Riverside Feast

Clarke Quay is touted to be a tourist spot, however I as a local love hanging out at Clarke Quay. With its recent headline news for over-charging some tourists (a $800 bill for 4 dishes that included a $500 crab or similar!), tourists should have stuck to the safer side over at Riverside Walk. A row of well-known restaurants with quality and quantity of mouth watering eats resides.

Sitting by the river, Singapore's famous chilli crab is not to be missed. 

The top seafood restaurants in Singapore (in no order) are No Signboard, Jumbo and Long Beach. Chilli crab can all be found in any seafood restaurant, and even hawkers but Jumbo's chilli crab ($40/kg) is authentic. With 13 spices, it is tangy and a littler spicier than the rest. After all, it is meant to be chilli and not tomato crab.

Jumbo's other signature dish amongst many, is the Salted Egg Golden Prawn. A Cantonese dish, it is sinfully indulging! Coated with salted egg, the prawns remain succulent, springy and fresh. Fried with a batter, it was a pleasant surprise that my lips didn't feel oily after. 

I would gladly do a marathon for 8 golden prawns ($20). I don't even have to peel them!

Eating chilli crabs will never be a glamourous thing to do. My dad would give up eating crabs because he don't want to go through the trouble. Me? I'd lick my fingers and yours too! Ok, maybe not yours.

A tad spicy gravy with a Maggie tomato base and egg, the fried buns is a necessary complement to go along!

Jumbo
Riverside Walk
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 Colourful Jamaican chairs draws attention to Cafe Iguana just next door. It is often a first stop for me and friends before we paint the town red across the bridge!

Or we simply play musical chairs with the colourful stools as we catch-up with one another over jugs of Margaritas ($65/jug). I do not favour alcohol, however if i were to have one, one of my favourite places is definitely here!

I haven't been to Mexico, but i would envision it to be like this interior! Fans over the sweltering Mexican heat, bright colours and Caucasians chilling.

Complimentary chips with homemade salsa for every table. Perfect for afternoons when it's just you, a book and Soursop margarita.

Cafe Iguana

Riverside Walk 

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I can't be a food blogger. I am so greedy that i often take a bite too soon and then realise "oh shit, i haven't photograph it." Why do people document their food anyway? What do they do with 17,000 pictures of food? Do they reminisce the taste, like normal people reminisce pictures of REAL PEOPLE? Maybe food bloggers also smack their lips as they see photographs of people.

A secret i was taught is to down a shot of Jagermeister whenever you are too full from food or feeling bloated. This medicinal herb liqueur helps with digestion, albeit it makes your tummy burn a little.

One of the best Fish & Chips i've eaten in Singapore, the fish within the batter is soft and juicy. The portion you see above was merely a sampler.

Harry's Bar
Riverside Walk
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 Honestly, Riverside Walk has one good place lined up after another!

I am definitely not a beer drinker (it gives you a gut!), but whenever i am at Brewerkz, i simply can't give their home brews a miss!

Unlike any other beer, it suits a lady's palette. Definitely a thirst quencher!

What caught my eye was their Scholar Red Beer, a red sticky rice beer based on an ancient tradition from China! They are launching it next week and according to tradition, scholars drank the alcoholic beverage before the Imperial exams and into the nights to inspire the intellect! Students above 18, please tell me if it works!

Buffalo wings and beer go like peanut and butter. We went straight to Suicide and skipped the mild and hot that are for wussies.

Still am alive.

If only these ready-to-cook sauces were made before i went to study overseas! Jumbo's chilli crabs would have been with us at birthday celebrations, exam celebrations and many more gatherings in our student lives and home sick nights!

Retailing soon and launching at next month's Food Festival, it is perfect as gifts to overseas Singaporeans as well as foreigners to take back home and introduce our fine country!

And if you're trying to impress that mother-in-law or lover? Fake it by whipping up chilli crab/lobster/crayfish/prawns at home. Just make sure you throw the box down the chute and not something that will be discovered if someone visits the rubbish bin!

Foreign readers, if you would like to try the infamous chilli and pepper crabs at home, drop me a mail at chrispytine@gmail.com, i'd air freight it to you! Local readers, you can too! Just remember to invite me when you fake it. I promise i'll try not to make a mess out of your dining table :)