If I were to have one quibble, it was that the sauce was more sweet than spicy, though the lack of fieriness is apparently a trademark of Singapore chilli crab. The sauce was savoury and finger-licking good – I was literally licking it off my finger. The kitchen had done the hard work for us by slightly loosening the shells so we could pry them apart with our fingers, and the ensuing flesh was sweet and fragrant. True to Gingko Leaf Girl’s words, Red Hot Wok’s chilli crab was pure perfection. It is commonplace for crab dishes in Malaysia and Singapore to be served with mantou, a Chinese steamed bun used to mop up the sauces the crab is cooked it, and so we ordered a plate of that alongside our chilli crab. What makes Red Hot Wok’s version even better is the fact that the chilli crab is served atop a bed of stringy egg noodles the noodles are submerged in the sauce the crab is cooked in. It’s very much a dish you need to use your hands for, hence why Red Hot Wok supplied us with wet towelettes to clean our hands and hot lemon water after for the very same reason. Mud crab is chosen for its sweet and abundant flesh. Singapore chilli crab has a very particular preparation method – shell-on mud crabs are stir-fried in a viscous chilli and tomato-based sauce thickened with egg and corn flour. Why a famous Singaporean dish in a Malaysian Chinese restaurant, you may ask? Because the food is pretty much interchangeable, although a former Malaysian tourism minister would beg to differ after causing a mini furore in 2009 for claiming Singapore’s chilli crab was in fact Malaysian. What differentiates Chinese Malaysian food from Chinese food? For one, there’s the inclusion of ingredients such as asam (tamarind) and sambal (dried shrimp chilli paste) and dishes particular to Malaysia, such as Ipoh hor fun (a flat rice noodle dish prepared with poached chicken originating from the north-western Malaysian city Ipoh), Nyonya fried vermicelli (a spicy, sour noodle dish prepared by Peranakan descendants) and Indian mee goreng (an Indian Muslim hawker-style egg noodle dish which is also prepared by Chinese Malaysians because we’re harmonious like that).įor once, I didn’t bother checking the menu beforehand because Gingko Leaf Girl had pre-ordered a crab so we could try Red Hot Wok’s famous Singapore chilli crab. If I had to choose three cuisines to solely survive on for the rest of my life – I think about this important question a lot – Chinese Malaysian would be one of them, and so I was highly excited when Gingko Leaf Girl suggested we try Red Hot Wok, a Chinese Malaysian restaurant in South Yarra. Who: Fine Dining Club – Beer Jenga Master and Gingko Leaf Girlīloat score: 4 – If I were lying prostrate on my tummy, it would have looked as though I was levitating Where: Red Hot Wok, 313 Toorak Road South Yarra
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