{"id":13247,"date":"2025-11-21T02:53:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=13247"},"modified":"2025-11-21T02:53:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:53:56","slug":"customer-questions-restaurant-staff-cutting-crab-on-rag-used-for-cleaning-chef-says-cloth-has-been-washed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=13247","title":{"rendered":"Customer questions restaurant staff cutting crab on rag used for cleaning, chef says cloth has been washed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">A popular seafood restaurant is under scrutiny after a video surfaced showing a chef disassembling a crab directly on a table rag, instead of using a cutting board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">A 60-second TikTok clip, comprising CCTV footage, captured the incident inside the kitchen of Mellben Seafood at Ang Mo Kio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Posted on Nov 17, the clip has garnered 160,200 views, 1,800 reactions, and 244 comments as of press time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">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 <span><a class=\"text-primary-500 hover:underline\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.8world.com\/singapore\/seafood-resturant-staff-use-table-cloth-as-chopping-board-2966091?fbclid=IwRlRTSAOKXaJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeFUUMIKxy_iV4ucf-0P5NmDW2ruI90Qw06DXhKTw4k0Z4mh_sDcvrraPpgG8_aem__j6oCRBwZvApw8alSyUaMg\" target=\"_blank\">8world<\/a><\/span> as a customer and the chef handling the crabs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;Do you think it&#8217;s right to cut the crabs on top of the table rag?&#8221; the man asks in Mandarin. The chef explains that the rag &#8220;was washed, has been washed a lot and is meant to wipe the dishes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;Shouldn&#8217;t it be cut on a cutting board?&#8221; the man retorts, while adding that &#8220;the food is about to go into our mouths for consumption&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">When the chef laughs in response, the man asks: &#8220;Do you think this is funny?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">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.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">&#8216;We have nothing to hide&#8217;: Mellben Seafood<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Restaurant owner Sun Dewei (transliterated) told 8world that the incident took place on Nov 16 at around 10\u202fpm, close to the restaurant&#8217;s closing time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">A customer had ordered several dishes, including a large Sri Lankan crab.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">After the meal, the customer claimed that the crab head had been &#8220;replaced with a shell&#8221;. 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Mr Sun&#8217;s father then showed the customer the CCTV footage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;To be honest, we are speaking out not to defend our reputation or deny the facts,&#8221; Mr Sun said. &#8220;We want the public to know that we have acknowledged the issue, taken steps to improve, and apologise to customers for the incident.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">He added, &#8220;If we were hiding anything, we wouldn&#8217;t have let him (the customer) view the CCTV.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Mr Sun also noted that the customer had recorded the video discreetly and uploaded it, which was how it became public.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">&#8216;Boss, spot check&#8217;: Netizen<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;All these years, it tastes so good because of the tablecloth?&#8221; one netizen quipped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;Lucky I&#8217;m not their customer,&#8221; another commented.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Others said the restaurant was &#8220;too expensive and had bad attitudes,&#8221; adding that they had not patronised it for a long time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;Nowadays, you just have to close your eyes and eat\u2026 you don&#8217;t know better, otherwise every meal will give you anxiety,&#8221; one netizen wrote.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">&#8216;Food safety is a joint responsibility&#8217;: SFA<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">In response to queries from Stomp, a Singapore Food Agency (SFA) spokesperson said that they are still investigating the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">The spokesperson added that, &#8220;SFA takes a serious view towards food safety and will investigate all feedback alleging poor food safety practices.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Stomp has reached out to Mellben Seafood for comment.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"border-t border-primary-200 mt-xl mb-md\"\/>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-md py-md xl:flex-row xl:items-center\"><span class=\"font-primary text-18 font-semibold leading-1.2 text-black\">Get more of Stomp&#8217;s latest updates by following us on:<\/span><\/div>\n<hr class=\"border-t border-primary-200 mt-xl mb-md\"\/>\n<p>Join the conversation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/trending-now\/video-mellben-seafood-chef-cutting-crab-tablecloth-goes-viral-secret-recipe-revealed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A popular seafood restaurant is under scrutiny after a video surfaced showing a chef disassembling a crab directly on a table rag, instead of using&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}