Chilli crabs pull in the crowd in London
Dish sold out fast as Britons queue to get a taste of Singaporean food at festival

LONDON – THE portions of chilli crabs were meant to last from noon to 6pm, but within two hours, all that had been prepared for the first day of the inaugural Tiger Beer Chilli Crab festival was sold out.

And hundreds of Britons were standing in line, waiting to sample the dish described by many as the best on a Singaporean menu.

While urgent replenishments were called in, celebrity chef Violet Oon whipped up some prawns which were distributed among those at the end of the queue to keep them happy. Complimentary Tiger beer was handed out. And as more steamy crabs began to be brought in, the festival was back in full swing by 3pm.

Yesterday in London, a big crowd turned up to sample Singaporean food at the chilli crab festival. Just an hour after the event began, at least 100 people were already in a queue snaking out of the courtyard at the Old Truman Brewery.

Jointly organised by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Tiger Beer, the festival was first held in New York two years ago to raise the profile of Singapore\’s culinary heritage.

Following its success in New York, the festival is now held in London as well.

Explaining why food has been used to sell Singapore, Ms Grace Lu, STB\’s area director, told The Sunday Times: \’It is a good representation of our multicultural setting: Chilli crab has influences from Indian, Malay and Chinese food. In addition, Singaporeans are obsessed with food, so in a way we\’re telling people here a bit about ourselves as well.\’

The London event was held in an open courtyard decorated with red lanterns and livened up by a dragon dance. Besides the chilli crabs, laksa and chicken curry were also served.

A portion of chilli crabs cost £7 (S$21), while other dishes were £5 each. Each meal came with a bottle of chilled Tiger beer.

The dishes were prepared using ready-made sauces by Prima Paste, which were also sold at the event. And if one wanted to learn how a dish was put together, Ms Onn was at hand to provide a demonstration.

Ms Lu had said about 2,000 people were expected to turn up for the two-day festival, but at 3pm yesterday, she revised her estimate to double that. \’Sunday is meant to be even better, so we may see a lot more,\’ she said.

Some people turned up after seeing it in local event listings in e-newsletters or magazines such as Timeout. Others had come across an advertorial in The Observer\’s food magazine, publicising the event and narrating the history of the Singapore chilli crab. Ms Onn\’s recipe for the dish was also featured.

Mr Damian Gill, who works in IT support, showed up after learning about the event in an e-mail message.

\’I love crabs, so I decided to come and try this out. This is very good,\’ he said, adding that it is different from how crabs were cooked in Trinidad, his home country.

Dr Jon Martin, a curator who has been to Singapore, brought his friend Glen Holmes along. \’We\’ve both been regulars at Indian, Singaporean and Chinese restaurants,\’ he said. \’This is very tasty; I think we\’ll order it next time when we go to a Singaporean restaurant.\’

The customers were happy, save for one problem. \’It\’s a little messy, isn\’t it? My fingers are all sticky,\’ said Dr Martin with a grin.

She (he?) got chef Violet Oon’s name right the first time in paragraph three, but screwed up for the rest of the article by referring to her as Ms Onn.