Crab Hot Lau

Food is very fresh and imported from Vietnam on weekly delivery
The service is great

I've visited Crab Hot Lau 5 times now and I have to say they are good, but never taking me to the next level of mind blowing. Either a dish is so mediocre such as the snails to the crab spring rolls which are my favorite item on the menu. They are packed with crab, pork, vermicelli and woodear with a crispy light skin.

They're revamped the menu a couple of times and I can see they will continue to improve so that's a good sign.

Service has been consistently below average though. Unfortunately, I think the younger staff is probably voluntold to work there and there's this one younger female worker who is always in a bad mood. It sort of kills the vibe sometimes eating here.

The noodle soups are decent, but can be ordered anywhere else. Broth is on the lighter side since it's based on the style they are going for. Sometimes it's what you're looking for.

Make a reservation!! And maybe still avoid weekends as it took us awhile to get seated and around 20 minutes before food arrived. Our kind waiter noticed that we were getting hangry and moved our 2 top order ahead of the big tables (there were 3 big tables of 8-15 people). We really appreciated that and the first dish to come was the crab spring rolls. It was phenomenal: good crunch, amazing flavours with the fish sauce, big chunks of crab. I would come back for this dish! The crab soup with wide noodles felt a bit more flat after the excitement of the spring rolls. The noodles had a really good Al dente bite, and again, I love the big chunks of crab. They did not skimp! Overall, I would definitely come back, most likely on a weekday and try their hot pot next time! Saw lots of table ordering that. Street parking was scarce, you will need to look for parking in the residential street behind Kingsway.

A big thank you to the staff at Crab Hot Lau that were patient and attentive!

Crab based pho place on Kingsway. I must say this is a rather unique niche.

Parking is plentiful on the side streets.

The place used to be a Chinese restaurant, and it really shows on the interior. Decently modern. The glowing RGB speakers add a tacky party (Asian uncle and auntie karaoke night) feel.

Staff are friendly and helpful. No complaints.

As this place is more about the crabs and seafood, the menu actually doesn't have that many beef dishes at all. In fact, I think I only saw 1. However they do have some chicken dishes. Something to keep in mind.

I had their signature field rice crab noodle soup, as well as their signature square crab spring roll. The bowl only comes in one size, and is decent. Instead of pho, they use a brown(?) version of wider rice noodles (somewhat similar to wonton soup). Besides the blob of pulverized crab, it comes with some fish cake slices, as well as some leaf wrapped pork sausages. Quite tasty, and definitely something different around here.

The square spring roll is more like a large square "cake" that is cut into quarters. Nice crispy spring roll skin. Inside is the same filling as the pork sausages, mixed with clear vermicelli and some crab meat. Served with a generous portion of fish sauce, and some lettuce. Tasty, but definitely on the pricy side.

This place also serves alcohol, and I think it turns into an uncle/auntie karaoke place at night. They dim the lights when it's party time.

As of the time of the time of writing, there is a 15% discount on Mondays.

Definitely worth checking out if one is in the area. Recommended.

Came back for dinner! Food was delicious and came out promptly. Loved the crab spring rolls, the noodle soup and dry vermicelli. The gluttonous rice was also a crowd favorite. The chicken wings were crispy and rivalled other spots. Flavors were all on point this time and everything came out hot. Ambiance was alright... loud music, felt like I was at a rave haha.

Crab crab crab - This is the place for crab lovers, especially those who are not skillful in deshelling. Imagine mouthful and mouthful of fresh juicy sea crab in different dishes without touching any shells!

This northern Vietnamese restaurant specializes in their famous fresh sea crab meat. So light and fresh. Seasoning was perfect. I had lunch the other day. Absolutely delicious!

Somehow I wished my stomach was bigger. They have so many other dishes to taste other than their famous crab spring rolls and vermicelli soup but also hotpot, dessert, regular and alcoholic drinks. The dishes I had are must haves. I came for their crab spring rolls, but to my surprise, the green papaya beef jerky salad was my number one in this meal.

- Square crab spring rolls
- Green papaya beef jerky salad
- Sea crab vermicelli soup

The crab spring rolls can satisfy your taste buds in many perspectives: crispy but not greasy, juicy with different fresh ingredient textures. Besides the fresh crab meats, the spring rolls have fine ground pork, shrimps, eggs, mushrooms, glass noodles, and vegetables.

The green papaya was shredded like angel hair. The beef jerky are sweet and umame. They are very generous with carrots, and other vegetables. The salad sauce is the catalyst of the dish. If you're allergic to peanuts, please let them know.

The sea crab vermicelli soup has a very rich and darker soup base. It's different from the pho soup base which is more clear. You can taste the crab meat flavour in the soup with cilantro, fried pork fat bits and more. When I scooped deeper, there were loads and loads of crab meat. The vermicelli is a little thicker and more al dente than the pho. I liked it.

