By K.F. Seetoh of Makansutra Its amazing, coming to even think of it.

Singapore, where I proclaim the wondrous joys of street and comfort food of the world, is a little dab of 250sq miles earth surrounded by ocean and yet, we harvest no seafood to feed ourselves. We rely on the fisherfolks of the nearby neighbours to feed our need. But, and its a big but, many here will happily die for good seafood. Mediocrity plays no role in our seafood culture, which explains the many seafood establishments and cze cha shacks in hawker centres and coffeeshops come and go like cars zipping under a ERP toll gantry at peak hours. Our palates were spoiled by the forefathers of street flavours here many moons ago the ones who would diligently caress prawns with sambal, or pre-sear hor-fun with gentle wood fire before assimilating it with seafood. We are now very unforgiving to those who come short of replicating anything similar or close to that sensation. So, mention seafood these days and only those few names bounce off a foodies vocal chords. These are 8 of Makansutras favourite for you to tuck into an alternative local style festive year end feast this season, remember to wash it all down with a good beer (when too many turkeys, stolens, log cakes and eggnogs just wont do.) 1. Salted Egg Yolk Prawns and Crispy Fish Skin with Spicy Achar JB Ah Meng Restaurant/ 2, Lorong 23 Geylang (coffeeshop)/ 5.30pm-3.30am daily

Crispy fish skin with achar at JB Meng

When boss Ah Meng was asked by an impressed customer if he could have photo with him, the shy, low key boss reluctantly said yes. Someone whispered that the guest is the most famous chef in the world. When he showed me the snap on his handphone some weeks later, indeed, he is. It was Ferran Adria, the worlds foremost exponent of molecular gastronomy and boss of El Bulli restaurant in Spain. He snuck in one evening and tucked into the faves that was listed in our book and fell over his salted egg yolk prawn tempura quick tossed in the salty yolk powder and dotted with singly fried crispy fresh corn and a platter of cracker crispy fish skins paired with achar (spicy pickled greens). There are places that do a bad rendition of these creations but this one, takes the cake. The marinate takes nothing from the crunch and sweetness of the prawns and the fish skin crackers are great conversation starters as starters with beer. One little hick, this place is located in a colourful back alley in the red Geylang, but Ferran obviously was not bothered by it. 2. Sambal Pomfret Lai Huat Seafood/ 387 Guilemard Road and 72, Horne Road/ 5pm to 12am

It is the freshness and juiciness of the pomfret smeared with an unfathomable dry style sambal that will get you at Lai Huat. This version of this popular dish is hardly copied by many other competitors, simply for one reason- their dry -style sambal is to die for.

They deep fry a fresh pomfret over high heat, so it gets crispy outside and juicy within and slather this very addictive sambal paste over. It does not look like much but heres where youll agree that looks are secondary. They also offer a stinging black pepper crayfish but thats not the main action here. These folks hail from a family business and they protect the sambal recipe like celestial commandos to the holy grail. But they bottle them for sale if you like it so. 3. Steamed Baby Squid and Bean Paste Fish Head Joo Hing Restaurant/ 360 Joo Chiat Road/ 11am-2pm,5.30pm-10pm/ closed Mondays

The sweetness of this steamed baby squid shines through the chilli, wine and soy sauce at Joo Hing.

They began as a street stall in the defunct Albert Street food street row in the 80s. Now, just like before, they are still famed for their steamed fish head and baby sotong (squid). The carp fish head is perfectly steamed- pink inside and doused with a taucheo (bean sauce) laced with chilli, spring onion, lard crisps and lime. If youve never had, then it wont take much to like it, once past the eyeballs staring at you. Their steam baby sotong, is so simple and hearty and the flavouring of wine, soy and oyster sauce does not steal away the crunch and sweetness of the squid. Both go so well with a bowl of steamed rice. 4. Cold Cockles Two Chefs Eating Place/ Block 116, Commonwealth Crescent. #01-129 Swee Heng Coffeeshop/ 12pm-11.30pm/ closed last Mondays each month

The tangy spicy sauce just bites into the crunchy cold cockles and takes seafood buffs to another level at Two Chefs. Yep, we mean cold, fresh and doused with a warm, thick and spicy Thai style chilli sauce.

