Chilli crab is one of the national dishes of Singapore. It’s a popular and loved dish in the country and all over the world. Finding the right establishment to cook the chilli crab can be rather difficult but luckily there are some well established names like Jumbo Seafood and Long Beach that are easy to remember and lookout for.
| Highlights | You have to try their chilli crab. If cost is a concern, you can always select their cheapest crab which they are happy to oblige |
| Cost | S$100 for chilli crab |
| Location | 25 Dempsey Rd, Singapore 249670 |
| Website | https://longbeachseafood.com.sg/ |
Chilli crab is an expensive dish, often over S$100 for the dish itself with a fresh crab and the chilli sauce plus a side of mantou (deep fried bread for dipping in the chilli sauce). Eating out at one of these establishments is a sometimes thing, because it’s very expensive and can easily reach S$300 once you factor in all the other additional side dishes and drinks.
Long Beach at Dempsey Hill is located in the Dempsey Hill precinct where several fancy restaurants and clothes stores are located. Most of the places are in separate buildings, unconnected to one another. The restaurant entrance is unique in that you have to travel via the rear door to find the main restaurant, which isn’t very big. The interior looks and feels very elegant with tanks of live sea creatures along the side.
My experience
We were seated and I ordered the smallest serving of their Chilli Crab, the minimum was 800g, and a serving of six pieces of mantou. (So already over S$100 at this point.) Then I added some Live Prawns with Salted Egg Sauce and their Seafood Fried Noodles.
I was told by the server that the shelled, live prawns were fresh whereas the unshelled, non-live prawns were frozen. Given that I was with a company of people who preferred fresh seafood, I opted for the live prawns with salted egg sauce.
The Chilli Crab was exceptionally good. They provided us with bibs, lobster/crab crackers, and wet hand towels (which you have to pay for if you use). It was great to be able to dip the deep fried mantou into the chilli sauce. The crab was fresh and a delight to feast upon.
The live prawns were also excellent. The salted egg was a great choice as a sauce and went well with the succulent prawn meat. While the Seafood Fried Noodles was a decent side dish.
In all, we tried some top dishes at Long Beach at Dempsey Hill. The servers were helpful and ensured the table was clearer, water jug was filled from time to time. It was a great experience. Just remember to add the 10% service fee plus the 7% GST on top of the final price, and then you realize why eating at a restaurant in Singapore is a sometimes thing.
Though it’s a out of the way, it’s worth visiting. We traveled here by using a vehicle we hired on Grab. Long Beach at Dempsey Hill is located at 25 Dempsey Road, Singapore 249670: