The perfect vibe and environment for such tasty crabs!!!! With the lovely atmosphere and music, you wouldn't mind getting your hands dirty with these crabs!
Group of three, went there to celebrate my friend’s birthday. At the end the staff prepare the birthday shot for us which is super nice!!Overall the seafood is really fresh, the food is coming fast and delicious. It’s the perfect spot for a cosy girl’s night. Btw the service is out of my surprise, everyone is so patient to introduce their menu. ✨✨✨definitely come back!
Such an amazing place to eat!
I'm not that big into seafood but this place is definitely one which will change your mind.
They have a pretty extensive menu and that includes drinks.
The service is on point and the music takes you back to the retro days.
It totally has a fun, happy vibe and you just want to sit there all day.
Definitely one to put on the list to visit.
First time going there
Absolutely loved it! It’s a little bit of a wait for food BUT! It’s so worth it! Staff was friendly and the atmosphere was awesome! Definitely going back!
Seafood here is delicious! When you enter you are transformed into another world of a boat themed restaurant (even their toilet seats are ocean themed), where you find tables lined with paper and plenty of tools to assist you with cracking and snacking down your feed. Staff are very friendly and helpful as we were new to this place. They have a variety of sauces I recommend the Singapore sauce nice and spicy. We also enjoyed picking from their drinks menu a large variety of cocktails, cocktails, fish bowls,beers and wines. The only downside is that although the food is a bit pricey it's quite a small portion too. Over $200 for 3 people is a bit much. Overall it's a fun place to go with yummy Seafood, just a little pricey. Well worth the visit though!
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Boiled bags of seafood always mean a messy affair. Its the norm and very well accepted here, so it's easy to feel at home. One of two dining options at The Norfolk - I'd love to call it the formal dining area but it's hands-on methods make it anything but. Upstairs, the room is always jam packed, with a special each night of the week its really no surprise. The decor is a little bit cheesey but nonetheless animated and fun. Highly nautical and in turn, highly themed.
The pot of mussels is grand in size, but sadly the sauces are a little bit of a miss, and there isn't one to really hit a 10 in terms of flavour and coating ability collectively. The garlic butter is an easy choice for boiled bags of prawns but feels under seasoned or missing some layer of flavour. The mussels here are top quality and easily among the best Ive ever eaten. They taste fresh with no metallics, and have gentle, soft flesh. Calm down on the bread and save it for last. The boiled prawns are delicious, and again also frantically messy if you become too involved in their devourment.
Whilst there are a few options like fried chicken, steak and baos, I just wouldn't bring anyone who doesnt enjoy fruits of the sea, unless you leave them downstairs.
Aside from Golden Century, this has to be my favourite place to go for crabs! I am obsessed with their concept of crabs in a bag!! Their Singapore chilli blue swimmers are delicious and their lobster fries are too! I highly recommend the Creole butter sauce and adding chorizo. As if this place couldn't get any better? No wait, yes it can! Their fried chicken is in my top 3 in Sydney!! Sweet tooth? Grab an old fashioned sundae and get messy... er!
Tried their loaded fries at the night noodle markets and they were pretty damn tasty! Thin fries loaded with my fave cheese sauce, corn, shallots, and crispy bacon. It's a yes from me!
Got a taste of their food at the Night Noodle Markets. Went with the Lobster Fries. It was mostly cheese, bacon, and corn which tasted nice but quite pricy as you only got lobster gravy on the bottom of the box. Quick and friendly service.
Food wasn't too bad. The fried chicken was exceptional. The crab was okay, but there wasn't a lot of it for the price. The service left a lot to be desired.
I've got two words for you.. lobster fries! I'd say out of everything I ordered that night, my favourite would be those lobster fries. We had the Balmain bugs with chipotle butter sauce ($38), lobster fries ($13), fried shrimp tacos ($7.50) and 500g of blue swimmer crab ($37) and I wish we got more. The whole experience was unique since I don't know too many places around that serves you your crab in a bag slathered in your chosen sauce for you to shake around and eat. Do be prepared to get your hands dirty though but trust me, it is worth it.
