothing out of ordinary about this dish although none of us has any complaint either.

Honeydew Prawns with Thousand Island Dressing

千岛蜜瓜虾球

Simply put - the display was a pretty sight and my expectation was high since this was given a full score on national television by the hosts and a local celebrity chef!

Cavin LOVES it!!!

The prawns balls were essentially 100% mashed up fresh prawns encased in a solid flour mix but what's most interesting (and of course the most delicious) was the tangy thousand island dressing (mixed with the fruity essence of honeydew) covering each of them.

Chilli Crab

辣椒螃蟹

This was in fact one of the better chilli crabs in Singapore that managed to satisfy the fragrance, spiciness and shiokness criteria. There's a problem though; the fried buns to go with the chilli crabs were disappointing.

Salted Egg Crab

咸蛋螃蟹

My main purpose of visit.

As you can see, the crab was devoid of any noticeable liquid on the surface. To the uninitiated, this could jolly well be a bigger version of softshell crab.

But this was way more awesome! As i chomped down the crustacean's shell, i could not help noticing the crusts breaking into powder form that, once came into contact with your taste buds, resulted in an optimal balance of both sweetness and saltiness.

Despite being fried, the crab meat remained moist, sweet and succulent!

Epic would be a damn suitable word to describe this dish. C'mon, the concoction is addictive enough for me to bite off the main casing and chew it like a softshell crab!

Sorry Uncle Leong; this salted egg crab was unfortunately a notch better than yours. Of course, this is MY opinion.

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Location

550-552, Macpherson Road

Map

Look above

Reservation

6747-8263

Price

Strawberry Chicken (M) - S$14

Garlic Pork Ribs (M) - S$14

Beancurd with Chai Po - S$11

Honeydew Prawns w 1000 Island (L) - S$32

Chilli and Salted Egg Crabs - S$67.20 in total

NO GST and NO Service Charge!