Location: 25 Dempsey Rd, Singapore 249670
How To Get There: Left turn to Dempsey via Holland Rd (before Peirce Rd)
Operating Hours: Mon – Thurs: 11.30am – 11pm | Fri: 11.30am – 11.30pm |
Sat: 11am – 11.30pm | Sun: 11am – 11pm
The Long Beach Seafood Restaurant in Singapore is best known for making the original black pepper crabs. The main restaurant is situated along East Coast Parkway, with three other branches in Marina South, IMM Building and East Coast Seafood Centre. We decided to head to the Dempsey outlet this weekend to get a taste of the original and the best black pepper crab of Singapore.
Besides black pepper crabs, it is also believed to be the first restaurant in Singapore to serve live seafood, and its menu of barbecued tilapia, drunken prawns and crispy duck have become popular dishes in many other contemporary seafood restaurants to this day. Helping to shape Singapore’s local culinary tastes for seafood, Long Beach has been around since the early 1940s with its first outlet at Bedok Resthouse. Think olden day Singapore, families gathered to indulge in seafood along the ocean. Although the prices have definitely spiked, the consistency of flavourful and delicious seafood has surely stayed consistent with their loyal following of customers. We decided to visit the Dempsey outlet this weekend to get our very own taste of the legendary seafood restaurant of Singapore.
Ambience
The theme of the garden spreads throughout this long-established restaurant with 12 private rooms, surrounded by lush greenery. You can’t go past Dempsey without being pulled into the beautiful ambience of Long Beach Seafood. Their bustling and lively atmosphere makes for a great environment and is akin to seafood restaurants you would get in an overseas country. There are a lot of choices for seafood in Singapore. But Long Beach @Dempsey is unique in its location and always consistent with good food and service.
Service
Long Beach Seafood Restaurant’s beautiful ambience is supported by a staff who have genuine character that are entertaining, fast, and totally considerate. They were quick to attend to our needs and ensured that we had a pleasant dinner experience. Service was fast and the food turnaround rate was quick. Many of the staff are not local and are friendly, attentive, hospitable and very well-mannered. Their service standards are akin to China’s Hai Di Lao, which is saying a lot.
Food
One of the best seafood restaurants in Singapore serving delicious food at reasonable prices, Longbeach Seafood is the best place to enjoy fresh crabs and seafood and of course, their signature Black Pepper Crab. We tried most of their crab dishes and a few signature dishes which were the Black Pepper Crab, Chilli Crab, Salted Egg Crab, Golden Lobster, Razor Clams, Deep Fried Flat Noodles with La La King, and Soy Sauce Glazed Pork Ribs. We went all out and wanted to feast!
Black Pepper Crab
Surprise surprise, the Black Pepper Crab was to die for. It makes sense that this was definitely the winner and highlight of our meal. With 3 huge crabs cooked with black pepper sauce, I licked almost every shell clean! Before you judge me, try it for yourself and I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one. The Sri Lankan crabs were huge, super fresh and sweet filled with the most succulent crab meat. Stir-fried with the black pepper sauce, it was just the right level of spiciness with a hint of sweetness.
If you’re not a fan of Black Pepper Crabs, their Chilli Crab is also another dish not to be missed. The sauce was of right consistency and the crab meat was fresh and juicy! Plus the mantou is quite sizeable too! The chilli gravy had a sweet and eggy texture to it and was only mildly spicy, not potent enough to send me into hysterics as I do when my tongue is numbed by spiciness. The chili sauce of the crabs went great with the fluffy fried mantou. The crabmeat was plentiful, juicy and succulent.
Crabs and Salted Egg, what’s not to love? This was a great combination and salted egg fans, be sure to try this one. The combination of savoury salted egg yolk stir-fried with sweet and succulent crabs is totally heavenly. The only thing was that we had hoped for a more liquify sauce consistency so that we could dip the mantou into the mouthwatering sauce as well.
Golden Lobster
Another of their specialties, we couldn’t resist trying the Golden Lobster. Fresh lobsters fried with crunchy golden oats, basil leaves and egg yolk. This dish was simply superb tasting. The sweet and juicy lobster meat with the crunch of the oats and the slight salty taste of the egg yolk was a flavour explosion in my mouth.
Razor Clams
I was recommended this dish by so many of my fellow Long Beach fans and I was not disappointed. The razor clams were huge and the meal was juicy and fresh, topped generously with garlic and fried shallots.
Deep Fried Flat Noodles with Lala King
This is a mandatory dish to order at Long Beach Seafood. Two cooking styles of deep-fried and stir-fried are used in this dish with the hor fun and “la la” king (fresh clams served in a rich starchy broth. The serving portion was huge and a great value for money as 3 of us didn’t manage to finish this one because we were already so stuffed by the time this dish arrived.
Soy Sauce Glazed Pork Ribs
Famed for their Black Pepper and Chili Crab, Long Beach Seafood has much more delicacy to offer other than seafood and this is for sure one of them. The meat is plentiful, soft and flavorful. The stickiness of the meat just falls off the bone. It was unexpected how much we were impressed by this dish given that their specialty is seafood. This is only available at the Dempsey outlet and is under their secret menu, so make sure you ask the staff if it is available.
Long Beach Dempsey did not disappoint with their fresh seafood items and local delights. If you’re looking for a spot with fresh seafood and local delicacies, this is certainly the place to go. If you’re looking for a fun place to hang out or a place to bring friends from abroad to taste authentically Singaporean seafood dishes, Long Beach is your place to go and I highly recommend the Dempsey branch as the ambience easily compensates for a slightly erratic service due to its constant stream of customers.