The service was good and efficient and staff are helpful for when you don't know what to choose from the menu.
Overall thumbs up.
Baz Juan Pablo Sanchez
+3.5
I love this place, reminds me of my trips to the US eating at crab houses.
Crabs are always cooked to perfection with just the right amount of sauce. A large selection of world wide sauces to choose from almost assures you of a great night
What's this? Endless bags of finger lickin’ crabs. WE ARE IN!
Sydney seafood institution, House of Crabs, threw their Endless Bags bash and we got invited. We slapped on a pair of gloves, a bib and for two hours, bags and bags of seafood was dumped onto our table for us to eagerly consume.
Vanessa: For those of you who are local to the Redfern/Surry Hills area, you may be aware that atop The Norfolk resides “ House of Crabs” . The décor and fit out emulates a southern-style seafood shack and the restaurant boasts some of the best “boils” of crustaceans and seafood varieties. Now I fully appreciated that the idea of donning a plastic bib, gloves and eating food with your hands straight out of a boiler bag may not appeal to everyone but it is certainly a novel experience that is worth a try for any crab and seafood lover.
This place right here is the shit.
House of crabs is a dedication of love to Louisiana seafood boils and classic dive bar drinking.
Honestly the food was good enough to break my pledge to the church of veganism.
Everything from hipster Pabst blue ribbon beer to sizzler style cheese toast and Alaskan king crab legs are just some of their offerings.
Absolutely delicious crustaceans! Recommend the king crab with Creole butter. Also order the fries with old bay Mayo, and the fried chicken. They also make a wonderful old fashioned (using Sazerac rye!). Soooo goooood!
Really good tasty food, Singapore chilli king crab was amazing , best I've had in a while, prawns with garlic butter were great too. Can get messy so be prepared, but it adds to the fun
House of Crabs is a great little gem of a restaurant with a seaside theme which makes it a great fun venue for large groups. The restaurant sits on top of The Norfolk and is one of only two crab boil houses in Sydney serving up delicious seafood in a fun and welcoming atmosphere. Snow crab with creole butter + spanner crab with cajun sauce
Absolutely love this place! Had a wonderful night there. I prefer their king crab over snow crab! Just better texture! I am not so keen on their chips tho. Definitely worth going! No! You must go!
Great fun and interesting atmosphere. From the moment you walk into House of Crabs you feel like you have been transported to a small seaside town.
On the top floor of the Norfolk Hotel House of Crab sits between Redfern and Surry Hill so parking is a slight issue.
The service is usually OK, it is a popular restaurant so make sure to book a table in advance. The seafood comes in a "boil in a bag" style with a choice of several sauces which is their signature dish, no plates here though as you will be recommend to simply dump your seafood on the table and eat with your fingers. This is a fun experience but it does leave you smelling the the food on on your fingers into the next day.
You can choose from a variety of different seafood but you will want to try at least one of the crabs. Overall the experience is unique and fun once awhile, it is however on the expensive so make sure to save all your pennies up to go here!
So much fun!
Great music, service is always friendly, and yummy yummy food.
Walking in, you'll notice the huge boat bar in the middle of the restaurant and all sorts of 'by the sea' decor strung from the ceiling.
The concept of House of Crabs is what sets it aside- there are no plates, just a table laid with paper, your fingers and lots of fun!
Patrons are encouraged to dump the contents of their 'boil in a bag' seafood straight on to the table and eat with their hands. Don't worry- bibs and plastic gloves are provided for the mess conscious.
This time we ordered lobster fries, mussels in black pepper and lime sauce, fried chicken, the weekly special roast chicken and of course the King crab in creole butter. Our favourite was the crab and fried chicken. We spent $95 for 2 and will definitely be repeat customers :)
House of Crabs is probably not the place to bring a first date, unless they love eating with their hands and getting messy! The highlight here is the "boils" (crab, prawns, mussels etc) that come to the table in a plastic bag and slathered in your choice of sauce. The idea is to tip the bag onto the paper-lined table and dig in...use plastic gloves if you must (but then you can't really lick your fingers) but a bib is highly recommended.
My recommendations are the crab in creole butter sauce, the corn (sprinkled with Doritos crumbs, yum), the cut salad (as you do need some salad after all that butter) and the buttermilk chicken is good too. You can go the prawns if you want something more "meaty" in your boil but the KIng Crab legs have A LOT of meat in them and are easy to crack in to.
Service is good - efficient, but the prices can get up there if you go for a lot of seafood options (we spend $200 for 3 people, but it was a birthday dinner so that OK by us).
This place has juicy and most delicious crab legs I've ever tasted in Sydney! It's juicy, succulent crab legs can be served as is or in garlic butter & GADAAAAAAMN WAS IT GOOOD!
It was one of those night i was craving steam seafood just like my Hawaiian Experience late last year.
I have heard that House of Crabs had that similar concept, boiled seafood with tasty sauces.
We were greeted by friendly staff & complimentary spicy popcorn. (DELICIOUS)
We ordered the Lobster Mac n Cheese, Lobster Fries, QLD PRAWNS in a Creole Butter Sauce and the Snow Crab in Cajun sauce.
First i must say it was soo flavorful and tasty .. be prepared to get your hand dirty.
I heard this place gets packed on weekends so we rocked up on a school night.
Downfall was that.. it's quiet pricey.
Plus the selection they have on seafood is kind of limited, in Hawaii you can do a Mix and match on seafood but here you buy per 500g.
Regardless ticked this place of for places to eat in Sydney.
House of crabs was a pretty crabby experience, in a good way! The waitress was nice, explained how it all worked and made some recommendations. We ordered a glass of the Pinot Grigio and a Budweiser and told her to make it snappy. We had the buffalo cucumber and lobster fries for sides, which were so tasty, we finished them both before mains came out. The boiled mussels in cajun sauce were very nice, but the snow crab in creole butter sauce stole the show - there's snow crab like snow crab! We put on our bibs and our gloves, added a little chilli and a pinch of salt and went to town; ripping the crab limb from limb. Hot tip - wear a shirt you don't mind getting saucy. Total cost for 2 people was $93; had to shell out a bit of cash but it was worth it. The Tuesday special of Singapore Chilli Crab ($25) looked great - I'll claw my way back next time to try it.
Finger-licking good!. Being a huge crab eating fan myself, so happy to finally made it to House of Crab with my bf. The menu takes care of those who really love crab and those who don't. Tried King Crab & Snow Crab with Cajun & Garlic & Pepper sauce, both great, but personally prefer the garlic pepper one. Really like the atmosphere of the place, the music and good food really puts you in a good cheeky mode. The only thing to improve is maybe NOT to serve the food in a plastic bag as it not only doesn't look nice, but also difficult to enjoy the seafood cause it's hard to dip the sauce without making a mess. Other than that, a really great experience and will definitely go back!
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So the day has arrived where my family and I have decided not to eat crab at our typical Chinese restaurant scene and instead ventured to Norfolk hotel where House of Crab is located.
Walking into Norfolk was a confusing task. From the corner entry, you are first greeted by a dingy pub scene. Nothing but a bar and stools with tables. As you venture further in, this is a more welcoming, hip and young vibe of Norfolk. It has nice music playing, a garden area at the back and places to eat and drink and just chill.
You then venture upstairs to House of Crabs. It had a very nautical theme about it. Boats, netting, sea-related posters... We were there early... as usual. We were seated promptly and offered some water. I went to use the bathroom to wash up and was shocked it had a unisex bathroom.
The table had a box of spicy popcorn to nibble on while we waited. I didn't even bother... my wife tried some and insisted I try.... I was addicted after the first handful. We smashed the box before the rest our party arrived.
As the night grew old, the crowds grew bigger. It was a Wednesday night and the place was happening... luckily my sister booked.
When everyone finally arrived, we all decided what to order and I was pretty happy with our choices. The dim lighting in the room made most of my shots horrible... that and my eagerness to eat and I was holding everyone up trying to get shots of the food...
The one annoying thing was us ordering a jug of red wine sangria... but they served us red wine. We already drank it before we realise hmmm this isn't sangria. She looked like she hated her job and despite being American (who seem to be known for good service) she did not have the hospitality to match.... and we gave a tip to match that...
So we started off with Jalapeño Poppers with Monterey Jack Cheese... these had an amazing kick and paired perfectly with the cheese dip. Most people on the table found it too hot... but I loved it!
Also ordered the Lobster Fries drenched in lobster gravy, bacon and corn. This was very so-so for me. The fries were fries and the sauce wasn't anything to write home about. Though everyone seemed to have loved it...
Also had the Popcorn Balmain Bugs with Old Bay Mayo... I found these were my least favourite... despite how cool it sounded. The flavours were mild, the sauce made the dish but you could have easily substituted it with calamari or what not and the dish would have been about par...
After the starters, we were excited for the mains. The reviews online for this place was awfully low which kept our expectations the same.
For mains we tried the Buttermilk Fried Chicken on a plate (you can order it in a burger). My wife and mum both seem to love the watermelon on the plate... says a lot about the dish. The chicken was tender but yet again... nothing special.
We also tried the Babyback Pork Ribs with Bourbon and Maple Glaze... Wow! the glaze is so thick. It was amazing. It's inspired me to attempt something this rich... It was a very small portion... enough for a rib per person (we were a party of 6 that night).
The main reason we came was for the crab. We ordered 2 kg of Snow Crab soaked in creole butter. It came in 4 bags of 500g. It was great to just chuck the crab on the table and dig in. The sauce was fantastic and the toughest crab critic on the table (my mum), was blown away at how good it was. It was such a messy meal, not a place for first dates as we all agreed, but it was fun to get our crab on. They supply you with all the crab cracking tools you need.. and also gloves as well... which we all didn't notice ><
A nice touch at the end of the meal was the napkin growing in water. The napkin comes in a small pill shape and expands as it absorbs the water being poured into the plate. My dad thought it was marshmallows or some sort of dessert. Secretly... so did I....
For dessert, we headed down to Norfolk and got their Deep Fried Banana Taco with Peanut Butter Ice-cream, Ice Magic, Peanuts, 100s and 1000s and Fried Corn Taco. Wow! What a way to ruin the night. This was horrible. It was so bad i had to polish off practically two tacos myself because no-one wanted to eat any further. The peanut butter ice-cream was the highlight for me. The fried taco shell tasted so stale and was chewy and just very unpleasant. Even the fried banana was very blah.
If you're keen to try House of Crabs, I don't think you'd be disappointed by the quality... Value for money might be the reason why it got such low ratings... the meal set us back around $310 with dessert and drinks.
Last night I tried the newly opened House of Crabs upstairs from the Norfolk Hotel on Cleveland St, Surry Hills. Now, before I go to any restaurant to eat I'll always surf the food blogs and know what to expect. To be honest, I didn't go with much high hopes since I don't usually like mussels and clams, and whenever I eat crab, its always so hard to get the meat out.
All in all, the meal comes to $117 for 3 people – equating to about $40 pp. House of Crabs is definitely a fun place to eat – abandon your table manners and grab a claw! Best for small-medium groups, where you can get an assortment to try.
Crabs! What can I say about crabs except that I do love eating this crustacean! I love getting my hands dirty, cracking the claws and getting into the meaty bits. Yum! And when there is great sauce, even better!! The first time I heard about the House of Crabs was when I saw some photos on Instagram posted by Helen of Grab Your Fork sometime last year. The crabs perked my interest. My friends and I finally managed to organise a lunch on a wet Sunday. We got there so early we had to wait outside as the venue was not even opened yet. :) House of Crabs is located on the 1st floor of The Norfolk. As I walked up the stairs I immediately saw all the crab like decor. There was very much a chintzy, schmaltzy vibe to the place. It was long john silver, shanty like with heaps of quirky artefacts! I loved it! Something so different and blasé with its 'in your face' American South shanty feel. I don't know how else to describe it. We pored over the menu and decided on: Creole Corn with Dorito and
I thought it would be most appropriate to start off the year with one of my favourite restaurants, House of Crabs, located right above Norfolk in Surry Hills.
