Mellben 龍 Seafood (海鲜螃蟹王)

Operating hours: Daily from 5pm - 11pm
Located at: Blk 232, Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 (St 22), #01-1222 S(560232)

Like its name, this restaurant is famous for their crabs. Be sure to go to the correct one, as it was rumored that there are 2 brothers operating two separate seafood restaurants at two different blocks in AMK. However, it seems like the crabs at Blk 232 are more delicious and famous than the other. Hear say only ah, from the taxi uncle.

The operating concept is somewhat like hawker style, those 煮炒 stalls, except that this is slightly bigger than the normal 煮炒 stalls (生意做大了), and that most people who come here, come mostly for the crabs. After all, that's what it's famous for!

Somehow, due to the overwhelming response, it can be quite difficult to get seats, especially if you do not make prior reservations.

Once you get seated, the auntie will come by to take your orders. Of course, besides the famous crabs, like other 煮炒 stalls, they have other dishes to offer as well, like 麦片虾, 马来风光, etc. But as I say, they are more famous for their crabs, to the extent that you can expect a minimum of 1 crab dish at EVERY freaking table. So, order and aim for the crabs I say.

That day, we had 7 people at the table and we ordered 4 crab dishes, about 10 炸馒头 to go with the chilli crab, 1 马来风光, 1 麦片虾 & 1 random vegetable with mushrooms dish. We were like gluttons, because all 7 of us are in actual fact, thin slim gals. For the record, we polished off everything on the table.

Personally, I think the 马来风光 & random vegetable with mushrooms dish is ok, but somehow the 麦片虾 is not up to my standard. But heck, it's 螃蟹 not 虾 they are famous for. They are 螃蟹王 leh!

Let's start on the uber delicious crabs. First in tow, the Chilli Crabs.

I know the picture actually looks disgusting and not very appetizing, but let's not go into details as to what it actually looks like. Personally, I think that the chilli crabs are NOT really that fantastic, perhaps it's because I don't find it spicy enough. But for chilli crab lovers, you can try. The chilli crabs are passable, and you can have it with 炸馒头 or plain rice, which is a normal combination. To their credit, the pincers are rather big and fleshy, so I'd say it's value for money in any sense.

Second in tow, the Black Pepper Vermicili Crabs.

I think this is uber delicious and definitely value for money. As you can see, the pincers are also quite big and fleshy, but of course for avid crab eaters, you know the best part is in the legs, or something like that. The black pepper used is not overpowering, which makes the sauce goes very well with the vermicili and it's definitely very scrumptious. As I'm typing this, my mouth is watering and I'm craving for this dish. We didn't have enough of it that day! Yummy!

Third in tow, the Black Pepper Crabs.

I didn't take any pictures of this as it's quite similar to the second dish, which is the Black Pepper Vermicili Crabs. In actual fact, we were told by the lady boss (I think) that we shouldn't have ordered this if we have ordered the one with Vermicili. We then told her that we didn't know as it was our first time here, and the auntie who took our orders didn't highlight this to us as well. Lady boss then wanted us to tell her exactly which auntie was the one who took our orders so that she can educate her properly. Being afraid that the poor auntie would get penalized or something, we said never mind. Lady boss was quite insistent, so we said we forgot which auntie already. We are good people, hahaha.

Anyway, the black pepper crabs taste ok. Not as uber delicious as the one with vermicili. I think it's cooked in a dry black pepper style, so it didn't have as much black pepper sauce as the one with vermicili, making it less tasty. So I say, order the one with vermicili will do.

Fourth and last dish in tow, the Crab Bee Hoon Soup.

I think this is the most uber delicious out of the four and will definitely make you 回味无穷. We didn't order this at first, this was actually the last dish we ordered, last minute no less. We saw that most of the tables were having this, and it sure looked delicious, so we ordered. Like no regrets! I think they used the female crab in this dish, so you can taste the crab roes. The crux is in the soup, the soup was so nice, I didn't know how to describe. Now I feel like going back to try it all over again! Mouth-watering man!

I realised I did not mention anything about prices. In fact, I forgot about the actual pricing lar, but in my memory, I don't think they are very expensive. If I don't remember wrongly, I think we paid about $27 individually, so I'm assuming that the bill came to a total of about $189? Not very expensive lar, given that we ordered so many dishes, including drinks.

All in all, I think this is worth trying and value for money. After all, they don't get so many customers for nothing. I think I will be going there in the near future.

For the mouth-watering crab dishes, I give it a 4/5.

I like to take pictures of the food I'm eating. So much so, that when eating with my friends / colleagues, they've come to the consensus of starting a meal with "Quick, want to take picture or not?!" instead of the usual "Let's start to eat!"

Whatsoever, enjoy da food blog!

This will not, in any sense, be related to the Management's or stall owner's stand on their restaurants / food served. This is just my humble opinions on the restaurants / food that I've tried and tested.

Afterall, this is my blog. So take this with a pinch of salt.

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