Chili Crabs, Pepper Crabs

Eng Seng coffeeshop only has a limited number of crabs each night. Anxious diners routinely queue on weekends.

It has been another stirring weekend for the Passengers in Singapore. I want to put up a post before the week takes off again at full tilt. We recently took an outing to a small, open-air diner known as a coffeeshop, or kopitiam. No one went for coffee. Instead, Eng Seng on Joo Chiat Place specializes in chili crab and pepper crab, two of Singapore’s signature dishes. Pieces of Sri Lankan crab are fried up in thick, savory blends of spices and served up with pieces of bread for mopping up the sauce. The sweet meat of the crab flesh nicely balances the piquancy of the spices. This dining establishment attracts a very local crowd; our party was the only collection of Angmos (white folks) all night. The bill for eight crabs, drinks, plates of noodles and vegetables, and bowls of fried rice totted up to less than S$200 (about 138 USD today). Hard to argue.

Pepper crab was my personal favorite. Eng Seng will also serve steamed crabs for those who demand purity or lack a sense of adventure.

Chili crabs come with lots of tasty sauce. The Tiger bottle (back left) is the flavorful local lager.

The Joo Chiat area features preserved shop houses built with store fronts below and living space above. This stall sold overwhelmingly fragrant durians, definitely a subject for a future post.