Red House Seafood, Singapore by Obelix

Everyone but everyone talks about the famous chilli crab of Singapore.  But I have on good authority (Info segment on Qantas flight) that the lesser known pepper crab is equally as awesome.  So I had to try.  Am so pleased I did as in my humble opinion, it is waaay better - less sweet and not as spicy, so it caters well for chilli wimps, children and people with a sugar aversion (like myself).

We did a bit ground work to locate an authentic experience.  Our taxi driver and several other randoms we accosted during our stay all recommended the East Coast which is a district in Singapore for the best crab experience.  Our taxi driver personally recommended Red House.  So Red House we went.

Let me entice you with a few photos:

This is the delicious beast which I speak of...the black pepper crab.  This one is 1kg - plenty for two adults and a child who refuses to get her hands dirty.  It was peppery (no kidding) but without the heat and the sweet tang of a chilli crab.  Perfect in my book.  The crab was Sri Lankan (not sure the significance of that but thought I share it).  It had plenty of roe and head goo for me to suck on....yum!  Plenty of flesh albeit very firm in the legs and claws.

We also ordered a seafood soup which was a hodge podge of chopped seafood in a tofu, egg white suspension.  Real comfort food and great mixed with rice.

Speaking of rice, there was a fried rice ordered however I completely forgot to photograph it as I was too busy extracting crab out of shell.

This is a squid 3 ways.  I couldn't decide which I liked better.  The top squid was battered in salted duck egg and deep fried.  *drool*  The orangey coloured squid was char grilled *drool again* and the brown mass of tentacles were baby squid with a sweet glaze and also tasted of bbq *serious drool*.

I felt a bit of vegetative matter was in order so got this kang kung with a belachan like seasoning.  Normally I could eat this stuff by the bucketfuls but I was too stuffed with all the other good food to fit it all in.

The Verdict:  We loved it.

Overall
As amazing as the food was, I have to mention the ambience/customer service which was as dismal as the food was excellent.  But I'm prepared to overlook mute customer service and no air con (was sweating like a piggie in a sauna).  The waitresses were completely non communicative.  I don't believe they said one word as they took the order and slapped down food in front of us.  They also charged us $3 for an unsolicited plate of boiled peanuts.  They were plonked in front of us before the rest of the food came so we ate it and it took up valuable tummy real estate which I would much rather reserve for crab and then we were charged for it.  Grr...

But having said all that I would gladly go again for that was truly the best crab I have ever ever eaten. Amen.

Address
Red House East Coast Branch

Blk 1204 #01-05

East Coast Seafood Centre

East Coast Parkway

Singapore 449 882

Phone:  +65 6442 3112