Video of Mellben Seafood chef cutting crab on tablecloth goes viral. 'Secret recipe revealed'
A popular seafood restaurant is under scrutiny after a video surfaced showing a chef disassembling a crab directly on a tablecloth, instead of using a cutting board.
A 60-second TikTok clip, comprising CCTV footage, captured the incident inside the kitchen of Mellben Seafood at Ang Mo Kio.
After the crab is cut up, it is passed to another chef for further preparation, while a third chef uses the same cloth to wipe the kitchen countertop.
Posted on Nov 17, the clip has garnered 160,200 views, 1,800 reactions, and 244 comments as of press time.
In the clip, two employees can be seen handling a crab, with one cutting it on a white rag. The recording also captures a conversation between two men, identified by 8world as a customer and the chef handling the crabs.
"Do you think it's right to cut the crabs on top of the tablecloth?" the man asks. The chef explains that the rag "was washed, has been washed a lot and is meant to wipe the dishes."
"Shouldn't it be cut on a cutting board?" the man retorts, while adding that "the food is about to go into our mouths for consumption".
When the chef laughs in response, the man asks: "Do you think this is funny?"
The footage also shows a employee handling the crab without gloves as it goes into a clay pot for cooking, while another employee uses the same rag to wipe the kitchen countertop.
'We have nothing to hide': Mellben Seafood
Restaurant owner Sun Dewei (transliterated) told 8world that the incident took place on Nov 16 at around 10 pm, close to the restaurant's closing time.
A customer had ordered several dishes, including a large Sri Lankan crab.
After the meal, the customer claimed that the crab head had been "replaced with a shell". Mr Sun said that only one large crab was available that evening, making any replacement impossible, but the customer continued to insist that the crab had been switched.
Mr Sun's father then showed the customer the CCTV footage.
"To be honest, we are speaking out not to defend our reputation or deny the facts," Mr Sun said. "We want the public to know that we have acknowledged the issue, taken steps to improve, and apologise to customers for the incident."
He added, "If we were hiding anything, we wouldn't have let him (the customer) view the CCTV."
Mr Sun also noted that the customer had recorded the video discreetly and uploaded it, which was how it became public.
'Boss, spot check': Netizen
"All these years, it tastes so good because of the tablecloth?" one netizen quipped.
"Lucky I'm not their customer," another commented.
Others said the restaurant was "too expensive and had bad attitudes," adding that they had not patronised it for a long time.
"Nowadays, you just have to close your eyes and eat… you don't know better, otherwise every meal will give you anxiety," one netizen wrote.
Stomp has reached out to Mellben Seafood and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) for comment.
