Before I left for my trip, a friend of mine told me one must-do for a real visitor is a trip out to the east coast of Singapore and indulge in the famous Singaporean Chilli Crab. Thankfully the east coast is not too far from the city, and because it’s generally devoid of the more popular tourist attractions, is more filled with locals riding bikes and rollerblading along the paths on the “beach”-front. A quick survey of the area showed me that plenty of places appear to serve the famous crab but I decided on going to Roland’s Restaurant that came recommended by the Lonely Planet.

This restaurant is supposedly a bit of an institution for this dish but at first glance appeared to me as mostly a big tourist trap with their big neon signs claiming they invented the now famous “Singaporean Chilli Crab” dish. Thankfully the insides of the restaurant look no different from any other Chinese restaurant and I was relieved to see the absence of the tourist groups that I imagined being driven here. Instead, a large number of locals filled a number of the other tables and appeared to be enjoying their lunch.

Leafing through their menu, I admit that a number of their other dishes looked enticing but since I had come for the crab I didn’t want to waste what appetite I had on other fillers, so I simply ordered the Sri-Lankan crab with Chilli Sauce. While the restaurant prepared the crab, attendants automatically give you pickles and fill up your tea, though they will bill you for both items at the end of your meal.

The crab arrived in a decent amount of time along with a finger bowl, a plate seating a crab hammer and crab cracker (though I’m not sure that’s what they’re properly named), and two pieces of fried bread to help soak all the sauce.

I looked incredibly spoilt with a whole crab to myself but I will admit I cared not since I had not indulged for some time and the crab looked extremely tasty smothered in its crimson red sauce. I found the chilli sauce not especially hot but had enough kick that complemented the delicately sweet flesh of the crab. The sauce also appeared to contain a variation of scrambled egg (as if there wasn’t enough protein in the dish!) continuing to heighten the entire dish by giving it a velvety smooth texture.

As with eating shelled crab of any sort, it took me a while to get through the entire crab. I was fortunate enough that the attendants gave me a spoon and fork though I found chopsticks quite useful for pulling out the stringy flesh out of hard to reach places. Surprisingly I found the bread a great accompaniment for soaking up the sauce and eaten with the crab but two pieces was enough when I had a whole crab to myself.

Details: Roland Restaurant
Found On: Block 89, Parade Central #06-750 Singapore 440089
Contactable On: +65 6440 8205
Highlights: Not excessively touristy and at least a quality place that you can really get messy without walking out like you had just eaten crab. Lots of other interesting things on the menu
Improvements: This restaurant does charge for everything (pickles you don’t eat or ask for, the wet towel you use at the end) and admiteddly you can easily eat this national dish at other places for cheaper.
The Kua Rating: 8 out of 10

After an exhausting day of walking all over Singapore and ending up at one end of Orchard Road, I thought I’d head over to Nagano, a Japanese restaurant this time pointed out by Aroma Cookery. Though I walked to Valley Point Shopping Centre, you can circumvent the hills and lengthy walk by a taxi if you want. You will find the Valley Point Shopping Centre at the bottom of a large residential building that appears what I imagine the rest of suburb Singapore to look like away from the crowded touristy streets.

Nagano appears to be quite authentic from the traditional hanging banner at its entrance as well as the standard ‘irrashaimase’ (Welcome to my place!) greeting that staff shouts at you as you enter. This restaurant has a large number of tables, most of which were empty this night but probably because I was having dinner very late. I found staff extremely attentive, continually topping up the complimentary tea as I perused the menu offering a wide variety of great sushi and standard Japanese meals.

In the end I ordered the Katsu Curry Set accompanied by my latest most favourite type of sushi, the Unagi (Eel) one. The sushi arrived first, presented very nicely and accompanied by the standard pickled ginger, wasabi paste and soy sauce. As you can see from the picture, the eel refreshingly overshadowed the rice (the first time I’ve seen that) and was deliciously moist and saucy. If not for the oncoming meal I most definitely could have consumed more of this.

It wasn’t too long before the Katsu Curry set arrived and came on a platter including a Miso soup and a small fruit bowl. The soup was delicious, and filled with cubes of tofu, but I took surprise to the curry actually sitting next to the katsu for once. It at least guaranteed a crispy cutlet. The curry sauce was a little bit more watery than what I am used to but was still flavoursome and cutlet still juicy.

Nagano is a good restaurant to visit if you’re a local but I’m not sure if it is worth making a trip out of your way as a visitor to the island. The sushi is definitely something I could recommend more of, but I am sure there are better places closer to more popular roads. Though I can’t remember exactly how much I paid (I think it was S$9) I was surprised at how cheap it was.

Details: Nagano Japanese Restaurant
Found On: Shop #01-07 Valley Point Shopping Centre, 491 River Valley Road, Singapore
Contactable On: 67332152
Highlights: Authentic Japanese food at great prices. Great service that ensured a continual flow of free steaming hot green tea!
Improvements: Location is a little inconvenient for most visitors, but since it’s a short taxi ride from Orchard Road and taxis are ridiculously cheap, this is not really a big deal.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

I really indulged it the fact that you can eat out at relatively small prices in Singapore (particularly translated back into the £!) with many decent quality meals in the food court costing about S$3 or £1. It is where the majority of Singaporean people apparently eat in, and though restaurants also abound, they tend to be quite a number of multiple of these prices.

One such restaurant I visited was Dharma’s Kebabs that I first read about on the blog of Nibbles & Scribbles. Fortunately the trek on my first day in Singapore around all the major sight seeing districts landed me right near this area for a rather late and lazy lunch.

Dharma’s Kebabs is located on Boat Quay, a street filled with overly touristy restaurants and bars taking advantage of the dockside views. Fortunately Dharma’s is not so over the top with the glitz and glamour, seemingly not much more than a larger hole-in-the-wall type place. It is associated with the BQ Bar next door, but at least serves decent food. I think they have air conditioned seating upstairs, but their industrial fans literally blew away the unbearable heat and humidity made it quite enjoyable sitting on high chairs next to the water.

Their menu is not overly complex, filled with various types of kebabs and a number of other plates and sharing platters. I ordered the Chicken Tikka plate (S$15) containing chicken tikka, garlic naan, some salad and dipping sauces. The chicken tikka was amazingly juicy and its coating gave it just the right of tang and flavour that went down a treat. The “naan” was more disappointing with a texture closer to flat bread instead of the proper soft tandoor cooked bread I was expecting but was still flavoursome nevertheless. The salad was literally from some other world, with an overly zealous chef really going to work on it with the salt and pepper shakers. The lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes would have been refreshing had it not been covered with a heart-attack inducing amount of salt!

This place serves some awesome foods and I read that the curry fries are supposed to be good. Service from the attendants was good, but then it was a very late lunch and there is always something magical about dining by the water at any time of day.

Details: Dharma’s Kebabs
Found On: 40 Boat Quay, 6236-0980 (Singapore)
Highlights: Great chicken tikka, platters offer seemingly good value
Improvements: Not so much salt!
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10