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While some are drawn to atas , local speak referring to high-class, dining places, serious
foodies will know First Grade Seafood Palace as the place to go for black pepper crabs.
Located in a corner of a coffee shop, the store is managed by Ah Huat and his younger
brother, taking over the reins from their father, whom started out selling crabs at
Rocher Road in Singapore.
Although crabs are eaten by Singaporeans everyday, the dish sees a huge jump in popularity during
special ocassions or festive seasons like Chinese New Year.
Ah Huat, who has been in the business for 40 years, says he has seen the price of crabs
increase four-fold and tries his best to absorb the difference in prices whenever possible.
Crabs begin to decompose the moment they die and the store ensures that all dead crabs
are discarded and does not re-sell them to customers for a cheaper price.
Unwanted parts such as the crab's gills and abdomen, which contains the excretory and
reproductive organs, are removed before washing. Although using Sri Lankan mud crabs seems
to be the norm, Ah Huat adds that he is not adverse to using crabs from India, Vietnam
or Indonesia. He places emphasis on the quality and quantity of the meat and not where the
crabs are from.
Using wooden pegs, each order of crabs is marked with a table number before they are
passed to the chef.
The ingredients that go into making the delectable black pepper sauce is carefully guarded and
both brothers keep mum on the subject, only venturing as far to say that their sauce is
different from the rest.
Cooked on high heat, the crabs are placed into the wok and the secret black pepper sauce
is added. Killing the crabs and chopping them into parts before cooking is recommended because
it is more humane and also allows the meat to be evenly cooked.
As the brothers promised, the black pepper sauce is the dish's winning factor. The peppercorns
are fragrant and have a penetrating aroma. The heat grows on you but the sauce is tempered
with a mild sweetness and does not overpower the delicate sweetness of the crab meat.
While you are here, you can also order a serving of chilli crabs. Asked about the prevailing
myth that crabs from Sri Lanka feed on human cadaver, Ah Huat believes it is an urban legend
and shares that even though crabs are scravengers, corposes eventually float to the surface of
the water.
Even though the dish is not the store's signature dish, that is not to say that it tastes shoddy.
The sauce is mildly sweet and leaves a lingering spiciness in your mouth.
The store does not provide buns for you to mop up the sauce but you can order a plate
of Seafood Fried Rice to go with the dish. Cooked with eggs, prawns, scallions and spring
onions, the bland fragrance of the rice goes well with the strong flavor of the black pepper
crabs.
Another popular side order is the Seafood Mee Goreng . The yellow noodles are stir-fried
with some vegetables and seafood and is best eaten by itself because of the intensity of
its flavor.
The crowd is heaviest during lunch and dinner hours so make sure you give the store a call
before making your way down, in case the crabs are sold out.
The last few years have seen a steady increase in local enterpreneurs turning out home-grown
brands and Tom's Palette is one of them.
Co-founder, Chronos, says that he originally wanted to start the ice-cream store with his
good friend, Tom, but he was skeptical about the practicality and sustainability of managing
an ice-cream store in Singapore.
Though they are still good friends, Chronos reveals that the name of the store is more
thna just to prove Tom wrong, but serves as a reminder of the challenges he faced in starting
the business.
Founded in 2005, Chronos runs the store with his wife, Eunice, and the ice-cream parlour
churns out a new flavor every month. The time to create a new ice-cream flavor varies from
a couple of weeks to a few months and depends both on the complexity of the recipe and the
feedback from customers.
In the beginning when business was poor, Eunice decided to create an ice-cream flavor that
will rival the popularity of the cookies sold by the tenant next to their store.
The result was Granny's Favorite. The chocolate-flavored ice-cream is smooth and the addition of malt
and cookie dough gives it a slightly chewy and crunchy texture.
Another perennial favorite is Salted Caramel Cheesecake, one of the first savory ice-cream
flavors created by Tom's Palette.
French custard is used as the base of the ice-cream and consists of beating butter,
sugar and liquid egg together until they take on the consistency of custard.
To make the salted caramel sauce, a slab of butter is melted in the pot, along with some
sugar. Cold cream is later added and the mixture is stirred until it is smooth before salt,
and vanilla flavoring are poured in.
The taste of the cheese flavor blends nicely with the subtle sweetness of the caramel sauce
and does not overpower the tastebuds.
One of the best-sellers is the Salted Egg Yolk ice-cream, which was inspired by the
salted egg custard bun the husband-and-wife team ate when they were in Hong Kong.
Made from milk, cream, sugar and salted eggs, the savory ice-cream has the grainy texture
of salted eggs and has a well-balanced mix of briny flavor and mild milky sweetness.
For something dark and intense, you can try the Chocolate Sorbet.
If you are lactose-intolerant but can take dark chocolate, you can try the sorbet as
an alternative to the other flavors as it does not contain milk, cream or eggs. Smooth
and creamy, the ice-cream does not have the characteristic crystalline texture sorbets
typically have.
Other unique flavors include Mango Sticky Rice. Made from milk, cream, sugar, coconut,
glutinuous rice and bits of mango, the delish ice-cream flavor is enhanced by the delicate
aroma of the coconut and retains the essence of the traiditional Thai dessert.