Regardless how busy we are, there is one food tasting M & I will always make time for: the Crab Buffet. Very much becuase we are both hugh fans of crab, even to the extend of making time to go for a crab feast once every fornightly! As such, our expectaion of the freshness & standard of crabs offered have been set very high.
This time around we were invited to review the ‘Battle of the Crab’ Buffet @ Spice Brasserie (Located PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road which is a stone’s thrown away from Farrer Park MRT Station).
We expected nothing less from the man behind the show: Executive Chef Low Hoe Kiat whom has many years of experience ‘battling’ crabs. In fact, he made quite a name for himself upon the creation of his signature ‘Slow-Braised Pumpkin crab in Claypot’.
So, whether this buffet is gonna be crab or crap, let’s find out now..
This year, the restaurant will be presenting this tantalizing crustacean in 12 different flavours to whet your appetite, ranging from our famous local Singaporean Chilli Crab to Black Pepper Crab. Here are some of the more EXOTIC ones that kept us salivating through the whole night.
What’s special? This is the only one with a crispy hard shell and yet still edible as a whole! Grinder was provided for us to crush the crab into smaller pieces, making it a more Elderly- & Children-friendly dish. The crab itself conveyed a light saltish flavouring which is further enhanced with a careful selection of condiments/ingredients.
For those who like to munch on crispsy chips / crab, this is a combination that is sure to delight you !
Not all the crabs served that night came with a hard shell. One of my personal fav came in the form of a soft shell. This one is going to give you a feeling as though you are eating ‘chicken floss’ with crab meat inside! Very unique & unconventional way of whipping up a soft-shell crab dish. Furthermore, the texture of the soft shell crab tasted right without being too soggy or soft.
Personally as health-conscious individual, I have always been afraid of trying deep fried food as such for the fact that it might be too oily for my liking.
Fortunately, as much as this one appear oily-looking on the surface, it tasted less sinful than it seemed!
Those cooked with a light sauce like this one below gave us an indication of the freshness of the crab used in this restaurants. I am very pleased to share that their crab meat is really fresh and has a naturally-sweet taste to it.
Now to the HERO dish of the night: The Slow-Braised Pumpkin Crab . One which was seemingly the TOP pick among many other food blogges as well for that night.
What I enjoy most about this dish is the creamy & thick pumpkin gravy. It is soooo yummilicious that we finished every bit of it by dipping it with the crab meat and those fried mantou that came along with it! Furthermore, this is not commonly found in many seafood restaurant. Even if you do find it, I am quite sure it’s definitely gonna cost a premium with such a special flavour.
All in all, this is a definite MUST-TRY & we have nothing but admiration for Chef Low’s creativity after trying this one! Cheers!
The restaurant is also very generous with the size of the crabs. Rest assured you wouldn’t be “scammed” to eat tiny mini crabs here! Just look the size of this one here below!
Playing around with ‘Flavours’ is definitely the strength of this restaurant & Chef Low’s forte!
None of the 12 flavours were too ‘offensive’ to our palates even the most spicy one (Stir-Fried Crab with Japapeno)! Every single one was well-complimented to bring your crab-tasting experience to a whole new level!
If you love Korean food, try out this Stewed Kimchi Crab.
My BATTLE with the crabs that night concluded with the Salted Egg Yolk one!
I was happily ‘defeated’ in this BATTLE without a single complaint!
If you think this was all for the buffet, it wasn’t!
Apart from the ‘overpopulated’ crab dishes above, the Taste of Asia Buffet lunch & dinner also came with a Japanese counter that served a fresh selection of sashimi & sushi. There was also a seafood corner serving fresh prawns, mussels, oysters and many more. Whereas, under the cooked food section, we were greeted with a quite a good variety as well eg Roasted pork, Char Kueh Teow etc.
For desserts, there was also a myraid of choices eg Kueh Lapis in two flavours, Nonya Kuehs, Ice-cream counter & even an Ice-Kacang machine which you can DIY your own ice-kacang!
We had a great night exploring the 12 different crab dishes & their other buffet food.
Now, the Battle of Crab buffet spread @ Spice Brasserie just set a new benchmark for both of us! It is certainly not gonna be easy to find a good competitor for this one & hence we will always be happy to be back for this crab buffet that will be made available from 17th September 2015 onwards, every Thursday to Saturday evenings.
On going promotion for UOB, DBS and Maybank card holders: $60/adult
Non UOB, DBS or Maybank card holders: $75/adult and $34/child.
Find them at PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road, Lobby level.
