Went with the bf's family to the only place they seem to host family birthdays at, Seafood Station, at Siglap. I still remember the first time they brought me there, I was very surprised that such a place existed in Siglap. You see, Siglap (to me anyway, I live in the Western part of the country, so maybe I'm wrong) has always been associated with the cafe or casual dining area. In fact, most people living in the west refer to it as the "Holland Village of the East", although Easterners will probably try to tell you that Holland Village is the "Siglap of the West". Anyway, I digress, the point is, the whole of Siglap is littered with tiny food establishments such as Starbucks, Gelare, Liquid Kitchen, Killeny Kopi Tiam, Pizza Hut, KFC, Secret Recipe etc, all catering to the younger crowd and with tables set for 2 to 4 and then we have this Chinese seafood place. Seafood Station is a typical Chinese Restaurant, with tables set for groups of 6 and up, tacky paintings on the wall, and wait staff with equally tacky uniforms (this lot had the SIA styled shirts.. GAH!!) and the best part! it has a neon sign outside with a GIANT crab waving its claw!!!
so yes, when I first saw the place, I was like um, quite shocked. However, the food in this place is brilliant. For the dad's birthday celebrations, we ordered, deer meat with spring onion, cereal prawns, XO veg with mushrooms, 1 butter cream crab and 2 chili crabs & 12 man tous (deep fried buns). The cereal prawns was really well done, the oats used were light and a bit on the spicy side with no greasy filling. We actually enjoyed scooping the cereal onto the rice and just eating it that way. The prawns were fresh and easy to deshell (well for most of us anyway, the bf is clueless when it comes to deshelling prawns with chopsticks). The deer and vegetable was okay, nothing to shout about.
The crabs came last and they were really one of the best crabs I've eaten (yes way better than Jumbo Seafood). We ordered the butter cream crab cause the bf's sis does not eat anything with chili in it. So she always has a non spicy variation of crab (either steamed, butter or cereal). With the exception of steam crab, I feel that it's a real waste of a good crab. Cereal crab is really weird, cause the crab shell just prevents the oats from getting into the meat and so it feels like someone cooked the cereal separately and just poured it over the crab. The crab meat has not much taste done and no gravy at all. I mean, the point of eating crab is to have gravy to eat with fried man tou or just to have the sweet crab juices mixed into rice.. and anyway, I really have little respect for people who can't eat even a little spice when it's not a medical condition. I mean we are living in South East Asia you know...
Anyway, the butter cream crab was uh.. weird. It was generously coated with this sweet and limey cream paste which tastes something like a mix between salad cream and Japanese mayo. Its also thick and it really felt like those salad prawn things they serve you as part of the cold dish at chinese wedding dinners, only this was hot. Can you imagine hot salad cream? just weird. This dish fails in my opinion. I think its a real waste to mask the wonderful crab flavour with such a strong sauce.
Then came the main attraction (for everyone else anyway), the 2 chili crabs! I mean, even visually, this was a better looking dish, with colour and the viscosity of the gravy (otherwise known as CHUP!) just flowing down the crab shells. Not like the butter cream which just sat on the shell like the blob of butter. And of course, dish tasted great! While the fight for pincers between the 2 bros and dad were occurring, I just took the legs and starting digging out the meat to eat. I don really like to eat the crab pincers cause they're too much of a hassle to eat.. legs are easier cause the shell is softer and easier to break.. the pincer ones take too long just to get to the end result. So yes, the meat was succulent, with a strong crab flavour and the chili egg gravy was not too overpowering and also complemented the crab meat well. It's semi solid gravy means that the crab meat is soaked with the tomatoey chili liquid while the shell outside is coated generously with the more solid portions of the gravy. The gravy is also not too overpowering that it masks the actual crab flavour. The gravy is also perfect for eating with the mantou or placing on top of rice. It is not too spicy and not too oily that one will get tired of it. It is also irresistible enough to make everyone at the table attack the crabs with gusto abandoning any pretense of politeness by using cutlery. Any crab that makes people attack it with their bare hands and chow that that quickly is a 5 out of 5 star crab!
seriously, this is a die die must try crab joint. I've been there so many times and every time the taste is consistently brilliant. The total damage for the dishes ordered above (for group of 6) was slightly over $200. Not expensive at all.
