Sunday, September 16, 2007

Mellben Seafood - Toa Payoh Branch


Singaporens will que for anything - from schools to doughnuts - I find this que thing quite nonsensical but I'll make an exception for the Ang Mo Kio crab. I've been there once and had to que for about 40min. But I have just discovered that the Toa Payoh Branch for Mellben seafood doesn't require much queing at all! We went there at 6pm on Sunday and got a table straighaway. Of course, we ordered the famous Claypot Crab Bee Hoon. It's super delicious - a big pot with a juicy red crab steaming inside.

The soup is very creamy (I think they might use cream instead of milk) and buttery (lots of oil floating on top) and heavenly. It's very sweet and flavourful cos of the crab, and the noodles are al dente. If you want to top up soup or noodles, it will cost $3 each. It sort of reminds me of a sweeter version of laksa (cos it's so creamy) but without the spicyness.
This is the shimmering sand crab. It's also $35 per kg, and it's a very unique dish - go try it if you haven't already done so! Last time I ate this at the Ang Mo Kio branch, the waitress introduced it as a 'White Pepper Crab' - it's a creamy sauce which has sprinkles of curry leaves, chilli padi, pepper and crunchy oatmeal/cornflakes(?).
The sauce is thick and delicious, perfect for dipping. This ties with my other favourite cooking style for crab - the salted egg crab :D
This is a page in their menu - when we first read it we were like huh??? They're actually saying that they can't guarantee the quality of the crab - if it's hollow then too bad! I think that the last time I ate at Ang Mo Kio, the crab was better cos it was fuller and meatier, and the meat was fresher and more solid compared to the ones we had at Toa Payoh, but it's so not worth the que!

If you noticed that we only ate crabs, it was cos the aim of going to Mellben Seafood was for the crabs, and we did have part two somewhere else. Furthermore, they're famous for crabs and not much else, but they do have alot of other dishes that most tze char restaurants have such as mongolian pork ribs or prawns, vegetable dishes (for about$12 each plate), home made tofu, soups, yam basket etc etcMellben Seafood
Block 211 Toa Payoh Lorong 8
#01-11/15
Tel 63533120

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