World's best Crab Bee Hoon? Sin Huat

Sin Huat has some notoriety in the dining scene in Singapore. A stern owner, who is grumpy waiter, chef and cashier all at once. But the food is to die for...especially the signature crab bee hoon.

I have taken many luminaries from the watchmaking world to this litte, dirty eating house by the red light area in Geylang. From Grandmaster Philippe Dufour to my good friend (then CEO of GO) Dr. Frank Muller, they had their taste of the genius of Danny. This time round, I had the opportunity to take the Watchonistas...Alex Friedman and Marco Gabella from Lausanne there for a taste, when they visited.

Both Alex and Marco are exceptional foodies. When I was in Switzerland, they brought me to some wonderful culinary adventures, and for this I wanted to return the favour.

We sat down at 8pm...having warned both that the service will suck and be very slow, and we will have to deal with a nazi-like owner/chef, we had a surprisingly pleasant evening. Danny came trotting by soon after we sat down, and even smiled at us. He recommended, I am using the term lightly as Danny had a sense of authority in his tone that almost told us to order what we had. First off, the vegetable dish...baby kailan

Even this had the mark of the chef. The vegetables were fresh, crunchy, and control of fire in stir frying this was exceptional. Superb.

We had scallops in black bean sauce.

Sorry about the picture. The live scallops were steamed with garlic and ginger, and totally covered with the black bean sauce. Delectable dish, but frankly I found the steamed garlic scallops at Meng Kee to be better.

Next dish is a semi-signature of Sin Huat...the gong gong...or sea snails in special chilli sauce

A marvellous dish. Of course, the gong gong were fresh...they were live! But the secret is to get them cooked just right...to little cooking, and they are raw...too much, they turn rubbery. But get them just right like this, they are succulent, with a springiness that is indescribable. Dip in the hot, spicy sauce, and temporary nirvana is achieved.

We also sampled the frogs with essence of chicken

Alex and Marco were used to eating frog legs...afterall Lausanne is in French speaking Switzerland and both are Italian origin with a long family history of culinary excellence. But Danny chose to serve the entire frog, sans internal organs. They gamely tried. And were surprised at how delicious it was. The meat was sweet, succulent. Very good.

Then, within 2 hours from ordering...typically one needs 3 hours or more for a dinner in Sin Huat...he is sometimes slow between courses...the piece de resistance was served:

The bee hoon infused with crustacean flavours is the actual star. The two huge, meaty crabs merely play a supporting, albeit important role. Each strand of the bee hoon is coated with a glistening, sauce...promoting it from a mere noodle to a magnificent tasting specimen. The explosion of flavours, tastes were exceptional. This is what makes this the reference standard for crab bee hoon. The crabs were enormous, and the meat was succulent, fresh and chunky. Excellent plus dish...and why one endures the attitude and the unsavoury environment to dine here. Danny retains his crown as chef of the best Crab Bee Hoon in town, and perhaps the region or the world....

Sin Huat Eating House
659/661 Geylang Road
6744 9755

Revisiting an old favourite with good friends: Meng Kee Seafood

I did once almost crown Meng Kee as the new king of crab bee hoon...dethroning the venerable Sin Huat...and indeed, if you wish for a nice meal, without being harrassed by the owner/chef/cashier (all rolled into one) or for the meal to take 3 hours, or to eat in air conditioned comfort, Meng Kee was the alternative. Almost, because if the taste of the crab bee hoon was the be all and end all, then Danny's creations (at Sin Huat) still reigns.

I recently re-visited with some friends from Switzerland, and they were amazed with the food, as I was...all over again...rediscovering the wonderful seafood...



The crab was quite large...luscious, I would say. The bee hoon, infused...every single strand...with the beautiful crab flavour was outstanding. The dish was all at once rich, bursting with umami, savoury and tantalising to the taste buds. Truly excellent.

But we started not with such a aural sensation, but with another...my friends have never eaten fish skin. Westerners usually fillet their fish, and throw away the skin...but they were adventurous enough to try.



Aromatic, crunchy, tasty...were the words that come to mind. I imagined the skin to have been deep fried, but amongst the 3 of us, we could not find any trace of grease, or fat. Very good.

We also had steamed scallops with heaps and heaps of garlic



Gorgeous, fat, succulent scallops, lightly steamed, with some soy sauce, and loaded with heaps of garlic makes a wonderful dish...unless you are not the garlicky type...this is magnificent.

The crayfish was also quite good...



The shellfish was very fresh. The meat was firm, with a crunch, but yielded to a sweetness that only shellfish can provide...a blend of sweetness which is not sugary coyness, but from deep within the meat, mixed with a touch of salt and chilli to spice things up.

