Chilli Crabs

     People told us the thing to eat in Singapore, if you were to only eat one thing, is chilli crabs. All it is is crab, specifically crab legs on a platter covered in the sauce. I thought that the sauce was red and burn-your-face-off spicy, but instead, it's brown and sweetish. Anyway, we were walking along the the bank of the river, which is packed to the gills with restaurants and pubs and bars, trying to pick out a suitable restaurant to eat our chilli crabs. 

     As we walk, there are all sorts of restaurants along the bank, reflecting the diversity of Singapore. There is Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Japanese, English, French, bakeries, bars, dance halls, maybe an ice cream shop or two, and plenty of seafood restaurants. We walk down a ways because the plan was to walk all the way down, decide, and find it on the way back. As we walked past the second Forum Seafood, the hostess or caller or both invites us in so that we can catch the Independence Day practice fireworks, and that there is an up to 60% off deal on their dishes. We were kind of tired of walking, and we snatch a table on the edge of the water. 

     We order grilled tiger prawns, kangkong, and chilli crab. There were 8 or 9 different varieties of crab to choose from, from Alaskan King, to some local crabs. Note: you had to buy crab per 100g. We asked the waiter how much was typical for a family of 3, and he said 2-3 kilos, but since we got extra stuff, 1.5 kilos should be enough. The alaskan king cost, with the discount, SP$18.80 per 100g. It turned out to be an expensive meal. 

     While we were ordering, I couldn't concentrate, because that was when they started to do the fireworks. Shortly after the fireworks finished, the Marina Bay Sands does a laser light show. Dad joked that the laser people let kids go and play with the controls because they were quite erratic. 

    The prawns were delicious, the shells were nice and crunchy; the kangkong had shrimp paste or something cooked with them, and finally, the crab came out with perfect wonderbread. Before the crab came out, one of the waitresses put on crab aprons for us, and we got scissors to cut open the shells. The crab came out on a giant platter, absolutely covered in the sauce. The body of the crab was hollowed out and filled with leg segments. The crab was crazy hot, and yet perfectly cooked. With the crab came three little rolls, each dark brown all over, and yet perfectly white on the inside. It was a fantastic meal. 

      After the meal, Dad and Rebecca wanted to show me a graffiti tunnel. It was interesting because it was all one color scheme: red, black, grey, and white, so it was all one person. Singapore is against any kind of vandalism, and every available space in the tunnel had some sort of design on it, so it must have been government-funded as some sort of propaganda thing. Another interesting thing was that there was a guy playing guitar for change. In any other city, it would have been normal, but in Singapore, they probably would have fined him or kicked him out or something, so maybe he is an employee somewhere.