Master Crab Seafood Restaurant, Singapore

I've always been a "crabby" person, unlike people I know whose laziness deters them from eating, I actually enjoy picking at it. Ever since moving to Singapore, I've been having odd cravings for crabs but fortunately I have a partner in crime (: 

Last month we had the all you can eat crab buffet at Plaza Brasserie and this month we decided to have salted egg yolk crabs. A quick search and Master Crab came up as the most recommended in Singapore. They have outlets all over the heartlands but Ghim Moh was the nearest to where we were, so Ghim Moh it was! 

I can't remember why, but we weren't so hungry that night - or maybe all we wanted was crab. No rice, no carbs of any kind, just crabs. Oh, but herbal soup was okay for the rainy night (; 

 Herbal frog ($18) 

I have this thing with frogs - I eat them, but I secretly feel squeamish deep inside. So usually I'll just have the soup, or the gravy it's cooked in. I used to love them when I was young, till one day I saw a display of a skinned frog with it's head still intact. Oh, the horror....

The soup was lovely here, the angelica root (dong guai) wasn't too overpowering. We ordered the small portion but the portions were generous we ended up taking half of it home.

Salted egg yolk crabs

The pièce de résistance! The gravy was so rich and felt so cholesterol laden (not that we're complaining) and it was so addictive. If anything, it was perhaps a little too sweet but I would gladly have this any day!

A thing to note is that they have crabs of 2 different sizes - small and big. If you're going for small, you would have to order a minimum of 2 crabs. For big, just 1. If you're thinking of having two flavours, you could go with 3 small crabs and they will split 1 and a half crabs each dish.

The bill came up to about $105 for just the 2 of us - exclusive of drinks and we didn't order rice or anything else. Not exactly cheap for a coffee shop style place, but business seems to be blooming for them. Everyone flocks here for the salted egg yolk crabs so that's saying something!

Master Crab Seafood Restaurant @ Ghim Moh
Block 19 Ghim Moh Road, #01-229
+65 63141868

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 

Oceans of Seafood, Singapore

Back when I was in Perth, the idea of a perfect Sunday for me would be to sleep in and then walk around Fremantle - a cuppa coffee, brunch and a walk around the markets for fresh produce and seafood.

The newly opened PasarBella at The Grandstand (formerly known as Turf City) would be Singapore's version of Fremantle. Ever since it opened, I find myself there nearly every week. And it always ends with some of the freshest seafood you can find in town.

Oceans of Seafood is probably the largest stall in PasarBella, and it encompasses of 2 retail seafood outlets and 2 food and beverage outlets (one Japanese, sourced directly from Japan's Tsujiki Markets, and the other international).

Japanese seafood selection

Japanese ark shell (Akagai)

Their concept is similar to Raw Bars all over the world, you pick your seafood, choose a table and have it delivered to you. All seafood is either served raw, or simply steamed/boiled and served with your choice of homemade sauces which includes vinaigrettes, flavoured butters etc. They do charge a small fee for cooking though.

Pacific Oysters, 1/2 dozen ($12)

On my first visit, they only had Pacific Oysters. My second and third visits subsequently saw me indulging in Fanny Bay Canadian oysters (1/2 dozen, $16), Coffin Bay Australian Osyters (1/2 dozen, $16) as well as XXL USA oysters ($10 per piece). I like how they have Tabasco sauce on hand, you'll be surprised how many oyster bars don't provide any! So...do you like oysters? Or are they "snot of the sea" in your books? (;

Live North Sea brown crabs ($4.50/100g)

Served with garlic butter sauce

First time coming across brown crabs. You should have seen the delight on our faces when this was brought to our table! The roe! And unlike hairy crabs, brown crabs have decent amount of flesh on them so what you get is really sweet flesh plus all that roe. 

 Roe from the brown crab

Will you just look at that! The size of the roe was perhaps as thick as my palm - we ended up leaving half of it behind. It was just too much! Looking back, we should have doggy bagged it...crab roe fried rice...braised e-fu noodles with crab roe. Sigh...

Before...

 And after...

I can't remember which lobster we chose - but it was definitely not the Boston lobster. Either the Maine or South African ones I think. We also got 4 of the USA sea clams this time and decided to have them with miso butter and a dill and cucumber sour cream. That miso butter...oh my. Everything would have went well with that miso butter. You know when you can't quite describe something and all you say is that it's umami? Well this is it. I would have gotten some spot prawns just so I can dunk them into this miso butter had we not been so stuffed from all the non stop eating (sis was visiting for the weekend...)

More USA sea clams ($6/100g)

Couldn't get enough of these mollusks so we had more the next trip (: They're really sweet, have an abalone texture which is slightly chewy but right in the centre all creamy and erm....mushy. Does that turn you off? Lol

Uni ($35 per serving)

What does sea urchin taste like? A sea creature so spiky and alien like. My sister's absolute favourite, pretty sure she'll order this anytime of the day. I remember reading somewhere that uni tastes like a piece of phlegm, floating in the sea for days, rotting away. Epic. Well, my first encounter of uni in KL was exactly that. But have you ever tasted the sea breeze? The next time you're down that way, open your mouth and taste the breeze. Fresh uni should taste like that, just with a creamy custardy texture. Mmm...

 Japanese Top Shell ($23 per piece)

I'm sure many of you are familiar with top shells in canned form, served pickled with chilies and onion but never in my life have I seen a fresh one, let alone tasted one. 

Top Shell sashimi 

Imagine our surprise when this came to our table. Top shell sashimi in 3 parts. The part closest to you in the picture above, I believe, are the suckers because they were so hard and had an odd crunch to it. The part in the middle was slightly chewier, sort of like an abalone but with a slight crunch. The third part (which oddly looks like a pile of poo) was creamy and soft, with dark green innards. Tasted very much like what I'd imagine algae would taste like so we ended up drowning everything in miso butter and shoyu. Would I have this again? Probably not. But it was interesting while it lasted...

I brought this home for keepsake...it's sitting on my table right now. A good reminder that life is short and should be kept interesting (;

Oceans of Seafood
Pasarbella @ The Grandstand
200 Turf Club Road, #02-06 (#02-K2 to #02-K11)
+65 64661005