Eating at Sin Huat is like an experience in Medusa’s cave—except whatever lurks within cooks and (truly) means well. You must not stare at nor refuse any recommendations from the restaurant’s chef, Danny Lee. You shouldn’t make a fuss if dishes take hours to come because they’re cooked to order, by table. You smile. And obey. On a muggy weekend night, I joined a group of submissive diners (names withheld for safety), for his vaunted crab bee hoon. Three bright red crab shells, fire-kissed, crowned atop more crab, nubs of sweet roe, and the vermicelli that has absorbed it all. The ratio of crab to noodles will disrupt the rhythm in which you consume this beast of a dish, but make no mistake: you must eat it quickly.

Yes, there are other highlights. The toothsome parrot fish; those gently chewy snails; and the beautiful platter of scallops, which resemble still life, in the flesh, by David Hockney — if he OD’ed on bivalves.

At @liufusifangcai , a private kitchen run by Henry Lau, you might struggle to find a favorite because there are many. His lard-slicked hokkien mee is a quiet bastion of smoke and char — but it’s his black pepper crab that’ll find converts among jaded crab hounds. This one has a ferile, if slightly gentle, heat that swells your lips and a sweetness that recalls molasses. When it all comes together — plump, sweet meat and that bright gravy — it could make you weep.

In time, I’ll grow to appreciate the crowd that lines up for Outram park’s ferociously dark plates of kway teow that brim with cockles (an acquired taste) — but I’ll recommend Da Dong Prawn Noodles without reservation. Sze-Liang, a purist, insists: get two small bowls — one bee hoon soup; another dry kway teow, so you may experience the unadulterated noodles rubbed judiciously with those prawn accoutrements, alongside the clear but potent prawn stock. This is the way.
🙏 @veronicaphua , @szeliang888 , @eechong & @chanksters .