Kimly Live Seafood (金味活海鲜) - Crabs, Prawns, Tofu @ Trade Hub 21 (Choh Dee Place), Jurong East

You know you are officially categorised as a crab lover when friends started recommending places that served crabs to you. And this particular recommendation by Doreen Wong brought me to Trade Hub 21.

Kimly Live Seafood is a restaurant spin off from a supposedly famous chain of tze char stalls dotted all over Singapore. It's funny that i have never heard about it until the conversation i had with Doreen.

To me, this is not really considered a restaurant since Kimly shares the premises with a food court; there is hence not much difference from a typical tze char stall in a neighbourhood coffee shop!

Sizzling Woks 3 (煮炒来了3), a popular food variety programme in Singapore, has even come out with a list of must-trys! Given Alex's picky attitude, i could only choose the crab dish. Sad..

Signature Hometown Beancurd

招牌家乡豆腐

Half submerged in a thick, oily stock, i would have expected much more from this dish; the stock was plain without much flavour and the beancurd was not exactly silky soft when you poked it apart.

It was the other ingredients (meat floss, mushrooms, prawns and minced pork) that saved the dish. The mixture of toppings increased the savouriness although on its own, the beancurd would be condemned to one side of the table.

Stir Fried Butter Prawns

牛油香酥虾

There was an appetising fragrance surrounding our table when this was served.

And don't even attempt to de-shell them using your cutlery! The best way to eat these is using your bare hands. If possible, i would strongly suggest you eat them with a section of their shells unpeeled. That's where the flavours are!

Plump, juicy prawn meat - each of them oozing with a rich buttery goodness and a mild hint of suspected Chinese wine. It's been a long time since i had prawns this good.

Crispy Yam with Salted Egg Crab

芋香奇味黄金蟹

This was Kimly's signature dish.

Uncle Leong's salted egg crab is a wet version while Yi Jia offers a dry, cracky salted egg style. For Kimly, it's a mix between the two. In my opinion, Kimly's combination fails to make an impression.

Maybe it was the use of a 900 grams Sri Lanka crab. Bigger is not necessarily better - there was a lot of meat (albeit a bit dry) but that also meant a higher barrier for effective absorption of flavourings necessary to differentiate it from a normal steamed crab.

And i don't understand the purpose for these crispy yam strips! They tasted alright as munchers for late night movies although their role in enhancing this dish is questionable.

Wait - were they used to beautify the dish?

Hm... Not that pretty anyway. Shrugs.

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Location

18 Boon Lay Way,

#01-98 Tradehub 21

[When i used to take the train from Jurong East to Clementi MRT station, i would definitely pass by Trade Hub 21. The train tracks can be seen on the right side of this picture]

Operating Hours

4pm till 11.30pm

Reservation

Call 6686-4655

Price

Signature Hometown Beancurd - S$13

Stir Fried Butter Prawns - S$22

Crispy Yam with Salted Egg Crab - S$43.20

Subject to GST. No Service Charge.

Additional Information

Service was impeccable for a place that doesn't even implement service charge! The service staff would automatically change your plate once it is dirty and when they saw my bowl of untouched rice, they offered to remove and minus the cost from my bill!

And for that, Kimly deserves another visit for me to try the other two dishes recommended by Sizzling Woks 3.