Tried both the white pepper crab and chilli crab in one sitting at No Signboard Seafood as part of a celebration meal. It’s been a really long time since I visited No Signboard and I am pleasantly surprised by how good the chilli crab is. It retains a decent level of spiciness (also not too spicy so more people can enjoy the dish), without letting the sweetness of the tomato sauce dominate the whole dish. I felt there was a semi sweet dried longan aftertaste but none of my dining companions commented about it. The chilli crab gravy here looks a bit like curry-laksa, with runny egg mixed into it. Super delicious dip for the golden mantou goodness!

The white pepper crab is arguably more famous than the chilli crabs here, and I can see why. The pepper fragrance is super inviting, and the thick white pepper sauce was just screaming to be used as a dip. I even poured it over my Ee fu noodles as a gravy. The peppery spice is definitely distinct from chilli spiciness, so even if you’re not into spicy foods, the white pepper gravy is a good alternative.

The crabs at No Signboard are also served pretty well cracked so you don’t actually need to use the crab cracker to get at the meat! If you have a friend who is prone to getting gravy all over themselves or on the people near them, you can get a bib from the waitstaff if you’re wearing light colours.

We had a male crab for the white pepper crab and a female one for the chilli crab. Apart from the roe, I’m not sure if that makes a difference with the sweetness of the meat, but the chilli crab meat tasted many times sweeter than the crab meat from the white pepper crab. That said, both myself and my colleague woke up the following day thinking of the white pepper crab, so there’s definitely something magical in that sauce!