This is the famous whole crab noodles in Sibu! It is the natural evolution of our big head prawn noodles, but instead of a large shrimp, you get one (1) whole crab instead. It’s a luxurious lunch for the times when you want to splurge a little. There is a place that specializes in crab noodle called Wai Mai Lou near the Public Library in Sibu.
I first heard about this beautiful crab noodle on Facebook. I was told its around RM 73 / bowl which I thought was rather expensive. I decided to go and check it out for myself and it turned out to be a lot cheaper than that. The place is family owned and one of the brothers told me all about their crab noodles.
The crabs are picked by hand from Tanjung Manis and arrives at around 3-4 pm each day to Sibu. They have several different sizes – the regular ones weigh around 300 grams per crab and that’s the option I went for. They also have a smaller crab (which averages 150 grams each) and I was told that some people prefer this as the broth would have a stronger crab flavor since they put 2 crabs in each bowl for the same price (RM 20).
You can also opt for the larger crabs which will be sold by weight – RM 7 per 100 gram. However, the owner advices against choosing ultra large crabs since they’ll be better cooked by themselves. I was eying this 1/2 kg frisky fellow for RM 40. However, I went with the advice and had the regular 300 gram crab noodles for RM 20 per bowl.
The crab noodles are cooked Foochow style (fried, then stewed) with a soy sauce based broth and the whole crab is put on top. The crab meat is very nice! I was surprised at just how tender and sweet the flesh is, especially in the area where the legs join the body. The flaky white crab meat is lovely and the crab claws are delicious too!
ε€ε佬 (Wai Mai Lou) is open from 11:30 am till late and I spent RM 22 for the crab noodles plus a drink. The regular crab noodles are just RM 20, which I feel is a great deal if you love seafood. The crabs are very fresh – you can see them actively moving around and they’re replenished each day. Don’t miss this crab noodle if you ever come to Sibu!
I think this is a very affordable bowl of delicious crab noodles! So yummy! I guess apart from the two big claws, there isn’t any meat from the other legs of the crab but for RM20 two claws are good enough in addition to the noodles.
Yeah, I would not mind paying RM 20 for this! π
There is crab noodles in KL too, it’s Malay style (Mee Ketam) which is basically the same thing – one whole crab in wet or dry noodles but the crabs here are more often flower crabs than mud crabs.
Oh, the claws didn’t have a lot of meat – most of the meat as in the body itself e.g. the part where the legs of the crab meets the body a.k.a. the “thigh” of the crab.
Ahhhhh!!! So you went for the crab noodles and it is at that place that I showed you that night. It sure is getting a lot of publicity and it is a wonder that there are no posters or photos or signs at the shop, depending much upon word of mouth and the social media.
Yes, I did hear later that they are only RM20 a bowl here – would not mind dropping by to give it a try one of these days. Nice of the guy to be honest with you,and telling you not to go for the big one. They serve the crabs on their own too? So they serve rice and stuff here as well then. Wouldn’t mind dropping by for a crab meal, been quite awhile.
Yup, this is the place that the Sibu Facebook group posted about! π
I didn’t manage to go to the one you told me. I went to this one coz it was closer (had to do some banking stuff in town coz my company account is in Sibu) so I thought I’ll go on my last day in Sibu. They are getting a lot of publicity from social media – the older brother didn’t blink an eye when I told him I found out about them from FB, didn’t ask which group, so I guess they already know.
The people there are very friendly, even the dad got someone to take a photo of me and to get it right. He told me when the crabs were coming to so I was able to take a photo of the filled aquarium (although I didn’t use that photo coz it was darker at night). Yup, they also have rice at night with crabs if you prefer that, but a lot of people just come for the crab noodles.
The crab noodles are available from 11:30 am onwards, sometimes they close at 2 am if there’s a lot of people still, but usually at 12 am. It’s quite good, the crab noodles, next time I’ll try the 2 smaller crab type (which is also RM 20) and see if the broth is thicker.
looking at the pic of the bowl alone, i thought it seemed not very large, but then i noticed the photo of you holding it, and it clearly looks like quite a hefty/substantial bowl from that scale π this looks like a fun recipe to try for customers who don’t mind getting a bit messy and using their fingers π hopefully this will make its way to kl someday too!
Yeah, this is a decent sized 300 gram crab. π
It’s one of those large soup bowls. I have eaten crab noodles in KL but it’s not like this. There is a good crab noodle place in Shah Alam called Mee Ketam KL (not sure why they call themselves that since they’re located in Seksyen 7) and it’s Malay style noodles with a whole crab inside. That’s pretty good too, if you’re in the Shah Alam area, it’s worth a detour for. It also makes for messy eating though. Haha.
First time I see crab noodles the “brown soup” style.. I thought clear soup, like those fish noodles/fish soup style.. Oohhh, Foochow noodles style, means like Hailam mee.. I don’t eat crabs when I’m outside, very hard to eat, need both hands, and I got kids to handle, eeewww, haha..
Yeah, this is the Sibu style of noodles! π
The noodles are first fried normally, then water is added to stew the noodles in its own sauce. Thus, you still get the caramelized noodle from frying, but in a soup format. You can’t eat crabs without getting your hands dirty but it’s worth it though. I’ve never seen clear soup style noodles with a whole crab in KL but I’ve seen Malay stalls do it.
Walau! That is a luxurious bowl of goodness!
new place in Sibu? Don’t remember I seen this place before.
This place has been open for 7 months! π
That’s what the owners told me. First time I’ve been here though. Apparently there are other places doing crab noodles too but it’s not as popular as our Sibu big head prawn noodles. It’s considered relatively new, I just recently saw their crab noodles in a Sibu town Facebook group.
Aiyo, must remember not to wear white if I were to dine here. Sure will be very messy eating crabs and noodles. RM20 for a bowl of that luxurious treat is actually alright. I would love to try it too.
Yup, this one have to dig in with your hands. π
Not just white, I was worried it was going to stain my clothes even though it’s red too. Haha! Have to be careful white eating coz the dark gravy can make a mess. It’s fun to eat and dig in with your fingers though, very informal way of eating.
Gosh, the crab noodles look so yummy! I wanna tuck in too!
Yeah, it tasted really good! π
It was the first time I’ve had crab noodles like this. There are crab noodles in KL but they’re all Malay style. There’s one in Shah Alam called Mee Ketam KL which is quite famous, and they use a whole crab too.
The red crab inside the bowl looked so alive with smashed claws. I would love to drink the crab soup as some say would make us horny! LOL
The [rice is just right at RM22 plus one drink.