We always hear about Binondo being one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world, which is partly a testament to how much we like taking quick detours for authentic dim sum and hopia. What we don’t hear about quite as much is K-town in Angeles City.
Nestled along the road known as Fil-Am Friendship Highway bordering Clark are a plethora of Korean BBQ joints, supermarkets, and SMEs owned by—you guessed it—Korean immigrants. While an easy choice for a food trip in the area would be a K-BBQ place, we decided we were craving crab, and that led us to Googling Red Crab Angeles City.
Red Crab Angeles City had some really appetizing photos on their page, which got us in a car in a jiffy, as we tried to find some time to drop by before the last leg of the Toyota GR Cup in Clark.
So, how does a Korean crab restaurant hold up to our cravings? Read this Resto Run to find out.
The drive
Located in the heart of Angeles, bordering the Clark Freeport Zone, Red Crab is an easy 1.5- to 2-hour drive from Metro Manila.
The roads going there are composed majority of the Skyway and NLEX, taking the Angeles exit toward the end of the highway. Once off the main road, it is a quick jaunt through central Angeles before arriving at the restaurant.
Roads are generally good going there, with the exception of some construction in the floodway leading up to Fil-Am Friendship Highway. We would recommend skipping the floodway offered by Waze and Google Maps, and taking the main roads, which are smoother, wider, and prevent you from being subject to stop-and-go traffic schemes.
Parking and accessibility
Parking is wide and spacious, at least during lunchtime on a weekday. It is a multi-story building, so there are many establishments, including a cool retro-themed coffee shop on the ground floor.
Accessibility is also great, with an elevator taking the strain off of Red Crab being on the fourth floor.
OTHER STORIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:
Variants, prices, specs: Everything you need to know about the 2026 Ford Territory Hybrid
New traffic lights installed at NLEX Connector intersections in Manila
Venue
The first thing you see upon arriving is a tank with all your crabs inside positioned just by the entrance. Then you’ll be surprised by the sheer size of the place. Red Crab is utterly humungous, with a large, spacious, well-lit, and Instagram-friendly dining area flanked on one side with semi-private rooms, each with a large window view.
The place looks sleek and modern, even after the staff told us that it was already two years old. Additionally, should you have further need of it (or just want to catch the sunset), Red Crab has a really cool open-air roof deck on the top floor of the building, although this would require some walking, as the elevator does not go up to that floor.
Food experience
When the food was served, we were quite shocked by how large the portions were for some of the items. The star of the menu was, of course, the plethora of crab dishes available, from Singaporean chili crab, black pepper crab, to even garlic crab; there is probably a crab sauce just for your tastes.
We ended up ordering the stir-fry kang kong, the gambas, and a black pepper crab. The kang kong was very good, with huge pieces of vegetables, and a great sesame-oyster sauce that was just right, not too sweet, and not too salty, with a slight lean to the former side. The gambas was just okay, with a bit too few shrimps for our liking, but at least it tasted good as a complement to our vegetables.
The main event was the black pepper crab. We got a female crab at around 800g, and although its legs were a bit skinny, the sumptuous claws made up for that with juicy meat and a great sauce. We were a bit surprised by the black pepper, as it was sweeter than it was peppery, but still good to our tastes. They fried the talangka inside the shell of the crab, which resulted in a very crunchy and slightly salted-egg taste to the insides of the head of the crab. Delicious, even if we would have preferred the pepper sauce to be more on the peppery side.
Value for money
There is no getting around it: crab is expensive. At around P400 to 500 per 100g, our 800g crab came out to about P3,500 on its own. That being said, all the other dishes were more reasonably priced, and the crab was pretty good, so we feel that if you are really in the mood for crab in the Angeles City area, you can’t go wrong with Red Crab.
Conclusion
K-town in Angeles is one of the most underrated destinations out there. The vibe is great, traffic is much better than the tight streets of Binondo, and having a Korean backing is in line with the rise of K-pop and K-dramas.
Red Crab offers diners a good dining experience with a quick road trip.
Score: 8/10
Travel time from Manila: 1.5 to 2 hours
Budget: P1,500 to P3,000 per person
Website/Reservations: Red Crab Angeles City
KR manager: +63 966 714 2851
Kakao ID: RedCrabAC
PH cashier: +63 995 099 4133
