Mellben Seafood

Looooooooove the chilli and butter crab!!! Even the nai bai was good with garlic. Been here 3 – 4 times now. I hardly try the other dishes other than the crab. Haha.
Maybe the only reason to give this place a second thought is the high prices. But … I definitely would return again soon. Haha
Oh. Do go early to queue. No prior reservations are allowed. And the queue can stretch pretty far.

Apparently this is where all the locals go! Great seafood!
It’s not a fancy restaurant, there’s no AC, but the food is delicious. We had all things seafood! Cereal prawn, kang kong, two crabs (one salted egg-​yum! and the crab beehoon with the soup noodles). Get here early, or expect a long queue!
Everything is freshly cooked so it takes a little while as well for your food to be served.

Mellben is located under a HDB block in Ang Mo Kio but because this restaurant been featured in some travel magazine this restaurant always pack with tourist. So my suggestion will be make an effort to call and make a reservation 1 day before.
They are famous for their crab, the most famous dish will be the crab beehoon (rice noodles) soup. So you will see almost each table will have this dish.
The soup are very nice have a strong taste of crab freshness, if you want more soup you may request for a bowl or two, but they charge for each bowl or soup.
I also recommend that you try the butter and salted egg crab. You might want to skip the chili crab, personally I find it don’t taste as good as lots of other restaurant in Singapore.
The only problem I have with this restaurant is no Aircon, so get ready to sweat when enjoy those yummylious crab.

This is one of the place you had to go when you are craving for crabs.
This is my 2^nd visit here and I really love the way they cook the crabs here. This outlet which I went is located at Ang Mo Kio, it is just located right below a HDB. I went to this place on 2 separate occasion and it’s always bustling with people. There’s a huge carpark located infront of the restaurant and fret not there’s plenty of car lot. But try to avoid popping by during dinner time as this is a residential area so car lot might be limited.
We order quite a number of dish that night and it was a treat by a friend therefore I can’t state the bill for the meal.
1) Signature Crab Beehoon Soup ⁵⁄₅
This is a must to try, the broth make you go drooling and it’s so flavourful as the beehoon and crab is cook together. I always ask for extra portion of soup as it’s really very good.
2) Salted Egg yolk Crab ⁴⁄₅
Anything cook with salted egg yolk is always so yummy. The crab is coated with salted egg yolk and the flavour just blend in so well which keep your finger locking good
3) Butter Crab ⁴⁄₅
Oh my, the mantou really goes well with the butter sauce and the children keep dipping into the sauce with their mantou and crab. I think this really tells you how good it is.
4) Cereal Prawn ⁴⁄₅
This is one of my all time favourite, love the fragrant smell of the cereal and Prawn. They just simply blend in and the Prawn is so crunchy.
If you ever pop by here, pls order their signature crab beehoon soup. Trust me it’s really very very good.

We brought our overseas guests here on a rainy saturday evening. Have warned them about the snaky q as we did not make any reservations, but it wasnt that bad actually, perhaps because of the rain.
We were seated down after about 15 mins & our food arrived 15 mins later. We had the crab with bee hoon soup, butter crab & chilli crab with fried mantous (dough). For drinks we had the fresh coconut ($ 5) each. Our guests love this place & declare it as the most delicious crab they have ever eaten in Sg. In their 1 week trip here, they have tried at least 5 different places for crabs.
The place is full of tourists & locals. Price is stated clearly & size of the crabs. Check out the wall of fame in the restaurant. This place is not air conditioned. 5 of us shared 3 small crabs.

*4.5 stars*
Love this place! About a 15 min walk from Ang Mo Kio mrt but worth the trek. Officially my go-​to place when I have out-​of-​town visitors that need to try some chili crab. The crabs are so meaty here and I learned to request for the male ones because the claws are bigger! For those who think it’s a hassle to eat crab and don’t usually think it’s worth the effort, this place will change your mind =) I’ve also tried their famous crab bee hoon that comes in a claypot and actually like this better so if you have enough people, try both flavors.
Making reservations is also highly recommended.

One of my favorite places for crabs! Their food is always so good whenever I go. And it’s amazing how long the queue is! The downside is they don’t take reservation but luckily the queue moves quite fast. I just hope they are not going to get more expensive than they already are.

Got there at 6pm and first dish arrived at 745pm. Great food nonetheless, the crab pot with rice noodle was just brilliant. Less heavy compare to the pepper crab or curry crab. Butter shrimp was delicious as well, and the lime juice helped to cool down in the heat. The let down was the long queue and long wait even after getting the table.

Terrible. Awful service. Very rude staff. The food used to be nicer but standards have dropped over the last 5 years. The service standards have dropped to an all time low.

Delicious creamy butter crabs! It was worth the 1 hour wait… With 4 drinks and 2 plates of fried mantou (each plate had 10 mantous) and a crab bee hoon, it cost us $ 144. Split by 4 people it wasn’t too bad and we were bloated!!! I couldn’t eat anymore! There was so much crab roe! It was delicious!!! But so high in cholesterol! :(otherwise I would’ve eaten it all! The butter crab sauce is perfect for dipping the mantou in! I was tempted to ask if they just sell me the sauce! Would totally just eat the sauce with plain white rice! The crab bee hoon though it was supposed to be bee hoon portions for 2 people, 4 of us barely managed to finish it. We were a party of 3 girls and 1 guy. The soup is delicious, although I could sense a great deal of MSG in the soup! But still worth the wait! We came at 7pm and waited an hour for a table. We came on a Tuesday night!

crab crab crab. i love crab.
that is why i love melben. it soothes the inner crab cravings.
crab bee hoon, butter crab, chili crab, its ALL good. this is THE place to go if you have some way of transporting yourself out into the Heartland.

