Each year they have a festival at brick lane celebrating one of the wonderful national dishes of Singapore. The festival is always crowded and the lines for the food seemingly endless. Instead of lining up in the cold for a small sample, I simply added Kiasu (the main provider of this festival) to my list of places to eat at.

This Friday, I managed to finally cross this one off the list, when deciding about a place to catch up with my sister. We called ahead as we weren’t sure if you had to book or at least notify them about the crab. Apparently they weren’t too worried since they didn’t ask for us to book or even leave our name. We turned up early (6pm) as we know that it takes some time to eat a crab and we had a few other things to do that night.

I’ve actually eaten at Kiasu before but I was neither impressed nor turned off by it. I just remember it not being particularly memorable. They tables seat two or four mostly, with a few of the pair tables awkwardly placed against a wall. Each table is placed pretty closely to each other, meaning you hear other people’s conversations, and no doubt, they hear yours as well.

Anyway, about the crab…

Priced at just under £16, I have to admit the crab was a pretty decent size (apparently between 500g or 600g). They also offer a soft shell crab (at £5.60) for those less inclined to get their fingers dirty, or who might want to have a quicker dinner. Either way, the crab, smothered in the sweet, spicy tomato based sauce was just too easy to eat. It definitely whisked me back to the time I visited Singapore, sitting by the beach tucking into another one of these. Complete with the fried sweet bread that we used to soak up the extra sauce, I’d highly recommend visiting Kiasu if you’ve got the craving for this.

The only problem with the evening was that we had to pay in cash, as apparently they don’t take (or couldn’t take) a card, despite the mastercard and visa signs plastered on their doorway.

Name: Kiasu (Closed)
Was found at: 48 Queensway, Bayswater W2 3RY
TheKua.com Rating: 7 out of 10 (-1 for not taking payment in card)