The server was nice. She patiently recommended a few popular dishes and explained the differences between a few upon request. The environment was bright and roomy. It is appropriate for any size of groups. They accept most payment methods.

So I came here based on a friend's recommendation. This is not your typical Vietnamese restaurant. Came here on a Saturday brunch/lunch.

Street Parking and accepts credit cards.

Lunch here is not too busy. Hot pots which they are known for starts after 5pm but it's summer and to hot for hot pots.

Ordered:
Glazed chicken wings appetizer - would love to give it a rave review but we found a hair imbedded in the first piece. We let the owner lady know - she was apologizing a lot and letting us know either she can replace the dish or not charge us or discount the bill. We ended up getting a free appetizer - that's why this place did not get a 5 star.

Crab roll, grilled pork vermicelli - it's very different from regular vermicelli dishes. The pork comes in a warm soup that you can dip the vermicelli into. I do like the taste as it is very flavorful. Great for a hots summer's day. Large portions. Next time will ask for cooked bean sprouts. Crab rolls really delish

iced Vietnamese coffee - you can have ice cubes or shaved ice in the drink. I chose the cubes.

They got busy and the waiter forgot our drinks order so had to remind them a couple of times. They are overall very nice and different.

Got the fish cake vermicelli in soup. The soup base is very nice with tomato but it does have a spicey kick to it and there are pork knuckles in it.

will try again if I get a chance - very different from regular Vietnam dishes.

Wow, a local friend highly recommended this place so we knew we had to give it a go.

The service was friendly and accommodating with my toddler and infant. They were very understanding when my youngest was whiny and they were lovely with my oldest.

But the food. Man, was it good. I've never had Northern Viet but it his was DELICIOUS. Everything we ordered had a unique flavour and taste - the broth for the crab (signature dish) was wonderful! The spring roll was so unique. The wings, at first glance, seemed ordinary but they were wonderfully marinated. But my favourite was the beef carpaccio. No one at the table was a raw onion fan but it was perfect in the salad. I'll be dreaming of these dishes for a while!

My friends and I searched online and found this special Vietnamese restaurant that was highly rated, so we decided to give it a try.

We ordered three dishes to share. They were a crab hot pot for one person, glutinous sticky rice with mung been, pork floss, fried shallots, and Vietnamese ham and an appetizer (A4 - Fresh vegetables, pork belly and pork skin. Wrap it yourself with rice paper). We did not enjoy any of the dishes unfortunately. The appetizer was very dry even though we could dip the rice paper into the fish sauce. We couldn't taste the crab broth in the crab hot pot. The crab hot pot came with some sauce with crab cream/sauce but the crab hot pot didn't give us a crab flavour at all. We felt disappointed about this dish. The sticky rice with mung been, pork floss, fried shallots and Vietnamese ham was a bit better among the three dishes.

We might probably order the wrong dishes. But we did not enjoy the three dishes at all. We could have gone to better Vietnamese restaurants in the same neighbourhood. I gave three stars because the service was good. Servers paid attention to us and provided what we needed.

There is street parking right in front of the restaurant on Kingsway. People can also park on the small streets in the residential area.

Got me a group of 4 other friends so we can try as many dishes as possible. Crab Hot Lau specializes in northern Vietnamese cuisine so very different from the many pho restaurants in town.

I appreciated their well curated menu with regional specialties presented in appetizers, every day meals to hot pot.

We were there this past Saturday evening and it was fairly packed. They do take reservations and glad I called in a few days before.

I really enjoyed:
#A6- Nem cua biển HP (square crab spring rolls)
#A14- Combo chả cá + chả lá lốt (Combo fried fish cake + wrapped in piper leaf. The betel leave is from the pepper family and considered a mild stimulant and used in traditional herb medicine in SE Asia)
#A18- Cánh gà chiên mắm (Vietnamese fish sauce glazed chicken wings)
#A20- Mực tươi nướng muối ớt (grilled squid)
#A21- Tôm nướng muối ớt (grilled prawns with chili peppers)
#10 - Miến xào cua biển (stir fried glass noodles with crab, mushrooms and vegetables)

I didn't like so much:
#5 - Bún ốc chuối đậu (Vermicelli with snail. I found the snail meat to be tough and hard to chew so not my thing)
#16A - Xôi thịt HP (Sticky rice, braised pork belly, ham, pate, pickes and meat sauce. The pork was dry, ham was not special but the warm pate was awesome)

I would love to come back for their hot pot dinner. The reddish brown flat rice noodles intrigued me. A friend also had a cold ice coffee and said it was strong and delicious. The prices are a bit high than the typical Vietnamese fare but well worth it. Sometimes it's hard to find parking on the Kingsway and the side streets as there are so many other restaurants near by. Be patient or park further away and walk in.