Tekong Seafood Restaurant

Like most people, I appreciate the robust meatiness of Sri Lankan Crabs but the Flower Crabs I grew up eating, offer a slightly different experience that is no less pleasurable. Feminine almost, because they’re smaller with a thinner shell and possess a flesh that is sweeter, lighter.
The ones my parents and I ate at Tekong Seafood last Friday were fantastic. Every part of their shell was filled to the fullest with the deliciously sweet meat. Less fresh or healthy specimens would be “emptier” and limp in texture within.
There’s a number of ways you can choose to have your crabs cooked here and after some deliberation, we went with “Curry and Spices”.
It turned out to be very tasty. Think of it like a very dry version of the gravy in an Indian-style curry fish head dish - richly aromatic and spicy. I did worry it might be too much for the Flower Crab’s delicate flavour but nope, the sweet flesh held its own against the strong sauce surprisingly well.
FYI - we paid $66 for the above.

When a restaurant has been around for decades, you know they must be doing something right.
“Tekong Seafood Restaurant” started on Pulau Tekong almost half a century ago in 1971 and the family still runs it today.
Service is friendly and earnest, and that made my first meal here a really pleasant one as my parents and I felt very well taken care of.
The menu is extensive with a focus on seafood items as suggested by their name. That however, doesn’t mean that they don’t have special dishes outside of the category. Shown above is the “Mani Chye”, a unique creation we found very appealing. The dark fibrous leaves of the vegetable were cooked till quite soft and its typical bitter edge wasn’t present. While the egg rounded off the soupy gravy with a nice smooth body, I thought throwing on crispy, slightly salty ikan bilis as a finishing touch was brilliant as it kicked up a little textural excitement to each slurp.

Although this was my first time at Tekong Seafood Restaurant, I found out from chatting to one of the owners that they have actually been around for over 40 years.
A family-run business, they were originally on Pulau Tekong for over 10 years before being moved to their present location in Changi. Previously, they took up the entire sprawling unit of Block 6 and had various VIPs visit as well as serve as a location for a TV series produced by SBC (Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, the forefather of Mediacorp). All of this history is framed up on the restaurant wall for customers to peruse. But as the years pass, they have scaled down to just the corner unit closest to the sea. The space they gave up is now occupied by “Little Island Brewing Co.”
After hearing how they buy their a lot of their daily catch straight from fishermen’s boats, I am pretty sure it is hard to find fresher seafood in Singapore than the ones here. This point was confirmed by the grouper we ordered ($66++), which we chose to have steamed Teochew-style with “kiam chye” (salted vegetable), ginger strips, tofu and tomatoes. I love that they also threw in thin slices of fatty pork (this is a vital ingredient in my opinion because it adds an unrivaled rich sweetness to the dish). We all thought the chef’s cooking was truly masterful as it showcased the freshness of the fish at its finest. In fact, everything about the dish was impeccably executed.
Return visits to Tekong Seafood Restaurant is a sure thing as my parents and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner here.

If you haven't thought of where to celebrate Father's Day tomorrow, this might be a good spot.
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Salted Egg Crab was up next - coated with salted egg batter to give it that unique, dry-throat texture and lightly luscious taste. I enjoyed this dish tremendously, and loved how the crab came with lots of crab roe.
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