And we rounded the meal with ohr nee...



My friends had a ginko tree growing in their parent's house in Vaud (province in Switzerland), and they never thought to eat the nuts. Indeed, I am told ginko nuts are poisonous, and only with careful preparation will render the poison harmless...but also bring out a wonderful flavour I so love. And complements the beautiful yam paste which has been lovingly prepared. The dish required 20 minutes of preparation time...to steam the yam paste which is judiciously mixed with lard. The final concoction, laced with pumpkin and ginko nuts, and often with a drizzle of coconut milk. Too many calories? Yes. Tasty? YES!!!

Meng Kee is still a wonderful restaurant to satisfy shellfish and seafood cravings.




556 Macpherson Road
6747 4075
12noon - 2pm
5pm - 11pm

Ming Kee: do we crown a new king?

with Larry and Prof Horolographer.

For Larry and me, the undisputed king of seafood in Singapore is Sin Huat, and her chef/owner extraordinaire Danny. Not only does it serve the best, freshest, and tastiest seafood (piece de resistance is Crab Beehoon), but Danny has an attitude to match, and prices to threaten.



I have read many reviews about Ming Kee...an unpretentious little restaurant, tucked amongst economy rice and cze char shophouses in MacPherson. Ieatishootipost raved about the mussels. Chubby Hubby even claimed that this was Ignatius Chan (of Iggy's and formerly Les Amis) favourite restaurant. Indeed Aun's review was highly positive, even proclaiming at the conclusion that some of his friends think the crab bee hoon to be better than Sin Huat's. Chef Danny currently hold my ticket for best crab bee hoon in Singapore...albeit also the most expensive cze char in town as well. This alone intrigued Larry to highly desire to eat at Ming Kee...and off we went.

We started with the crab bee hoon.



Despite the reputation, we found the crab bee hoon to be only very good, but not surpassing Danny's amazing creations. The bee hoon was tasty, but not as crustacany and infused with wonderful broth as Sin Huat's. But it comes very close. This is a good thing, as it offers a viable substitute, especially when one is not able to stomach eating at Sin Huat. For the uninitiated, eating at Sin Huat is an experience (we have taken famous watchmakers to eat there...and they were uniformly amazed as well as impressed...horological luminaries like Philippe Dufour, like Dr. Frank Muller have given their gastronomic nod of approval). But you will have to put up with Danny's antics...slow service - a 6 course meal could take 3 hours to complete, very expensive prices - the same 6 course meal for 8 pax could cost upwards of S$700. Though still, at this price, if you are after the best taste, you gotta go to Sin Huat.

We also had the steam mussels with crispy garlic



This dish was a revelation. The sauce is a typical Teochew sauce used for steaming fish. Sweet, salty...a bit coy. And coupled with very fresh mussels, actually I think they are more like clams than the green liped mussels, it draws out the sweetness, beautiful taste of the clams. The deep fried, crispy bits of garlic added to the shiok-ness. This dish got the two thumbs up from all of us.

We also had steamed crayfish with chopped garlic



The crayfish was halved, and simply steamed with heaps of chopped garlic. The crayfish was very fresh, the meat succulent, sweet, tasty. The orange/brown fat packed a powerful punch, increased the intensity of this dish. Again, all three of us loved it.

We also had sambal kangkong.



This too was rather special...the kangkong was young, well cooked, and the sambal sauce was tasty and spicy. But the crispy lard sprinkling added a dimension of greatness to this dish. Excellent.

We thought we would have had enough, but we didn't. We ordered a plate of seafood mee sua.



The mee sua was a bit ordinary...at first...we compared this to a recent meal at PuTian, and the PuTian version was all the more tasty and had more intensity. But Ming Kee was not about to roll over and be kicked away. The secret ingredient in a spicy, pungent chilli sauce made all the difference. This elevated the mee sua to another level. It heightens the taste, and savouriness. It intensifies the experience. With the chilli, I would rate this at least on par with PuTian's offering. Without the chilli, it is pedestrian.

Overall, perhaps we raised our expectations too much with the crab bee hoon...afterall was excellent. But compared to the gold standard set by Sin Huat, it pales slightly. The mussels and crayfish were outstanding. Top marks for these two dishes. And the mee sua with chilli was very very good. I would definitely return for many visits. Service by the Chinese waitresses were very good, and the captain Desmond was friendly, knowledgable and a joy to deal with.


556 Macpherson Road
6747 4075
12noon - 2pm
5pm - 11pm