Red House Seafood, Prinsep St
Just a stone's throw away from buzzing Orchard Road sits Red House seafood along Prinsep St. Designed to look like a classic old school restaurant in both the interior and exterior, Red House has a certain vintage charm to it.
Its fare is far from vintage, with very modern local cuisine offered to its patrons. When we paid a visit to Red House, we got to sample some of their signature dishes like the charcoal buns with chilli crab fillings ($10 for 3, 40% during lunch from now till December in conjunction with their 40th anniversary). I have always loved how charcoal powder mixed into the bun just makes it so soft. The bright orange also pops from the dark grey/black of the bun, making it look very nice.
We also tried the trio of squid ($32 for S, $64 for L) which was recommended to us by the manager of the restaurant. When I saw salted egg squid, I was sold, of course. Anything with the salty, savoury coating makes me go nuts (I didn't like the salted egg croissant, just on a side note). The salted egg squid retained its crispiness despite the thick coating of soft salted egg, which gave it a nice contrasting texture. There was also barbecued squid and crispy baby squid.
The barbecued squid was cooked perfectly. Squid, if overdone, gets too chewy and hard, but this was done to perfection and cooked through. The crispy baby squid was crispy as promised and had a pleasant sweetness to it, almost like caramelised ikan bilis.
Of course, the chili crab is a favourite for foreigners to try when landing in Singapore for the first time. I do believe this is one of the only dishes Malaysians don't argue with Singaporeans over when it comes to its taste and origin. The thick, gooey gravy complements the crab meat well. I go on a little rant in my other post about how huge Singapore crabs are compared to Malaysian crabs (take a look here).
I love the mantous that come with the chili crab. In fact, as a kid, I had always hoped my parents would let me take more than one. As an adult, little has changed. Heh.
The last dish we tried that evening at Red House was a nice soupy, crab beehoon. The broth was thick with crab taste and it was very aromatic. My dining companions were even commenting about how the soup here was better than Mellben Seafood's. That isn't for me to judge as I haven't tried the latter. But I was incredibly impressed by the quality of the food here at Red House.
Red House Seafood @ Prinsep St 68 Prinsep St Weekdays: 3PM - 10:30PM Weekends: 11Am - 10:30PM