Singapore, Part II: The Chili Crab Feast

{Psst... here's Singapore, Part I if you missed it!}

The lovely Lea contacted me via Twitter a few months ago to inform me that I must try chili crab — a Singapore specialty — when I was in town. In fact, she generously offered to take me out to Jumbo Seafood on The Riverwalk! 

I arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early and caught this shot of the moon rising over the shimmering Singapore River. This is when the city really began to wow me.

I'm always a little nervous to meet people from the Interwebs, but Lea is super sweet, friendly and easy to chat with. Plus, she wasted no time ordering a massive amount of food for us. I let her make all the decisions, and she rocked it.

We started with beautiful roasted duck that was wonderfully moist and juicy with rich, golden, caramelized skin. I would've been totally happy if we had just eaten this!

I also enjoyed my first frosty Tiger beer. Rawr.

Then came the main event: chili crab!

That is a whole, luscious crab just swimming in a slightly spicy tomato-and-chili sauce and covered with a generous dose of cilantro — my favorite, and known to the rest of the world as coriander, I've discovered.

We dug right in with our hands and crab crackers, grabbing these delightful little buns to mop up all the delicious extra sauce and crab bits. They disappeared so quickly that we simply had to order a second round.

We donned oh-so-stylish bibs to catch any flying sauce. You never know when you're working with crab crackers!

The verdict? It was fabulous. I'm a huge seafood fan, but I'm used to eating crab prepared simply with butter sauce for dipping. The chili sauce made the crab so tender, and its rich spiciness put a whole new spin on it for me.

A platter of asparagus arrived later in the meal as sort of an afterthought, but it was some of the best asparagus I've ever had. It was super garlicky and perfectly cooked — a real winner. We had no problem polishing it off.

Lea and I left Jumbo Seafood feeling ridiculously stuffed and satisfied. Apparently she takes all her out-of-town visitors to Jumbo and orders nearly the same lineup every time, and she even had some frequent-customer discount cards.

Good call, Lea. Thank you so much for the delicious meal and wonderful company!

The lights of Singapore continued to captivate me as we strolled around The Riverwalk, Clarke Quay and toward the Marina Bay waterfront. This city is beautiful by day, but it truly sparkles at night.

The next time I visit Singapore, I'm going to stay here...

...or here!

Oh holy gorgeousness. Singapore, you kill me.

More on the mind-boggling Marina Bay Sands resort — and the view from the top — to come in my third and final Singapore post!

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