Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

My partner and I arrived at 5:45pm for our 6pm booking on a Saturday night. The restaurant was nearly empty but Andy, the restaurant manager, told us it was booked out for the night. We were quickly shown to our table and provided with some menus. My first impression was that the plastic-clad menus do not truly reflect the calibre of the restaurant. Those menus could have belonged to my local cheap Asian restaurant, but to assume Harry’s fit into that category would be mistake. The décor at the new location has a pleasant, casual dining feel to it, but the service really set it apart. It could be because the restaurant wasn’t very busy while we were there, or it could be because they've reacted to prior reviews about the service, but we found the service to be very attentive.

For our first course, we had the deep fried salt and pepper squid. The batter was both crisp without being crunchy, and melted in your mouth. The squid within was succulent and cooked to just the right degree. I had initially thought that the squid was a little on the salty side. However, I realised that this was because I had dipped it in the accompanying soy sauce with chillies. The squid was actually just fine without the condiments, and I didn’t think the dipping sauce really added anything to the dish.

For the main course, we had Harry’s Singaporean chilli crab with accompanying roti and deep fried buns. Be warned, the mud crabs are not cheap. On the night we went, the market price was $115/kg, and the crabs ranged from 1.4kg to over 2kg. Expect to spend at least $160 on the crab itself. As Andy, the restaurant manager, explained to us, the mud crab at Harry’s isn’t something you order for a quick Thursday night meal before the movies. The crab is for a special occasion. You could be out at Spice Temple, or Ripples at Chowder Bay, or Garfish in Manly; but you have mud crab on your mind.

The mud crab we had was very meaty, and the sauce was spicy and fragrant with some sweetness to it. Both the roti and the fried buns went very well dipped in the sauce. We had a side of stir fried mixed greens in garlic and butter. The vegetables were crispy and nicely seasoned, but the hero of the meal was definitely the crab. I was very much impressed by the excellent service of the staff on the night we went. They were always on hand to renew our napkins, and the water we used to clean our hands while eating the crab was refreshed four times throughout the meal (something that I have never encountered elsewhere).

To be fair, our whole meal was probably sufficient for three people (or four if you’re all light eaters). Expect to spend around $80 to $110 for two shared courses, a side and an alcoholic drink. The service is attentive and the ambience is pleasant, as you would expect for a restaurant in this price range. The decider is really the mud crab. I would recommend this if you up for a messy good time eating the meatiest most flavoursome mud...

☆ HARRY’S SINGAPORE CHILLI CRAB (MP)

☆ HARRY’S BLACK PEPPER CRAB (MP)

Using Mud Crabs at market prices, you can get a variety of different flavoured sauces that pair well with the sweet meat of the Mud Crab. In this case, @harryschillicrab brought out their signature Singapore Chilli Crab and Black Pepper Crab dishes to our tables.

The crabs are made easy to eat as most of the shells have been cracked beforehand to allow the diners to attain the meat easily and also for the sauce of your choice to penetrate throughout the meat.

You must get the Deep Fried Mantou Buns ($12) with these crabs as you can just use the just fried buns to mop up all that leftover sauce after you are done with eating all the meat from the crabs.

Honestly, the Singapore Chilli & Black Pepper sauces were so good that l could just easily eat it with plain Steamed Jasmine Rice along with meat from the Mud Crabs for that perfect mouthful.

Aside from the signature Mud Crab-based dishes on the menu at @harryschillicrab , you can order a variety of dishes that are sure to equally leave you satisfied and rolling out of the restaurant super happy. My favourite was definitely the Slow-Cooked Caramelised Pork Belly which had a lovely contrast of textures from soft meat to crispy crackling as a result of being both braised and deep-fried during the cooking process. The rich dark Soy-based Sauce was so flavourful that l could just grab some Steamed Rice from the menu and add it to that dish alone.

The flavours are on point in the dishes that @harryschillicrab in Potts Point have to offer so definitely come and check out their establishment for a wonderful feed.

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Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab is a stones throw from where it was originally set up on Elizabeth St near Central station. This place is one of Sydneys most famous restaurants, the place is a Sydney dining institution. The restaurant has a modern feel. The staff were great: very friendly and welcoming. The restaurant is a family run business that has been operating for over 35 years and in that time specialising in Singapore Chilli crab. They know a thing or two about picking the best crab. You can get hands on, feel the weight of the crab. We were educated on where the crabs came from, some of the best being from North Qld. There are a number to choose from. Apparently the heavier for the size the better. We picked our Crab and ordered some sides and drinks. The drinks list was extensive with cocktails, beer and a quality wine list. Traditionally we had to order a Singapore sling which was the goods and a tiger beer which is the perfect drink to go with the Singapore chilli crab. Our sides came out fist and were all extremely tasty, they were perfect to whet the appetite. We ordered the prawn hargow (a steamed dumpling) which were quality with a delicate prawn filling, we also had garlic vegetables and roti awaiting the chilli crab sauce. The roti was great and perfect to dip in the crab sauce. When the mantou(sweet chinese steamed buns) came out, anticipation grew. When the crab artived it did not disapoint, a large crab served in a huge bowl swamped with a extremely flavoursome Singapore chilli sauce, with a great balance of spice and sweetness it was delicious. The crab served already cracked, making your job easier. Get elbow deep, pick the sweet crab meat out and enjoy. A great dining experience, as good, if not better than what we tried in Singapore. We will return for the crab and to try more...