Black Pepper Crabs @ Eng Seng Restaurant

Two weeks ago, we met up with a friend who recently moved to Joo Chiat from KL. When we visit KL, he used to take us around to 'makan' there. Since he's based here now, it's our turn to bring him around.

Staying near to Eng Seng, he passes the shop daily on his way to work and back. As a workaholic who leaves early for work and comes back late at night, he probably did not realise the crowd during the opening hours.

It's difficult to dine alone there, so we met up with him on a weekend with other common friends to have some delicious black pepper crabs!

If you read about this place, you got to 'book' your crabs (can't book tables by the way). The dear wife was a bit 'kiasu' and called them up 3 days in advance to book crabs. She was told off! If you are coming on Saturday, please only call after 3 pm on Saturday! We booked our crabs after 3 pm as told.

Oh well, our plans that day changed and we were going around eating that day. Around 4:30pm, everyone felt hungry and decided we should just have an early dinner instead. Lo and behold, when you are there early, there were no crowds! The big glass tank is full of crabs, you can choose your own crabs too!

(Hint, go early! Around 5 to 5.30 pm, you don't need to bother call to book anything!)


Fried You Tiao with Sotong Meat. ($8)

If you are having dinner there, you would realise that 90% of the people here have the same dishes! During dinner, we look around and saw same dishes on almost all tables!

For those who love some fried food, the fried dough fritter was nice. Crispy and crunchy with some soft cuttlefish meat stuffed in it.  Some of us thought the mayo was a bit too much on top. They should have served the mayo on the sides instead of dribbling all over it.



Hong Kong Kai Lan ($10)

The veggies were nicely stir fried, cooked and yet still crunchy. We found it a tad too salty though.




Mee Goreng ($7)

Oh, the Mee Goreng is another dish that almost every table orders.. It's delicious. Not too wet, nor too dry, it will probably suits most people's taste buds. Spicy but not too hot, it smells so good when it was served to our table. Prawns were bouncy and there was quite a few of it too.

(Looking at the prices now while blogging, it's more worth it to eat the Mee Goreng than the vegetables which is very little in quantity and not as satisfying as the spicy carbo noodles. LOL)



Black Pepper Crabs ($90)

We had 5 of us, and we ordered 3 crabs to share. If you are a super crab lover, you probably can have 1 each. The crabs that day was medium in size. It was enough for us as it was already the 5th meal for the day!

Ahh... the crabs here are as tasty as we last tried it. Peppery, sweetish, sticky! Many people rank the black pepper crabs here as the best on this island. The sauce was so addictive. It's nice with the You Tiao too by the way!




One of our friend was such a neat eater! She flipped over the big crab shell and slowly filled it with the other smaller bits as she ate. If you eat your crabs slow and eat every bit of it, there's very little leftover shells! When it's all done, she covered it up with another shell. So cute, that I have to take a photo of it!

The food is served rather quickly after ordering which is good. Would love to go back for more black pepper crabs and mee goreng.  The person on the phone might not be very courteous, but the chubby lady who goes around the table taking order is a very nice lady!

There's GST payable here, you will notice it in the bill. Our whole meal was $116.50 with the taxes included.  Eng Seng is the name of the coffeeshop. The stall selling the crabs etc is called First Grade Seafood Palace. What a nice name eh!


First Grade Seafood Palace
Eng Seng Restaurant
247-249 Joo Chiat Place
(Near to Malacca Hotel)
Singapore 427935

Tel: 6440 5560

Hours: around 4.30 to around 8.00 pm (earlier when the crabs are sold out)

Chocolato @ Joo Chiat Road

We were visiting a friend who got a new place at the Joo Chiat area. A very nice and cosy place in a very relaxed neighborhood too! After chatting a while, we went walking around the area before we head off for a makan outing.

Jon our friend says he has been addicted to this gelato place and thinks we would all love it. He's very right.



We found out some bad and good news though. The bad news to Jon and the nearby residents, they are moving out of Joo Chiat.

The good news for the rest of us, they are moving to a more central location! (My memory is getting bad, I think it's the Cantonment area if I remembered them correctly)



So many flavours. Jon said that the pistachio is good.

I glanced around and noticed that they are a chocolate place. (The name tells it! haha). It seems they are one of the few companies in Singapore that offers chocolates from single source cocoa beans.

(go do an online search about single source cocoa if you are interested)



This lady (no she said she's not the boss) is a funny lady.

Jon must have been there so often, the lady insist on serving him. She asked the younger boy to serve me instead. Jon's a handsome chap and the lady calls him my Handsome Boy No. 1.

We had 3 other ladies with us, and when they say only one handsome or pretty one around,  she said to me: "OK lah, you are number 2. First time here, cannot be No. 1."

She looked at me again, ya, not as handsome as Jon, but can lah, I give you a No 1 title. No. 1A ok? First position still to Jon. *roll eyes*



I had the Dark Chocolate and Pistachio.
Yup, the chocolate was quite intense, the choc bitterness that I like and some sweetness to it.

The pistachio, oh, how do you describe pistachio? Go to their shop and ask for a sampling!

Texture wise, it might look rough on the photo, but it was really smooth and creamy when it touches your tongue. The sweetness according to my taste buds is just nice for me.

(Maybe I should invest in a refractometer and bring it to all the ice cream and desserts places that I go to so that I can give a scientific measurement of sweetness to my posts!)



You can also order a waffle cone if you like cones.

Shh... we realised something amongst the 5 of us.
If you are on a diet, opt for the cone, it has less gelato in it. (Get the hint?)


Chocolato
154 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore 427432

Tel: 6497 7358

Eng Seng Restaurant @ Joo Chiat

What was that scent? It smells like lemongrass! 3 person walked past us and there was suddenly there A Whiff of Lemongrass scent. Lo and behold! Suddenly the lady whose blog is called "A Whiff of Lemongrass" appears!

This was dinner with Camemberu, Lyrical Lemongraass, Nic & XLB and Momo. We had planned to go somewhere else, but a twist of events, we came to Eng Seng Restaurant to have their famous crabs instead.

We had 6 medium crabs for 6 persons! Woo Hoo!

This is the famous Black Pepper Crabs! All of us loved it. It was really hot and spicy! Imagine sweet black sauce with fine black pepper infused with butter. This black gold coats the crabs all over. If you think KFC is finger licking good, this will make you suck your fingers with ecstasy! ;-p



We had 3 of the crabs cooked Black Pepper Style, the other 3 was cooked Chilli Crab style. If you like your tongue and lips to slowly 'burn' in the heat of chilli, you should try this. Some of us found it very spicy, the ones with numb tongues did not find it spicy. LOL.

But if you ask which is nicer? Go for the Black Pepper Crabs.
Guess what I did? I took the crabs from the Chilli plate and added the 'black gold' over the chilli ones.Tasty!



This is the tender black pepper venison stir fry. Tasty stuff here.



We had the mee goreng. It was so so to me. I was thinking of the Punggol Mee Goreng instead. I think that's nicer. But you might like it. Everyone has different taste remember? ;-p



Eating vegetables for the sake of ordering one vegetable to make the meal look more 'complete'. LOL



It was great food and greater company. It's always enjoyable to meet up with the other food lovers to eat. This time we had the company from KL. Lyrical Lemongrass it was nice meeting you!




Eng Seng Restaurant
247-249 Joo Chiat Place
Singapore 427935
Tel: 6440 5560
Open daily except Wednesdays, 5pm - 9.30pm

Astons Prime @ Joo Chiat

Last Saturday, we celebrated Momo's dad's birthday with a dinner at Astons Prime. We have never been here and so we thought we could come all the way here to the 'East' to try it out.

Momo's parents said this place looked a bit like a place where they used to hang out when they were young, a place called the Emerald Hill Steakhouse at Emerald Hill. That was like 30 over years ago. hehe... Not that this place is old and dilapidated, in fact it is very clean and modern. It's the high partitions between diners that reminded them of Emerald Hill.

