25 Dempsey Rd
249670 Singapore
+65 6323 2222
The Long Beach Seafood restaurant has been around for almost 70 years by now and although the flair of the original seaside establishment has made way to today's style of a modernized Chinese restaurant, the place still has some things going for it. Long Beach Seafood has a total of five outlets in Singapore, and the one at Dempsey is arguably the best. Since Dempsey in general is very crowded on the weekends and since Long Beach Seafood has a good reputation in Singapore, it is advisable that you make reservations beforehand.
As you may guess from the picture above, interior design is not Long Beach's forte, and the place is neither elegant nor stylish. So, Long Beach Seafood is probably less suited for a romantic dinner for two, but rather an evening out with friends and family where decent food is in the focus. Unarguably, all seafood served at Long Beach is fresh, as you can even pick which crab, lobster or golden phoenix fish should end up in the cooking pot. The staff is very nice, and if you want a souvenir, they will be happy to hand you a giant Alaskan king crab to take a picture with.
Long Beach Seafood claims to be the creator of the "Original and Best Black Pepper Crab of Singapore", and indeed the crab meat is very succulent and juicy, the black pepper adding some spiciness, without totally covering up the flavor of the meat itself.
Personally, I liked the White Pepper Crab better, though. It is a trifle less spicy, but the white pepper beautifully compliments the crab meat and creates a literal feast for your taste buds. Long Beach Seafood really got the hang of this dish, and I very much recommend gicing it a try.
The Curry Crab is probably THE signature dish of Singapore, and the Long Beach Seafood restaurant's version is quite a decent one. The dish is served with little fried/steamed buns so you can better soak up the chili-tomato sauce (or you can also just spoon it up). I like the taste of chili crab, and think it's also very well suited for people who are not great seafood aficionados, just because the chili-tomato sauce covers much of the flavor of the crab itself. If instead you prefer to taste the crab meat more intensely, I would recommend going with the White/Black Pepper Crab.
In addition to the crabs, we also ordered another of Long Beach Seafood's signature dishes: BBQ Golden Phoenix Fish. Again, this fish is served as fresh as it gets (short of fishing it up yourself and eating it on the beach) and you can pick the one you wish to have prepared for yourself. On the downside, the one we got was slightly undercooked and the waiter we asked to carve it for us massacred the fish, leaving spines everywhere.
Besides seafood, Long Beach also serves quite a wide variety of meat, from your usual chicken, duck and pork to even deer meat. To finish our meal, we ordered a rack of ribs, fried rice and some green sprouts. I think, if you go to a seafood place, you're usually well advised to stick with the seafood, and although the other dishes we had besides the crabs were okay, they were not as exceptional as the first courses. The fried rice was okay, the green sprouts were literally drowned in garlic (no matter how many times we ask them to put less, they always put large quantities in) and the ribs would actually have been quite good if they hadn't been so very sweet as to almost taste like a desert.
Overall, I would recommend Long Beach Seafood, also if you have people visiting you in Singapore. The crab dishes are quite a few notches above your average Singaporean seafood restaurant and definitely worth a try. The other dishes were had mostly okay to decent, and for the more adventurous palates Long Beach also offers more exotic seafood such as geoduck and tiger mantis. That said, quality has its price, and you should not go to Long Beach Seafood restaurant expecting a cheap meal.
4/5 Stars
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