Haven't been to Mellben in a really long time and I miss having Mellben’s crab done in its signature way. The milky broth is thick, rich, creamy and beamed with sweetness from the crab. The crab was fresh and succulently sweet with chunks of meat coming off cleanly.
Wrapped in crispy beancurd skin with generous fillings of prawns, pork and together with a crunch of chestnuts 》$10 (Small)
Mellben will always be be go-to restaurant for crab. Hands down my favourite.
Crab here are always fresh, meaty and the sauce is great.
Female crabs are full of roe, but the claws are smaller.
Male crabs have bigger and meatier claws.
5% Discount if pay by cash.
Please make reservations before coming. Unless u want to queue and wait.
@mellbensignature_sg prides themselves on their crabs, specifically their chili crab. So naturally my dad & I gravitated to the nearest Mellben restaurant to get our chili crab cravings fixed, and we happily ordered two standard sized ones, priced at $98++ per crab if I remember correctly.⠀
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The chili gravy was absolutely exquisite, possibly the best chili crab gravy I’ve ever had the good fortune to slurp down. Calling it a chili is a bit misleading, as it’s mostly tomato sauce mixed with chilies, eggs and vinegar. As you might expect from the description, the chili crab sauce is terrifically tomato-y, blending savoury, sweet & slightly sour perfectly into a tremendously thick sauce that’s speckled by copious amounts of egg mixed in. It’s slightly spicy from the chili added in, but the mild spice didn’t deter us from mopping up that glorious gravy with the deep fried mantous & rice.⠀
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Unfortunately, it was painfully obvious that the crab was overcooked. The crab meat had lost some of its suppleness and moisture, and it clung tight to the shell. Sure, the Sri Lankan crab was meaty and fresh, but sadly the otherwise spectacular chili crab was marred by the chef extracting the crab two minutes too late from the wok.⠀
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Sure, I still enjoyed this chili crab because of the sauce, but the overcooked crab clawed away at the satisfaction of getting our chili crab cravings satiated.
@mellbensignature_sg is one of the most established seafood restaurants in Singapore, and I got to experience why they’ve been doing brisk business since 1985. We ordered a Soon Hock ($70++ for ours) done Hong Kong style, and we were absolutely thrilled by just how stellar the soon hock was.⠀
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Hong Kong style fish is shockingly simple, but is stunningly sapid if all the elements are perfect. And here at Mellben, everything was definitely perfect. The soon hock was unbelievably fresh, and it might even have been swimming around in a fish tank just before we ordered it. Press F to pay respects to the fish, and to honour its delicious sacrifice. The stunningly fresh fish is steamed to perfection with the sauce mixture, consisting of (but not limited to) light soya sauce, hua tiao chiew (aka shaoxing rice wine), some Ve Tsin (MSG), a dash of sugar, some scallions and a lot of ginger.⠀
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That’s all that is required for a fabulous fish dish. The sweet, supple flesh of the perfectly steamed fish is infused with the superbly savoury flavours of the sauce mixture. The steamed Hong Kong style fish may be simple, but it is certainly an ethereally excellent dish. I would recommend washing the saltiness down with a bottle of wonderful Sauvignon Blanc from Villa Maria. Normally, seafood restaurants have below average to average wines, but Mellben has this stunning sav blanc on their wine list that’s too good to be missed out on, just like this fantastic fish.
Chilli Grab (Small - $99) - this is the star of the night and such a big crab that 7-8people shared. We ordered other dishes like salted pork ribs which is so tender, deep fried chicken wings, cereal prawns, vegetables and fried rice.
A good swing from your usual meal everyday and once in a while seafood feast with bunch of friends.
Chilli crab is also one of their signature dishes here at Mellben.
Decided to get a 1.4 to 1.5kg female crab to be cooked: Chilli style.
Female crab: lots of egg, roe. (BUT)Small claw
This crab today is full of roe. Crab meat here is very consistently good, consistently fresh.
The chilli is a little spicy, but I really enjoyed it.
Chilli crab > crab soup
#TeamChilli
Mellben seafood has been opened for along time here at AMK. The store is the main branch.
