Entree Kibbles: Holy Crab in Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski in Singapore

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Holy Crab in Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski in Singapore

Like a gigantic monster ravaging through Singapore's city hall, the interesting decoration of eight crustacean legs popping out from the wall would likely be a talking point for anyone stepping into the Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski.

As the name suggests, we shall be having crabs today! I know of a Holy Shrimp in Bangkok, a Holy Cow in Yishun and it's high time for a holy crab, especially when our chilli crab is renowned globally as one of Singapore's national dishes.

With a high Google rating of 4.7 by over 600 reviewers, a queue would usually be expected. But, we chose to visit on a quiet Monday afternoon, at about 4pm, for an early dinner. I love eating at such weird timings as queuing can be such a blatant waste of time.

A 3-dimensional menu which reminded me of those books for toddlers! Anyway, it's not my first time to a seafood restaurant in Singapore but this is definitely the first time I am seeing unique spinoffs and interesting names to dishes we have been long accustomed to; like otak crab, red riding hood, miss piggy, grasshopper.

The necessary tools for a good, hands-on, crab-eating experience! I didn't know the crab cracker came in non-metal material and the grip was much better than the usual stainless steel version. Aside from the bowl, to keep the crab shells, there were also crab picker and plastic gloves.

Calamansi Slushy - a refreshing and thirst quenching beverage, with both sweetness and sourness attacking our taste buds, that was so nice; Alex regretted ordering his fresh coconut which was priced the same!

CapriCorn - essentially "lightly battered corn kernels, salted egg yolk and curry leaves", this brought me back to JB Ah Meng Tze Char Restaurant, to the dish "Salted Egg Prawn Ball", where the namesake prawn ball failed to impress us.

Back then, I mentioned that the eatery should consider having a separate dish on the menu, focusing on just the corn kernels. Holy Crab did a nice rendition, with each kernel coated with a thick layer of delicious salted egg paste! Best way eat them? Eat slowly, one kernel at a time! Too much and it would be too cloying.

Green Mumba Crab with one set of Fried Mantou (steamed option was available too). I have a hard time deciding the crab style; should I go for the typical chilli crab or their signature green mumba, balsamic vinegar, or otak? According to the friendly staff, green mumba is popular and there are times we should step beyond our comfort zone right?

Frankly, the colour of the Green Mumba Crab was off-putting; those with an infant would understand what I meant. According to the menu, it was indicated as "chef’s signature savoury green chilli sauce, bold traditional Asian flavours, kaffir lime leaves".

My vocabulary is limited; taste wise, it was like Thai green curry, aromatic and would go well with a bowl of rice, which I was resisting to order as we already had mantou! Aside from the sauce, the other key component of a crab dish would be the freshness of the bottom dweller.

At S$90 a kilogram, the crabs used by Holy Crab are the Sri Lankan species, which is most preferred by my family for their plumpness and seafood sweetness. This didn't disappoint at all and Alex, our crab guru, claimed it was fresh and tasted even better than his favourite No Signboard Restaurant!

Now, the Mantou. Charged at either S$1.00 each or S$4.00 for a set of five, the calculative soul in me decided to just go for the set. Shaped like the buns we used for kong ba bao, what I enjoyed seeing the most was the golden, seemingly crispy shell.

They were amazingly crispy with a thin layer of sweet softness within. I would say this would be the second best mantou for crabs, right after the incredibly ones from Forture Seafood! It could have been the best, except for one reason.

Reason: it was too thin to soak up the yummy green curry sauce! p.s. the crispness made it very addictive though, although I wouldn't want to order another set of mantous to breach my limited starch intake for the day!

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I will be back! The otak crab appeared so appealing and I can't wait to also try Holy Crab's scorched vermicelli, and other interesting dishes in my next visit.

Another temptation; the high flyer which is a sharing platter that allowed three "choices of Oriental Bacon, CapriCorn, Sawagani Crabs, Sweet Potato Fries, SHam Fries, Red Riding Hood or Mini Squirter"!

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