Food for Thought: Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant

Sin Huat is not only celebrated by local food critics; it was highlighted by Anthony Bourdain in his episode featuring Singapore.

This veritable hawker-style seafood restaurant, located on the main Geylang thoroughfare, does not offer much in terms of ambience, service or comfort. Housed in an old nondescript shop-house fronting the main road, customers are challenged to battle the noise and air pollution from the traffic that passes by right under their noses. Also, they have to tolerate the heat in the absence of air-conditioning. And on top of all these, customers are required to wait for their food. But all of these setbacks have not deterred devout customers from returning for repeat orders.

Personally, I found the long waiting time to be quite a bother. Definitely not a plus point especially when you are hungry. When we were there last, we waited more than half an hour before the first of our 5 dishes was served.

Therefore, I am not surprised that some customers have actually walked away disenchanted. Lately, in one food blog, I came across several negative comments made about Sin Huat, particularly about its outrageous prices and chef Danny Lim's attitude.

Let me digress here to talk a little about Danny who is a self-taught chef. He was a pig farmer until he was forced to shut his farm in Punggol in the early 90s. He then turned to cooking (learning on the job) and soon gathered a following of appreciative customers. Interestingly the idea for his signature crab bee hoon came from a customer who wished he did not have to order both crab and noodle separately. The creative pig farmer turned chef soon perfected this dish which he entered for the Asiafood competition in 1997.

Now to put things in its right perspectives, I have decided to pen my own review, which is written without bias or prejudice.

Sin Huat's signature dish, which I had mentioned before, is its Crab Bee Hoon which is pricey at $45 minimum per serving. It all depends on the weight of the Sri Lankan crab. Beyond shadow of doubt, it is a delectable dish -one that should not be missed by any foodie. One bite into the bee hoon and I could tell that the chef had fried the dish over very high heat. High heat (or large fire as my mom and aunties would say) is the key to successful wok cooking. Only at such high temperature can the full flavours of any wok dish be achieved. For those of you old enough to remember the aroma of roadside zi char stalls like the ones along Albert Street, Hong Kong Street or Owen Road (for example), will surely appreciate the taste of this dish.

Crab bee hoon - Sin Huat's signature dish

My favourite dish, hands down, is the frogs' legs in essence of chicken. The plump legs of cultivated frogs are first cooked to tenderness and placed on a hot metal platter. Then a bottle of Brand's essence of chicken is opened in our presence and poured over the pieces of frogs' legs causing it to sizzle. The dish is garnished with sprigs of scallions cut into equal length to complete the presentation. I like the taste of the essence of chicken which is rich and slightly medicinal. It may appear to be a very simple dish but its preparation, I can assure you, requires careful attention in order to avoid overcooking. Overcooking can result in toughness of this otherwise, supremely delicate meat.

Frog in Brand's Essence of Chicken

The other seafood dish we ordered was the Steamed Prawn with garlic, a favourite dish of my darling wife. Sin Huat's version was overdosed with garlic, which was not a problem at all for us since we both loved the 'king of bulbs' and use it not so sparingly in our own cooking. Sin Huat's rendition includes a generous helping of chopped spring onions which balances the robustness of the garlic. My only complaint was that the gravy was a little too salty to my liking. Otherwise I found the dish, once again, to be well prepared. Importantly, the prawns were not overcooked leaving it fleshy and succulent.

Steamed Prawn in Garlic

The other two vegetable dishes were of acceptable standards although they were not outstanding. Having said that, I must reiterate that I go to Sin Huat, not for its vegetable dishes but for its seafood.

One characteristic of Sin Huat's cooking style is its generous use of garlic in almost all of its dishes. To me, this makes the difference and sets the restaurant and its food apart from many others.


Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant
659/661 Geylang Road corner of Lorong 35
Te: 67449755

Ambiance: 5/10 (lower if you don't appreciate nostalgia)
Service: 4/10
Food: 7.5/10

Pricing: $$$-$$$$
Recommended Dishes: Frog's leg in essence of chicken, crabmeat beehoon, steamed prawn in garlic