“Fresh With Variety Seafood”
Guest Writer: Rei | Guest Photography: Isaac (Canon 5D Mark III, 100mm f/2.8 Macro)
The destination in mind was The Seafood International – a market and restaurant with a smiling lobster for its logo and also interestingly enough, has a website called lobster.com.sg. In retrospect, I don’t remember eating any lobster that night, but whatever.
*Seth: It’s in the a la carte dinner menu.
In celebration of the restaurant’s 30th anniversary, we were treated to a sit-down-buffet of 30 signature dishes. This is of course the best kind of buffet for the lazy man; for the 2 hours I was there, the greatest physical effort exerted was swatting Seth’s camera aside to let me tear into the food. And there was a lot of food.
*Seth: A la carte buffets are the best.
Shooter of Mango with Crab Meat Salad
The anniversary menu boasts a comprehensive check-list of edible things from the sea including clams, crabs, frogs, squids, oysters etc. There was also the odd poultry dish but these were dutifully ignored. For a rather reasonable price of $68.80++ per person, you’re entitled to eat anything off the menu in unlimited quantities. And as a happy bonus, you get to down it with free flow wine and beer.
*Seth: the buffet is worth it even just for the wines, excellent smooth selection. 
Singapore’s Famous Chilli Crab
The first thing we went for was obviously the crab. There are 2 styles available – the familiar Singapore chilli crab and the more exotic Thai curry crab. Both are award winning dishes, though the 3-time winning chilli crab fared better than its Thai counterpart. I can’t describe food very well but let’s just say the crab meat fell off the shell in tender chunks, and I couldn’t stop sopping up the chilli sauce with the fluffy warm mantous.
*Seth: loved the chilli crab and sauce, Thai version not so much.
Poached Tiger Prawn and Gongong
The poached tiger prawn and gong gong was also a star dish. Sitting plain on a bed of ice, the prawns looked uninspiring but upon first bite, were remarkable for its freshness and natural sweet flavour. I don’t eat gong gong because they remind me too much of snails (mortal fear), but my dinner mates were suitably impressed.
*Seth: Gonggong and prawns were amazingly fresh.
Shanghainese Tea Smoked Egg with bonito Flake topping
We continued our cholesterol fest with the Shanghainese tea smoked egg with bonito flake topping. Tasted like wobbly ramen eggs but hey who doesn’t love ramen eggs. We ordered this twice.
*Seth: half-boiled egg with centre yolk still runny, we were very EGGCITED. hurhur. 
Steamed live Seabass
The dishes came in droves after this. I felt like the waitress was part of the dinner entourage instead as she kept coming over to stuff us with food and beer. The steamed live seabass was a welcome palate cleanser with its refreshing, mildly sour Thai flavor.
Stir Fried White Stone Clam with Mirin
The oysters with green chilli marmalade were consistently fresh and lacked any oceanic after taste. Didn’t really like the green chilli marmalade though, was too spicy and overshadows the natural oyster taste. Again, the freshness of the seafood here is outstanding. A basket of garlic bread also landed on our table…perplexing as garlic bread isn’t on the menu but I guess maybe the aunty really liked us or something.
*Seth: try the clams as well, Mirin adds that sweetness that goes well with fresh clams.
Live Sea Scallop with French Black Garlic Sauce
All in all, I had enough seafood to tide me over for a month. Go for this if you’re a stickler for freshness and variety as the seafood International doesn’t disappoint in these 2 areas. The offer ends 31 October so make your way down to east coast and inhale the entire menu, and then lay off the cholesterol for awhile.
*Seth: The live seafood is the highlight here, you can’t go wrong with the seafood dishes which scrumptious and definitely worth ordering.
Wok Fried Live Prawn with Butter, Crispy Oat & Egg Floss
Expected Damage: $80 per pax
Seafood International Restaurant: 902 East Coast Parkway Singapore | Tel: 6345 1211 | Website
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