So you don't faint from waiting for the food to come out.

A friend of ours recently went and raved about the crab dishes there so we took some out of town guests there to experience "local eating". Not knowing what to expect, we found the ambience to be nicer than expected. Lots of fans blowing overhead so even though there was no a/c we didn't feel hot.

I don't know if it's because we went on the eve of a public holiday or if it's the norm, but it took FOREVER for us to get our food. After sitting around for almost 40 min after ordering we decided to ask. the waitress was very apologetic and said it's a little chaotic tonight. 10 min later, the veggie dish we ordered came out. Not wanting to wolf down the baby kylan before other dishes came out, we nibbled. Another 15-20 min went by with no sign of anything else coming out. We asked again, and this time the hot plate tofu and the appetizer came out. We finished all of them, and still no sign of the crabs. Another round of inquiry and finally the crabs arrived.

They didn't disappoint though. The salty egg yolk crab was unlike anything I've had before. It was so yummy we cleaned the plates (maybe also because we were so hungry by then we'd eat anything). I've always wanted to try crab beehoon but everytime we go for seafood we always end up getting the usual chili crab and peppercrab, so I was really glad we got to try it this time. Although a little difficult to eat, the soup had a heavy wine taste in it that I really liked.

After eating the beehoon we were finally not hungry any more. Then we realized we had one more dish to come. Not wanting to wait until midnight we decided to cancel it. We told two different people, then another one came to our table and asked what kind of fish we had ordered, obviously ready to cook it. We told him again "Don't want! Cancel!" in a very dramatic way, just in case he goes ahead with the cooking. Finally, he got the message and we made our exit.

The dinner lasted almost three hours, with most of the time spent on waiting. We didn't mind as much because we hadn't seen our friends for a couple of years and we wanted to talk anyway, but I can't imagine coming here for a casual dinner and having to wait like this.

The food was good enough that I think we would go back, but we'll make sure not to go on a weekend or public holiday.

Went there in 31 Aug 08. Had the signature salted egg yolk crab & a big pot of crab bee hoon! Love all the food there! Loving their fried rice too! So fragrance, so "dry" and just keep wanted more and more!

The other dishes like baby squid, steam tofu, the never go wrong balachan kakong and also the pork rib were YUMMY! All thumbs up! We ordered only the small fried rice (though it's very very tasty), as we wanted to eat more of the dishes.

The price is very reasonable! 5 ppl is about $220 and it's definitlely value for money! The only thing is that the location is very out of the way...Also cos it's a Saturday that we went, we waited for very very long for the food & we had to keep chasing the waiters. If not, they might just forget about you!

Located in the far east of singapore and pretty much a pain to get to without a car, this seafood cum tze char shop gets my thumbs up for value and decent taste. Ambience is relatively relaxing and upscale compared to most typical ulu seafood/tze chars and service prompt and efficient to most degree considering no service charge = no complains.

Had the following all recommended:

Hokkien Noodles Medium $8 - ok this is nothing like the normal hokkien mee at tze char stall. The noodle is those huge thick types more like udon than the yellow noodles that I am partial to. It is fried in dark sauce so the dish came out looking like a chao tah mess... taste acceptable but not up my alley as i prefer my hokkien mee 1) with the yellow noodles, 2) with sauce rather than dry type as served. Oh they use a lot of fried pork fat thingee - much like char kway teow than hokkien mee actually...

Crispy Roll small $8 - beancurd skin wrapping some fish cake and seafood not bad really and portion huge so a small is actually enough for 4 person such that each can have like 2-3 piece.

Bitter gourd with salted egg $8 - i personally enjoy this dish but you need to eat with rice. They soaked the bittergourd in salt water for a while I guess, as such the bitter taste is almost all gone. Some would argue that it is bad cos they like bitter gourd to be bitter but I am ok with it either way. The sauce is a egg drop and salted egg mix which is not too salty but hearty with rice.

The 3 dishes are enough for 3 adults really and at about $30+, i think it is pretty good value.

Six of us gathered at Big Eater Seafood for a night of feasting on crabs. I was surprised to see this is no mere cze-char coffeeshop. It's got bright warm lighting, uniformed service staff, atmospheric wooden patio and decent clean furniture. Practically a full-fledged restaurant offering al fresco 'riverside' dining! Well, OK, Sungei Bedok is more a canal than river, but hey, so long as it doesn't smell, I'm happy enough.

The salted egg crab is their signature (crabs S$38/kg). We were expecting a drier version, but this was still passable. The sweetness of the gravy is balanced with that salty golden sandiness of egg yolks.

We also took the drunken prawns served in a rich savoury herbal soup (S$25). Very delicious broth indeed, with accents of ginger, spring onions, red dates, tang kwei, wolfberry, dried mushrooms and parsley. There were at least a dozen fresh prawns served in a heated metal wok.

Most of us preferred the black pepper crab to the salted egg one. It had a good spicy kick to it. I asked how this compared to the legendary Eng Seng one (I still haven't been there, despite living so close by!). It seems Eng Seng's gives a thicker and sweeter coat of black pepper at times (they can be quite inconsistent, it seems).

