Appellation Australia

Lunch at this 1 Michelin star restaurant. It was full when we arrived towards the end of lunch but they found us a table after 10 minutes at the bar.

Cuisine: Shanghainese
Service: Efficient and impersonal
Food: For the most part very good;
Shanghainese Spring rolls – simple but executed well. Pastry was crispy and not oily. Vegetable filling had a nice crunch to it.
Sauteed minced chicken with pine nuts and sesame pastry pockets – A signature dish. Chicken had good flavor with lots of garlic and onion. The pockets were nice and flaky.
Camphor smoked duck – Duck was dry and tough. The weakest dish by far.
Shredded chicken, chilli oil – Excellent dish, well balanced, nice amount of heat/spice. This was the highlight dish.
Pork dumplings and black truffle – Truffle was not too obvious, just a hint. Pork filling had good flavour and the wrapper was good.
Cost: $500 HKD / $60 AUD for quite a bit of food for two people – includes service charge but not drinks.
Score: 13.5/20

Shredded chicken with pepper and chilli oil

Sauteed minced chicken with pine nuts and sesame pastry pockets

Pork dumplings and black truffle

Shanghainese Spring rolls

Camphor smoked duck

During our brief trip to Singapore there was limited time but we managed to try three very different styles of Singapore Chilli Crab at some of the better known chains.

Prices at all 3 were SG$45/AU$35 per kilogram plus tax and service charge (10% & 7%)

Palm Beach Seafood at One Fullerton – This was my favourite of the three this time around. The crab was really good quality and the sauce was delicious. Probably the best mantou buns of the three as well – nicely crisp outside with a soft fluffy inside.

No Signboard Seafood at VivoCity - The crab was good but the sauce was a little bit too eggy for my taste. Still good though – 2nd place.

Red House Seafood at East Coast - Thought the sauce was great here, probably had the most chilli content of the three, but the crab quality was disappointing comparative to the excellent quality we had elsewhere – not sure if it was just bad luck or if that is the standard. Long way behind in 3rd place.