A crabby celebration

I love, love, love crab. Well, lobster too but crab is the cheaper alternative.

Anyway, it used to be that when we went out for a crab meal, I'll have the best part - the claws. That was, until both my kids started loving crab too, then it became a fight for the precious claws. And I almost never win.

We used to have crab at Long Beach Seafood or occasionally, Jumbo Seafood, until we discovered this place - Big Eater at Simpang Bedok. The crabs here are just magnificent and the other dishes aren't too shabby either. It started out as a modest little place the size of a coffee shop and quickly expanded to three times its size within a few years, a testimony to its popularity. On weekends, this place is packed - you'll be hard pressed to find a table if you don't make a reservation.

Kenneth decided to celebrate my birthday over the weekend and I wanted just a quiet dinner, so we ended up at Big Eater.

We ordered just a couple of other dishes, one of them was hot plate venison. Unbelievably tender, melt in your mouth quality.

Simple pan fried beans with minced meat, very fresh and even my kids love this green dish.

And the main attraction - the crabs! We ordered one chili crab with mantou (I think we walloped 16 mantou among the four of us). The chili crab here is not too spicy, and the gravy is thick and creamy, just the way we like it.

That's not all - we had another crab in salted egg. This is Big Eater's specialty. We've tried salted egg crab in some other restaurants and none of them even come close. This one has a sweet, eggy sauce flavoured with laksa leaves and a light sprinkling of chili.

Andre and I adore this crab. Before we left the house, he'd resolved to give me the claws since it was my birthday but let's just say, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. He just cannot resist this! I did manage to get half a claw though and lots of the other parts. The taste is just undescribable, you'll have to try it yourself.

Here's a picture of the shell with the roe.

By revealing one of my favourite haunts, I probably risk aggravating the crowd situation there. But all good things should be shared, so there you go! For all crab lovers, I would rate this place as one of the best kept secrets in Singapore.