Jumbo Seafood Dempsey Black Pepper Crabs

They say you can't go wrong eating at Singapore Big 4 of seafood. What I found out (painstakingly) is that even with chains, you have to find the exact branch with the most consistent chefs.

For crabs - which I deem the best seafood item to have in Singapore - I like it done white pepper style and specifically at Long Beach Dempsey. Today thanks to ChiefEater Susan we got to eat at another of the Big 4: Jumbo Seafood Dempsey.

We ordered a few dishes that caught our eye, meaning different or more unique offerings.
1. Mee Mamak seafood
2. Long fu grouper steamed in HK soya sauce
3. Black pepper mud crab
4. Egg butter salted prawn

The mamak mee goreng was refreshing - a tad on the sweet side but still a nice change from the usual fried rice that we would order at such places. This was a 7.

The long fu grouper was the biggest surprise - in a good way. At SGD9.80 per 100g, it was slightly cheaper than the dependable Soon Hock. It was steamed to perfection- tender, juicy and succulent. And IYKYK long fu has rubbery, tougher meat than a Soon Hock but Jumbo Seafood Dempsey did a good job with the 1kg fish. The fish was a 7.5/10. Pleasant surprise it was.

Now while Long Beach is a white pepper purveyor - Jumbo prides itself in their black pepper version. Most restaurants would try to upsell other crabs eg Dungeness or even the Alaskan King, but for white/black pepper - mud crab still works best! The Dungeness actually works better (for me) with the white pepper at Long Beach - but somehow it has gotta be a mud crab when we’re talking black pepper. Don’t ask why. It’s like how you just need to have loh shee fun with pork noodles, yellow noodles for curry laksa etc.
The crabs came out great, 7.5/10

The salted prawn was a solid 7.

Overall a pleasant lunch on a rainy day at Dempsey Hill - one of my fav haunts.