The crab bee hoon soup is Highly recommended dish here at mellben.
Crab confirm is fresh here, meat is so tasty.
Decided to go with a 1.1kg male crab for this dish.
Male crab = large claw, no roe.
Claw was huge.
The broth was also so flavourful, really like it, until we both decided to pay $5 just to top up the soup. Simply shiok.
Bit spicier than other famous chili crabs which I liked! Affordable price less than $100!
We ordered the cereal prawns, sambal kangkong, honey pork ribs, chaipo beancurd & salted veg soup. The cereal prawns were nicely cooked & they were very generous w the cereal. We really loved the honey pork ribs too, it was well-seasoned & the pork was tender so it came off the bone easily. The sambal kangkong & chaipo beancurd however, were just way too salty. We tried to finish as much as we could, but it was just too salty & we found ourselves reaching for our drinks after every bite to wash the salt away. Really disappointing :( the salted veg soup was just average. However, the value set came w these 5 dishes + 4 drinks & 4 desserts for $88++ so I guess it’s quite worth. Just be sure to avoid the sambal kangkong & chaipo beancurd the next time u visit this outlet! (Maybe it’s just the chefs today but the saltiness was really horrible) 😫
This salted egg crab was to die for! Salted egg sauce was creamy but not too heavy at the same time so it wasn’t jelat & it went really well w the mantous (6 for $3.80). The mantous were also well-fried, soft and fluffy on the inside but crispy on the outside! Would definitely recommend this!
Good for casual feasts with the fam is this foolproof zi char spot in the North. The bang-for-your-buck Crab beehoon ($70/kg) features a big portions of crab and white bee hoon soaked in tasty, creamy broth. Another popular dish is their succulent Chilli Crab (from $68.90) bathed in a slighty eggy spicy sauce.
Photo by Burppler Tina H
Their smallest chilli crab cost $68.90. But it was superb with thick chunk of flesh. Satisfied with it. I did a take away and they gave alot of gravy. Mantou was nice too.
Worth to gain calories and travel to here from JURONG after works !
#foodie #vsco #singapore
🦀🦀🤤 Thanks for the awesome girls’ night out! Happy Birthday to Everyone! 人日快乐！🎂
AMK outlet: @mellbensignature is a long-standing & well-known place for crabs without the fuss of a fancy restaurant setting. They were really killin' it years back, but now it just doesn't have that satisfactory value attached to it. Still good though!
Rating: 8/10
Will i return/recommend: Yes/Yes
Pros: Really tasty 😍 Love the crab bee hoon soup! Crab meat is very sweet. Green dragon veg yummy but overpriced @ $15 😒 Sambal lala sauce nice, not very spicy - but i think true sambal lovers will be disappointed.
Cons: MSG is too much. Long queues during dinner time (only AMK). Standard is dropping & inconsistent among diff outlets. Taste-wise, AMK is my fav. Cannot stand the majority of their staffs attitude. "Seafood" restaurant, but only left with lala & crabs for shelled seafood?! 😅 Lala isn't fresh. I'm pretty certain crab weight is less than what they claim (my uncle used to sell crabs so quite familiar), but as usual, just have to suck it up if i’m gonna dine there 😃
Price: S$138.03
their crab been hoon soup is reali unbeatable! we finished the soup clean!
Total damage, $308.
Still my favourite place for crabs‼️‼️ Not only the best recipe but also the most meaty crabs!! Kangkong and deer meat tasted just as good as well 👍🏻
Melben's crab bee hoon soup is really unbeatable. Super satisfying meal. The quality of the crabs here is really excellent. Come early to get seats - it was empty at 5.45 on a Friday night but filled up quickly (and the famous queue started forming...)
Total Bill, $96!
Each kg of crab = $77.
They have more damn one "signature" crab because all the crab tastes DAMN GOOD. The kangkong is also one of the best i've tried! Spicy and strong flavoured 👍🏻 Fried mantou wasn't too oily and combines with all the different types of sauces perfectly fine!!
