6.18.2008

Seafood @ No Signboard



ノーサインボード シーフードレストランはその名の通り、昔は名無しの権兵衛で、お客さんがサインの無いシーフード料理屋と口コミという形で名前がノーサインボード(看板のない)シーフードと広がった。しかし、常連さんの集うレストランにしてはスケールが大きすぎる。シンガポールの海鮮料理屋は商売を考えすぎていて、すべて大箱だ。スケールの大きさイコール、ベターではないはずだ。如何スケールが大きいのか?それなりに旨いが、もっと規模を小さくして、常連さんで賑わう最高のシーフード屋のほうがやりがいがあると思うのだがな。余談だが、日本にも大箱のシンガポールシーフード料理屋が品川にオープンした。シンガポールのシーフード屋は「大箱が常識」という概念を崩せば、もっとビジネスチャンスがあると思うのだが・・・おいしいものを追求する消費者からすると残念だが商売それぞれというところか。ところでここの名物は他では味わえないホワイトペッパークラブだ。通常黒胡椒とバターを使うが、ここはシンプルに白胡椒とラード?・生姜とネギ。普通に旨い。30年程前父に連れられて、プンゴル(punggol)で食べたシーフードの方が旨かったな~。ただのノスタルジーなのか。(写真 上段から-ペッパークラブ・チリクラブ・野菜のソテー・白身魚の唐揚。
No Signboard, Jumbo, International, Long Beach, etc. Singapore seafood restaurants are huge. As a matter of fact, I am not into these huge Disney-land type restaurants where bigger is better. This is not snobbism. Then you have place like Sin Huat with great seafood but mediocre service and not up to par ambiance and at times, your patience run out. At least, Matar Rd. Seafood BBQ, is in a food centre where you don't expect any service but end up having great seafood with hawker ambiance and price-I kinda like that, but at times you want to eat seafood at a restaurant. But when you're a restauranteur with passion for food, you don't want a restaurant with 400 covers a day. No thanks to celebrity-oriented high class hotel restaurant either. You don't want to dine at a restaurant where they evidently discriminate you with the celebrities. You don't want to dine at a restaurant where they treat you as if unwanted. I would like to go to a restaurant where you are treated not as a loyalty but like a family -like bistro or trattoria. Restaurant is not just a place to eat. It is a place to restore one's mind and soul, hence the word restaurant (from the word restore). That, to me is an ideal restaurant. If you have a cozy seafood place with not too posh but more like a neighbourhood bistro/trattoria ambiance, I would love to dine there myself -where service staff remember you by name and know your favorites and dislikes. Pics from top: White pepper crab / Chilli crab / Sauted Kailan / Fried fish

2 件のコメント:

tetsushi さんのコメント...

I am so happy to find this blog.
I do agree with Shigeki. Huge scale restaurants do not suitable for public local food. Further more it will not be easy to keep the original taste or quality for franchised chain store system.

Actually I visited Singapore last month and had a chance to dropped by a certain seafood restaurant at Dempsey hill close to the botanic garden. What they brought to my table was a Chili Crab that was far from satisfaction. First, chili sauce was mushy but too thick. Added egg was not dissolved into the sauce, yellow belt-shaped half boiled lumps disappointed me. I think it should be enough melted with chili sauce that gives sauce mild and tender taste.

Because the crab shell had not enough chop, the sauce did not soaked into crab meat. I had to struggled with hard shell to crack it, I was almost wounded by shell cracker, phew.
From my experience, Eastcoast Road, the first outlet was okay, but the rest of outlets were not for me.

The Punggol one certainly was a good chili crab, but the Seaside Hotel's chili crab was my best one. Seaside Hotel was a two storey small local hotel, located around Pasir Panjang rd. along the seashore. We enjoyed their Great Chili Crab with over looking the beautiful setting sun view from our outdoor table. It might be my nostalgia, though.

Shigeki Koshiba 小柴茂樹 さんのコメント...

Hey Tetsushi-san, thanks and welcome back to my website. Ohisashiburi desu. I am glad that we're somehow connected in this way. Stay tuned for more of my commentaries on Singapore food.