Singapore Chili Crab in Vancouver Area

[chowtimes]

Say ... does anyone know of any restaurant serving Singapore style chili crab?

Ben

[LotusRapper]

Cue to 8:44 .........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjElbF...

[aussiewonder]

One of my sales reps was telling me about this place the other day. I vaguely recall passing it, is it on Hastings? How's the roti? Been having a craving.

[fmed]

The roti is from frozen at Seri, but it is pretty good - nice and flakey. Just down the road from Seri at Bo Laksa King (Bubbles n Bits) make roti fresh and it is very good.

[farman]

Ugh, I just can't stand frozen roti canai. I'd rather have no roti canai than frozen personally.

I was at Banana Leaf (Denman) the other night and thoroughly disappointed. I normally go to one of the Broadway locations, and while neither really blow me away, they're better than no Malaysian food.

My issues at Denman were mainly the gutting and over simplification of the menu (no chicken rice, no more red snapper), and the really crappy frozen roti canai. The other dishes we got were passable (sole fillet in black peppercorn garlic sauce, eggplant in dried shrimp with basil, nasi goreng), but overall the entire experience left me feeling very sad.

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Banana Leaf
1096 Denman St, Vancouver, BC V6G2M8, CA

[LotusRapper]

Does Kelong on #3 Road in Richmond serve this dish ?

http://chowtimes.com/2010/09/20/kelon...

[chowtimes]

He he he ... I know it's weird answering this question ... but we don't know even though we (Suanne actually) wrote about Kelong. Anyway, I don't have much faith in Kelong able to execute Chili Crab ... Kelong doesn't rank highly in our books.

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Kelong Restaurant
4800 No 3 Rd, Richmond, BC V6X1C3, CA

[LotusRapper]

I should have read your *entire* review before even asking about Kelong. Your experience there sounds disappointing. I've only been there twice, both times in the '90s. Kelong was pretty good by my memory, but those were the days before Banana Leaf, and Tropika was still a cozy, tasty (and economical) operation on W. Broadway and Balacava.

[chowtimes]

Found one!

Someone on twitter said that Banana Leaf have them. I went to their website and true enough:

Dungeness Crab in Singapore Chili Sauce / $14/lb
This is virtually Singapore's national dish, whole crab, shell-on, cooked with chili sauce blended with lemon grass, tomato & egg. (2½ lbs min)

A bit expensive though.

Ben

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Banana Leaf
820W Broadway W, Vancouver, BC V5Z1J8, CA

[LotusRapper]

Fmed mentioned above Tropika has chili crab too. See:

http://www.tropika-canada.com/seafood...

[chowtimes]

Hey you are right. Tropika does have a bigger selection of crabs than Banana Leaf. Thanks for calling this out.

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Banana Leaf
820W Broadway W, Vancouver, BC V5Z1J8, CA

[grayelf]

Oh, how I miss that Tropika! They had some mighty fine roti canai (might have been the first place I had it?!) and of course the sambal bunchies rocked. And the eggplant with dried shrimp. Drooool.... so much better than the other Tropikas, no?

[LotusRapper]

One of the most memorable meals Mrs. LR and I had at the orig. Tropika location (convenient, as we lived on 8th/Collingwood) was when we each ordered our *own* KL crab (his & hers, how chic), shared roti canai for carb, and sambal kangkong as veggie. We almost had to crawl out of there (or staff call an ambulance, lol).

[chowtimes]

Hi aussiewonder: For roti, the Kurumba restaurant in Port Moody is worth a check. I like it a lot and I can bet you that they make it fresh. Very flaky and the curry is spicy. Ben

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Kurumba Restaurant
, Port Moody, BC V3H, CA

[fmed]

The usual suspects have it - Banana Leaf, Tropika, etc. But I bet that you will not get a better one than if you phone Jamal at Seri Malaysia to tell him that you are bringing over some fresh crab that you sourced yourself. He will ask you to have your purveyor cut it up. (T&T and Chinatown are nearby.)

[À la carte]

Hmmm -- maybe its time to get another group together to go there? I vaguely remember someone (fmed, was it you?) suggesting it ... and, frankly, I've been rather disappointed the last couple of visits to SM as the food, particularly the Nasi Goreng Kambing, tasted a bit stale. I wouldn't pass up a chance to taste some more of Jamal's cooking, made fresh.

[Philx]

've been rather disappointed the last couple of visits to SM as the food, particularly the Nasi Goreng Kambing, tasted a bit stale.

I thought it was just me; I could not finish that dish the last time I had it but some of his others like Beef Redang remain strong.

[fmed]

I haven't ordered the Nasi Goreng Kambing in a while. My usual orders are his Rendang and his Nasi Goreng Kampung which also remain excellent.

[chowtimes]

He he he ... the food sounds like Jamal -- very temperamental. On a good day and when his heart is in the right place, Jamal shines and has no equal. Some days ... yeah ... it could get disappointing.

[fmed]

Well put, Ben! Jamal and his food has moods.

[À la carte]

Anyone have a Jamal-dar? I was blown away by the food the first couple of times, and disappointed after that ... maybe I'll just pop in to see if he's smiling and beat a hasty retreat if he's not... :-)

[fmed]

I'm thinking chwdown. He likes to put on a show. November?

[À la carte]

YES!! the previous one (was it just last year?) was fantastic.

[Sam Salmon]

That's funny I've been wondering the same thing!

Interesting to see what comes up.