This pair of chefs who hail from Ipoh in Malaysia and now call Singapore home, is famed for their no frills coffeeshop locale with a corrugated zinc roof al-fresco seating. They specialise is many dishes including a dry style butter milk pork ribs but the stunner here is their cold cockles with Thai style chilli sauce. It is not the for genial palate but to the weather seafoodie, this is heaven. It comes tangy, spicy, sweet, salty and the cockles just holds them well together. 5. White Pepper Crab Mattar Road Seafood BBQ/ Block 51, Old Airport Road (Food Centre)/ #01-63/ 3pm11pm/ closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays

The tame looking but addictively spicy white pepper crab from Matttar Road Seafood. The boss began as a humble street side push cart stall in Mattar Road off Balestier ions ago and his neigbour was the famous Mr Choo of No Signboard Seafood. He held his own, stayed humble and soldiered on with this little hawker stall till today. He is so fastidious with his sambal- he take two days off a week to cook a pot of it for his signature chilli crabs (one day to cook, one to rest it). But what blew even Top Chef Master Rick Bayless away, was his white pepper crab. It looks so plain and harmless- till you down it.

The sting of the white pepper plus the hints of wine, oyster sauce and scallions is just riveting in the mouth. 6. Crab Beehoon Sin Huat Seafood/ 659-661 Geylang Road (junction of Lorong 35)/ 6.30pm-12.30am daily

Sin Huats decadent and very iconic crab beehoon, as raved even by Anthony Bourdain. Ever since weve rated them a die-die-must-try in our Makansutra food guide and took fellow foodie Anthony Bourdain for supper on his show, chef Danny has not changed one bit. His intensely flavoured beehoon that sits with a supremely sweet and large Sri Lankan crustacean is still as good as it gets. Its all in the crabs and the magic stock he uses to fry the noodles. He ups the sensation of the stock base by boiling the fresh crab in it. Bourdain honestly declared after that dish that Ill be happy if the world ended right now. Note, a wait for your meal here can take up to one hour at peak meal time, especially on weekends. And by the way, it cost on average $60 per head.

7. Steamed flower clams Ming Kee Seafood/ 556 Macpherson Road/ 11.30am-11pm/ tel 6747 4075

The plain looking steamed mussels comes through with a coherent and unctuous garlic wine sauce at Ming Kee. Boss Ivan personally shops at wet markets for his supplies, which means on some days, some of his specials may not be available if he cant find good stuff. But one commonly available dish is his steamed flower clams. They do it with a perfect balance of wine and umami sauce caressing the sweet juicy clams. They also offer a host of very agreeable seafood dishes like a steamed Marble Goby fish and deep fried ginger frog legs. If in doubt, just speak to boss Ivan who will be glad to recommend the other specials. 8. Crispy noodle with fish or seafood An Ji Famous Fish Head Noodles/ Block 335, Smith Street #02-193, Chinatown Food Centre/ 10.30am-10.30pm/ closed on Wednesdays

Imagine tucking into a bed of crispy fluffy and thin noodle muruku, doused with fish or beef slices in black bean sauce, at Anji. A glance at their signature offering and youll realise that no one here takes the trouble to do it the way they do. To begin with, the brothers, who inherited the recipe from their parents who once ran a itinerant street stall in Chinatown, take the trouble to quick blanch and air dry the noodles before deep frying it. It comes out loose, airy, bouffant and crispy. They then stir fry some slices of the freshest and softly crunchy carp slices with black bean sauce and lay it over the crispy noodles. You can also have it with mix seafood sauce or beef slices.