Of Crabs and Durians

So aside from work-related things, I am learning that food is pretty much the key to happiness in Singapore. The past few nights have been a blur of too many dishes and too much Tiger Beer - and tonight was no exception. But we went to this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in a neighborhood off the beaten track and had the best meal of the trip so far, and I remembered to whip my camera out to capture at least some of furious food action:

The standard of what you need to have when you're in Singapore - the famous Singapore chili crab - this dish was two huge crabs that were cut up and sauted in a wok with a sauce made of tomato paste, onions, chiles, eggs, etc. The sauce is the key - spicy and sweet and very addicting. And the only way to truly get at it is with both hands. Wet naps a plenty, please.

The remenants of round two-three(?) of dishes - prawns, spinach and seafood noodles. Plus Tiger Beer, of course. I think the bill for 10 people and like 8 huge family-style dishes with drinks ended up running about $250. 

For dessert - we braved the wall of durians. It's a fruit native to the Asia Pacific that you really can only love or hate. It was my first experience with the fruit.

The insides are like custard - soft and sweet. Or that's what I was told. My nibble smelled like rotten onions and it tasted a little like that too.

Between 10 curious people though, we showed the fruit who was boss. I was content to just shake my fist at it from afar though.