All-you-can-eat crab at Yok Sod Thai at Mr B's, Haymarket Sydney

All-you-can-eat crab for less than forty bucks. You read that right. Where? It's on at Yok Sod Thai, the eatery housed within the ground floor bar at Mr B's on the corner of Pitt and Goulburn Streets.


Crab menu


The crab festival, which runs only during crab season, features ten dishes starring blue swimmer crab. Order them a la carte (most are $19.90 each) or arrive hungry and hand over $39.90 for all-you-can-eat. You know what we did.


Pro-level - bring your own gloves

It's my first time at this crab fest. For three of my fellow diners, this was not their first rodeo, which is why the G-Man offered to bring everyone a set of disposable gloves...

Um. GENIUS. Do not underestimate this vital step. This is hella messy eating without the niceties of finger bowls or wet wipes. They will provide you with nut crackers and serviettes.

Gloves mean that we attack the crab with wild abandon. Wear dark clothing. Crab shells, crab flesh and sauce will end up in your lap, all over your shirt and in your hair. But maybe that was just me.


Steamed crab 

Your table will have 90 minutes in which to order as much as you can eat. Be warned that staff will inspect your dishes at the end to make sure you've sufficiently eaten the crab ordered. If you haven't, you're liable to pay a wastage fee. Your ordering end time will be marked on your table.

The best value dish is the steamed crab. That's two whole blue swimmer crabs with a dish of chilli sauce for dipping. This is the most expensive dish to order a la carte at $25.90. Every other dish features just one crab and is $19.90.


Crab omelette

The crab omelette is the only dish where the crab picking has been done for you. This was so popular, we end up ordering two omelettes.


Raw crab salad

Does the idea of raw crab freak you out? It shouldn't. Like any dish, there's nothing to hide behind when food is served raw. I find the raw crab has the plumpest flesh of all the dishes. It is also incredibly sweet.

If you love raw scampi, this will be right up your alley. The raw crab salad was my favourite dish of the night.


Som tum crab 

You can also order som tum crab, raw crab served with a fiery papaya salad. We weren't asked what chilli level we wanted but staff must've presumed "fire of a thousand suns". Try and ask for mild or otherwise enjoy the hallucinations.


Crab curry sauce

You'll want to go in a minimum group size of four people so you can try a variety of dishes. The crab curry sauce is sweeter than you'd probably expect, but terrifically fragrant with fresh curry leaves. 


Stir fried crab in black pepper sauce

The black pepper crab featured a whole heap of green capsicums in the photo so we're pleased to find it arrive vegetable-free. We're focussed purely on value-for-money here. The black pepper sauce is a little on the oily side but I'll confess I'm not usually a fan of black pepper crab anyway.


Crab tom yum creamy

Crab tom yum creamy comes with a rich coconut broth that's reminiscent of tom kha gai. There are no noodles in this dish, unlike the crab tom yum.


Crab tom yum noodle

If that crab tom yum noodle reminds you of Do Dee Paidang, that's because Yok Sod is its sister restaurant. Here it's a massive serving. Staff suggest it's designed for four people to share.


Fresh rice noodle in the crab tom yum soup

The soup is that familiar addictive combination of spicy, sour, sweet and salty, filled with a huddle of chewy fresh noodles, deep fried wonton wrappers for crunch and a whole crab just waiting to be eaten.

We demolish the bowl with such speed that our table of five debates loudly before we agree to order another one. Even the waitress raises one eyebrow at our appetite. That tom yum soup is laced with crack.


Crab fried rice

The surprise of the night? The crab fried rice. I'll admit I tried to stop this order happening. Too many carbs. It's just rice. How good could it be?

How wrong was I. The fried rice is seriously amazing, with just the right amount of fluffiness and seasoning. I declared I'd only have one spoonful for tasting purposes. Then I had three. Or four.

End result? We finished 13 dishes between five people. And I don't even want to think about my cholesterol levels.

The Yok Sod crab festival menu is available Monday to Friday from 4pm for walk-ins only. Arrive early as the crab tends to run out by 7pm. The festival will finish with the end of crab season which is expected to be April 30, 2018.




Yok Sod Thai
Ground floor, Mr B's Hotel
396 Pitt Street, Haymarket, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8080 7777

Opening hours
Daily 11.30am-1.30am


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