Kelly Jie Seafood

Kelly Jie Seafood is a family-run zi char restaurant on the ground floor of Blk 211, Lorong 8 Toa Payoh. It is best known for crab, above all its claypot crab bee hoon soup and Singapore-style chilli crab. The rest of the menu covers the cooked-to-order Chinese dishes that local families share at dinner.

The restaurant is run by Kelly Soon, the youngest of the Soon siblings behind Mellben Seafood. She took over this outlet from her brother Melvin. It opened in 2006 and traded as Mellben Seafood Toa Payoh for about a decade. In 2017 Kelly renamed it Kelly Jie Seafood to give it an identity of its own, using a name her two daughters suggested. The team stayed on.

What to order

Crab is the reason most people come. The house signature is the claypot crab vermicelli soup, better known as crab bee hoon soup. Crab and thin rice noodles are served together in a claypot of soup. The dish is the signature of the Soon family's restaurants.

If you prefer crab in a thick sauce, there are plenty of other styles:

• Chilli crab, with fried or steamed buns you can order to mop up the sauce
• Shimmering sand crab
• Creamy butter crab and creamy custard crab
• Black pepper and white pepper crab
• Pan-fried salted egg crab
• Braised crab with bee hoon or glass noodles

Round out the meal with zi char classics. The signature "Kan Xiang" mee tai mak is a dry-fried noodle dish. The "Yuan Yang" crispy fried rice is another house signature. For more seafood, try the homemade yam ring with seafood or Hokkaido scallops with chicken floss. Greens include sambal kang kong with cuttlefish and Hong Kong kailan with XO sauce.

The setting

From the street, Kelly Jie Seafood looks much like an HDB coffee shop. Inside it is a simple, casual Chinese restaurant with no frills. Weekday lunches tend to be calm. Evenings and weekends get busy with families and groups of friends.

If you are new to eating in Singapore's housing estates, our guide to staying in the Singapore heartlands explains what to expect.

Good to know before you go

• You can book a table through Chope. It is worth doing for dinner or weekends.
• Zi char dishes are made for sharing, so come with a few people if you want to try several.
• The restaurant takes online orders for island-wide delivery or self-pickup.
• You can reach the team by phone or WhatsApp.
• Tell staff about any allergies before you order.

Nearby

Toa Payoh has plenty more to eat. Swatow Seafood Restaurant on Lorong 4 serves Teochew food. For something sweet, Creamier (Toa Payoh) is a dessert café on Lorong 1. To try the wider family's cooking, visit Mellben Seafood in Ang Mo Kio.

Browse more chilli crab and seafood restaurants, read our seafood guides, or see all restaurants in Balestier and Toa Payoh.