Much like how Mala Xiangguo came to our shores from China and quickly became the hottest food in town, crawfish has been the craze as of late. These crustaceans are often referred to as ‘baby lobsters‘ or ‘xiao long xia‘ due to their similar appearance to their more expensive counterpart. Whether you’ve jumped on the bandwagon or are not sure where to go to taste it, here are 10 places to go to for crawfish in Singapore.
Located in Chinatown, Oriental Chinese Restaurant is most known for its Chinese barbecued skewers or chuan chuan. However, the restaurant also does a wide variety of Northeastern and Sichuan-style Chinese food, including crawfish. The crawfish here is cooked with Shi San Xiang, or Thirteen Spices, which is a blend of 13 herbs and spices, and is available in small ($21) and medium ($38).
193, 195, 197 New Bridge Rd, 059425
8 Crabs is an online crab and seafood delivery service that prides itself on serving the freshest crabs to your doorstep. The brand has since expanded to include crawfish into its repertoire. They have two portion sizes available. Regular ($38) weighs 1kg and is recommended for three to five pax while large weighs 2kg and is good for five to seven. Choose from two flavours currently available: Spicy Mala and Garlic Butter.
Order here.
Kiap! is the F&B arm of Singapore Crawfish that touts itself to be the world’s first high-tech crawfish hatchery. In short, they provide farm-to-table crawfishes. Kiap! is located in Shenton Foodhall and serve two flavours of crawfishes – Louisiana-style and Mala. Each is served with various seafood and vegetables and are available in two sizes: $79.90 for two to three pax and $129.90 for four to five pax.
3 Shenton Way, #01-04 Shenton Foodhall, Shenton House, 068805
Nestled within Clarke Quay, HuTong serves up Northern Chinese cuisine, particularly barbecued skewers. In their barbecued seafood offering, however, is the Flambé Mala Crayfish ($38.90). As the name implies, the crawfish is first stir-fried in mala spices before they get flambéed with Chinese Mao Tai liquor at your table.
3D River Valley Rd, #01-07 Block D, Singapore 179023
Huda Restaurant is said to hail from Beijing, China and aims to set itself apart with its tastes as well as crawfish and lobster offerings. Three options of crawfish ($58) are served here – Mala, Garlic and Cold – alongside classic Chinese dishes such as Sichuan-style Boiled Fish, Chongqing Diced Spicy Chicken and Homemade Stir-fried Shredded Potato.
56 Temple St, Singapore 058601
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Perfect for the ‘gram, crawfish at 6ix 6ix is served atop a cute crawfish table piece. At $66, you will have four flavours to choose from: Mala, Thirteen Spices, Garlic and Chilli Oil. Frog meat is also served here, for those who are feeling adventurous and want to try the protein.
23 Cuppage Road, Cuppage Terrace, 229453
Located within the Geylang food mecca area, Golden Jade is well-loved for its Chinese food. They offer five crawfish flavours here, three spicy and two non-spicy. The former are Mala, Black Pepper and White and Black Pepper while the latter are Salted Egg and Pepper and Salt. There is also a Mala Crawfish set that includes 1kg of crustaceans as well as proteins and vegetables such as clams and cucumbers.
271 Geylang Rd, Singapore 389324
As the name implies, Sichuan cuisine is celebrated at Old Chengdu. The restaurant has even been featured in a CCTV4 documentary. Mala Crawfish and Garlic Crawfish, both $25.80, are sold here. The former includes lotus root and celery while the latter has cucumbers added.
80 Pagoda St, Singapore 059239
Easties, this place is for you. Ba Shu refers to the Ba and Shu states that occupied the Sichuan region today and had existed prior to 316 BC. Besides the wide array of Sichuan food, they do both Mala and Garlic Crawfish ($32 each).
219 Bedok Central, #01-122, Singapore 460219
Don’t feel like heading out to queue for food? Then make your own crawfish in the comfort of your own home with pre-packed options at Fairprice. There are various brands available with options of Mala, Garlic and Thirteen Spices. These start at $14.95 and just need to be reheated before consumption.
Order it here.
This article was first published in The Singapore Women’s Weekly.