Thursday, September 15, 2011

Ah Yat Seafood, Singapore (Getting fresh Chili Crab & Bamboo Clams)

Before I left Singapore, I had to have the famous chili crab so my parents took me out for a seafood lunch at their favorite joint, Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant. This is the place that my parents always take out-of- towners because the seafood is super fresh and the choices are vast. Prices are also very affordable. Ah Yat is located in Turf City, an old racetrack which was converted into a food and shopping mall. The place is pretty old and run down, and unfortunately, it looks like the lease is up and tenants will be asked to vacate by the end of the year.

Besides seafood, they also serve dim sum. The best part is, dim sum is at a 50% discount on Mondays through Saturdays.

Our dim sum selection included chive dumplings, har gow and Shanghai dumplings. The steamed shrimp dumpling was pretty standard but I was pleased with the plump shrimp filling and good wrapper that wasn't thick or gummy. The crystal dumpling w/ chive with shrimp was also pretty good. The Shanghai dumpling had a soft wrapper and nice flavorful broth.

My favorite is always the turnip cake and this was freshly pan fried

Chicken feet is a dim sum staple. Nice spice to it. Much better than the one I got at the hawker center.

Bamboo clam was cooked with loads of garlic. The clams were fairly meaty and very fresh. I love that they didn't overcook the clams. The meat was tender with a sweet flavor.

Oyster with cheese was kind of like an oyster Rockefeller, except that I have never come across such a large oyster. The oyster was still fairly raw and had an amazing oceanic flavor. It was super rich as it was topped with cheese and cream. It looked a bit scary (with the cheese and all) but it was very tasty.

Chili crab is a famous Singaporean dish with lots of garlic and a thick sauce. This crab was an Indonesia crab. The very spicy sauce was so delicious that you'd want to sop it up with fresh baguette. It gets very dirty, and there's a lot of shell-licking. The best part about Ah Yat is their prices. This 1.5lb crab normally costs SGD39.99, but was SGD17 with the discount (or US$13). What a great deal but more importantly, what an amazing dish.

This place hits the marks on all point. There is no corkage. Not only are the prices very affordable, but the seafood is spectacular. They get a huge supply of fresh seafood every day and the selections are massive.

After lunch, we checked out the live seafood tanks in the back area and found really unique seafood such as jumbo clams, conchs, geoduck, many different crabs including Sri lanka crabs, snow crabs, Alaskan crabs.


It's sad that Ah Yat and the other tenants have to relocate at year end. I'm hoping they will find a home elsewhere, because this place really is a hidden gem.

Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant
200 Turf Club Road #03-01
Singapore
+65 6883 2112

1 comment:

kikay_dhel said...

You don't need t worry. Ah YAt Abalone in turf club road was just renovated but they are still there to stay.