Seafood Station
887, East Coast Road,
Singapore 459088
Tel: +65-6447 8885
Fax: +65-6448 3313
Email: seafoodstation@singnet.com.sg
http://www.seafood-station.com
Hmm it looks like they also have another branch at east coast..
so yes, when I first saw the place, I was like um, quite shocked. However, the food in this place is brilliant. For the dad's birthday celebrations, we ordered, deer meat with spring onion, cereal prawns, XO veg with mushrooms, 1 butter cream crab and 2 chili crabs & 12 man tous (deep fried buns). The cereal prawns was really well done, the oats used were light and a bit on the spicy side with no greasy filling. We actually enjoyed scooping the cereal onto the rice and just eating it that way. The prawns were fresh and easy to deshell (well for most of us anyway, the bf is clueless when it comes to deshelling prawns with chopsticks). The deer and vegetable was okay, nothing to shout about.
The crabs came last and they were really one of the best crabs I've eaten (yes way better than Jumbo Seafood). We ordered the butter cream crab cause the bf's sis does not eat anything with chili in it. So she always has a non spicy variation of crab (either steamed, butter or cereal). With the exception of steam crab, I feel that it's a real waste of a good crab. Cereal crab is really weird, cause the crab shell just prevents the oats from getting into the meat and so it feels like someone cooked the cereal separately and just poured it over the crab. The crab meat has not much taste done and no gravy at all. I mean, the point of eating crab is to have gravy to eat with fried man tou or just to have the sweet crab juices mixed into rice.. and anyway, I really have little respect for people who can't eat even a little spice when it's not a medical condition. I mean we are living in South East Asia you know...
Anyway, the butter cream crab was uh.. weird. It was generously coated with this sweet and limey cream paste which tastes something like a mix between salad cream and Japanese mayo. Its also thick and it really felt like those salad prawn things they serve you as part of the cold dish at chinese wedding dinners, only this was hot. Can you imagine hot salad cream? just weird. This dish fails in my opinion. I think its a real waste to mask the wonderful crab flavour with such a strong sauce.
Then came the main attraction (for everyone else anyway), the 2 chili crabs! I mean, even visually, this was a better looking dish, with colour and the viscosity of the gravy (otherwise known as CHUP!) just flowing down the crab shells. Not like the butter cream which just sat on the shell like the blob of butter. And of course, dish tasted great! While the fight for pincers between the 2 bros and dad were occurring, I just took the legs and starting digging out the meat to eat. I don really like to eat the crab pincers cause they're too much of a hassle to eat.. legs are easier cause the shell is softer and easier to break.. the pincer ones take too long just to get to the end result. So yes, the meat was succulent, with a strong crab flavour and the chili egg gravy was not too overpowering and also complemented the crab meat well. It's semi solid gravy means that the crab meat is soaked with the tomatoey chili liquid while the shell outside is coated generously with the more solid portions of the gravy. The gravy is also not too overpowering that it masks the actual crab flavour. The gravy is also perfect for eating with the mantou or placing on top of rice. It is not too spicy and not too oily that one will get tired of it. It is also irresistible enough to make everyone at the table attack the crabs with gusto abandoning any pretense of politeness by using cutlery. Any crab that makes people attack it with their bare hands and chow that that quickly is a 5 out of 5 star crab!
seriously, this is a die die must try crab joint. I've been there so many times and every time the taste is consistently brilliant. The total damage for the dishes ordered above (for group of 6) was slightly over $200. Not expensive at all.
Seafood Station
887, East Coast Road,
Singapore 459088
Tel: +65-6447 8885
Fax: +65-6448 3313
Email: seafoodstation@singnet.com.sg
http://www.seafood-station.com
Hmm it looks like they also have another branch at east coast..
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