JUMBO Seafood Riverside Point

Agree on the crab before anything else. Everything at this table follows from it.

This is where you take the relatives who want chilli crab by the river, and it does that job without fuss: a big dining hall, five soundproof private rooms and a company that has been at it since 1987. It is the reliable, well-oiled version in the middle of town, not a hunt for Singapore's most obscure crab. The one thing to manage is the bill, and you only control that if you ask the price before the crab goes into the wok.

A crab empire, briefly

JUMBO began in 1987 at the East Coast Seafood Centre, started, in the company's telling, by a group of friends "for the love of eating and seafood". Ang Kiam Meng, an engineer, took over in 1993 and still runs it, and the group has since built a central kitchen so its chilli crab sauce tastes the same far from home. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, staff accepted pay cuts so the company would not have to retrench anyone. The 2013 Hawker Heroes defeat to Gordon Ramsay is a footnote plenty of people remember anyway.

The dish is older than the company. Singapore's chilli crab is usually traced to Cher Yam Tian and her husband, who sold stir-fried crab from a pushcart in 1956 before opening Palm Beach Seafood. The sweet, spicy, eggy version most people know is credited to chef Hooi Kok Wai in the 1960s, and it comes with mantou for mopping up the sauce (the mantou are not optional, whatever anyone at the table says about carbs).

Who the room is for

Riverside Point opened in 2002 on Merchant Road, beside the Singapore River and a short walk from Clarke Quay. JUMBO describes a main dining hall plus another 3,500 sq ft on the second storey and five soundproof private rooms, which tells you who it is built for: birthdays, reunions, client dinners and families who arrive in two cars. If the evening includes speeches, book a private room.

How to order

Order as a table, not as individuals. Agree on the crab first, its size, preparation and how many, then build around it with rice or greens rather than everyone adding a large dish. Crab is sold at market price by weight, so ask the price per kilo and the crab's size before it is cooked; service charge and GST go on top. If anyone has a shellfish allergy or another dietary restriction, raise it when you book, because this is a seafood kitchen through and through. Confirm private-room terms at the same time.

Then let the river do the rest. A walk along the quays before or after is plenty of programme, and far more pleasant once the heat drops. Clarke Quay is the nearest MRT, and dark clothes are the sensible choice.

Good to know JUMBO Riverside Point is at 30 Merchant Road, #01-01/02; Clarke Quay MRT is the nearest station. Confirm crab weights, market prices and private-room terms when you book.

More of the dishes visitors ask for by name: our guide to Singapore flavours.

JUMBO Seafood Riverside Point | 30 Merchant Road, #01-01/02, Riverside Point, Singapore 058282 | Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay