Fatty Crab Review

Crab is the meal everyone says you can't leave Malaysia without, and it's also the one that makes people nervous. It's the priciest thing on most menus, and the famous places come with queues and a reputation for sending you home covered in sauce. It's fair to wonder whether it's worth the trip and the money.

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In this guide 9 sections

Fatty Crab is one of the best-known crab restaurants around Kuala Lumpur (KL), and it's been in Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya, for decades. So one weekday during our three months living in KL, Cream and I made the trip out to see what the fuss was about.

We wanted to know two things: is the sauce really that special, and is one crab dinner worth the most money we'd spend on a meal in Malaysia? This is our honest Fatty Crab review.

Watch Our Fatty Crab Taste Test

Cream does the tasting on camera, from the first spoonful of sauce to the very messy aftermath:

Is Fatty Crab Worth It? My Quick Answer

Yes. Fatty Crab's sweet and sour chilli crab is one of the best meals we had in Malaysia, and the sauce is unlike anything we've had anywhere else. We give it a 9 out of 10. It's far from central KL, it's messy, and it was our most expensive meal in the country at $74.10 for two, but we expected crab to cost more, and we'd happily pay it again.

What Makes Fatty Crab Different

Fatty Crab is a Chinese seafood restaurant in Taman Megah, a neighborhood of Petaling Jaya, and it's been feeding crab lovers there for decades.² It won Best Seafood at the Time Out KL Food Awards four times between 2009 and 2013, in awards voted for by the public.¹

The star is the crab in its signature gravy, a sweet, sour, and spicy sauce that local food writers have been raving about for years.⁴ You eat it with plain white toast and fried rice to soak up every last drop.

Arriving at Fatty Crab

We got there on a weekday right at 4:00 p.m., when it opens. There was no wait, but a few tables already had people at them, which tells you how popular it is. Fatty Crab has a reputation for queues night after night,⁴ so getting there at opening is the move, the same trick that worked for us at 168 Claypot Chicken Rice and Oriental Kopi.

It's a simple, open-fronted shophouse with red tablecloths and plastic chairs, half inside and half outside. I don't think there was air conditioning, but it wasn't hot and we were comfortable the whole meal.

The staff were really helpful with ordering. Crab is the expensive part of the meal, and they told us exactly how much we needed for two people, which turned out to be one crab. We asked for a normal spice level, which was the right call. They'll also set you up with sheets of paper on the table to pile your shells on, and a mallet. You'll need both.

What We Ordered at Fatty Crab

One crab in the house chilli sauce, a plate of prawns, chicken wings, fried rice, toast, and a beer. It was plenty for two.

1. Sweet and Sour Chilli Crab // The Reason to Come

Before touching the crab, Cream tried the sauce on its own. It's thick and vinegary, full of little pieces of garlic and onion, and his first reaction was "Wow. There's so much sourness and flavor in that sauce. I don't know if I've ever had anything like that." It's tangy, a little sweet, and the heat is very even.

Then the crab itself. It lives up to the restaurant's name: "This crab is so fatty," Cream said, "the sauce makes the crab even better." The meat is rich, and it's the perfect thing to drag through that sour sauce.

Cracking it is half the fun. The mallet crushes the shell and it breaks right off, then you pick out the pieces of meat and dunk them back in the sauce. The big chunks are the most satisfying to pull out. All through the meal you can hear the taps of mallets from every table in the restaurant.

A word of warning: the sauce makes everything slippery, and the shells are sharp and pointy. Take it slowly. As Cream put it, "You don't want to get dressed up when you come here. It's going to splatter all over you."

2. Fried Rice // Built for the Sauce

The fried rice came with a little shrimp, egg, and spring onion, and it was much more charred, and smoky than we expected. It's good on its own, but it's really there to carry the crab sauce. In Cream's words: "That sauce makes the crab fatty, the rice fatty, everything's fatty."

3. Fried Prawns // Light, Crispy, and Garlicky

The prawns were cooked perfectly, lighter than they looked, and the shell came right off. They seemed to be fried quickly until crispy, with a little garlic coming through. The heads were a bit drier but still full of flavor. They're good plain, and even better dunked in the crab sauce.

4. Crispy Chicken Wings // Our Surprise Favorite Side

The wings are a classic fry: crispy, a little salty, and perfectly cooked. They're fine on their own, but roll them through the crab bowl and they become something else. "This sourness is what really makes this," Cream said. "We need some of these fatty sour wings in the States." You don't need a separate wing sauce here.

5. Toast and a Cold Beer // For the Last of the Sauce

The bread is nothing fancy, just slices of plain white toast, and that's exactly right. Once the crab is gone, you spoon the leftover sauce over it and finish the bowl.

We had a cold beer with it, and it's the right drink here: refreshing and a good break from all that tang and heat.

By the end, the table was completely sticky and most of the sauce was gone. Plan on going home afterward. As Cream said in the video, "This is one that you want to come eat and then clear your evening so that you can rest afterwards."

What We Didn't Love

It's far. Fatty Crab is in Petaling Jaya, not central Kuala Lumpur, so it's a whole trip rather than a quick dinner. Budget a long Grab ride each way and don't squeeze it between other plans.

It's the priciest meal we had in Malaysia. $74.10 for two is a lot next to the $15 we paid at 168 Claypot Chicken Rice or the $24 for two loaded plates at Saddam Nasi Kandar. We expected crab to cost more, and it was worth it for us, but it's a splurge by local standards.

It's slow and messy. Shells go everywhere and you can't eat this fast. That's part of the fun, but it's not a quick dinner before a movie.

Who Fatty Crab Is For, and Who Should Skip It

Go if you love seafood, you want one big, memorable crab dinner in Malaysia, and you don't mind getting your hands dirty. It's a great night out for two or for a group sharing a few dishes.

Skip it if you eat halal (it's pork-free but serves alcohol),³ if you're short on time in KL, or if you're on a tight budget. For a cheaper big local meal, the nasi kandar at Line Clear is still our favorite thing we ate in the city, and our guide to the must-eat foods in Kuala Lumpur has plenty more.

Prices, Hours, and Getting There

• What we paid: $74.10 in total for two in 2026, for one crab in chilli sauce, prawns, chicken wings, fried rice, toast, and a beer. The crab is most of the bill.
• How much crab: one crab was right for two people with sides. Ask the staff and they'll tell you how much to order.
• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 4:00 to 10:00 p.m., closed Mondays, according to 2026 listings.² Hours have changed over the years, so check before you go.
• Where: 2 Jalan SS 24/13, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.²
• Getting there: a Grab is the easiest way. Petaling Jaya is its own city southwest of Kuala Lumpur, so plan for a long ride, longer at rush hour. Our guide to getting around Kuala Lumpur covers Grab, the monorail, and walking.
• Where to stay: stay in central Kuala Lumpur and make this a dinner trip. Bukit Bintang is where we lived for three months: see places to stay there.
• Payment: cards are accepted. We paid by card.
• Also on the menu: a salted egg crab, butter prawns, and marmite chicken, if you're coming with a bigger group.²

Restoran Fatty Crab, 2 Jalan SS 24/13, Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya

This map comes from Google Maps.

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Our Verdict on Fatty Crab

Fatty Crab is worth the trip out to Petaling Jaya. Get there at 4:00 p.m., order one crab per two people in the house chilli sauce, and save the toast for the end. Just wear something you don't mind getting sauce on.

Next Steps for Your Kuala Lumpur Trip

• The 13 best restaurants in Kuala Lumpur, ranked by our scores.
• The must-eat foods in Kuala Lumpur, from nasi lemak to nasi kandar.
• Our Line Clear Nasi Kandar review, our favorite meal in KL.
• Is Kuala Lumpur worth visiting? Our honest verdict after three months.
• The best time to visit Kuala Lumpur, month by month.