Charcoal Claypot Crab Review: SG’s First “Crab Hotpot” Stall In Ubi

Charcoal Claypot Crab has SG’s first crab hotpot in Ubi

The arrival of lala claypot in Singapore seems to have sparked something of an arms race. Not long after the first stall of its kind emerged, many others mushroomed around the country. This trend eventually gave rise to the prawn claypot, and now, the crab claypot seems next in line, thanks to the newly opened Charcoal Claypot Crab.

Started by the same people behind Woodlands Claypot Prawn, Charcoal Claypot Crab offers a sort of crab soup dish that is fueled by charcoal fire. You can enjoy it with prawns, sliced meat, vegetables and more—as you would with traditional hotpot.

While this dish sounds great in theory, does it hold up in practice? To find out, we dropped by the stall to try it for ourselves.

Food at Charcoal Claypot Crab

Upon ordering, the Claypot Crab Broth ($32.80) promptly arrived on our table, with the hot charcoal already cooking the soup and the crab within it. After a few minutes, all the other ingredients we ordered were served, and the claypot’s lid was lifted, indicating that the crab broth was now ready for consumption.

I was expecting the soup to be rich and full of umami, similar to that of crab bee hoon. Unfortunately, it was easily the weakest aspect of the whole experience. I found it to be too watered down, yet salty at the same time, for my liking. As the charcoal continued to cook the broth, the saltiness only became more pronounced.

The crab itself was… okay. While it was reasonably fresh, I found myself wishing the meat was more plump and sweet. And because the crab we were served was on the smaller side, it felt like there just wasn’t a whole lot of meat to enjoy.

Let’s move on to the stall’s saving grace: the hotpot aspect. Charcoal Claypot Crab offers a large range of ingredients you can add to your claypot—the ones you see in the image above only scratch the surface of what you can get here.

On the seafood side of things, you’ve got ingredients such as Hokkaido Scallop ($10.80), Prawn Paste ($10.80), Abalone Slice ($6.80), Basa Fish Slice ($6.80) and more. We found most of these to be pretty good, especially the scallops which were sizeable and fresh.

As for meat, you’ve got options such as Premium Pork Shabu ($8.80), Iberico Spain Pork Collar ($10.80), Premium Marinated Beef ($12.80) and more. While I wished that these were cut into thicker slices, the meats were generally quite succulent and paired well with the broth.

You can dip these ingredients into Charcoal Claypot Crab’s myriad of sauces, ranging from piquant house-made chilli sauce to sweet char siew sauce. They even have nacho cheese sauce!

Interestingly, the stall offers a really solid rendition of Buttermilk Chicken Rice with Egg ($6.80).

While we initially thought it strange that such a dish would be offered at a hotpot stall, we were quickly impressed by its rich, creamy sauce and the crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside fried chicken bits.

Ambience at Charcoal Claypot Crab

Charcoal Claypot Crab is located in a coffeeshop tucked away in an industrial area. While the space is reasonably large, its somewhat closed-off design means that it can get quite stuffy. We reckon that it gets most crowded during weekday lunch hours, as that’s when the workers from the neighbouring industrial buildings drop by for their lunch.

The coffeeshop is a 12-minute walk from Ubi MRT Station.

The verdict

I’m not convinced that the trend of turning everything into a claypot soup dish always works in practice, as evidenced by my previous criticisms. However, I do think there is potential here, especially considering the decent hotpot experience you can have here. With some fine-tuning to the crab claypot, it could offer a unique and satisfying twist on traditional claypot dishes.

For great seafood restaurants to check out, read our best seafood restaurants in Singapore guide. For hotpot places to check out, read our best hotpot restaurants in Singapore guide.

Address: 3014B Ubi Road 1, Singapore 408722
Opening hours: Daily 12pm to 10pm
Tel: 9623 7161
Website
Charcoal Claypot Crab is not a halal-certified eatery.

Photos taken by Marcus Neo.
This was a media tasting at Charcoal Claypot Crab.