A reputation as a tourist favourite makes Jumbo Seafood easy to dismiss. Serious chili crab lovers, however, know to look past the crowds taking bib-wearing selfies before Singapore River, and ask for extra helpings of their celebrated chili sauce, which is thick, sweet and has just enough spice for the western palate. Although JUMBO has multiple outlets across Singapore (Jewel Changi Airport and ION Orchard, among them), the best place to feast on the meaty crustaceans is at their scenic Riverwalk Point outlet. Do yourself a favour and order a side serve of the cereal prawns for good measure. jumboseafood.com.sg

Don’t let Mellben Seafood’s less-than-convenient Ang Mo Kio Avenue location (or the weekend crowds) deter you; this Singapore Michelin Plate recipient is worth the trek just to peruse the menu which serves crab 15 different ways. You’re not here just to browse of course. Whether you opt for a creamy butter crab, claypot crab bee hoon soup or yes, the chilli crab, you can control how much chilli is placed in the starchy sauce plentiful enough to heap into your golden fried mantou.

Tears were shed when much-loved Seafood Paradise closed the doors to its flagship Marina Bay Sands restaurant in 2019, but happily, it came back with a vengeance, opening in VivoCity in 2021. From a tiny zi char stall in a hawker centre coffee shop to becoming the first restaurant owned by the gargantuan Paradise Group, the restaurant gained notoriety for its reasonable price points. While many line up for their classic chilli Sri Lankan crab, why not go rogue and order their signature creamy butter Dungeness crab laden with coconut crumbs? paradisegp.com/brand-seafood-paradise

Do you pay a visit to Roland Restaurant because of its Michelin Plate listing or because the decades-old eatery is widely credited to be the original creator of the dish back in the 1950s? Both are valid reasons of course, but couldn’t possibly hold a match to the following sentence: ‘A space where gargantuan crabs are golden fried, drowned in the secret sauce current owner Roland Lim remains very tight-lipped about, and served with fried mantou’. Is Roland (or Roland’s mother, to be specific) really the creator of this iconic dish? With a dish this good, it really doesn’t matter. Eating Singapore chilli crab here is a must when visiting the city. rolandrestaurant.com.sg

If you’re one for analysis paralysis, it’s probably best to avoid Red House Seafood in Singapore. Unlike many of their peers which are modelling a one-crab-fits-all philosophy, here you can choose between a Sri Lankan Crab or an Alaskan King Crab. Although there is much debate about which is more suitable for chilli crab (the jury is out, but the firm meatiness of the former appears to win by a claw), the sauce has a slightly sweet edge and is served in liberal amounts. redhouseseafood.com

There’s nothing that screams ‘humble beginnings’ quite like a business titled, No Signboard Seafood. What started as a hawker stall in Singapore in the 1970s has become one of the best-loved chilli crab eateries in town with locals and visitors alike arriving in throes to the temporarily closed Esplanade Mall institution to indulge in this slightly unusual take on the classic dish. Expect a sauce created with a Peranaan-inspired recipe, a sauce that’s inexplicably cooked with macaroni (don’t ask us why, but it works) and larger-than-average mantou. The Geylang outlet remains open. nosignboardholdings.com

As if Keng Eng Kee wasn’t popular enough, Netflix had to go and ruin everyone else’s chances of grabbing a seat, by focusing on the eatery through their Street Food Asia show. Admittedly, it’s been hard going for every punter since Keng Eng Kee began picking up Michelin Plates year after year but persevere; their Singapore chilli crab and black pepper crab – both served with soft steamed buns – is worth making the journey over to Alexandra Park. kek.com.sg

Ask any local about Long Beach Seafood in Singapore and they’ll tell you that it’s always been around. That isn’t quite accurate, of course; it’s been around in one form or another since the mid-40s – a good 10 years before the dish began making itself known. Here, the sizable Sri Lankan crabs are served with a spicier-than-average sauce with an eggy top note and alongside crispy mantou – the perfect side to scoop up that gooey goodness. Sound messy? If you ask nicely, staff might even help to crack the crabs and pull the meat out for you. longbeachseafood.com.sg