I think of all eating places in Singapore, none have divided the foodie community more than Geylang Lorong 35's Sin Huat.  At the centre of the debate is the value of its (in)famous crab bee hoon - how much would you pay and how much bad service will you put up with for luscious strands of delectably smooth "thick" bee hoon coupled with loads of Sri Lankan crab meat and roe?  Adding fire to the debate is the famed Anthony Bourdain's episode of A cook's Tour where he raved about the deliciousness of Sin Huat's bee hoon.  Plus of course K. F. Seetoh's praises about it.  Three of us - Yanjie, Jiakai and myself ventured last weekend to find out what all the fuss was about.  

Any self-respecting Singaporean foodie must have at least ventured into the Geylang Lorongs once or twice in search of some mystical food item - be it dao huay (been curd) or ter kah (braised pork trotters).  So three of us did just that.  Bringing steely balls and wallets we ventured to Lor 35 and sought out the famed Sin Huat, that looked something like this in the evening twilight:

Our evening began with a 5min wait for someone to attend to us.  Ok, to be fair, we were served our cutlery and peanuts pretty promptly after.  The cutlery (peanuts notwithstanding) remained clean for the next 15mins as our orders remained unwritten because, apparently, some crazy guy had pre-ordered maybe $10k worth of bee hoon (which may not be that much, as you'll find out later).  So after 15 mins, our orders were taken.  It was over in 15 secs, just one curt guy (could be the boss), no menu, no asking of portions, just scribbles on an order sheet.

Then came T.H.E G.R.E.A.T W.A.I.T.

It was 30mins before our first dish came.  It was simply our baby kailan that we ordered.  So it was just plain kailan eating for another 30mins before the next dish came:

Steamed Frog! I can't fault the freshness of the tiny buggers, the meat was outstanding.  But I thought the garlic was a bit over the top.  And no, they didn't serve us 'original' essence of chicken, it had already been so-called 'processed' or, for want of a better word, diluted, with other liquids.  I suspect soy sauce and/or oyster sauce.  And then we waited again ... 20mins this time:

Yes, this is what we affectionately call the gong-gong.  Other than a term used for your pesky little sister, it was a pretty convenient name for the Strombus Canarium, a member of the conch family.  Once again, freshness was tip top - couldn't fault it.  The highlight apparently is the tear-jerking sticky chilli/honey concoction by the side.  Jia Kai said that he read somewhere online they take half a day to prepare it.  Extremely fiery.

Then it was another 30mins of us discussing career options, politics, geology, property and TV sets before the piece de la resistance, the epitome of Sin Huat, the famed CRAB BEE HOON (2 X Sri Lankan crab) came:

To begin with, i actually found it a little bit too salty for my liking.  But what I immensely enjoyed was the crab roe and the silkiness of the noodle.  Plus, the gravy sauce, not too much to over-drench the noodle but robust and little enough to seduce you and make you just want to stuff your face with more noodle.  Not to mention the fact that we were ravenous by that time (10pm).  Yes, you can taste the richness of the sea in the sauce, no kidding.  Apparently, the legend is that tourists request just the gravy to be packed for take-away.  So finally, our night of gastronomy ended on a crabby note, the one dish at the one restaurant which you either hate or love.

Oh did I forget the bill? Our waitress aunty was obviously smirking and lording over us as she came over with (credit cards are accepted at this kopitiam btw):

Food 9, Service 1, Atmosphere 0.5, Value for money ?

Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant

Geylang Road (Geyland Lor 35)

Tel: 6744 9755