(Anyone in that age group can verify? hehe...)

Do you see Moses Lim posing there? LOL..



Momo had the Porterhouse Steak. Medium done, and she liked it, but looking at what the rest of us had, she thought ours were better. (Grass/veg/food always look greener/delicious on other people's plate right?)



Momo's mum had Battered Fish. It was two huge fish and she enjoyed it with the baked potato and veg.



Momo's dad has the Rib Eye Steak. he ordered the XL version.
His asked for brussels sprouts and onion rings for his sides. (never knew Momo's dad liked Brussel Sprouts! I don't like it. haha..) Medium done and it was not bad.



I had the Kurobuta Pork Chop. Had it 75% done. It was tender and juicy.
I could have more of it! I am such a pork person. :-)



The next photo is good news for those living in Central / South / West of Singapore. They are moving to The Centrepoint from 15 June 09.

Easties, eat it while you can... They are moving away.....



Dinner was nice. We liked the mains, all done just the way we ordered. The sides ok lah...

Felt a bit stiff that night because I was eating with future FIL and MIL. LOL.....



Aston Prime
467 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore 427678
Tel: 6344 2447

From 15 Jun 09 it will be at:
The Centrepoint
176 Orchard Road
#03-45/47
Singapore 238843
Tel: 6235 0556

To keep up with the ever expanding branches, check out their blog at: http://astonsspecialties.blogspot.com/

Chilli Padi Nonya Restaurant @ Joo Chiat Place (Part 2)

Continuation from yesterday's post.....

Next was the Rendang.



After that, my favourite peranakan dish. Babi Ponteh.



Another dish that only the brave ones dare to try. Petai Ikan Bilis. Do any of you like Petai? :-p



Now to the desserts.....
Pulut Hitam. Delicious looking eh? With all the coconut milk. For those who says coconut milk is bad, read up the latest reports! haha...



This is the normal chendol. As I post this now, I feel like having one now...



This is also chendol, but Cempedak Chendol. See the orangy yellowy thingy up there?



This one... Guess....
Durian Chendol. It's apparently a favourite for people who comes here.



This is the Sago Pudding. (My dessert)



Friend said, take photo of the bowl, it's pretty. So here it is...



After I stirred it, the bottom which is full of gula melaka brings out the sweetness. Yummmm...



Hope you find this enjoyable.

If you like the photos and can picture the taste and want to try the real thing.
Visit http://www.chillipadi.com.sg
They are located at: 1 Joo Chiat Place #01-03 Singapore 486350

Chilli Padi Nonya Restaurant @ Joo Chiat Place

Every month, we have a group of friends that meet up every month to eat and celebrate each others birthday. (I think this sounds like a broken record). Anyway, this month, we had 3 person's birthday. We were wondering where to go, at first we wanted to go to Astons Prime, but in the end, the group ended up having Peranakan Food instead.

Someone said that they had eaten at someone's baby's first month celebration that had food catered from Chilli Padi. OK lor, we try this place.

As usual, letting the photos tell you the story. Food photographed as it appears on our table. Photos in the order of the food that arrived first.


Achar, we all liked it. On the table when I arrived... I was late by a few minutes, got lost in Joo Chiat! haha...



The Curry Assam Fish Head was first to arrive. Looks so pedas and tasty right?



Next comes the Nonya Chap Chye.



This is the Ngoh Hiang.



Ayam Buah Keluak, some people just love the buah. Not for everyone though. haha



Otah Otah, gua suka makan otah!



Sambal Sotong. No, eating sotong won't make you sotong one....



Hee Pioh Soup, Fish Maw Soup that was served in individual bowls for all of us. 13 bowls..



This is babi madu. Honey Pork. This was wallop up so fast!



More to come tomorrow...

If you are confused at times, in Singapore they call it Nonya food, but in Malaysia it is called Nyonya food. Why? I also tak tahu!