By Floyd Cowan
I watched with interest as Holy Crab Chef Elton Seah placed a broad banana leaf in the frying pan and then laid a fillet of fish on top of it. “Why do you do that?” he was asked. Chef Seah replied, “That is to keep the fish from sticking to the pan.”
‘Hmmm,’ I thought. I could’ve used that last night when I was making dinner. Cooked with other meat the fish was pretty much lost from overcooking. Two lessons learned, but where could I buy banana leaves?
For a tasting media had been invited to Holy Crab by World Gourmet Summit & Pacific Northwest Seafood to promote a menu of Black Cod, Dover Sole, Rockfish and Sablefish.
The Star of the RockStar dish is made with chili, salt, sugar and soya bean. It looks dynamically spicey, but it doesn’t assault the senses. Articulate aromas of ginger and spring onions drifted around the mezzanine that overlooks the Arcade and the ‘giant crab’ that makes the restaurant easy to find. The cozy airy room would be good for Happy Hour drinks – and even better once this pandemic ends.
We returned to the dining room where we were soon served the dishes that Chef Elton had cooked. I was impressed how quickly the dishes arrived as we were a large group. It seems you can expect efficient and definitely friendly service at the Holy Crab.
Just to ensure I’ve covered it all, RockStar was deep fried in a light batter, served with superior sauce. It was topped with spring onions and ginger and crowned with the Holy Crabs special ChiliStar.
This was followed by Dover Grilled Rojak that is slow-grilled with aromatic in-house paste over banana leaves. It was served with fragrant charred lime, which I particularly took note of as it added zip. How could I use this in my own cooking?
While the Seasonal Vegetables, Onion and Garlic with Pork Lard looked quite bland it really popped and was quickly gobbled up. The last savory dish was Wok Hei HolyCrab Fried Rice.
The creative team presented the ‘Enchanted Forest’ green cotton candy that glowed. The canopy of green was propped up by Pocky Sticks over the ice cream. Brilliantly they’d found tiny lights that they embedded in the cotton candy, so it glowed in the dark.
This was a great meal and while it was designed to showcase Pacific Northwest Seafood it also presented a stage for the inventiveness, the creativity of Holy Crab’s staff. If that carries over to the rest of the menu Holy Crab should be a very delightful place for a meal.
Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore
13 Stamford Road #01-85 Singapore 178905
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