Entree Kibbles: The Boiler Seafood Bar and Beer @ Esplanade Mall [Singapore]

Despite being somewhat of a national icon in our little red dot, I don't really visit the biggest durian inspired structure in the whole wide world; Esplanade.

Famed for holding world class arts events, my objective for visiting last week was sadly for food, once again, and the destination was at the Annex wing of Esplanade mall.

The Boiler Seafood Bar and Beer; said to be voted as the best seafood in Singapore! That's an incredible accolade as we have no lack of seafood restaurants in Singapore, although a closer look at the smaller print on the glass revealed that it was quite a few years ago.

Whatever the case, I was drawn to the seafood-in-the-bag dining concept and when it comes to the best seafood, the secret is ultimately on their freshness! Best is right out from the sea which can be a challenge for lazy people like me.

Main reason for the visit; to celebrate Alex's birthday!

p.s. he was given a special apron to commemorate the occasion.

Items to make the eating easier; the crab cracker, gloves to protect your hands and even a plastic bag to keep your mobile phones. Latter was quite useless for iPhone 12 Pro Max though as the bag was too small. One item that should have been included is the ultra helpful crab pick!

Four seafood bag combos to choose from and since it's Alex's bird day, let's go with Duo Plus and another Chilli Crab (Sri Lankan Crab). Boy, I am really having too much seafood nowadays; cholesterol for the win.

Bundaberg Root Beer - for carbonated drinks, my choice would always be root beer. However, I am happier with the memorable yet cheaper A&W root beer; the Bundaberg one didn't really appeal to me. One brand that I personally feel can compete with A&W is Stewart's.

Duo Plus Seafood Bag - here comes our main meal. I was expecting a long waiting time but from the timing of the photographs, the wait was only about 10 minutes.

Frankly, this content in the bag appeared to be insufficient for two seafood lovers like Alex and I but once we got started; it was substantial and included ingredients like mud crab, prawns, mussels, clams, smoked sausages, pearl sweet corns, and fried buns which I initially assumed were for the chilli crabs!

Our sauce was garlic butter as their original sauce was spicy and I guess it might be too much for us to handle since we would also have a chilli crab. Sauce of the month was laksa, which we didn't consider for the same reason! The sauce was all concentrated on the bottom; so do remember to dig further in!

Ingredients were fresh and as I mentioned earlier in this post; that's vital. One surprise I got was from the smoke sausage as it was delicious! Sauce has the magic to enhance the taste and while the garlic was aromatic and appetizing, I thought the butter could have been a tad more saltier and flavourful.

Loving the concept of seafood in a bag as there's no plates and I could literally eat like a barbarian without any fork / spoon / knife! Oh ya, almost forgot about the chilli crab.

Chilli Crab - said to be a version of "sweet and savoury tomato and chilli based sauce", I must say the disappointment hit hard as I personally feel that it had more a sambal chilli twist to it and lacked the sweetness that would make it comparable to its competitors.

Thankfully, the 600 to 650-gram Sri Lankan crab was fresh and the meat was pulpy and satisfying enough to our birthday boy here.

Restaurant prepared a slice of red velvet cake for Alex as his birthday cake! This kind gesture caught Alex by surprise as he totally didn't expect and I noted on the bill later that it cost S$9.90! Kudos to the service staff!

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While I can't say I would be back for the chilli crab, the seafood bag combo is something I would bring my parents to in the near future, given that it's going to be Mother and Father's day soon! And a gentle reminder for me to try their Signature Haddock Fish & Chips next time.