One of Singapore’s national dishes, chilli crab was created in 1956 by street food hawker, Cher Yam Tian, when she added bottled chilli sauce to her stir-fried crabs which she sold from a pushcart in Kallang.
Using mud crabs, which are known for their deliciously sweet and juicy flesh, chilli crab typically features a semi-thick, spicy, tomato-based sauce that is designed to be soaked up with a soft and fluffy steamed bun or mantou (Chinese bun). Although the dish is now available in most seafood restaurants across the island, not every chilli crab in Singapore is created equal.
But fret not, here at Urban List we have cracked open the claws of almost every chilli crab variation across the country to bring you the best of the best. From secret family recipes to adjustable chilli levels, here is where you’ll find the best chilli crab in Singapore. Oh, and word to the wise, don’t forget your wet wipes, eating chilli crab can get very messy!
Mellben Seafood
232 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, St 22, #01-1222, 560232
Image credit: Mellben | Supplied
Mellben’s chilli crab is a go-to for Singaporeans thanks to its extra-large crabs and deliciously spicy yet slightly sweet chilli sauce, which can be adjusted according to your heat preference. But be warned, after being listed in the Singapore Michelin Guide with a Michelin Plate in 2019, Mellben Seafood has become so popular it’s almost impossible to get a table.
Roland Restaurant
89 Marine Parade Central #06-750, 440089
Roland Lim, son of Cher Yam Tian, the original chilli crab creator, set up Roland Restaurant in 2000. Offering a taste of his mother’s original recipe, Roland’s chilli crab is much sweeter and milder than most which helps showcase the natural flavour of the crab. And unlike a lot of chilli crab recipes, this version does not include eggs or sambal, which is what gives the dish its sour taste.
Palm Beach Seafood
One Fullerton, 1 Fullerton Road, #01-09
Image credit: Palm Beach Seafood | Facebook
After selling chilli crab from her pushcart for a number of years, Madam Cher Yam Tian opened Palm Beach Seafood in 1962 along Upper East Coast Road. Sadly, Cher and her husband sold their shares in the business and moved to New Zealand, but Palm Beach’s chilli crab is still just as tender and sweet as it was 50 years ago.
Today, the restaurant has relocated to One Fullerton and has become a hot favourite with locals and foreigners alike thanks to its timeless chilli crab recipe alongside other popular dishes like black pepper crab and coco-lobo (live lobster with vermicelli served in a fragrant broth).
Holycrab
Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore, 13 Stamford Road, #01-85
A forerunner of Singapore’s much loved private dining scene, HolyCrab started life inside Chef Elton’s personal kitchen where he cooked up a range of delicious crab dishes for his customers. In 2017, the chef decided to open a brick-and-mortar shop which has gone from strength to strength.
Alongside their Singapore chill crab, which is sweet yet savoury, the Green Mumba comes highly recommend. It features a Sri Lankan mud crab cooked in a savoury green chilli sauce.
Ministry of Crab Singapore
6 Dempsey Road
Image credit: Ministry of Crab Singapore | Supplied
Arguably the most famous restaurant that’s not to be missed in Colombo, Ministry of Crab cracked its way to the fore as one of the only two Sri Lankan restaurants to ever make it into the revered Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
Founded by Chef Dharshan together with Sri Lankan cricketing legends Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, Ministry of Crab has carved a name for itself as the place to go for the best crustacean dishes. Each dish is cooked using the freshest catch from the waters of Sri Lanka and perfected by Chef Dharshan’s recipes that draw from his dual-heritage, combining Sri Lankan ingredients with Japanese culinary philosophies.
The Singapore restaurant marks the brand’s sixth international outpost after Bangkok, Shanghai, Chengdu, Maldives and Mumbai as part of its mission to share the goodness of Sri Lankan crabs with the rest of the world.
To ensure freshness, all crabs are air-flown from Sri Lanka live three times a week. Wild caught in small batches, never farmed, they are sustainably obtained via the extensive network of fisherfolk who catch crabs around the isle of Sri Lanka. The mud crabs served range from the 500g ½ Kilo Crab to the Crabzilla that weighs more than 2kg, while the giant freshwater prawns served range from 150g Small Prawn to the Prawnzilla that weighs more than 500g. The crabs are cooked in a variety of ways to bring out the purest flavours—try them baked, steamed or wok-ed with garlic chilli, black pepper and more.
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Red House Seafood
Various Locations
Offering a choice of Sri Lankan Mud Crab, Scottish Brown Crab and Alaskan King Crab, Red House Seafood’s chilli crab has a deep tomato flavour which is tangy yet sweet, making it perfect for those who don’t like too much spice. A dash of vinegar helps to smooth the overly generous amount of sauce.
Jumbo Seafood
Various Locations
Image credit: Jumbo Seafood | Supplied
Jumbo Seafood has been serving chilli crab since 1987 and has become a weekly tradition for many families. With various outlets scattered across the island, Jumbo is known for its extremely meaty crabs and its unique sauce which includes crushed peanuts for an added crunch.
Long Beach Seafood
Various Locations
If you like your chilli crab to have a bit of a kick, Long Beach Seafood is the place to go. The sizable Sri Lankan Mud Crabs are doused in a spicier-than-average sauce, which is thickened with eggs and should be soaked up with your choice of fried or steamed buns.
JB Ah Meng
534 Geylang Road
Image credit: JB Ah Meng | Facebook
Frequently visited by some of Singapore’s top chefs (and some of the most famous chefs in the world), JB Ah Meng is a Bib Gourmand awardee famous for its white pepper crab.
Owner Wang Feng stir-fries Sarawak white pepper, ginger and spring onions with meaty Sri Lankan crabs to create a dish so good that the late Anthony Bourdain wanted to include it in one of his New York restaurants. Wang ultimately refused Bourdain’s invitation as he wanted to focus on his little restaurant in Geylang and serve the locals.
JB Ah Meng’s chilli crab is also another hot seller and features mud crabs smothered in a sweet, spicy, and tangy tomato-based sauce.
If crab isn’t your thing, the JB san lou mee hoon is another one of the restaurant's signature dishes. Vermicelli noodles are stir-fried with squid and prawns until it resembles a pancake. The outside is deliciously crispy while the inside stays nice and moist.
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Main image credit: Jumbo Seafood | Supplied
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