House of Crabs is the new hot place in town, with its unabashed obsession with seafood - particularly shellfish and crustaceans. The moment you step in, you’re thrust into gluttony and kitsch, and a LOT of fun. A HUGE crab greets you as you come up the stairs, and the little red booths and marine themed decor encourage you to let loose and have a chuckle.
Helen | Grab Your Fork
+4.5
Rubber gloves. Check. Paper towels. Got it. This ain't no CSI scene. It's just another day, another bib-fest at the newly opened House of Crabs.
Does My Bomb Look Big In This
+4
Proving neatly that you can get crabs, even if you use protection, I gloved up and donned a bib for the launch of House of Crabs . In a flurry of fairy lights and crab pots, they’ve taken over the first floor of The Norfolk Hotel ; and suddenly Sydney has it’s first American seafood boil (common in coastal areas of the United States, like Louisiana and Coney Island). First pick your seafood from a list that includes Littleneck Clams , Blue Swimmer Crab and King Crab , then pick your sauce ( Old Bay is a crab spice blend that originated in Chesapeake Bay). What could be more communal than tucking into a messy bag of crustaceans with friends? Now, while we’re talking about Jamie Wirth and his Drink’n'Dine group, my eyes are...
Cracked freshly open on Friday, the boisterously fun, forward-thinking Drink'n' Dine Group have brought another restaurant to market: the double entendre-filled House of Crabs, upstairs at The Norfolk in the Redfern end of Surry Hills. House of Crabs, upstairs at The Norfolk, Cleveland Street, Surry Hills Part Louisiana crab shack, part Aussie seafood showcase and all Drink'n'Dine, House of Crabs is unlike anything we've seen in Sydney. As a Cancerian and having not ever experienced the southern US-style crab or seafood boil, I was very excited to attend a preview night at House of Crabs last week, just ahead of their Friday night opening. Crab neon sign at the base of the stairs The decor is retro kitsch and all about crabs and the sea. A neon sign lights the way from The Norfolk at ground level, leading up to a happy, welcoming red crab and the restaurant upstairs. Restaurant signage Dietaries list A list of dietary warnings greets diners at the upstairs restaurant, having a dig at t
{ _anne_with_an_e // review }
When you're given a bib and gloves for dining, you know things are going to get messy - literally!
The boiled items are served in the bag they were cooked in. You order per 500g and you have a choice of sauces between cajun, mexican, oriental and lemon pepper. If you're not a big fan of chilli, beware, there are different intensity levels of chilli/hotness.
I ordered the 500g of little neck clams - although it left my stomach still grumbly. So an order of side dishes and bigs are a must. We ordered lobster fries, fried school prawns and fried chicken. The stand out dish was the fried chicken, with a few pieces of watermelon - yum!
Must haves // fried chicken
Food: 3/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
We ordered prawns, clams and snow crabs. The prawns in cajun sauce were amazing! Others were ordinary.
So goooood. Didn't make a booking and had to wait over an hour to be seated; the place is very popular even on a Thursday night (fortunately there's a bar/pub downstairs). Started with octopus tacos - very good. Had prawns, mussels and king crab from the boil in mexican, oriental and cajun sauce, respectively. All of it was really tasty, especially the crab and mussels. If only the mussels were bigger it would have been perfect. Ice cream sandwich dessert was simple but delicious. I'll definitely be going back - but will remember to make a reservation!
WOW. Came here after a recommendation from a workmate. The décor reminded me of crab places in Baltimore. A nice change from the Norfolk bar downstairs. The waitress recommended 500g of seafood per person. Being 3 of us we decided to share 1kg and get some sides. Started with the octopus taco. The octopus was delicious but the taco was on the thick side so it would've been 10/10 had it been 2mm thinner. We ordered snow crab with oriental sauce and prawns with the garlic butter sauce. They arrive at your table in plastic bags so it can get messy. The waiters put bibs on us before these arrived and there was a big roll of paper towels to clean up the mess. The crab and prawns were delicious. I could've eaten more.
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