#Noshtalgia. That’s what’s last night’s meal was. I managed to hurtle back in time to a place my family use to hold family gatherings for celebrations (we hit the peak in the ‘90s I think), thanks to Louis. He had told me this place has the best white pepper crab in Singapore in his opinion, and since I hadn’t been there in forever and a day, somehow our conversation led to dinner being organised.
No Signboard Seafood does look a little different these days, but all I was really interested in, was the food. And boy, did it deliver.
We sipped on a delicious herbal soup with fresh bullfrog to start, which I swear is the best way to warm up for the rest of the meal. The white pepper crab was a stunner, featuring very good quality Sri Lankan crab cooked in a buttery sauce that was insanely fragrant and tasty (I had a huge urge to lick the plate clean but resisted). Each of our large bamboo clams steamed with glass vermicelli and golden-brown bits of fried garlic was flawlessly executed, and the accompanying dip of chilli, fresh herbs and raw garlic formed a most addictive combo with it. Louis shared that this restaurant’s “la la” (clams) stirfried in garlic and chili padi is his all-time favourite in Singapore and I can understand why - the dish turned out to be so appetising I wish we had tripled the size of our order. We had to get a serving of the restaurant’s mee goreng too since I had forgotten how the old-school style of fried yellow mee tasted. And yup, it was still cooked tomato-sweet, spicy and gunky with pieces of seafood and “tau kwa”, and still had the power to seal the deal for instant food coma.
The total bill for the three of us came to about $330, inclusive of a plate of sambal kang kong and a fresh coconut each. Thanks again Louis for footing it this time.