Amazing chili crab along with many servings of lightly fried man tou buns. wow come here hungry b/​c this is one super filling meal destined to choke your arteries and douse any appetite.
The crab is sitting in this richly appointed sauce full of flavor and bits of crab. You dip the deep fried mantou in the sauce and bask in all its glory while in the next move you are deftly picking delicate crab meat out of the hunking claw in front of you.
Cave man foodie-​ness in all its glory. =)

Crab beehoon, butter crab, and a bunch of mantous are all you need for an evening of delicious indulgence.
The food is as legendary as the long wait times for a table (if you come later than 5pm). There was a time when they allowed you to call for a take away order, which lets you skip those ridiculous hour long waits. Not sure if they allow that anymore?

Best crab bee hoon and butter crab in Singapore!
Having been away from Singapore for long periods at a time, this is one place I always crave for.
The crab bee hoon is super flavorful with the broth having a strong sweetness from the crab. The butter crab is heavenly and always leaves me licking my fingers.
The wait here is VERY long, even on rainy weekdays so definitely do come early. The place is pretty hard to get to via MRT so you gotta drive or cab or bus here.
You still have to wait for about an hour for take out because they cook your order on the spot and it takes about an hour for the crab bee hoon to be ready!
Trust me, the wait is worth it.

Just based on the butter crab dish itself, I would come back countless times.
The other dish that I would order is crab bathed in creamy less buttery soup with some udon like noodles.
The only two things I don’t like is that one rude person who took my order and sounded like I owed him a great amount of money and the waiting time. But who am I kidding here? Everywhere with good food needs to wait. So the next time I go, I hope that that guy won’t be there to take my order.
Current medium (which is the large) crab over at Mellbenn is about $ 80 per crab. Tell me where else would have tasty butter crab and I will hunt it down.

Get ready to get your fingers dirty for some delicious seafood!
This is a great place, but a bit out of the way from the MRT Stations. You would have to take the Red North South Line to Ang Mo Kio, and either have a long walk or hail a taxicab. But, the location is prime because of the large space.
Be prepared to wait though. There are usually long lines here, and a group of 10 of us had to queue for about 45 – 55 minutes. Pick up a menu, and prepare to order while waiting in line so the wait for your food will not take as long once you are seated.
We ordered 2 small chili crabs, 2 small butter crabs, 1 medium Signature Crab Soup Bee Hoon (Noodle Soup), Jia Mantao (Fried Buns — which are great for dipping in the chili or butter sauce), and stirred fried vegetables. This was the perfect amount for 10 of us!
Having tried a lot of seafood from all over the world from Maine Lobster to Scandinavian Salmon to Hawker Centres across Singapore, this has definitely been one of the freshest and most tasty seafood experiences I have had.
We ended up pay about $ 33 Singaporean dollars per person, which is not bad at all!
The wait is long, but it is worth it!

Mellben Mellben Mellben… How can anyone not like the seafood and their signature Crab Soup Bee Hoon!!!
The soup is just right in flavor and with the huge crab soaked in it, it’s truly heavenly.
Of course other must try dishes include their deep fried prawns cooked with oatmeal, chilli crab (you can ask for less spicy for those who cant take the heat, like me!) and fried dough fritters.
For a good seafood indulgence, please make your way here.
Do remember make reservation if you don’t wanna wait too long in the queue!
Oh oh, something that I thought was hilarious yet cool. If you head to the loo at the restaurant, don’t forget to check out the photos that they have put up of various people who tried their luck in getting a «free meal». All victims have their faces caught on tape and their pictures are plastered all over the sink area. How shameful! Tsk tsk tsk.

My family comes here often for chili crab and black pepper crab. I was impressed by how clean the crabs were, and how great they tasted. I am adverse to briny flavors, and cannot stand crab and lobster normally, but this place does crab RIGHT. I haven’t been able to find a restaurant anywhere in the US that emulates this restaurant.
My only gripe with this place is the customer service. It’s not the best, and that really isn’t acceptable. Our chrysanthemum tea had dead flies in it. It was like the box was infested with dead fruit flies and they just brewed the tea anyhow. My cousin and my aunties raised hell, and it was quite possibly the funniest moment I’ve ever seen.
This being said, they first tried to deny it, and then they brought us fresh tea. Regardless of this, they didn’t do anything else to make up for their folly. No discount, no service of extra food, not even a genuine and heartfelt apology.
The food is fantastic, but is it really worth putting up with lackluster customer service? You’ll have to decide.

Ok, as most things go, they used to be better. Now they have done some renovation and looks like a real restaurant rather than a tze-​char restaurant on a HDB void deck. Good or bad, it depends on your preference.
I only come for the crab beehoon soup and it is still the best around. It is like the best sliced fish beehoon that you have tried, only that it’s made with crab. so it’s sweeter and thicker. Yums. We typically cleaned the entire claypot.
Have not tried any other crab dishes here.
Not sure if it is that common or only common here, but they post photos of customers who leave without paying. I guess as a form of public shaming? Weird… kind of…

Mellben used to be one of my favourite crab places. I still like it, although the prices have gone up substantially as they got more famous. Where they used to be one stall in a kopitiam, they are now the entire kopitiam (which got revamped to look more restaurant-​like, adorned with decorated crab shells on the walls. quite cute). The prices are significantly more expensive now.
The crab bee hoon soup is still excellent, rich and delicious as always. The creamy butter crab still has the tasty sauce that few other stalls can replicate. I also like the Playboy Chicken (feng liu ji) which is what people here would usually call Thai-​style lemon chicken, except it’s better and comes with a beautiful sauce.
I still like it, but it’s become harder to justify coming back here as often as I used to, just because of how expensive it has become.