Big Eater's version derives additional "heat" from the chili padi in the black pepper mixture. It also seems to deliver a more complex taste from the mixture of garlic, fried shallots, spring onions and other pungent herbs. The crabs are large, and fresh, with huge claws fit for WWF!

We also had french beans deep-fried for that crunchy effect. Intensely flavourful from the dried shrimp, soy and garlic, the beans went well with rice.

We were very excited when we saw a sizzling hot claypot full of BBQ pork spare ribs arriving at a neighbouring table. We thought our order of spare ribs (S$15) would be similar but that was not to be. Stir-fried (and perhaps briefly deep-fried for that lightly crispy crust) with curry leaves. Oh well, I still enjoyed it. The curry leaves gave it the edge.

Another thing we came here for. KL-style black fried Hokkien mee. Or Foochow noodles as we know it in Batu Pahat. Not bad. The extra thick noodles soaked up the gravy well and on top of that, every bite gives you crispy pork lard bursting in your mouth! Crispy pork lard instantly elevates any dish to a higher plane.

I still think this Hokkien mee needs a bit more umami factor, maybe with a stronger seafood stock, like what I've had in Malaysia. Ah a plateful of heaven could be yours in Malaysia for RM2-3 (S$1-ish). This plate is S$8. I secretly wished there was more of it to go around.

Their specialty drink - lime juice with shavings of sng boey (dried preserved plum). S$1.50 each. I didn't try this but heard it was quite sour. Well, good for kicking the saliva glands into high gear for the meal! We were quite thirsty soon after the meal itself and had a second round of drinks. One wonders how much MSG was used in the food. In fact, I was so thirsty even throughout the night!

One of the ways this place stands out is how they allow customers to leave autographed crab shells after their meals. Cute.

This place was quite packed for a weekday night. I'm afraid it is already getting too well-known - as is the case when a taxi driver picking you up from nearby Tanah Merah MRT knows where you want to go before you even finish stuttering the address, "Jalan Pa-, Pa...?"

"Jalan Pari Burong? Ahh, Going to Big Eater Seafood, huh?"

But if you are headed there, never mind going into obscure Jalan Pari Burong. The frontage of this brightly lit shop actually faces Upper Changi Road. There's even free valet parking for those who drive. Oh, and there's no service charge either (just 7% GST).

Full review with all photos of the dishes here.

Hubs was working late today, so had to miss out. I tagged along with my parents instead, although it was MY lobang for crabs(a lobang which I found from this site, of course).

The no-brainer items for us were the salted egg crab and the black pepper crab (which we were out to compare with Eng Seng's). Got some sambal kangkong, fried beancurd skin stuffed with shrimp and the recommended lard-laden hokkien noodle to accompany the crabs.

My dad enjoyed the noodles only for the lard. My mom went on and on after every mouthful, "Wow there's so much lard!" or "Oh bit into another piece again!" etc etc, but kept going for extra servings anyway. *shrug* I took not even a spoonful of it, only picking strands now and then just to try its flavour. Yes, truly lardy. But I don't like.

The fried beancurd skin was in a league of its own. Crispy, thin layers stuffed with good portion of sotong paste and crunchy shrimp in between, and served with a mayo dip that was surprisingly light, quite lemony too. Loved it.

Sambal kangkong was well done, crunchy stems, green leaves (not dark and dull like some can be), and it didn't come swimming in a pool of red oil.

What I obsessed over was the chilli sauce that came at the beginning of the meal, the one that's placed on the table together with your peanuts, plates, chopsticks and towels. It had the right balance of belachan, lime and aromatics, pity there was hardly anything I could dip in it. Would definitely have paired well with steamed prawns or fish.

About the crabs, loved the salted egg version, didn't touch the black pepper one. I tasted the black pepper sauce and found it too sweet for my liking. Sweetened by the many stalks of spring onions and not heavy enough on black pepper, I felt the flavour was confused by the curry leaves too. To me, there just wasn't a distinct black pepper edge to it. Eng Seng STILL wins black pepper crab award lah. Both crabs were sweet, fresh and meaty (also according to my family who ate the black pepper one), but I definitely OD-ed when I was made to finish up the last piece of salted egg one, which happened to be the largest pincer. Ugh, overkill. I should have quit when I was ahead.

Lime juice with sour plum was too sweet for me. Didn't like the bits of sng buay in the drink. It did the palate-cleansing job nonetheless.

The restaurant is generally clean and brightly lit. There's some instrumental track playing overhead, which definitely beats ching chong music or cover tracks anytime. Loved that I had this away-from-home feel. Can't really pinpoint why. The huge kelong backdrop on the wall perhaps? Or the fact that we were sitting in the middle of the more ulu part of Bedok?

Service is prompt and non-instrusive. Well-staffed even on a weekday.

* I'd give F&B an 8 for the quality and freshness of ingredients, even though there were dishes that I didn't quite like as a personal preference. I'm being objective aightz?