If I thought things couldn't get authentic enough at the last location. Boy O' Boy, was I wrong! It doesn't get any more authentic than this place for South East Asian flair, focusing on Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine. The menu reminded me of typical, tasty Singaporean "Hawker" food. Hawker centers are open-air complexes that house many small stands that sell different foods at really cheap prices in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, like an outside version of a food-court basically.

Fatty Crab, the gastronomically pleasing name brought on much curiosity about the joint. Was it a crab shack? Did the owner name the restaurant after a pet crab? I decided to find out. My co-worker recommended it to me last week, so I found myself in front of the rather inconspicuous restaurant. Walking inside, the waiters greeted me... Except, they all looked like California surfer dudes, shorts, tees and crocs. I thought they were actual customers at the bar! Yet, extremely friendly and laid back nonetheless. Our waiter.. I cannot even call him that, it's too formal... Our server, recommended many great dishes and cocktails to start, explaining every dish and displaying a very full knowledge of the ingriedients and food. He also forewarned us about the spiciness of a lot of the dishes, which would be appreciated by the anti-spice people, you know who you are. In a few words: our server was so chill.

The bartender makes it strong here folks, definately worth the ridiculous amount of money everyone charges for cocktails in the city, but that's another story. My friend had Tiger Beer, the official beer of Singapore. Extra refreshing and cool. I skipped on the beer, Memorial Day weekend already building a beer pouch on my "abs" (wink wink). So, I started with the Straits Sling. Very strong gin drink.

We ordered the shrimp roll for an appetizer... still keeping with the Memorial Day spirit, was a baby shrimp salad, dressed with mayo and scallions, on leafy greens. Interestingly, served on a potato bun. It was served with shrimp chips.

I was told I had to try the Fatty Duck, steamed and then fried with toasted temaki. Served over sticky white rice with some sweet soy sauce mixture. The duck was extra crispy because of the frying, good medium rare meat and flavor. However, it was a bit too fatty for me, and not enough duck meat. I'm sure the crispy fat was great too but I simply couldn't swallow pure fat. I suppose the name of the dish explains it all.

I think the star of our show was the Nasi Lemak, which came out with a cornucopia of accompaniments. Nasi Lemak, pronounced Na-si Lo-mak (not mac, as in mac and cheese) Anyway, it's a malay word that literally means "rice in cream" because the rice is cooked in coconut cream, so it's got this infused coconut flavor running all throughout the rice. On top of the rice sat a curry chicken thigh, with meat that just fell off the bone. Decorating the rice and chicken were peanuts, bean sprouts, pickled cucumbers and string beans, and chili anchovies. You can eat them separately with the rice and chicken or mix it all together! It's a fun dish, kind of like a tasting sampler of different flavors that gets tied together beautifully by the aromatic coconut rice.

I couldn't get enough of the coconut so I ordered another cocktail. Rum and coconut water in a coconut! Delicious and refreshing, plus they give you a spoon to scoop out the coconut meat too. A pretty interactive cocktail, I'd say.

The portions were good, some ran a little small I feared. However, the appetizers, which are called "snacks" on their menu, are a little more than half the size of the main dishes and 1/2 the price. If you're on a budget, I'd order a couple snacks and maybe one main dish to share. You'd get more sampling of flavors and cut the price a bit.

There is no dessert menu here, so sweet tooths will have to venture elsewhere for that. They do however provide complimentary moist mochi cakes with the cheque.

Their website is pretty self explanatory: www.fattycrab.com. They boast two locations in Manhattan, the other location on the Upper West Side.

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