Travelling to me is often associated with food. Well, if I’m honest, I associate a lot of things in life with food (going out on dates, catch ups with friends, family members’ birthdays, parties, public holidays, long weekends, sad moments, happy moments, you name it…)
Having travelled to Singapore not so long ago (see my blog on dishes such as frogs’ legs porridge, Singaporean chilli crab and kaya toast here: Part 1 and Part 2), this trip was much more relaxed and more about exploring the hawker centres.
Before I do a separate blog on the hawker centres though, I have to say that the best meal I had this time was at Long Beach, and namely their famous black pepper crab. I had heard from many people that the black pepper crab is amazing and possibly even better than the chilli crab, but I remained sceptical. The meal blew me away. It’s different to the chilli crab which is typically served in a thick eggy, tomatoey, chilli sauce which you mop up with some fried buns. The black pepper crab was drier, though they do provide you with a bowl of the black pepper sauce on the side to dip your crab in (I’m just drooling thinking about that sauce,,,). The black pepper sauce was hot (and in fact, spicier than the chilli crab), flavoursome and more salty than sweet. The service at Long Beach (we went to the one in Dempsey Hill which felt almost like being in the forest if you sit outside!) was impeccable. The staff were so nice and attentive, and they even de-shelled the crab for us which was a new experience for me and made eating the crab a much cleaner and more pleasant experience.
I have to also spare some words to talk about the cool dish we had as an entree at Long Beach – the fresh baby sotong in a chilli and lime sauce. I don’t believe I have had sotong in Australia (though if someone is aware of where I can find it, please let me know!) – it tasted like a baby squid, chewy and sweet. The chilli and lime sauce was a perfect balance to the freshness of the steamed sotong and it was a great way to start the meal before the more greasy dishes came out.
I cannot recommend Long Beach at Dempsey enough. Go go go if you’re in Singapore! If anyone also has any recommendations for where I can get the black pepper crab in Sydney, let me know via email at imhangry.au@gmail.com
Details: Long Beach, 25 Dempsey Road, Singapore 249670
I'm Hangry 