Chuan Yi Pin, Singapore

We've been going through a wet few days - evenings mostly cold and rainy... perfect for steamboat! So the plan was to check out one of those steamboat places along Liang Seah street at Bugis. Walked past Chuan Yi Pin, and the smell of the sizzling BBQ was just too good to ignore. 

By Singapore standards, some would call this place a horrifying and crummy hole in the wall. Think of street food stall in Bangkok or something and you'll be fine (; 

It was quite a long queue for Friday night - no need to wait if you're having just steamboat but at least half an hour queue if you're having both steamboat and BBQ. It's the same price regardless ($23.80 for adults on weekends). 

Cooked food 

What I found interesting was that their selection of cooked food was mostly Szechuan appetisers - pickled trotter, tripe, and other offals.

 Balls, anyone?

 More steamboat stuff 

 Seafood and marinated meat

 Seafood!

 Round 1 (:

 Thinly sliced pork

Thinly sliced beef

BBQ-ed mantou (:

Charred goodness

They had a very good selection..there was a guy behind a meat slicer slicing away meat to order - pork, mutton or beef. We ended up BBQ-ing most food though, and had very little steamboat. 

Be prepared to sweat and smell like what you're eating (: A friend once said if you go back and soak your hair in some water, you would make a broth out of it....

Psst... make reservations beforehand!

Chuan Yi Pin
Bugis Point, 530 North Bridge Road, #01-01
+65 68844582

Plaza Brasserie, Singapore

All you can eat crab buffet. Crabs. CRABS....

Plaza Brasserie is well known for their themed buffets and this time round they're running an all-you-can-eat crab buffet till 31st August 2013. So how much would it set you back considering these crustaceans are already worth quite a bit in restaurants?

Weekday dinners: Adult ($55++) Child ($33++)

Weekend dinners: Adult ($58++) Child ($35++)

A bang for your buck, I reckon! 

Raw plate

It's not just crabs - they have quite an amazing raw section of sashimi and (freshly shucked) oysters plus a salad bar, bite size appetizers, hot section etc. 

 

The world is your oyster (;

We had to go back for a second round because the first time round someone took the whole Tabasco bottle and we weren't satisfied! Lol! 

Boiled prawns

Braised sea cucumber and mushrooms

Clearly not everyone is a fan of sea cucumber - most dig out only the mushrooms! 

Lobster porridge

This was lovely - very nice consistency with pieces of lobster through the congee making it sweet and flavourful. Topped with as much shallot oil and fried shallots as you like, yum!

 Part of the crab selection

Crab with Dang Gui

 Crispy soft shell crab

 Nyonya curry crab

 Baked crab

 Chilli crab

 Butter crab

 Salted egg crab

Black pepper crab

Assortment of crabs? (:

Our favourite would have to be the salted egg yolk crabs! Best part of eating it would be the coatings on the crab and not the crab itself. Slightly sweetish with the curry leaves and yolk, we would have had second and third helpings had we not been so stuffed from everything else. The least favourite would be the butter crabs - unfortunately the butter was a little too overpowering and the sweetness of the crabs were so masked by it all. 8 different styles all together - surely you would find one you'll agree on! 

Souping it up

Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica Root) has a very distinct taste - somewhat like ginseng...well it is known as the female ginseng after all lol. The soup was so potent that it hits you right in the face after one mouthful. There's something about it though, you'll forget how strong it is and it keep you going back for more. Beats chicken soup anytime! 

 Coffee machine

If you need something to wash it all down they have coffee/tea/hot chocolate. What we did was a shot of espresso and then the ice cream section - Affogato! Our palate cleanser for the night (; 

Chocolate fondue

To be honest all I wanted to do was watch the chocolate coat the marshmallow - smooth sexy shiny flowing chocolate....

Jellies and puddings

Chocolate cakes

 Assortment of cakes

 Chocolate mousse cake

Blueberry cheese cake

I was honestly quite impressed with their dessert selections - they had red bean soup, barley, the whole shebang and were all pretty decent! Normally they'd look pretty and taste horrible but these were not half bad at all! Favourites were the chocolate mousse cake and the coffee jelly with evaporated milk. Oh, ask for a glass of ice cubes and make your own iced teh tarik from the tea machine! 

So if you're a fan of crabs, this is worth your trip down! Make sure you make reservations though. Do also note that you'll get a 15% discount if you pay using a DBS card - sweet deal (: 

Plaza Brasserie @ PARKROYAL on Beach Road

7500A Beach Road

+65 65055710