Passionate Chiang Mai - Singapore Food Review

[LawrenceChee]

Finally got to this place and met Leo and his team. Restaurant is just a few doors after the Boat restaurant located at CMU

We arrived at 6pm as we didn't want to get into the crowds and were disappointed to be told that we have to pre-order fresh crabs by 5pm daily as he has a limited supply

We ordered 4 dishes to try the authenticity of the Singaporean tastes or Straits food

- Black Pepper Prawns

- Kang Kong Vegetables

- Singapore Chilli Crabs

- Man Tou ( Fried Buns)

Overall for ambience this is one of the restaurant where you go only for the food , the setup and decor is similar to many Thai restaurants and nothing to write about.

Man Tou - Too oily and he didn't have the original buns used in Singapore Chilli Crabs ; after our order he popped over to probably the 7-11 next door and bought some thick sliced bread to fry. I would give this a 6/10. Good try but the original is better

Kang Kong - Done right but this is a common dish in most Thai restaurants

Black Pepper Prawns - Leo told us everything is fresh and delivered daily. As I work in the hospitality trade , he would need to switch supplier soon, Talay Tong done in my other review has very fresh prawns and this while fresh is certainly not one of the best ; prawn heads were easily dislocated from the body and that's a clear sign it's not the best . Taste was overpowered by the a black pepper used and unfortunately this dish gets a 6/10 from me

Chilli Crabs - This was really my main highlight and I went there specifically for this ; the usage of flower crabs is not really good as it diminishes the taste of this iconic Singaporean dish which uses Sri Lankan crabs.

Compared to the namesake Jumbo & No Signboard Singapore which serves this as this main dish, the one provided by Leo is some home comfort , the sauce is tasty , a little too sweet and the eggs yolks in the sauce was not thick enough

Seeing I was just in Singapore 3days ago before my flight here and I had 2 servings of chilli crab, this one would rate 7/10 and if I am here for months it would serve as a great home sick dish.

I suspect the sauce sold in Tops by the brand Prima would have given a similar taste

Sorry folks ...I have seen a lot of positive reviews of this restaurant and honestly tasting all these dishes doesn't give me a return soon feeling .

I would welcome a new restaurant serving straits food to expand our palate but from a taste perspective it is 6.5/10 for me and Talay Tong would remain my favourite seafood go to place in Chiang Mai.

[LawrenceChee]

Forgot to upload pics

[Thailand]

Best prawns we have ever had were at a Gung Pao restaurant, almost a dai pai dong on the left hand side on the road between the mini golf and the umbrella factory at Bosan.

Great steamed, grilled, curried,or whatever you prefer. They are delivered regularly and kept alive until ordered for cooking. Many good Thai dishes also.

[chingmai331]

Never heard of 'fried man-tou'. Always steamed, hot, chewy and very white. Well, i have had man-tou, hours old, sliced and toasted over the charcoal in the 'da pai dangs' of northern China. Fried, never.

Crabs, regardless of taste, far and away toooooooo messy for me. No serviette big enough. You may have mine.

[LawrenceChee]

True it's a messy dish never bring your first date there

Fried man tou is a Singaporean thing with chilli crabs probably why you never seen it

[cmth]

I do not eat seafood or fish so I can't comment on that. Nor do I know anything about what food from Singapore should taste like. Therefore I consider myself an expert on the subject. (Isn't that how it works?) The pork and chicken dishes here are superb. Everything is always fresh, the taste is excellent, and the presentation looks good. Is it authentic? No idea. Is is good food at a fair price? Most definitely.