Mellben Seafood (Ang Mo Kio)

Wah...this is really a surprising find.....especially in AMK....since when do we associate AMK with great tasting crabs ? Unless the person telling me is "full of craps"......I would not have known it's true until I've tasted it personally !

Well.....butter crab....yummy.....best of all is the bee hoon crab....wah...this one super power.....looks "plain"....but the taste ROCKS !!! Super creamy soup and fresh crabs....wulala....now that's what all crabs should taste like : )

As mentioned by many.....be prepared to queue....this is no fast food joint....when you've gotten your table.....stay long enuf to enjoy and savour their super sedap dishes....it's worth all the wait : )

Damage done: $130 for a meal for six, but it was worth it!

Stuff ordered:
Crab Bee Hoon
Pork Ribs in Lotus Leaf
Cereal Prawns
Crispy Seafood Tofu
Sambal Kang Kong

Patience and aggressiveness are necessary virtues if you want to eat here. First you need to queue up for a table, which is about half an hour's wait. During that time, need to be vocal about the unfair allocation of tables. Once you get a table, you need to wait for another half an hour for your crab. Plus, the service we experienced took rather long between the fish and second dish. We thought it was a banquet style dining, one dish after another. But such is the joy of dining at the kopitiam.

You probably can't go wrong ordering anything here so we ordered by recommendation of the wise Girlfriend. That's of course, provided that the usual robust tze-cha palette is to your liking.

So the thing I do want to talk about is the main event of that meal, the crab bee hoon. I would personally prefer to call it the mutant crab bee hoon since the crab's pincer was the size of a Milo can while its top shell was the size of a man's palm. I think it fed on dead cows.

The dish is much like fish head bee hoon. I liken it to Ka Soh's fish bee hoon at Amoy Street or XO fish head bee hoon somewhere in Buena Vista, except here, they use crab instead of fish. The condensed milk laced soup base is exceptionally rich in taste and it was a perfect combination with the thick bee hoon. I would recommend eating clearing up the crab first while the bee hoon soaks in the broth. Once the crab has been cleared, leisurely wash everything down with the bee hoon soup. But then again, who cares? It's a neighbourhood kopitiam, not a fine-dining restaurant.

So anyone wants to join me on the next trip to Mellben Seafood?

Mellben is an interesting place... why u might ask? coz it's located in a coffeeshop in a HDB block n yet it operates n charges like a seafood restaurant...there's a rival acrossed e st called uncle leong with similar fare where those who refused to wait can head to...in fact mellben used to b at sgoon central.. until there's some disagreement where a chopper is involved n moved house to AMK!! (haha gossip from my mum!)

anyway there's alwaz a long queue n e norm is to order 1st n then wait for seats.. sometimes e wait can b real long but i was there yest n i got a seat immediately n e food came 15mins later.. (wow 1st time so fast!).. but i do notice that e place is less packed (empty tables on a sun evening!)..a sign of declining popularity?

okie now to e makan!! i've been here many times n e main star is of coz e crabs! i've tried both e crab bee hoon n e butter crabs n i do like e crab bee hoon... it's one of e best around.. e soup is yummy n e crabs r super fresh n super fat! it's a yum! e butter crabs was less yum... it's still yummy but more sauce would have been better though n e crabs i had was not too fresh (some meat do stick to e shell) n so i concluded that they used all e better crabs for e signature crab bee hoon while they used less fresh crabs for e butter / chilli crabs since e sauce would cover it up! notti notti!

of coz while waiting for e star to arrive.. we had other dishes such as e cereal prawns.. wow this sux big time! over-cooked n not fragrant at all.. Jumbo one still rocks! e fried bean curd is juz not bad oni.. e claypot bean curd was spicy n e sauce goes well with rice but e prawns were not too fresh..e mongolian pork ribs n pai ku wang were decent..e fried rice though is a pleasant surprise coz it's really good..got wok hei n it's really not bad.. can't remember wat other dishes i've tried b4.. wat i felt is that e focus r all on e crabs so these "side" dishes r really juz to pass e time while e crabs arrive n hence it's not all too yummy!

after patronising this place for a few times n tried pretty much a wide range of food.. i tink e oni star here is e crab bee hoon..so e oni reason y i would pop by e next visit would b juz to order e crab bee hoon n that's it! with extra soup n extra bee hoon n get stuffed on that alone! well n maybe e fried rice n if not for e not so fresh crab...e butter crabs as well. e rest kinda sux n it's not cheap either!

tink i would juz head to jumbo or long beach or no signboard if i really wana eat good seafood... forget abt mellben unless crab bee hoon is wat u r looking for!

p.s: mellben is closed for major reno from 04 aug to 02 sept... maybe to reno into a real restaurant to justify for e prices???

A return after reno saw the place going upscale n is definitely a nicer place to dine in.. The crab bee hoon's still good and for the sides i had the mongolian pork ribs which is zesty n tangy n i likey! The belechan fried rice is ok-ok n there r better ones out there.. Overall i find the sides had shrink but grew in taste hence upgrade my old rating os "not sure" to "probably"

(7.5 - purely for e crab bee hoon!)