When Jovyn was still in the tummy of my sister, Joyce would always crave for crabs and i remember driving past Crab Party when we were on our way to the nearby House of Seafood. The bulldog-cheeked baby is now in primary school and i am surprised to hear that Crab Party is still around as House of Seafood has expanded rather rapidly in the past seven years!
Anyway, my family (specifically my sisters and i) has the habit of treating the birthday boy / girl and since it's my birthday in April, i was asked to choose a place. Knowing my mom adores crabs, i was given a list of seafood restaurants to choose from; for the sake of convenience, i eventually selected Crab Party.
It was the lunch peak at 1.00 pm but the restaurant was devoid of any customers! On one hand, the atmosphere felt like my family had reserved the entire place. On the other hand, i wondered if i had made the wrong decision (no customers often equate to not so good food).
Nevertheless, we decided to stay and we were in fact looking forward to having a decent-sized crabs for the meal; the restaurant offered both extra large and double extra large crabs of the highly sought after Sri Lankan species. The rate was S$65 a kilo for a crab less than 1.3 kilograms and S$75 for anything heavier than 1.3 kg.
Order list for the ten of us which included the two brats in the family, Alex and my younger sister's boyfriend (yes, she's finally attached)! By the way, Alex, the boyfriend and I are, coincidentally, all April babies.
Lemongrass Drink - by right, the fact that it's not as sweet should have been welcomed by me as i am trying to cut down on sugar intake. However, the taste was weird and didn't exhibit that beloved familiarity i had with normal lemongrass drink.
Acha - i often associate this Peranakan appetiser to the more famous kimchi; albeit with a crunchier texture and a nutty flavour. This one didn't disappoint although i would have preferred it less spicy and sweeter.
Kampong White Bee Hoon - my family was rather obsessed with white bee hoon nowadays after the pretty good one from Hualong Fishhead Steamboat & Tze Char and it's a no brainer that we would order this at Crab Party, especially when it comes with a highly recommended sticker on the menu.
It sure didn't disappoint with an intensely seafood-rich gravy that provided a good kick to the palates. Add on crispy pork lards and a touch of alcohol and you can imagine how addictive each mouthful was! Furthermore, there was so much liao (ingredients)!
3-Egg Spinach - another family favourite! Okay, maybe more my personal favourite since i like eggs and love the myriad of contrasting flavours provided in this dish due to the salted, normal and century eggs!
My initial review was that while it's good and in the soupy form i enjoy, it failed to overtake what i had at Hualong Fishhead Steamboat & Tze Char. However, i paid another visit to Hualong last evening and i don't know why; the dish tasted bland and the eggs didn't impress! In this regard, i thought this one at Crab Party was comparatively better.
Yu Xiang Tofu - a must-order whenever the kids are around as they apparently can't do without tofu! The yu refers to the shredded yam on top which is honestly more an accessory for the dish which, unfortunately, didn't meet my expectations; the tofu didn't feature a soft, silky inside and i find the saucy minced meat to be a tad overwhelming.
Marmite Sticky Pork Rib - the first bite elicited a wow from me as it was so rich in marmite but the subsequent chewing revealed the shallow infusion. Coupled with the rather tough meat texture, i am afraid this was hardly a dish i would reorder in the future.
Chilli Crab - Singapore actually got pretty famous with chilli crabs until other variances like black pepper crabs, crab bee hoon and salted egg crabs came into the picture. Hence, we always make it a point to order chilli crab unless the dining establishment is famous for other crab dishes.
Those who love chilli might like this better than i do as i found the spicy level to be beyond what i can take in order to enjoy it. To me, it's not the typical kind of tomato-chilli combination; tasted more like sambal chilli.
Salted Egg Crab - even though i love crabs in general, the cooking style i dig the best would be salted egg! The first time i had salted egg crab; i was absolutely blown over by the taste as i am the kind who dislikes salted egg and couldn't imagine it could have such a great impact!
Depending on individuals, i prefer the salted egg crab to be creamy so that i can use the delicious as a dip for the fried buns (purchased separately) or pour it over plain white rice. The salted egg crab at Crab Party was decent enough to satisfy my craving; creamy with a tinge of chilli padi and speckles of crusted salted egg yolk.
It was the crab that impressed me more; meaty and oh so satisfying! Sri Lankan crabs are just so much better compared to other crab species!
Buns - the deep fried buns; necessary whenever we have crabs with sauce that would be perfect as a dip! So how did the buns fare? As i remember well, the bun that's the best so far came from forture seafood!
Pillowy soft with a thin-crisp shell, the only major problem was that the taste was bland without the sauce from chilli crab or salted egg crab! Obviously not as good as the buns from forture seafood.
Knowing we were celebrating birthdays, the lady staff brought out a plate of longevity buns! Even though there's a generation gap (longevity buns were more popular with the older generations), we were still taken back by the kind gesture!
Chockablock full of lotus paste!
A final picture of my family to conclude the birthday lunch! p.s. we did ask the staff why there's no customer (we were the only customers throughout 1.5 hrs) and the response is that their customer base is mainly for dinner.
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Location
Singapore 545576
(near Serangoon Stadium)
Location Map
As above.
Operating Hours
Facebook Page
Pricing
Lemongrass Drink - S$3.50
Kampong White Bee Hoon (M) - S$18.00
3-Egg Spinach (M) - S$18.00
Yu Xiang Tofu (M) - S$18.00
Marmite Sticky Pork Rib (M) - S$20.00
Bun - S$1.00 each
Chilli Crab (1.2 kg) - S$78.00
Salted Egg Crab (1.2 kg) - S$78.00
(Subject to Service Charge)
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